PHILLIES NEWS

So far this season, with an 8-10 record and an 5.22 ERA, Tim Hudson has not been at his best for the Braves, but unfortunately for the Phillies he was at his best today. He and Phils starter Cole Hamels dueled to 4 scoreless innings to open the game. Then in bottom of the 5th inning Hudson himself knocked in the 1st run of the night, on a suicide squeeze bunt, of all things. Following these 5th inning heroics, Hudson remained in the game for 2 more innings and kept the Phils scoreless for all of the 7 innings he pitched. Hamels however, only lasted through one more inning, having only given up just that 1 run on 6 hits in his 6 innings of work while recording 6 strikeouts. The 1st time the Braves had a chance to bat against someone other than Hamels, they took advantage of it and were able tack on a couple extra runs to their tally for a 3-0 lead. Still, through 7 innings the Phils were only down 3-0, well within reach of the Braves if they could just start a rally and they did just that in the top of the 8th inning by loading the bases on walks off Danys Baez. Then with the bases loaded David Dellucci stepped to the plate with a chance to put the Phillies ahead with one swing of the bat, and he almost did. After Baez loaded the bases, he was replaced by Wayne Franklin. On the 1st pitch Franklin threw, Dellucci hit a deep fly ball to center field, which at first appeared to be a grand slam, but centerfielder Andrew Jones tracked it the whole way and at the last second leaped up against the fence to make the catch, thwarting Dellucci just inches from the promised land. Thus, Instead of a grand slam and a 4-3 lead, the Phils were left with a mere sac fly to cut the lead to 3-1. Chris Coste then followed Dellucci with a strikeout to end the inning and the Phillies chances for night, as they were retired in order in the 9th inning. Ultimately this was a game the Phils probably could have won, but unlike last night, all of the lucky breaks went to Braves instead of to them, so they lost and the Braves won. In other news Ryan Franklin whom I mentioned had been designated for assignment, was dealt to the reds for a player to be named later. That player will be 1 of 3 Reds minor leaguers, whom the Phillies will be able to choose from in the next few weeks. Speaking of the Reds, they blew away the Cardinals 10-3 tonight so the Phils are now 3.5 games out in the wild card race, but that's okay because there are still plenty of games left to play. Well happy trails everyone