Saturday, May 12, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
With Ryan Howard now on the DL the Phils needed someone else to step up fill the void left by his absence. Yesterday, that someone was Pat Burrell with two homers. Today, that someone was Greg "Roy Hobbs" Dobbs in a rare start at 1st base in place of Howard. Dobbs went 4-4 on the day racking up 4 hits and 2 RBIs including the eventual game winning RBI. Initially, it didn't look like Dobbs would need to be such a hero. Freddy Garcia went 6 innings allowing just 3 runs on 8 hits, while Chase Utley homered and the Phils took a 5-1 lead into the 7th inning. Then, all hell broke lose. The Cubs suddenly came to life in the top of the 7th, quickly scoring 4 runs to tie it at 5. Then with one out and 2 on the game went into a 1 hour and 5 minute rain delay. When the game returned from delay, the Cubs scored 2 more runs and nearly added a 3rd but Shane Victorino gunned down Jacque Jones at the plate to end the inning. The Cubs had thus taken a 7-5 lead. It would not last long. After two quick outs in the bottom of the inning, Aaron Rowand laced a single in rightfield. Then Chase Utley doubled to score Rowand but only after a bad relay throw from the pitcher. After a Pat Burrell walk, Dobbs already with 3 hits on the day, stepped back into the batter's box and delivered a triple, scoring both Utley and Burrell after another bad relay throw. Abraham Nunez then doubled to score Dobbs, Carlos Ruiz homered and suddenly the Phils led again 11-7. With the help of Brett Myers, who pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th inning , and the rain which returned in the 9th, the Phils hung on for the win, improving their record to 17-19 and moving back into 3rd place in the NL East, but still 7 games behind Atlanta for first. Life is still beautiful.
Friday, May 11, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
Last year, everything and I mean everything that went wrong for the Phils last year was blamed on Pat Burrell. The truth is though, that his numbers weren't really as bad as everyone seems to think they were. I mean he hit 20+ homers and and knocked close to 100 runs, which on most teams doesn't look too bad, but on a Phils team featuring Ryan Howard with 58 homers and 150 RBIs, and Chase Utley with 30 homers and 100+ RBIs, those numbers do tend to lack a bit of luster. Tonight, however Burrell began to atone for his only okay 2006. On a night when the new "lefty" Cole Hamels went 7 innings and allowed only 2 runs on 7 hits and the bullpen pitched near perfect 2 hit ball, all the Phils really needed was a couple of big blasts. A couple of big blasts was exactly what Pat Burrell gave them. In the 4th inning with 2 on and and nobody out and the Phils trailing 2-0, Burrell hit his first homer of the day off Cubs starter Rich Hill, to put the Phils up 3-2. Then in the 6th inning he did it again only this time with only one on and nobody out to increase the Phils lead to 5-2. Although that would be all the Phils would need, Chase Utley kept the momentum going anyway, knocking in a couple runs in the 7th inning with 2 outs, to put the Cubs away for good by the eventual final score of 7-2. Life is still Beautiful.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
The got the day off today finally, but tomorrow the return to action back home in Philly at Citizens Bank Park against the Cubs, in the team's first meeting of the season.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
Things didn't look so good for the Phils at the onset of tonight's game. After 6 innings Jamie Moyer had been touched up for 3 runs and 6 hits and the Phils offense was continuing to struggle as Randy Johnson shut them out through 6 innings. In the seventh inning though everything changed in a big way. Johnson began the 7th by loading the bases with nobody out. As he was lifted in a favor of reliever Brandon Medders, the Phils sent in a pinch hitter to take the place of Wes Helms, and he was none other than supposedly hobbled Phil Ryan Howard. In a scene reminiscent of Kirk Gibson against the A's, Howard deposited Medders first pitch into the seats, turning a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 Phils lead. Meanwhile, Moyer pitched a scoreless frame in the bottom of the inning to end his day on a high note. An error by Conor Jackson allowed the Phils to push the lead to 6-3 in the 8th and Shane Victorino Homer helped the Phils up it to 9-3 in the 9th inning. Two scoreless frames from Brett Myers later, the Phils had won 9-3 to push their record back up to 15-19. Hopefully, this will not only pump Howard out of the funk that caused him to get this entire series off , but pump the Phils out of their recent funk, after a 4-6 road trip, as well. Life is Beautiful, and in the immortal words of Jack Buck "I don't believe what I saw".
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
The dark days continue for the Phils. Once again The phils got a start out of Adam Eaton who went 7 innings while allowing just 3 runs on 7 hits, but once again the Diamondbacks got a good start too out of young Micah Owings who also went 7 innings while allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits. In end Owings performance was good enough for the win, Eaton's was not. The Diamondbacks led early 1-0, but Greg "Roy Hobbs" Dobbs, starting his first game if the season in place of the struggling Ryan Howard, hit his first major league homer in the 5th inning to tie it. The Diamondbacks came back with a run in the 6th inning to go up 2-1, but again the Phils had answer in the bottom of the inning as Chase Utley homered to tie it at 2. The Diamondbacks once again came back with one more run off Eaton as Tony Clark homered to put Arizona up 3-2. This time there be no answer from the Phils, as the two bullpens combined for 3 scoreless innings(one for the Phils by Geoff Geary, and 2 for Arizona) to end the game. So the Phils lost 3-2 and their record now stumbles to 14-19 on the season thus far. Life still sucks.
Monday, May 07, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
Although hobbled, Freddy Garcia turned in his best start of the season thus far, going 6 innings and allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits. Unfortunately, Garcia's effort was not enough on this night in Arizona. The Phils were dazzled themselves by Diamondbacks starter Doug Davis who also went 6 innings while allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits. Then of course when the Phils had finally tied at 2 in the 6th. Antonio Alfonseca came in to pitch the 7th inning and promptly allowed the Diamondbacks to go back ahead 3-2. The Phils battled back again and tied it in the top of 8th at 3, but did so the hard by beating out consecutive double play attempts. Then of course in the bottom of the 8th inning in came Francisco Rosario who once again promptly allowed Arizona to go back ahead 4-3 and that was all they would need. The Phils only baserunner in the 9th was Jimmy Rollins who was hit by pitch and never advanced off 1st base. Thus, the Phils fell short again. It's pretty clear now that the Phils just can't win close games with the bullpen they have right now, especially not with the way they performed tonight. At any rate though the Phils dropped to 14-18, somehow by the grace of God, the Braves, Marlins, and Mets all lost tonight as well, so the Phils didn't lose any ground in the NL, they just didn't gain any either. Life sucks again.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
Coming off consecutive losses the Phils needed to win tonight's game to earn a split of their series with the Giants, and to right their suddenly sinking ship. Once again just like the last two games the phils got off to a quick start with Shane Victorino hitting a 2 run homer in the first inning. This time, however, Cole Hamels made sure that there would be no Giants comeback. Hamels went 7 strong innings, striking out 9, while allowing only 5 runs on 8 hits. Meanwhile, the Phils pounded out 6 more runs on 6 hits, including another 2 run homer by Ryan Howard, a doubles by Chase Utley and a triple by Jimmy Rollins. Heck, even Hamels doubled and scored what turned out to be the winning run in the 6th inning. Even more impressive though, was the almost unassisted insurance run scored by Micheal Bourn in the 7th inning, as he stole second and third base, and then somehow scored on a hard hit ground ball right to SS Omar Vizquel, as he somehow slid through the plate block of Bengie Molina. For the second time in as many Phils wins Brett Myers entered in the 9th and got the save for an 8-5 Phils win, improving their record to 14-17. Life is somewhat beautiful again.
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