Phils should be feeling grateful after timely washout in NYC

NEW YORK >> Maybe it didn’t count as a streak breaker, but there’s no doubt the Phillies received a winning break Thursday, thanks to some well-timed downpours splashing down on Queens, N.Y.

Thus, the fourth and final game of a Phillies-Mets series gone awry for the visitors, scheduled for the lunch hour at Citi Field, was mercifully postponed. Not only had the Phillies lost all three previous series games, and were riding a skid of five losses in six games, they were scheduled to face Jacob deGrom Thursday afternoon. He blanked them over six innings at Citizens Bank Park on April 5 before being pulled rather prematurely ... the Phillies rallying for a 5-3 victory.

Remember those days? Way back before the current team-wide slump?

“I just don’t think we’re swinging the bats particularly well right now,” Phils manager Joe Girardi said Wednesday night after a 5-1 loss. “I think all offenses go through it from time to time. Right now, there’s a lot of guys that aren’t swinging well. We have a lot of guys struggling right now.”

For the Mets, who used the series to take a one-game lead in the division despite playing a major league low eight games so far, it’s somewhat smooth sailing. Even if that means they’re handling buckets of water better than they were earlier this month.

DeGrom never warmed up for the Mets’ third washout in five days, a contrast to Marcus Stroman’s start against Miami last weekend, which started in a shower and was cut short by umpires after nine pitchers.

“If it’s something uncertain, you’re going to be careful,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said Thursday morning. “We don’t want to lose any of our pitchers too early — we don’t want to lose Jake too early in the game. It happened to us on Sunday. We know that we made a big mistake there, but we’re paying attention now.”

The Mets head to Denver, where a series opener against the Rockies was threatened by a forecast of two to three inches of snow on the Thursday overnight followed by a gametime temperature projected at 37 degrees.

A steady rain began about 11 a.m. Thursday and was forecast to last all afternoon. The matchup between deGrom and the Phils’ Zach Eflin was called off about 50 minutes before the 12:10 p.m. EDT start.

New York rescheduled the rainout as part of a doubleheader on June 25 at 4:10 p.m. Both games will be scheduled for seven innings as per pandemic rules.

Last Sunday’s Marlins-Mets game was suspended after a wait of 2 hours, 10 minutes and will be continued as part of a day-night doubleheader on Aug. 3. Tuesday’s game against the Phillies was rained out and made up as part of a doubleheader the Mets swept the following day.

In the three games this week against the Mets that were played, the Phillies were outscored 13-4.

“I don’t think our swings have been really big, I don’t think they’re out of control,” Girardi added. “I just think we’re missing balls. ... Anytime you don’t hit, it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for the guys, frustrating for the club. Again, all teams are going to go through this year and it looks like we’re trying to get it out of the way early.”

If that’s at least somewhat true, the Mets should hope they don’t hit such a swing-andmiss streak in June.

With the opening three-game series at Washington that was put off because of a coronavirus outbreak among the Nationals, the Mets have played a major league-low eight games. They have a stretch of 16 games in 15 days from June 11-25, including a pair of doubleheaders.