"Ryan Howard and Chase Utley vied for position along the infield grass until the first baseman called for the catch. Amid the cacophony of a raucous New York crowd, however, Howard thought he heard his teammate yell for the ball, too.

Howard backed off the pop fly, which dropped with a thud between the two infielders, as Scott Hairston sprinted around third base to score the Mets' first run.

Just four batters into the game, Cole Hamels said he hadn't established any rhythm to be disrupted by the bungled play, and the lefty quickly retired the next batter to end the inning.

And so it was Saturday that Howard's blunder proved to be a harbinger of an ugly afternoon in which the defense played poorly, the offense offered little and Hamels once again was the victim of an ambush at the hands of the Mets, who cruised to an 11-2 victory.

"We kind of got off bad early," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We got behind, and it seemed like we never could recover from that."

In the third inning, Wilson Valdez failed to corral a line drive down the third-base line hit by Hairston that plated two more runs. The first runner to cross the plate was opposing pitcher Jonathon Niese, who had walked to lead off the frame.

Another leadoff walk in the fourth came around to score, too, and Hamels allowed three more runs in the fifth before being lifted. It was his worst outing since his first start of the season, which just so happened to come against the Mets, too.

For his career, Hamels is now 3-10 with a 4.69 ERA against the Mets. In three starts this season against New York, he has been saddled with a 9.64 ERA. His ERA against everyone else, however, is a sterling 1.91."