One National League East team in free-fall mode was able to stop gravity momentarily on Wednesday night as the Mets rode a gem from Clay Holmes and a clutch two-out go-ahead hit from Mark Vientos in the eighth inning to down the Twins, 3-2. This snapped an incredible and unexpected 12-game slide from the perceived contender while the Phillies found no such luck as they once again suffered a lopsided loss to the Cubs. That's now eight straight times Philadelphia has found itself on the wrong end of the scoreboard. They now find themselves tied with the rival Mets in the cellar at 8-16.
At this early stage of the season each of these teams is 8 1/2 games behind division-leading Atlanta. This is the furthest any club finds itself from where it wants to go. Even the Rockies have kept closer pace with the Dodgers and Padres (tied at 16-8) in the NL West. The lowly Royals (8-17) are only 5.5 games back in the AL Central as no team has seperated from the pack.
