PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils completed their series with the Reds this afternoon. Joe Blanton got the start for the Phils and as advertised he was shaky. He looked good for 4 innings before running into trouble in the 5th inning. Somehow he managed to escape the 5th with the lead and thanks to a Phils offensive barrage the rest of the way, that was enough to earn him the win, just his second of the season thus far. The Reds simply couldn't stop the Phils tonight. In fact the Phils scored off the first 5 the pitchers the Reds brought in the game, before David Weathers became the lone member of the Red's pitching staff to silence the Phil's bats on the night in the 9th inning. In the top of the 1st Jimmy Rollins singled and scored on a fielder's choice for a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 2nd Chase Utley singled in a couple runs and scored on a double by Raul Ibanez for a 4-0 lead. In the top of the 3rd Greg Dobbs slammed a solo homer for a 5-0 lead. In the top of the 4th Utley slugged a solo homer for a 6-0 lead. Finally in the bottom of the 5th the Reds got to Blanton, as 2 runs scored on a single by Willie Taveras and a fielder's choice, before Brandon Phillips crushed a 3 run homer to cut the lead to 6-5. Blanton then induced a groundout though, to get out of the inning with the Phils still ahead. The bats took it from there. In the top of the 6th Utley sac flyed in a run for a 7-5 lead. In the top of the 7th Ryan Howard tatooed a solo homer, and Pedro Feliz socked a pinch 2 run double and scored on a single by JRoll for an 11-5 lead. In the top of the 8th Ibanez lined out another homer for a 12-5 lead and that proved to be the final score. So again Blanton was saved by the bats, but he can't expect that every night, he's going to have to pitch better. Let's forget out Blanton for a second though and talk about Ibanez. Are you kidding me? 35 years old and he nows leads the NL in homers with 15, RBIs with 40 and is 6th in BA. at .349. 35 year olds aren't supposed to be this good, but I'm glad he is. You have wonder though whether this will last all season, but why not, no one deserves it more than RAUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLL! Anyway so the Phils are now 22-17 overall and lead the NL East by 1.5 games over the idle Mets.