The ugliness continued for the Phillies last night as bad defense and awful work from their pen got together late and the Mets topped them 7-4.

Joe Blanton was charged with four runs over 6 2/3 innings in the game, but pitched a whole lot better than his line. He left with a 4-2 lead with two men on in the seventh. Qualls and Bastardo took over after that, facing three batters and getting just one out as the other two delivered RBI-singles. The Phils also put together just about the ugliest rundown you’ve ever seen in the frame.

The miserable performance of the bullpen continues as the Phils remain, by ERA, the worst bullpen in either league. The team’s bullpen ERA for the season is up to 4.95.

Over the last five games, the bullpen has been charged with more than one run in every game, allowing 13 runs (12 earned) in 13 innings and throwing to an 8.31 ERA with a 2.30 ratio. In 13 innings they’ve allowed 20 hits and ten walks. Those numbers don’t include the game they lost 15-13 on May 2 — in that game the bullpen was charged with seven runs in 4 2/3 innings.

The pen has also allowed more than one run in eight of the last ten games. In one of those games they didn’t appear at all (Blanton’s complete game on May 3). There’s only one game in the last ten where the bullpen got at least one out and allowed less than two runs (May 1 against the Braves).

The Phillies are 14-17 on the year after losing to the New York Mets 7-4 last night. The Mets have won the first two games of the series. The Phillies have lost four of their last five games.

Blanton got the start for the Phillies and went 6 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, both doubles. He struck out seven.

Blanton walked Kirk Nieuwenhuis with one out in the first, but got David Wright on a fly ball to right and Lucas Duda swinging to leave him at first.

Up 2-0, he set the Mets down in order in the second.

Up 4-0, he threw a 1-2-3 third.

Nieuwenhuis doubled to center to start the fourth and moved to third when Wright flew to right for the first out. Duda followed with a walk, putting runners on first and third for Daniel Murphy. Murphy singled into left, scoring Nieuwenhuis to make it 4-1 with men on first and second. Blanton got Ike Davis and Jordany Valdespin, both on fly balls to center, to end the frame.

Blanton hit Mike Nickeas to start the fifth. Pitcher Miguel Batista bunted Nickeas to second with the first out and Nickeas took third when Andres Torres grounded to second for the second. Blanton struck out Nieuwenhuis to leave Nickeas at third.

Wright led off the sixth with a double. Blanton struck out Duda before Murphy moved Wright up to third with a ground out. He got behind Davis 2-0 before striking him out swinging 3-2 to end leave Wright at third.

Blanton walked Valdespin to start the seventh. He struck Nickeas out for the first out and righty Scott Hairston hit for the pitcher Manny Acosta. Hairston popped to second for the second out, but Torres followed and singled softly to right, moving Valdespin up to third. Nieuwenhuis followed with a single to right that scored Valdespin (4-2) and moved Torres to second. Qualls came in to pitch to Wright. Wright singled to right. Hunter fielded and threw home, but his throw wasn’t close to getting Torres, who scored to make it 4-3. Ruiz moved out in front of the plate to take the throw and Wright was caught up between first and second. Rollins threw to Orr covering first and Orr ran Wright towards second, but there was nobody covering second. Orr threw to third to try and Nieuwenhuis there, but his throw was in the dirt and got away for an error, allowing Nieuwenhuis to score and tie the game at 4-4 with two outs and Wright on third. Bastardo came in to pitch to the left Duda and Duda singled to right, scoring Wright to put New York on top 5-4. Murphy flew to center for the third out.

The Wright single play was really ugly. Don’t know why Pence threw home in the first place, cause there was no chance to get Torres. Don’t know why his throw wasn’t cut before making it home. Don’t know why nobody was covering second when Orr was running towards second. The thing that bothers me least about the play was the throw to third, which was in the dirt but could easily have been handled there to prevent the second run.

Qualls and Bastardo face three batters in the inning, allowing two singles and getting one out. Two runs score on the first single, with the help of ugly defense, and one on the second.

Qualls has with at least one run in four of his last six appearances, although the run he was charged with last night was unearned due to Orr’s throwing error. Over his last 4 1/3 innings, he has allowed nine hits and three walks.

Bastardo started the eighth. Davis led off and hit a ball to second that Orr didn’t handle for an error, his second in four batters. The lefty Valdespin flew to left for the second out. Contreras took over for Bastardo, pitching to the righty Nickeas. Ruiz threw Davis out trying to steal second before Nickeas fouled out to Mayberry to end the frame.

Bastardo allows the RBI-single to Duda in the seventh with the run charged to Qualls, then comes back to work around the Orr error in the eighth. He has allowed one hit and two walks over 4 2/3 innings without being charged with a run over his last five appearances. He has thrown two days in a row.

Schwimer started the ninth. Lefty Mike Baxter hit for the pitcher Tim Byrdak and walked on six pitches. Torres moved Baxter to third with a single. Nieuwenhuis flew to left with both runners moving up a base. Baxter scored to make it 6-4 with one out and a man on second. Schwimer struck Wright out swinging for the second out. Savery came in to pitch to the lefty Duda. Duda singled to center on a ball deflected by Savery, scoring Torres to make it 7-4. Murphy grounded back to the pitcher to end the frame.

Second time in three innings that the Phillies bring in a lefty to face the lefty Duda and Duda delivers an RBI-single.

Schwimer has made five appearances on the season and been charged with runs in four of them. He has an 8.53 ERA for the year and opponents have on-based .400 against him. He’s allowed way too many hits and way too many walks in his short time with the Phillies this year. On the plus side, six of the seven hit he’s allowed have been singles.

Savery dropped his ERA to 4.50. It was the only outing of his last three in which he was not charged with a run.

Overall the pen goes 2 1/3 innings in the game, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk. It was worse than that, though, cause two of the runs that scored after Blanton left were charged to Blanton.

Bastardo has thrown two days in a row and threw 18 pitches in the game. Schwimer 17 and everybody else was under ten.

The Phillies lineup against righty Miguel Batista went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Victorino (4) Pence (5) Ruiz (6) Polanco (7) Mayberry (8) Orr. Mayberry starts at first against the righty with Nix on the bench with a sore calf. Pierre in left and hitting second. Ruiz hits fifth. The lefty Orr at second with the righty Galvis on the bench.

Pierre singled with one out and stole second before Victorino popped out for the second. Pence was next and hit a 1-1 pitch out to center for his seventh home run of the year, putting the Phils up 2-0. Ruiz followed that with a double to center, put Polanco grounded to the pitcher to end the inning.

Mayberry led off the second and reached on a throwing error by Valdespin at short that left Mayberry on second. Mayberry took third on another error, a bad pickoff attempt by Batista. Orr singled into center and Mayberry scored, putting the Phils up 3-0. Blanton struck out trying to bunt before Orr stole second. Rollins followed that with a walk, putting men on first and second for Pierre. Pierre flew to center for the second out, but Victorino was next and lined a ball over short and into the gap in left center for a double that scored Orr (4-0) and moved Rollins to third. Pence flew to center for the third out.

Mayberry singled with two outs in the third, but Orr flew to left behind him.

Blanton started the fourth with a walk with the lead cut to 4-1. Rollins grounded into a double-play behind him. Pierre grounded to second to end the inning.

The Phillies went in order in the fifth.

Mayberry singled to center with one out in the sixth and moved to third when Orr followed with a double. Righty Manny Acosta came in to pitch to Blanton and Blanton went down on a ground ball to second with the runners holding for the second out. Rollins struck out swinging to leave the runners stranded.

No runs for the Phils after putting men on second and third with one out.

The Phillies were down 5-4 when they hit in the seventh. Righty Ramon Ramirez walked Victorino with one out. Pence was next and grounded to third with Victorino forced at second for the second out. Ruiz grounded to second to end the inning.

Polanco reached on an infield single off of Ramirez to start the eighth. He took second on a wild pitch before Mayberry lined hard to second for the first out. He took third on another wild pitch before Orr struck out swinging at a 3-2 pitch that was off of the plate. Nix hit for Contreras. Lefty Tim Byrdak came in to pitch to Nix. Wigginton hit for Nix and flew to center to set the Phillies down.

No run for the Phillies after putting a runner on third with one out. Awful at-bat by Orr, striking out on a pitch out of the strike zone when the Mets were looking like they might be happy to let the righty Ramirez walk the lefty Orr.

Down 7-4, Pierre singled off of righty Jon Rauch with one out in the ninth. Victorino flew to left and Pence grounded to third to end the game.

Rollins was 0-for-4 with a walk in the game. 3-for-his-last-21.

Pierre 2-for-4. 337/396/361 for the season. Among the 115 NL players with 75 plate appearances, his .396 on-base percentage is 12th.

Victorino 1-for-4 with a walk and a double. 10-for-his-last-30 with four walks and four extra-base hits.

Pence 1-for-5 with a two-run homer. 1-for-8 so far in the series.

Ruiz 1-for-4 with a double.

Polanco 1-for-4. 5-for-his-last-12.

Mayberry 2-for-4. 296/310/370 over his last 29 plate appearances.

Orr was 2-for-4 with a double, two errors and an ugly strikeout in the eighth. His .455 slugging percentage is fourth-best on the team.

Lee (0-1, 1.96) returns from the DL to face righty Dillon Gee (2-2, 4.50) tonight. Lee threw ten shutout innings against the Giants on April 18, which was his last start before hitting the DL. Gee has walked just one right-handed batter in his five starts on the season. He’s made four appearances against the Phils in his career (three starts) in which he’s thrown to a 7.85 ERA and a 1.85 ratio.