New York, NY (AP) - The Phillies are really starting to hit their stride as May is about to turn into June.  Philadelphia explodes all over the Mets, beating their rivals 9-0 on the road.

The Fightins dominated in every aspect of the game.  Manager Charlie Manuel agreed afterwards, "We hit the ball, we caught the ball, we pitched the ball, we ran the bases good.  When you do all those things, you're going to have a good chance to win."

Chase Utley got the Phils offense going early with his 10th home run of the season.

First, the offense.

Chase Utley really jolted Mets starter Johan Santana early.  In the first inning, with two outs and on the verge of a solid 1-2-3 inning to start the game, Utley crushed a Santana offering nearly 400 feet to right field, and just like that, the Phillies were in control.

They'd never look back.

In the second inning, Shane Victorino led off with a ground rule double.  Carlos Ruiz picked up an RBI single - one of many clutch hits for the Phils all night long.

But, the devastating inning was the fourth.  Cliff Lee helped out his own cause with an RBI single to left.  Jimmy Rollins drew a bases loaded walk, scoring another run.  That chased starter Johan Santana.  But, Placido Polanco also smacked a 2 RBI double to blow the game wide open at 6-0.  Santana gave up all 6 runs over just 3 and 2/3 innings.

And what probably hurt the most in that fourth inning: all 4 runs came with two outs  "I just couldn't close out that inning.  I had my chances and just didn't get the job done," said a very disappointed Santana at his locker after the game.

It was a much different story for Santana's counterpart, Cliff Lee.  After struggling in a couple of starts, Lee found his groove once again.  The lefty mowed down the Mets lineup like he had somewhere to be after the game.

Carlos Ruiz appears to be coming out of his early season slump, now hitting above .200 for the year.

"He was just hitting his spots," said catcher Carlos Ruiz.  "When he's able to do that, just put the ball where he wants to, forget it if you're the other team.  You're just not going to be able to do much."

New York certainly proved that to be the case.  Lee gave up just 4 hits in a complete game shutout.  He also struck out 8 Mets batters en route to his sixth victory of the season.

Lee certainly had plenty of help from his teammates in the field behind him.  The Phillies made a number of great plays to keep New York off the board.  Utley and Polanco both made diving stops to throw from their knees and get force outs at second base.  Ryan Howard flashed the leather with a similar play.

"Every time I needed the defense to step up, they had my back.  As a pitcher, that's such a huge confidence builder, because I know that if the batter makes contact, they can go and get the ball and make outs," said Lee.

Normally, this is a pretty heated, evenly matched rivalry.  But, so far this season, it's been anything but.  The Phillies have now won 6 of 7 meetings so far in the season series.  And they'll look to build on that tomorrow, as Roy Oswalt takes the mound for the Phils.FULL BOX SCORE