NL East Liveblog!

6:59 P.M. -- It's Citizen's Bank Park, it's Mets-Phillies, it's the series that could put the NL East out of reach. A potentially season-ending set of games for the hosts, and one that could put the whole shebang out of reach from the Mets' perspective. Serious stuff.

7:00 -- "If you're going to succeed here, you can't walk people," says Ron Darling. And, starting for New York tonight ... Brian Lawrence. Salt.

7:07 -- But the Phillies cleverly counter with their own schlub, J.D. Durbin! A stroke of genius from Charlie Manuel, going with the loser in this situation. What's that you say? Cole Hamels is hurt? Oh, I'm sorry. I hadn't heard. That's unfortunate.

7:10 -- David Wright steps to the plate, allowing Gary to bring up the growing "D-Wright for MVP" whispers one hears around the corners. Which allows me to point to Y2K fave Tim Marchman's excellent column on this very topic; read the whole thing.

7:11 -- David strikes out looking; 1-2-3 inning for Durbin. Pat Gillick looks shocked.

7:15 -- Luis Castillo makes a great diving stab and throw on a Jimmy Rollins grounder up the middle, almost getting the ... and Rollins is called out for some reason, leading to Manuel getting tossed by 1B ump Joe West on the first play of the night. That should endear the crew to the Phillies. Keith then makes the same point.

7:25 -- In the "Random Booth Talk Offering a Window onto the Soul" Department, Gary reads a promo for "Two and a Half Men;" coming to the CW11 this fall, crazy stuff goes on in Charlie Sheen's house, etc, etc. This riles up Keith for some reason. "Or they can go to your house, if they want crazy," he tosses out there. But Gary's buying. "That is crazy," he deadpans. "That's well beyond crazy." Ooooo-kay. Anyone around here laying odds on what kind of sick shit Gary and the missus get into? Nobody?

7:26 -- Hmm. Dinner parties with goyim? Having sex before putting the baseball cards away? The Long Island swinger scene? Now I'm curious.

7:36 -- Jayson Werth, apparently hitting .368 since coming off the DL a month ago, ropes a double down the 3B line that Moises putters after and can't fish out, allowing Greg Dobbs to score and giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Lawrence's fastball is ... not fast.

7:43 -- Hey, it's Kevin Burkhardt! That's nice. Unfortunately, somebody forgets to turn his mic on, and what eventually follows is a rambling and apparently pointless story about Paul LoDuca from when he was with the Cyclones. Okay. That could have gone better.

7:45 -- Shawn Green gets the start against the righty after sitting all weekend against the Dodgers; strikes out, natch. Blastings didn't help his (or my) cause with his fielding, of course. Gary then mentions he asked Willie if Endy would be given a chance to win the everyday job, and was told, flat-out, "No." Whew.

7:51 -- SNY cuts away to an interview with Willie; on the split-screen, which pops up every five seconds or so, Rollins is lacing foul balls off Lawrence; finally pings a sharp single to center.
7:52 -- "The Mets have a chance to step on the throat of the opposition," Gary says, sounding enthused. Aha! So that's what you're into, eh, Cohen? You sick fuck.

7:56 -- Burrell takes two called strikes, looks disgusted after the second, realizes he can swing faster than Lawrence can throw." The result? Two-run homer to left-field, a no-doubter, Phils up 3-0. Howard follows with a rifled single through the shift. This could get ugly fast.

7:57 -- On cue, the Mets catch a break as Castillo doubles Howard off first. Ryan Howard sliding = comedy.

8:06 -- Wright is punched out on a fastball up around the eyeballs and gets pissed about it, but Durbin is now perfect through the first four innings. Just great. A quick check reveals that he's still J.D., and not Chad (a.k.a., "The Good") Durbin.

8:11 -- Werth takes an 81 (!) mph fastball the other way for his second double of the night. Keith calls it a slider out of pity. Ron then sounds positively venomous during a discussion of the Marcus Giles-Carlos Ruiz tiff over the weekend, all but suggesting that Ruiz can look forward to having his head taken off by the Padres at some point in the future. Greg Maddux is nothing if not a stone-cold killer.

8:15 -- Beltran breaks up the perfecto with a leadoff double, is moved over by Alou, but not before a discussion of whether Willie will send Carlos to steal third. The Mets, by the by, have tied the club record by stealing a base in 11 straight games; yet another reason I'm so bullish on their chances in '07. All this speed on the basepaths; legitimate stealing threats in the top four lineup spots, plus Endy off the bench. They've got too many ways to hurt you.

8:23 -- Remember when Delgado, during his introductory press conference two winters ago, made the point that no matter how well he played or wanted to play, he wasn't going to ever be perfect? That he was going to make mistakes, was going to strike out with a runner on third and less than two outs? Yeah? Well, he wasn't kidding. Fuck.

8:25 -- But THERE'S PAULIE BALLGAME picking up the team. That's right, baby! Welcome back. Durbin actually jammed him, but LoDuca fists a fastball just over the head of Chase Utley to bring the Mets to within 3-1. And the Great Neck Prom Committee goes wild.

8:28 -- Green singles, Paulie's tender hammie looks just fine during a loping sprint over to third base, and Lawrence comes up with two runners on and two outs. Gary the Sex Fiend yelps for a pinch-hitter, but Ron wisely counsels that in a four-game series, there's no sense in opting into your bullpen so soon. Thank you, Ron. Now throw some water on your co-worker.

8:30 -- And Lawrence bangs out an infield single! Amazing. Lined a shot down to third that Dobbs really should have had, but the ball ricochets off his glove and behind him, and Paulie huffs in to make the score 3-2. Durbin is reverting to form. Gets Reyes to tap out softly for the third time, though, to end the threat.

8:36 -- Utley, quite sensibly, gets the run back off Lawrence with a towering homer to deep center. 4-2 Philly. The guys coming off the DL look pretty sprightly, I'd say. In related news, Petey is pitching at the moment down in Port St. Lucie. Keep your fingers crossed. Especially you, Antonio Alfonseca.

8:49 -- Howard then powers, for lack of a stronger word, the ball 330 feet on the fly, actually denting the right-field fence with a double. The SNY cameras linger on the mangled chain links for a long moment, as if to say, "Friends don't let Brian Lawrence throw fastballs to Ryan Howard." Poignant stuff. Lawrence then walks Rowand and allows an RBI single to Dobbs to make the score 5-2 before Sosa can get ready. Yuck. He gets out of it.

9:00 -- Castillo singles past a lethargic Howard, who's clearly decided he hits the deck no more than once per evening, but the MVP shoots Durbin's first pitch into Rollins' glove for a double play, and Werth makes a nice stretching catch of a hard-hit Beltran fly. Quick inning for the Phils ...

9:03 -- ... who apparently like Durbin enough that they let him lead off the home sixth. Atlanta is murderlizing the Marlins, the Moose is getting bombed in Detroit. Good. Let's get some chemistry-destroying controversy fomenting.

9:04 -- The SNY cameras then catch Billy the Kid visiting with the Phillies bullpen in between innings. Fraternizing with the enemy with the game in progress is enough of a violation of old-school etiquette that Ron and Keith get a little bit huffy for a second, but only until -- and I shit you not -- the director cuts to the wide view of the bullpens, and the flowers facing the field on the bullpen railings come into view.

Gary: No stopping in? The staircase is on the left ...
Keith: Say 'Hi,' wave and go up. Look at the beautiful flowers!
Ron -- [laughing] Are those violets? Lilacs?
Keith: They're beautiful!

Like children, I swear.

9:10 -- Utley cracks an RBI double, pushing the Phils' lead to 6-2. Dang.

9:17 -- Alou goes quietly, but Mo lines a single through the left side to end Durbin's night. Dangerous move by Not-Manuel, as Durbin's only at 92 pitches and has been pretty solid, and the Phils' bullpen is generally awful.

9:24 -- Alfonseca gives up a single to LoDuca, is promptly pulled. Where is this going?

9:29 -- Apparently, it's going where J.C. Romero is going to retire Conine and Blastings, two lefty-killers, in order to end the threat. Ah, that'll happen.

9:34 -- Gary won't shut up about the Endy-starting-in-right thing. Ron attempts to explain the situation to him very slowly, but it doesn't seem to be taking.

9:41 -- Well, that's going to clinch it. Nobody removes the suspense from a game quite like Scott Schoenweis. To the surprise of few, Chris Coste knocks home Werth, who's gone 3 for 3 and looked tremendous, and then Tad Iguchi comes off the bench to send a two-run shot over the wall in left. 9-2 to the bad guys.

9:55 -- Nothing doing for the top of the Mets order against Flash Gordon. Nada.

10:02 -- Willie throws on Sele to get the Phils in the bottom of the eighth, and he gets Nunez and Rowand before Werth makes it 4 for 4 with a single through the right side. "He's going to have everyone following him at lunch tomorrow," argues Keith. Probably not, actually. "Did you ever feel like they just couldn't get you out?" inquires Gary, sniffing some ass during a blowout. Nothing wrong with that. Keith's reply? "A lot, to be honest with you. It's a wonderful feeling. It's like sitting in a rocking chair." Well then. Who threw the hallucinogens in the press box this time?

10:04 -- During a discussion about "The Natural," the whole booth earns my undying enmity by agreeing that the movie was shot in Chicago. Wrong, assholes. VERY wrong.

10:14 -- Someone named Clay Condrey arrives for mop-up duty, and that'll do it. The Phils knock out 17 hits and get the win they needed to open the series. A thoroughly depressing experience; live-blogging was a horrible decision. At this moment, I dislike all of you.

10:19 -- But hey, the Yanks gave up 20 hits! And we're back!