Saturday, June 16, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
"Old reliable" Jamie Moyer came through yet again today for the Phils. He went 7 innings allowing just 2 runs, on 4 hits, while striking out 4. More importantly, he kept Detroit in the ballpark forcing the Tigers into nearly 20 groundouts, while allowing just 2 homers, both solo, and early in the game. Carlos Guillen hit a solo shot in the 2nd inning, and Curtis Granderson hit a solo shot in the 3rd. After that it was all Moyer who retired the next 11 batters he faced. Meanwhile, for the Phils Shane Victorino hit a solo homer in the 1st inning, and Aaron Rowand hit a solo homer in the 3rd. Rowand then singled in Victorino in the 5th for a 3-2 lead. Chase Utley upped the lead to 4-2 with an RBI Double in the 6th. Carlos Ruiz hit another in 7th for a 5-2 lead, and Ryan Howard finished the double parade with an RBI double in the 8th for a 6-2 lead. The Phils bullpen then closed it out. Ryan Madson pitched a perfect 8th inning, and Antonio Alfonseca survived the 9th after allowing 1 run on 3 hits, to clinch a 6-3 Phils win. So the Phils are now 36-32, .5 games behind Atlanta for 2nd in the NL East, and 2 games behind the Mets for first. Thus, life is beautiful again.
Friday, June 15, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
After sweeping the White Sox the Phils came out firing against the Tigers tonight. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard both homered in the 1st inning and the Phils led early 2-0. Unfortunately just when it seemed as if their hot streak would continue, Detroit came back with a vengeance. The Tigers scored 2 in the second inning to tie it, and then in the 5th Jon Lieber ran into the dreaded ,big inning, as he was touched up for 5 runs, including a 3 run homer by Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. Still, it was only 7-2, so the Phils were at least still in it. They wouldn't stay in it for long. The Tigers scored 4 more runs in the 6th off Francisco Rosario, including an RBI double by Sean Casey, to race out to an 11-3 lead(Jimmy Rollins hit his second homer of the night back in the 5th). Still, as has been their MO all season the Phils weren't ready to give up yet. Greg Dobbs homered in the 6th, to cut the lead to 11-4. After the Tigers had tacked on another run, Shane Victorino hit a 2 run homer in the 7th to cut the lead to 12-6. Carlos Ruiz doubled in a run, and Jimmy Rollins tripled in Ruiz in the 8th to cut the lead to 12-8. Then with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, the Phils put two on for Greg Dobbs, with Jayson Werth in the on deck circle representing the tying run. Unfortunately, Dobbs struck out and the Phils fell 12-8. In all the Phils hammered 5 homers, for 8 runs on 13 hits. and yet they still lost. Which tells you just how good the Tigers are. So the Phils dropped to 35-32, but they are still in 3rd place just 3 games behind the Mets for first, and .5 games behind Atlanta for 2nd. In other words, life sucks again.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
After their sweep of the White Sox the Phils got a well deserved day off today. Tomorrow the Detroit Tigers come to the Bank for a weekend series, and hopefully they won't beat up on the Phils as much as they beat up on Mets earlier this week, when they swept them. In other news Freddy Garcia will not be having season ending shoulder injury. At least not yet anyway, as the Phils and the two doctors he has visited so far, want to take it slow with him. At any rate Garcia is still out indefinitely, but at least now there's a chance that he'll be back before the season is over.
FLYERS NEWS
Antero Niitymaki will be back with the orange and black next season, although this time he probably won't be the starter, as Martin Biron all but earned that spot with his play at the end of the season. At any rate Niitymaki signed a new 2 year contract with the Flyers. While, it's true that he struggled last season, recording exactly 9 wins in 47 starts, you could say the same for just about everyone else with Flyers last season as well, and so the Flyers hope that last season was just a blip on the radar screen, and that Niitymaki will return to form next season. Let's hope their right.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils finished off their 3 game set with the White Sox early today with a business person special. As mentioned rookie Kyle Kendrick got the start for the Phils and the youngster did a stellar job going 6 innings while allowing only 3 runs on 6 hits, and striking out 4. If that sounds familiar its because that's exactly what "the Rocket" Roger Clemens did for the Yankees yesterday. Now obviously Kendrick isn't the next Rocket yet, but today was a pretty good start, and if nothing else he's earned himself at least another start and consideration as the long term replacement for Freddy Garcia, if Freddy is in fact out for the rest of the season. Perhaps, the most remarkable aspect of Kendrick's performance though, is that the entire time he was in the game the Phils were trailing, yet he never got discouraged and kept his composure, until the Phils could rally in the 6th and 7th inning, after he left the game. Earlier on the White Sox led, scoring a run each in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd innings for a 3-0 lead. The Phils kept it close with an RBI single by Chase Utley in the first and solo homer by Wes Helms in the 2nd, yes he actually hit one for the first time in over 100 at bats. After Kendrick blanked the Sox for the next three innings, the Phils entered the bottom of the 6th only trailing 3-2. There Jayson Werth beat out an infield single, Wes Helms blooped a single to move Werth to 3rd, and Aaron Rowand lined a pinch hit ground out just hard enough to score Werth and tie the game at 3. Chase Utley then led off the 7th with a double, one out later and after a Pat Burrell walk , Abraham Nunez delivered a pinch single to score Utley and give the Phils a 4-3 lead. From there, things got wide open. After another out, Rod Barajas walked to load the bases with two out for ex-White Sox Aaron Rowand, who had stayed in the game to play centerfield after his pinch ground out. Two Strikes later Rowand greeted his old team with a grand slam, to put the Phils up for good 8-3. The Sox managed to add a run in the 8th to cut the lead to 8-4, but that would be all they'd get the rest of the day as the Phils won 8-4 to complete a sweep of Chicago. Unfortunately now that that's done the big boys are coming to town, as the defending AL Champion Detroit Tigers visit the Bank for the weekend and the Phils are then going to head to Cleveland to face the Indians to start next week. Both of those teams are loaded with talent and are likely headed to the playoffs this season, so if the Phils can get by them without losing too much ground, they might just prove that they're worthy of a division title or at least of a playoff berth. At any rate the Phils are now tied with Atlanta for 2nd in the NL East, and 2 games behind the Mets for first. Thus, life remains beautiful.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
The hits just keep on coming, for the White Sox that is, as the Phils pounded out 7 runs on 9 hits, while Cole Hamels went 8 innings allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits, while striking out 8, to record his NL leading 9th win of the season. Initially, things didn't look so good as Paul Konerko and Jermain Dye both homered in the first inning to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. The Phils came right back in the bottom of the inning though, loading the bases with two outs. Pat Burrell walked to force in a run, Greg Dobbs singled to score two more, and the Phils took a 3-2 lead and never looked back. Chase Utley added a two run homer in the 2nd, and a 2 RBI single in the 4th, to power the Phils to a 7-2 lead , for which Chicago had no answer. Luis Terrero added a solo homer for the Sox in the 9th, but by then it was too late, as Geoff Geary retired the next two batters in order to clinch a 7-3 win for the Phils. So the Phils are now 34-31, 1 game behind Atlanta for 2nd in the NL East and 3 behind the Mets for first. Basically, they're in pretty good position now. Rookie Kyle Kendrick, recently called up from AA, gets the call for the Phils tomorrow in place of Freddy Garcia. Hopefully he can keep it going for the Phils, because once again life remains beautiful.
Monday, June 11, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
Big win for the Phils tonight, and there really wasn't much to it. Adam Eaton, Mike Zagurski, and Antonio Alfonseca combined to blank the Jim Thome and the White Sox for all 9 innings of tonight's game allowing just 5 hits and striking out 7. Meanwhile, Pat Burrell hit a solo homer in the 2nd inning, Ryan Howard hit another in the 4th inning, and Jimmy Rollins finished off the homer parade with a 3rd solo shot in the 6th inning. So the Phils won 3-0 in front of the home crowd to rebound from their embarrassing loss at KC and have now improved to 33-31 just 4 games behind the first place Mets. Thus just like that life is beautiful again.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
The Royals are the worst team in the majors right now, and the only one with 40 losses, yet, today it was the Phils who looked like the 40 loss team, and the Royals who looked like the 3rd place team trying to get over the hump. The usually reliable Jamie Moyer wasn't today, allowing 6 runs on 7 hits in just 3 and 2/3rds innings of work. With homers by Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard, the Phils somehow managed to hang in it for 5 innings, only trailing 6-5. Not coincidentally, the 5th, was also the only inning in which the Royals failed to score a run. In other words after the 5th it was all KC, as the Phils bullpen was just beat up, allowing 11 runs on 7 hits. Ryan Madson walked two batters, Jose Mesa fired two wild pitches, and Geoff Geary was treated to a couple boneheaded plays by Phils fielders. Basically, everything the Phils could have done wrong they did and in the end they lost by the whopping final score of 17-5. It just doesn't get any more embarrassing than that, and life just can't suck any more than that.
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