PHILLIES NEWS

Cliff Lee was dazzling in game 1 yesterday, but unfortunately, Cole Hamels was not quite so impressive today, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits in just 5 innings. He probably would have kept pitching past the 5th, but his wife went into Labor with their first child not long after the 5th ended, ending Hamels stay at the Park for the night. He really did look a bit distracted on the mound at times in this one and that's probably why. The Phils then had piece it together in the bullpen from there and actually did a half decent job of it, allowing just 1 run the rest of the way, while not using up any one reliever for more than an inning, and giving the Phils a chance to mount a late rally. It started in the 6th inning, with an RBI double by Ryan Howard and a 2 run single by Raul Ibanez to cut the lead at the time to 4-3. It was 5-3 by the 8th inning as Jayson Werth slammed a solo homer to cut the lead to 5-4. Then in the bottom of the 9th the Phils put 2 on with 2 out for Shane Victorino, but he could only line out to Clint Barmes to end it. There are those who would say the Phils stunk it up today, but really they didn't. It was truthfully a tight game, and the Phils played well enough to win, they just couldn't pull it out at the end. So the series is now tied at 1 game apiece and it will be a best of 3 from here to see who advances to the NLCS. It will be interesting to see who starts game 3 for the Phils, J.A Happ, Joe Blanton, or Pedro Martinez. Pedro is the freshest of the 3, as both Blanton and Happ pitched today in relief, and Happ took a line drive off his leg which might hamper him a bit. My money is on Happ if he's okay and Pedro if Happ isn't okay.