Mets pound reeling Phils

Flushing, NY – Jon Niese tossed eight strong innings and chipped in with two RBI as the New York Mets pounded the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-1, in the opener of a three-game series at Citi Field.

Niese (7-3) surrendered just one run on three hits and two walks to win his third straight start.

"What he has been doing is really going after hitters," Mets manager Terry Collins said about Niese. "He's stepped up and started showing guys what he can do."

David Wright added a three-run home run and four RBI while Daniel Murphy also knocked in four runs for the Mets, who won for the fifth time in six games.

Vance Worley (4-5) was touched for six runs on 10 hits and a walk over just four innings to take the loss for Philadelphia, which dropped its sixth straight contest.

"Usually he keeps us in the game and most of the time he gives us a chance to win. Tonight, they got on him," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said about Worley. "They were hitting the ball and they were hitting the ball hard. He got hurt."

The Phillies fell to 10 games under .500 (36-46) for the first time since July 22, 2002.

The Mets opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when Murphy hit a one-out triple just out of the reach of a sliding John Mayberry in left field and came home on Wright's grounder to third.

Philadelphia answered with Carlos Ruiz's leadoff home run to left field in the second inning, but New York quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the frame after loading the bases on a walk by Lucas Duda and back-to-back singles by Andres Torres and Josh Thole.

Niese then slapped a base hit up the middle to plate Duda and Torres. Thole was thrown out trying to take third on the play and following Ruben Tejada's single, Murphy ripped a double into left-center field to score Niese. Tejada also tried to score on the hit, but Jimmy Rollins' relay throw beat Tejada to the plate and he was tagged out by Ruiz to end the inning and keep it a 4-1 game.

New York added to its lead in the fourth inning when Thole singled, advanced to second on a Niese sacrifice bunt and scored on Tejada's base hit to center field. Tejada moved up to second base on Shane Victorino's throw to the plate and quickly came home on Murphy's single to left field to give the Mets a 6-1 cushion.

Niese walked and Tejada singled prior to Wright's blast to straightaway center field in the sixth inning to pull the Mets even further away.

The Phillies, meanwhile, did not advance a runner past first base following Ruiz's home run until Hunter Pence singled and moved up a base on a wild pitch in the seventh inning.

But Pence would be stranded there and Murphy's two-run double in the eighth inning accounted for the final margin as Jon Rauch tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the game.

Game Notes

Wright's home run moved him past Howard Johnson for sole possession of third place on the Mets' all-time list with 193...Wright also became the first player in Mets history to hit 10 or more home runs in nine separate seasons...New York improved to 24-17 at home this season, while Philadelphia fell to 19-22 on the road...The Mets hit 7-for-12 with runners in scoring position.