PHILADELPHIA -- After helping celebrate Ryan Howard, the New York Mets quickly shifted focus their attention to Madison Bumgarner.Cesar Hernandez hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh inning, and the Phillies beat the playoff-bound Mets 5-2 on Sunday in Howards farewell game in Philadelphia.Howard got several standing ovations from the crowd, and Mets players clapped for him during a pregame ceremony and when he left the game in the ninth.Now, the Mets get ready to face one of the best postseason pitchers in baseball when they host San Francisco in a wild-card game Wednesday at Citi Field.Everybody knows what a good pitcher Bumgarner is, but we have a good pitcher, too, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes said through an interpreter.The defending NL champion Mets clinched the top wild-card spot on Saturday so manager Terry Collins gave most of his regulars a day off and ace Noah Syndergaard was pushed back to start against the Giants.Hes a great pitcher, Collins said. You cant let him get ahead of you. If you do, youre in trouble. If Noah pitches like he can, well be fine.The Mets have won at least one series in each of their last four trips to the postseason. To advance this year, theyll have to beat a guy who is 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA in his last five postseason appearances.The man can pitch, Kelly Johnson said of Bumgarner. Hes one of the best in the game. Hes also like having a DH in the lineup. Youre going to face tough pitchers in the playoffs. Our guy is pretty good, too.Mets starter Gabriel Ynoa allowed one run and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Defensive miscues cost New York in the seventh.Andres Blanco started the inning against Erik Goeddel (2-2) with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored the tying run on a double error by first baseman Lucas Duda, who booted pinch hitter Cody Asches grounder and then threw it wild to first.Hernandez ripped a single to right to make it 3-2 and Jimmy Paredes followed with a sacrifice fly for a 4-2 lead.Maikel Franco was 4 for 4, including an RBI single in the third that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead.Colton Murray (1-1) pitched one inning in relief of Jerad Eickhoff to earn his first career win despite allowing a run. Hector Neris finished for his second save.The Mets took a 2-1 lead in the seventh when Kevin Plawecki lined a double to right-center. The ball initially froze center fielder Odubel Herrera, who couldnt recover in time to track it down.Matt Reynolds hit a double with two outs in the sixth and scored on Alejandro De Azas single to tie it at 1-1.STARTING TIMEEickhoff gave up one run and four hits, striking out eight in six innings. He finished the season 11-14 with a 3.65 ERA.UP NEXTSyndergaard (14-9, 2.60 ERA) was 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA in four postseason appearances last year, including three starts.Pascal Siakam Jersey . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. Vince Carter Jersey . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. https://www.raptorsrookiesshop.com/Pascal-Siakam-City-Edition-Jersey/ . 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With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season.Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has his team flying high.The Reds enter Sundays clash with Watford at Anfield in excellent form, unbeaten in seven Premier League matches and 11 straight over all competitions.Liverpools excellent attacking midfield core of Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have led the way in the final third as theyve scored 24 goals to share the league lead with Manchester City heading into this weekends action.But while the attacking play has been irresistible, the defence remains inconsistent and occasionally frustrating for Liverpool supporters.Despite seemingly solid additions to the back line in Ragnar Klavan,and Joel Matip, the Reds (7-2-1) have kept only one clean sheet, which came in a scoreless draw against Manchester United on Oct. 17. Matip and Dejan Lovren have started to form a good partnership in central defence, while former top-choice goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has been displaced by Loris Karius.For the most part, Karius, who arrived from Mainz in the summer, has been decent between the sticks but has shown some reluctance to properly command his box on set pieces and crosses.Despite the defensive frailties, the attacking prowess came through again as Lovren and Matip scored from the back while Firmino and Emre Can found the back of the net in last weeks 4-2 win over Crystal Palace.While it certainly has been an exciting start for the red half of Merseyside, they must keep their form if they want to challenge for the top four and perhaps a title.If we do not continue on this track until the end of the season, no one will remember us and we will not achieve anything, Firmino said. We have to continue on this track until the end.The Reds received some unfortunate injury news this week as striker Danny Ings was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to knee ligament damage. Ingss was working his way back to full fitness after a season-ending injury last term, but now faces another lengthy recovery.ddddddddddddIts a moment when the club and the team really has to show how strong we are and we will wait for him, Klopp said. We will give him all the time he needs and then he will be back again and will be a Liverpool player, 100 percent.Thats the only thing we are working on from this moment on.Watford (4-3-3), meanwhile, come into the clash on a decent run of form, having not lost in four consecutive league matches (two wins, two draws). Coach Walter Mazzarri has his Hornets playing well, but they face an uphill climb to get something out of Anfield.The Hornets, who enter the weekends play in seventh place, may feel they got a bit lucky in last weeks 1-0 win over Hull City as an 83rd-minute own goal from Michael Dawson handed the hosts all three points. Mazzarri knows it will likely take a supreme effort if his club is to get anything from Sundays clash.Were all concentrated and working very hard to go to Liverpool and make a great game, said Mazzarri. We know that Liverpool is one of the teams that is in top form at the moment in the Premier League and the results are showing this.They are playing very well, they have a great team and great players and the coach is managing them very well, so I think they can be one of the title contenders. But of course, we want to go there and make a great performance and make our fans happy.Liverpool have largely had the better of this fixture as only one of the past 18 matches has ended in a draw. The Reds have won 13 and lost four. Liverpool claimed a 2-0 win over Watford in the clubs last meeting on May 8, thanks to goals from Firmino and Joe Allen. ' ' '