PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils continued their series with the Pirates tonight. Cole Hamels got the start and although
he' s been struggling lately, there was still the feeling coming into this game that it would be easy pickings for Hollywood against the lowly Pirates. Instead, with some new, possibly ill-conceived mechanics on display, Hamels struggled yet again allowing 5 runs on 7 hits in just 6 innings. Meanwhile Ross Ohlendorf had the Phils looking confused through 5 scoreless innings and despite a 6th inning rally they trailed by 4 heading into the 9th inning. Fortunately at this point order was restored to the universe as the two teams showed why one is last in the NL Central and other is first in the NL East during a 9th inning rally for the ages. Early on everything went the way of the Pirates. In the top of the 1st Garret Jones slugged a solo homer and Delywn Young slammed a 2 run homer. Later in the top of the 2nd Andrew Mcutchen sent another 2 run homer to the seats and just like that in the blink of an eye Pittsburgh was ahead 5-0. From there Hamels settled down and finished his night with a few scoreless innings while the Phils finally got on the board in the bottom of the 6th, on a double by Raul Ibanez, a sac fly Greg Dobbs, and single by Paul Bako to cut the lead 5-3. Chad Durbin couldn't follow the scoring with a clean 7th inning though, and after a bases loaded walk and a fielder's choice the Phils found themselves down 7-3. Thanks to solid relief pitching from Scott Eyre and Tyler Walker the score stayed that way heading into the bottom of the 9th. With the team and the crowd flat, hope was not high for a comeback until Matt Stairs leadoff the inning with a thunderous solo homer that woke everyone up. Seemingly back from the dead the Phils suddenly shifted into high gear. Jimmy Rollins worked a walk and then stole second, Chase Utley singled a couple batters later to put runners on the corners and finally Ryan Howard clubbed a game tying 3 run homer. The crowd erupted in joy and after Raul Ibanez doubled off the wall in dead center just short of homer, Pittsburgh's doom was all but sealed. From there the Pirates decided to load the bases in hopes of an inning ending double play, but the move backfired when Bako dribbled a single to rightfield to score Ibanez for the 8-7 win. Speaking of Raul he actually returned to the Phils yesterday but was only available to pinch hit. To make room on the roster for him, the Phils designated Chris Coste for assignment and he was quickly snatched off waivers by the Houston Astros. While it is sad to see Coste go, it is not all that surprising, considering the Phils already had 2 other catchers in Bako and Carlos Ruiz. Also Charlie Manuel always seems to prefer catchers who are good defensively over those who are better with the bat and of the three catchers the Phils had until yesterday, Coste was probably the worst defensively. He may be gone but Coste will always be remembered as a key member of the 2007 miracle team and the 2008 world champs. One other thing with Coste gone, is that there is room now for John Mayberry Jr to stick with the Phils for rest of the season, unless they decide to call up top catcher prospect Lou Marson and go with three catchers again. After a slow start today Ibanez really came back right where he left off, with 2 doubles an RBI and 2 runs scored. Seriously, is he really that good or is the National league just that much weaker than the American league. I don't know what happened to Cole in the first couple of innings but he made the necessary adjustments and looked like himself again the rest of the way. I guess all pitchers eventually go through times like these where their stuff just stops working for a while, but I see no reason why he can't pitch the rest of the season like he did from the 3rd inning on. Anyway so the Phils move to 47-38 overall and now 4 games up in the NL East.