The Phils completed their series with the Nationals tonight, looking for the sweep. Joe Blanton got the start and for the first time in a while he really didn't pitch that well, allowing 8 runs on 7 hits in just 4 and 2/3rd's innings. The Phils meanwhile, managed just 2 runs on 6 hits in 7 and 2/3rd's innings against old nemesis Livan Hernandez. Thus, despite a triple by Chase Utley and a sac fly by Ryan Howard in the top of the 1st inning, the Phils found themselves in an 8-2 hole most of the night. The Bullpen again was impressive and would not allow Washington to stretch their lead any further, as Tyler Walker, Chad Durbin, and Brad Lidge, pitched scoreless frames in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings. Still, the Phils trailed 8-2 heading into the 9th inning and things looked pretty grim. They did not go away quietly though. They loaded the bases with 1 out and then Matt Stairs, 0 for his last 30, finally got off the schnide with a grand slam to quickly cut the lead to 8-6. A couple batters later "the Flyin Hawaiian", Shane Victorino slapped an RBI double and suddenly it was down to 8-7. Next Utley singled to move the tying run to 3rd for Ryan Howard. Unfortunately, Howard could only ground into a game ending double play to ruin the comeback bid. At any rate the Phils still win the series which is a positive at least. The negative is Blanton. What happened to him tonight? He's been so consistently good for so long that it was shocking to see him pitch so poorly. Hopefully this will only be a one night thing for him. So anyway the Phils drop to 79-59 overall now, and lead the NL East by just 5 games.
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2 comments:
Well right now it just seems like you cant expect anything. Mr. Reliable Joe Blanton is actually unreliable and then you have people like Ruiz doing so well in the past 10 or so games, but as you said it is a plus that they won the series.
-to ph1llysports
This is baseball nothing is a given
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