The Phils took the field early this afternoon as they looked to finish a sweep of the Indians. Thanks to Joe Blanton's best start of the season thus far, and an offensive explosion they were able to do so quite easily. Blanton went 7 and 2/3rd's strong, while allowing just 3 runs on 6 hits and striking out 8. It wasn't necessarily that Blanton pitched all that well, though he did, but perhaps even more so than that Cleveland just had an awful night at the plate. Irregardless of why he was so successful in this one though, it was just nice to see Blanton still be able to cook up a good one for a change. Hopefully he'll keep it up. Though they didn't need to thanks to Blanton the Phils meanwhile crushed Cleveland's pitching staff. In the 2nd inning alone 3 straight singles to lead off the inning by error on the catcher produced 2 runs, a fielder's choice produced a 3rd run, a single by Placido Polanco plated a 4th run and finally a sac fly by Chase Utley pushed across a 5th run.
In the 5th back to back singles, a fielder's choice and a single by Jayson Werth produced 2 more runs and a 7-0 lead. Finally in the 6th, Dane Sardinha, the Phils 4th catcher behind the injured Carlos Ruiz, Brian Schneider, and the injured Paul Hoover, led off with a solo shot, the first of his career for an 8-0 lead. From there a Polanco single, a Werth sac fly, and Wilson Valdez single brought in another 4 runs for a laughable 12-2 lead. After that Nelson Figueroa, who recently came back up from AAA Lehigh to replace the injured Chad Durbin, tossed a scoreless final inning and a 3rd to close out a commanding 12-3 win. That coupled with a Braves loss, puts the 38-32 Phils back to within 2.5 games of 1st in the NL East. So they're definitely back on track now.
2 comments:
Now thats more like it. I dont know when the last time the phillies swept a team but it feels likes its been forever and we're on our way to be on the top of the NL East once again.
-to ph1llysports
yes that's all true
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