PHILLIES NEWS

Over the last few weeks it has become increasingly evident, what the key to Phillies season is right now, Pitching. Ever since they got on this second half hot streak, it is their pitching that has determined their fate night after night. Whenever they get good pitching, whether it be from a starter, or from their bullpen, they win, and whenever they don't get good pitching, they lose. Now, in their last 2 games they suffered through bad starts by Scott Mathieson, and Brett Myers, and obviously lost badly in both games. Today, however Cole Hamels cooked up a good one going 6 innings, and giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits. Needless to say the Phils won easily, pounding out 13 hits and 11 runs, including 8 runs alone in the 2nd inning, en route to an 11 -2 victory over the Nationals. Jimmy Rollins went 3 for 5 on the night with an RBI double, Shane Victorino also went 3 for 5 with a double and 3 RBIs, Ryan Howard hit a 3 run homer (that's 43 now), and heck even Hamels had a hit and 2 RBIs. As you can see it was truly a team effort, with 5 guys combining to knock in the 11 runs (Chase Utley was the 5th), and 3 pitchers combining to hold the Nationals to 2 runs (the other 2 were relievers Geoff Geary and Fabio Castro, who pitched 3 scoreless innings to finish the game). Simply put, it was a good win for the Phils, and you can only hope that they can continue playing the way they did today. Of course, in order to do that they will need to get more good pitching, and with Jon Lieber who pitched a shutout in his last start, on the mound tomorrow they could very well get it. In other pitching related news, the Phillies made a huge deal with the Mariners (Gm Pat Gillick's old team) today. If you look at the Phillies rotation, you immediately notice that with exceedingly raw rookie Scott Mathieson 5th in the rotation, they only have 4 reliable starters. In fact if you look at the Phillies roster they only thing missing is a 5th starter. I mean, the Bullpen has the NL's 3rd best ERA, and the offense is near the top of the NL in runs scored. Really, the Only thing lacking on the team up to this point is consistent starting pitching. With today's deal they might just have that now and then some. They sent single A minor league pitchers, Andrew Baldwin and Andrew Barb to the Mariners for veteran left-handed starter Jamie Moyer. On the year Moyer is only 6-12, but his ERA is a respectable 4.39 and so far this season he has recieved less run support than any other pitcher in the American League. Now obviously run support is something the Phils can give him, thus he should be able to help the Phils win some games. Also he brings a lot of experience and he's been in the playoffs before, so he knows what it takes to get there. Basically ,with Moyer aboard the Phillies now have that 5th starter they've been lacking and are serious playoff contenders. Oh and about the playoffs, the Reds won today so the Phils remain 2.5 games back of the Wild Card. Well, happy trails everyone.