PHILLIES NEWS

Well the Phillies just kept on rolling today with their 3rd straight win over the Mets. However, the Mets were actually able to make a game out of it this time as they only lost by a final score 0f 3-0. The keys to victory on the night for the Phillies, were the same as they have been the last 2 nights, good pitching, timely hitting, and solid defense. First let's talk about the good pitching, or should I say pitcher, as in Jon Lieber who pitched a complete game shutout of the Mets on just 5 hits. This is the pitching the Phillies have been waiting to get from Lieber, and now he is finally delivering it at just the right time. If he and the rest of the Phillies staff can continue pitching like this there's a pretty good chance we could be talking baseball in October. Anyway, enough about the pitching, time to talk hitting. While the Phils offense wasn't as good tonight as it has been that last couple nights, it was more than adequate. I mean they scored 3 runs off Tom Glavine, so you could make the argument that doing that is just as good as scoring 11 runs off El Duque. Anyway the big contributors on the night, were Chris Coste who hit a 2 run homer in the 2nd inning, and Abraham Nunez, who helped the Phillies tack on an extra run in the 6th inning with a sac fly. Well, that's about all there is to say about the offense, so lets finish up with some talk about the defense. Now, when Jon Lieber is pitching well he is a ground ball pitcher, so it is important for the Phillies to back him up with good defense every time he is on the mound. Needless to say that is what the Phillies did tonight, so I really have nothing else to talk about. Anyway, for those of you wondering about the wild card standings, the Reds won tonight, so the Phillies are still 2.5 games back. Well happy trails everyone.