The Phils continued their series with the Braves tonight. Cliff Lee got the start and for the first time as a Phil, he was touched up big time, allowing 6 runs on 10 hits, 3 of them HRs in just 5 innings of work. He simply missed a few of his spots and the Braves jumped all over him. The Phils actually had the early 1-0 lead as Chase Utley slammed a solo homer in the bottom of the 1st, but it was all Atlanta from there. They scored 6 off Lee through 5 innings and then another 3 runs and 2 hits off Chad Durbin in the 6th inning. The Phils blew a couple good opportunities to score runs in the next couple of innings. Finally with the score still 9-1 in the bottom of the 8th a heavy rainstorm suddenly moved in washing out the rest of the night and putting the Phils out of there misery. Sometimes it just isn't your night and tonight just wasn't Cliff Lee's night. You have to Credit the Braves for not backing down after the loss on Friday. They've just been a very resilient team this season. Anyway so the Phils drop to 74-53 overall and now 7 games up in the NL East.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils returned to the Bank tonight on a rain-soaked night to begin a series with the Braves. Thanks to the rain Pedro Martinez was forced to leave another start early, but not before Ryan Howard slammed a solo homer in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Then the rains came. After an hour and 7 minutes, the game resumed only to go back into another delay after the completion of the 2nd inning. After which Pedro was done for the night and Jamie Moyer was in to pick up the pieces for him again. Moyer went 4 and 1/3rd innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits. Meanwhile, Howard slammed a 2 run homer in the 4th inning and later in the 7th inning Raul Ibanez tripled and scored to pace the Phils to a 4-1 lead through 7. In the 8th Moyer got the 1st out, and then was replaced by Ryan Madson who preceded to allow a run and 3 hits. Fortunately, he still managed to get the game to the 9th with the score 4-2. There in came Brad Lidge for the save and this time for once he was flawless pitching a perfect 9th to close out the 4-2 win. Lidge really did look as well as he has all season tonight and you can only hope he keeps it up. Apparently he got a hair cut before the game, so maybe the new cut will be his good luck charm the rest of the season. What a night for Ryan Howard. In addition to the 2 homers and 3 RBIs, he also collected a walk and a single. He was just on fire, and is now 3rd in the NL in homers with 37 and 2nd in RBIs with a 111. So anyway the Phils move to 74-52 overall and now 8 games up in the NL East.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils completed their series with the Pirates tonight in yet another close game. J.A Happ got the start and pitched well, allowing just 1 run through the 1st 7 innings. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard hit into a fielder's choice for 1 run in the top of the 1st, and Paul Bako slammed a solo homer in the top of the 2nd, to put the Phils ahead 2-1. It stayed that way until Happ ran out of gas in the 8th inning and served up a 2 run homer to Garret Jones to put Pittsburgh up 3-2. Then in the top of the 9th Bako singled to get the tying run aboard with 1 out, but Matt Stairs struck out and Jimmy Rollins grounded out to end another crushing defeat. Well you can't blame this one on the bullpen, because they never took the field. It was just a case of the Phils not being able to score at PNC park. They really never seem to score too many runs in Pittsburgh for whatever season, and every game of this series was no exception. Fortunately they're headed back to Bank for the weekend so hopefully they'll get back to scoring like they usually do. Anyway so the Phils drop to 73-52 overall but remain 7 games up in the NL East.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles played their 3rd preseason game tonight at the Linc against the Jaguars. Thanks to a David Akers field goal with under 20 seconds to play the Birds pulled out a 33-32 win. Of course that's really not important. The big news tonight was the long awaited debut of Micheal Vick. He didn't play all that much and as excepted was basically inserted into the game for some gadget plays and a few plays at QB. As a QB he completed all 4 of his passes for 19 yds. Running the ball out of the backfield, Vick gained only 1 yard, so the Birds still need to firm up exactly how they're going to use him in games and they probably still need to practice some of the plays they used with Vick in game. Moving along, aside from Vick, the offense was able to move the ball up and down field effectively, but they struggled in the red zone. In fact it wasn't until early in the 3rd that Lesean Mccoy finally got the ball across the goal line. Still, Mcnabb had a pretty good night completing 21 of 36 passes for 244 yards and a TD. Kevin Kolb was also impressive completing 10-18 passes for 102 yds and a TD. As well as leading the Birds on the game winning drive. The defense on the other hand struggled a bit, allowing some long pass plays early on. They were much better than last week though, holding Jacksonville to just 64 rushing yards and 166 passing yards. Asante Samuel had an interception and Mike Patterson registered the Eagles only sack. Jason Babin was also impressive with 3 tackles and 7th round pick out of Maryland, LB Moise Fokou, had a game high 5 tackles. Lastly there was still quite a few Eagles' mistakes with another 8 penalties for 62 yards, 2 fumbles, and a safety after Kolb was called for intentional grounding from inside the 5 yard line.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued their series with Pirates tonight. Cole Hamels got the start and delivered his 1st quality performance in some time, going 8 shutout innings, while allowing 7 hits and striking out 7. Meanwhile, Chase Utley slammed a solo homer in the top of the 1st for a quick1-0 lead. Thanks to a perfect 8th inning by Ryan Madson and the Phils blowing a golden opportunity to tack on runs in the top of the inning, it was still 1-0 heading into the bottom of the 9th. Unfortunately Madson couldn't hold the lead, as Brandon Moss slugged a 1 out game tying homer, for the Phils 2nd blown save in a row. This time however, Madson got out of the inning without further damage. Then in the top of the 10th Ryan Howard provided the saving blow with a 1 out 3 run homer to put the Phils up 4-1. Madson then closed it out in the 10th inning for the 4-1 win. So as I said there just isn't anything the Phils can do about their closer situation right now. Not even Ryan Madson can close games for them right now. Ryan Howard continues to impress with yet another clutch hit. Hopefully this start will be the beginning of Hamel's resurgence because the Phils are going to need him to continue to pitch like this down stretch. Anyway so the Phils move to 73-51 overall now and still 7 games up in the NL East.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils traveled to Pittsburgh tonight to begin a series with the Pirates. Joe Blanton got the start and was decent allowing 3 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings of work. Thanks to solo homers by Jimmy Rollins in his 1st 2 at bats on the first pitches he saw, that performance by Blanton was good enough to leave the Phils trailing 3-2 heading into the top of the 9th. There Ben Francisco doubled in 1 run and the "Flyin Hawaiian", Shane Victorino tripled to score Francisco and clinch an apparent 4-3 Phils win. Except Brad Lidge couldn't close it out in the bottom of the 9th. First Luis Cruz singled to leadoff. Then Lidge threw a wild pitch to move the tying run into scoring position. Next Brandon Moss singled to right field, right to a charging Jayson Werth, looking to throw the runner out at home, but he bobbled the ball and threw wide of the plate, pulling Carlos Ruiz just far enough away from the plate to allow the run to score. Finally Andrew McCutchen lined a 2 run homer into the seats and just like that it was game over, 6-4 Pirates. I just don't know what has happened to Lidge this season. He still has the same stuff, he's just not using it as efficiently as he did last season. If the Phils bullpen were a little more healthy right now he would probably be done for a while, but at this point, with Clay Condrey, J.C Romero, and Brett Myers still on the DL, there just isn't anyone who can fill in for Lidge, so we'll just have to hope he gets it back together after this. Anyway so the Phils drop to 72-52 overall, but remain 7 games up in the NL East.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils completed their series with the Mets this afternoon. Cliff Lee got the start and rolled to another easy win, allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits in 7 innings. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard blasted a 3 run homer in the top of the 1st, and a 2 run homer in the top of the 3rd, and Raul Ibanez slapped an RBI double in the top of the 9th, to push the Phils to a 6-2 win. It was just another dominating performance by Lee and another game filled with mistakes by the Mets, as they committed 3 errors. Although it was a non save situation with the Phils ahead by 4 heading into the 9th inning, Brad Lidge came in to pitch the 9th and was pretty impressive working a 1-2-3 inning. Perhaps the triple play was just the sort of lucky turn he needed to get himself back on track. Ryan Howard continues to impress with his bat, but he always does this time of the year. Still, at present with 34 HRs and 104 RBIs he's 3rd in the NL in both categories. Not bad huh. It was also nice to see Ibanez hit that double. He really had been scuffling lately, but that double was about the best swing he's had this month. Hopefully it is a sign of the things to come for Ibanez. So anyway the Phils move to 72-50 overall now and back to 7 games up in the NL East.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued their series with the Mets on a wacky sunday afternoon, in which Met's starter Oliver Perez was lifted from the game in the 1st inning, with 2 outs and a 3-0 count against the pitcher, Pedro Martinez, The Met's Angel Pagan, led off the bottom of the 1st with an inside the park homer, after Shane Victorino lobbied unsuccessfully for the umps to call a ground-rule double with the ball lodged underneath the padding on the outfield wall, The 3rd base umpire correctly over-ruled the 2nd base umpire on a fly-ball in the top of the 9th inning, on which Jeff Franceour made a diving catch so spectactular that the 2nd base umpire thought he had trapped it under his glove, and finally the game itself ended on an unassisted triple play by Eric Bruntlett, the first time that's ever happened in a NL game, and after he had committed an error, and failed to properly field another ball, to start the inning and put runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out for Franceour. The weirdness pretty much overshadowed Pedro Martinez' return to New York, which was only okay as he allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings. Thanks to hot hitting for the Phils, and despite the wacky stuff, Pedro's 6 innings were enough for the win, but realistically proved nothing, other than that he'll get 1 more start and we'll see after that. As for the Phils bats they were smoking right off the bat. In the top of the 1st, Jayson Werth and Carlos each slammed 3 run homers for a 6-0 lead, which is why Perez was on such a short leash. In the top of the 3rd, Martinez helped himself with an RBI single, and Jroll lined a sac fly to push the Phils ahead 8-2. New York just wouldn't go away though as Angel Pagan's 2nd homer of the day, this time a real one, helped the Mets cut it to 8-4. It was down to 8-5, when Matt Stairs walked, moved to 2nd on a wild-pitch, move to 3rd on fielder's choice, and then scored on another wild pitch in the top of the 8th inning, for a 9-5 lead. By the time the bottom of the 9th rolled around it was 9-6 and Brad Lidge was in for the save. First, Pagan tripled right through Ryan Howard's glove. Then Bruntlett booted a groundball off the bat Luis Castillo, allowing Pagan to score and Castillo to reach 1st. There should have been 2 out and nobody on, but just like that there was 1 on and nobody out with the tying run at the plate. Next Daniel Murphy grounded a ball right back up the middle but Bruntlett couldn''t field it cleanly and it was safe all around, allowing Francoeur to come to the plate as the winning run. He smashed a line drive up the middle, a sure RBI single at least to cut the lead to 9-8 and put runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out. Instead as luck would have it, Bruntlett was covering 2nd and the ball when right into his glove for 1 out just at the exact moment he was streaking across the bag for the 2nd out, and Mets perhaps foolishly, had the runners going on the play so Murphy was right at 2nd for Bruntlett to tag out for the the 3rd and final out. Believe it! So anyway the Phils move to 71-50 overall and still 6.5 games up in the NL East.
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