Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible loss.  I really don't know what else to say.  Johan rose to the challenge tonight, he had been called out by fans and reporters, and he pitched one hell of a game.  I question the Manuel move, I thought Johan had enough gas left in the tank to finish out the game.  Did he really want it, especially knowing Wagner was unavailable.  If the Mets had gotten a rally started in the bottom of the 8th, then I definitely see pinch hitting for Johan, but brining up Argenis Reyes in that position to pinch hit was a waste.  In my opinion, Johan is your $20 million man, you throw his ass out there to close out the win and secure first place for the Mets.  Yes, Johan pitched like an Ace tonight.  Yes, he may have had nothing left in the tank.  Yes, the Mets bullpen needed only three outs.  Yes, Endy was thrown out twice at home with no outs.  From this fans point of view there was some terrible decisions made tonight, but hindsight is 20/20.

What a fantastic crowd on hand tonight, almost a sell-out.  Great to see this for an August Tuesday night game.  The crowd was into it, and I felt a little stadium bounce when David Wright hit his RBI double in the LF corner.  I've been waiting for the Shea faithful to show up this year.  Wagner kinda called out the Mets fans earlier in the week, and I do think we responded.  The Mets totally outplayed the Phillies tonight, it is a shame that it didn't show in the final score.  I had my Yankee fan friend Jason with me, and he was even into this game.  Johan, dominant.  Mets offense was clicking.  Manuel, questionable move.  Mets bullpen, disgraceful. 

Let's take the final 2 of this series, the pitching match-ups look great.