Blanton Outpitches Santana, Phils Beat Mets 2-0

Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies knew they had a great opportunity to get back on track with a hurting New York Mets squad in town.

Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins points skyward after his solo home run off New York Mets starting pitcher Johan Santana in the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 5, 2009, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

(AP)

Boy did they take advantage.

Joe Blanton tossed four-hit ball into the eighth inning and Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley each homered off Johan Santana, leading the Phillies to a 2-0 victory over the Mets on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of their NL East rival.

The Phillies had lost 12 of 15 and returned home after being swept by the Atlanta Braves, but they took advantage of the injury-ravaged Mets to earn their first sweep at Citizens Bank Park since taking three straight from the Nationals May 29-31.

"We wanted to try and take this because we know that team over there isn't at full strength," first baseman Ryan Howard said. "It's July, but we want to take as many games as possible. We didn't give extra outs. We didn't make a lot of mistakes. When you look back, it was everything you can hope and dream for a baseball game."

The defending World Series champions pushed the third-place Mets four games back in the NL East, handing them their eighth loss in 11 games. The Marlins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates to remain a game back in the division.

New York is playing without shortstop Jose Reyes, center fielder Carlos Beltran and first baseman Carlos Delgado, and the Mets scored just three runs in the series.

Blanton retired the first seven Mets before Luis Castillo bounced a single over third baseman Pedro Feliz's head. Castillo was sacrificed to second, but was stranded there on a diving stop by Ryan Howard, one of several fine fielding plays by the first baseman.

The righty allowed little else, striking out five and lowering his ERA to 4.69. His biggest challenge came in the sixth inning after an 11-pitch walk to Daniel Murphy loaded the bases and had him visibly frustrated with his control lapse.

After a quick visit to the mound from pitching coach Rich Dubee, Blanton induced David Wright to ground into a double play, started by Utley.