philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – Zack Wheeler, Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard are three names that probably would have looked better than Rick Porcello pitching for the dire-straits Mets on Tuesday. For various reasons, the aforementioned trio was unavailable, starting with the fact the Mets didn’t re-sign Wheeler last offseason, letting him defect to the Phillies. Syndergaard’s season …

Zack Wheeler hasn’t fully shaken the Mets out of his system. Wheeler, who left the Mets after seven seasons to join the rival Phillies on a five-year, $118 million deal in the offseason, is having his next start pushed back because he injured a nail on his pitching hand while putting on his pants. Zack …

The calendar said Labor Day, but this ultimately became Groundhog Day for the Mets. Dramatically, they rallied Monday and appeared ready to win a series against the Phillies and perhaps turn momentum in the race for second place in the NL East. And then came late silence of their bats and not enough outs from …

Three weeks from Monday the Mets will either be preparing for a National League playoff series or cleaning out lockers to begin their offseason. Whether they reach October will hinge largely upon starting pitching, with the bullpen also hardly immune from worry. The lineup is by far the least of the Mets’ concerns. A fruitful …

The 1992-93 NHL contained 24 teams. In the years between then and now, 23 of those clubs — including four franchises that moved locations — had advanced to the conference finals at least once. The one that had not, the one that could not make it to a Stanley Cup finals over all that time, …

The Mets have enough problems filling a rotation that includes Seth Lugo. Without Lugo’s transition from the bullpen, this starting pitching mess would be piled higher and deeper. Saturday night the right-hander completed his buildup, reaching five innings for the first time and giving the Mets hope they have a respectable No. 2 behind Jacob …

The Islanders are headed to Edmonton for the Eastern Conference finals. Skating the top-seeded Flyers off the ice and ultimately out of the Stanley Cup playoffs Saturday night in Toronto, the Islanders took Game 7 in convincing fashion with a 4-0 victory, securing a spot in their first conference finals since 1993. They will take …

In this almost-everybody-has-a-shot season, the Mets’ chances of winning the NL East are virtually dead. Another avenue to the postseason also could be almost closed by the time Monday’s Labor Day cookouts are concluding. With second-place teams assured a playoff berth, the Mets can still go that route, but unless they show something against the …

The line was dominant and dazzling, the Anders Lee-Mat Barzal-Jordan Eberle combination owning staggering peripherals. At five-on-five, the unit built a 32-11 advantage in attempts, a 22-5 edge in unblocked attempts, a 15-5 edge in shots, a 91.49 xGF and a 17-3 advantage in scoring chances, per Naturalstattrick.com. Lee scored on the power play with …

The Islanders have lost their grip on this series. Coming out on the wrong end of a 5-4 loss in double overtime Thursday night, the Islanders allowed the Flyers to force a Game 7 of this Eastern Conference second-round series behind a goal from Ivan Provorov at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The Islanders had previously …