Cliff Lee was outstanding again this afternoon and this time he didn't even need his curveball. Using mostly fastballs Lee shut down the Cubs, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 7 in 8 innings. Meanwhile, Chase Utley keyed the suddenly resurgent Phils' offense, going 2 for 5 with 4 RBIs. He got things started with a 2 run double in the 1st inning. Then he helped move along a 2 run rally in the 7th inning, with Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez each collecting 2 out RBIs. Finally in the 8th inning Shane Victorino blooped an RBI single, and Utley capped the scoring for the day with a 2 run blast to put the Phils up 7-1. From there Antonio Bastardo retired the side in order in the 9th and the Phils picked up their league leading 39th win of the season.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
No losing streak is safe when you've got Roy Halladay on the mound. After dropping a heartbreaker to the Cubs last night, it was Halladay's duty to ensure the Phils would have a short memory of it. Ultimately he delivered with 7 scoreless innings, while striking out 9 and allowing just 6 hits. Unfortunately the Phils bullpen nearly gave it all back again before pair of young guns saved the day. In between, Shane Victorino scored on a fielder's choice in the 1st, Dom Brown bashed a 2 run homer in the 2nd inning, and Placido Polanco slugged a grand slam, the 100th homer of his career, in the 7th inning. So the Phils went into the 8th inning ahead 7-0 and seemingly assured of victory. Not so fast. Jose Contreras and J.C Romero combined to allow 5 runs on 4 hits while registering just 1 out in the 8th. Finally the rookie, Micheal Stutes, was forced into action and he got out of the inning with a 7-5 lead intact. He then got the benefit of a spectacular strike em out throw em out double play from Carlos Ruiz to Chase Utley to start the 9th. Young Antonio Bastardo followed with a strikeout of Carlos Pena to close out a more exciting than it needed to be 7-5 win. The win is Halladay's league leading 9th of the season.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
After closing out another series last night the Phils look to keep it going as the Cubs came to town to continue the homestand. Early on it looked like it would be another in a long line series opening wins this season. Jimmy Rollins slammed a 3 run homer in the 2nd and Kyle Kendrick opened the night with 3 scoreless frames. Unfortunately a rain delay got in the way after that, ending Kendrick's night and cooling off the Phils bats to the point where they failed to register a hit from the 5th to the 9th inning. Still the bullpen was good enough to preserve a 3-2 lead heading into the 9th and with Ryan Madson perfect in save opportunities on the season, victory seemed a formality. It wasn't to be though. Geovanny Soto burned Madson with a 1 out solo homer to tie things at 3. The Phils were then lucky to get into extra innings after a Tyler Colvin was called back on fan interference. The Phils then came within a spectacular play by Carlos Pena of ending things in the bottom of the 10th, but thanks to the rain delay the Phils had only David Herndon left in bullpen for the extra frames. So he had to bat for himself with the bases loaded on the corners and 2 out in the 10th and he failed to get the winning run home. From there a Placido Polanco error put Chicago 4-3 in the 11th and Carlos Ruiz was stranded in the bottom of the 11th to cap of a disheartening 4-3 loss to the Cubbies. They'll get em tomorrow I guess.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
No hitting no problem tonight. Not with Cole Hamels on the mound. It's been a banner year thus far for the new lefty and tonight was no exception. He tossed 8 scoreless innings, while striking out 9 and allowing just 6 hits. The closest the Dodgers came to scoring off him was in the 7th inning when Matt Kemp singled with Andre Ethier on second and nobody out, but a strong throw from Dom Brown thwarted the sure RBI, freezing Ethier at 3rd. Hamels then pitched his way out of the inning. L.A again put runners on the corners in the 8th inning, but Cole got out of it again, this time forcing Ethier into an inning ending groundout. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard lined a homer to right in the 6th, and Shane Victorino tripled and scored on a fielder's choice in 7th to give the Phils a 2-0 lead heading into the 9th. There Ryan Madson locked down his 14th save and the Phils 37th win.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils came in looking for their 3rd straight win but it wasn't to be as uncharacteristically bad defense, including errors by Roy Oswalt, and Chase Utley, doomed them to failure. Aside from his error Roy Oswalt had an okay night but was still a little off in allowing 4 runs on 8 hits. As bases loaded walk in the 2nd, and Chase Utley's 7th inning triple gave the Phils their only runs of the night but it wasn't enough to offset all the things that went wrong throughout the night and in the end the Phils settled for a 6-2 loss to the Dodgers.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers have traded left wing Matt Clackson, their 2012 3rd round pick, and a conditional draft pick to the Phoenix Coyotes for the negotiating rights to goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. This simply means they have exclusive rights to negotiate a contract with him from now until he becomes a free agent. If they don't sign him by then he'll likely go else where. Right now the Flyers don't have the cap room to sign Bryzgalov to the contract he'll likely ask for. So they'll have their work cut out for them to first create salary cap space and get Bryzgalov signed.
Monday, June 06, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
It's been an up and down season thus far for Cliff Lee, but tonight was definitely a high mark. He tossed 7 scoreless innings while striking out 10 and allowing just 7 hits. Meanwhile, Placido Polanco and Ryan Howard each collected RBI singles in the 3rd inning and Carlos Ruiz added a big RBI double in the 8th inning as the Phils started a long homestand with a 3-1 win over the Dodgers. After Lee and Antonio Bastardo had combined for 8 scoreless innings, Ryan Madson allotted the Dodgers their only run in the top of the 9th, before nailing down his 13th save.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
Roy Halladay got the Phils out of their rut this afternoon with 7 strong innings. He allowed a 2 run homer right off the bat in the 1st inning, but then tossed 6 scoreless frames as the Phils battled back. A Raul Ibanez sac fly in the 4th inning cut it to 2-1 and then it looked like Dom Brown had line an RBI single to tie things at 2, but his line drive hit off the umpire making it a dead ball and nullifying the run. Wilson Valdez then grounded into a double play to end the inning and it looked like the Phils bad luck at PNC Park would continue. Instead the Phils got right back at it in the 5th, Ryan Howard sac flied in a run after a 11+ pitch at bat, and Carlos Ruiz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give the Phils a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish. Later Placido Polanco added an RBI single in the 6th, Howard singled in a run in the 8th, and Shane Victorino and Howard each collected RBI singles in the 9th for a 7-3 lead. That was more than enough for Ryan Madson to nail down the win in the 9th. With the win the Phils move to 36-24 overall and 3 games up in the NL East.
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