PHILLIES NEWS

The Phillies offense has been extraordinarily hot as of late, but yesterday Tim Hudson cooled it off a bit, and today for 5 innings it looked like Braves rookie hurler Chuck James was going to do the same. James kept the Phillies scoreless through the 1st 5 innings and appeared to be on his way to a win. However, Phils starter Randy Wolf was equally strong through 5 innings giving up just one run on a homer by Andrew Jones. Following that homer things began to turn for the Phillies. Pat Burrell homered in the top of the 6th inning to tie the score at 1, and produce an early end to James' day following the inning. As it would happen, this early exit by James after 6 innings would prove to be the Braves downfall. In the bottom of the inning the Braves chased a tired Randy Wolf from the game, scoring 2 runs on an RBI double by Jeff Franceur to take a 3-1. Now, the Braves bullpen has been very inconsistent this year and they had a good night last night, so it seemed likely that they would have a bad day today, and believe me they did and then some. The Phillies started the 7th inning, their 1st of the day against the bullpen, by loading the bases on walks with 1 out against Tyler Yates . Shane Victorino then drew another walk to push across a run and Chase Utley doubled to deep centerfield to score 3 more runs, for a 5-3 Phils lead. From there Yates was relieved by rookie reliever Macay Mcbride and Ryan Howard grounded a high chopper off the mound. While he was being thrown out, Utley scampered all the way home to score another run, as Mcbride never saw him trying to score until it was too late. The Phils now led 6-3, but they weren't done yet, they continued to string together hit after hit after hit, until they had scored a season high 8 runs in the inning, and the Braves had been forced to use 4 pitchers in one inning. On the season the Phillies had not lost a game in which they had the lead after the 7th inning, and now they led 9-3 following the 7th, so you could bet that they were going to win this game, and they did 9-3. All I can say is that 9 run 7th inning was the sweetest inning I have ever witnessed. I mean If you watched this game on TBS during that inning it was hilarious, as they kept showing the chagrined face of Bobby Cox every time the Phillies got another hit. It was like one of those moments you might see on one of those "priceless" commercials. Anyway, happy trails everyone and be sure to tune in next time for the next episode of America's funniest home videos.