PHILLIES NEWS

Sometimes when you score runs early and you get good pitching, those early runs stand up for the entire the game, and stand up they did for the Phillies tonight. The Phils got on the board early with 4 runs in the 1st 3 innings and they held up for the rest of the night, as Randy Wolf pitched 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, and relievers, Geoff Geary, Arthur Rhodes, and Ryan Madson combined to blank the Mets for the final 4 innings. Now, if I was to ask you who the team leaders are for the Phillies, you would probably answer Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Well wouldn't you know it was those 2 that combined to knock in all 4 Phillies runs. Utley had an RBI single in the 1st inning and Howard had a sac fly in the 1st inning and a 2 run homer in the 3rd inning (that's 45 now). Now, just to put this win (it was 4-3 Phillies) in perspective let's look at how the Mets played tonight. Their starter Brian Bannister actually pitched 6 innings, 1 more than Wolf, but he gave up 4 runs on 6 hits, as opposed to 3 runs on 5 hits, and he too was followed by scoreless innings from the Mets bullpen, although only 3 instead of 4. Now offensively, a guy you might consider a team leader on the Mets, like Utley and Howard on the Phils, Carlos Beltran knocked in all 3 Mets runs on an RBI double and a 2 run homer. So as you can see, the 2 teams played pretty evenly, but the Phillies were just a little better, which bodes well for them ,for the remainder of the season. I mean, it really says something about your team when they can go from being blown out by arguably the worst team in the NL 1 night, to beating what is arguably the best team in the NL the next night. Anyway speaking of the remainder of the season, the Reds lost tonight and the Cardinals won, so the Cardinals are back in 1st place in the NL Central, and the Reds are now back in 1st place in the wild card by 1.5 games over the Phils. Well, happy trails everyone.