Carlos Zambrano was scheduled to pitch the series finale for Chicago against the Phillies Jamie Moyer but he was scratched due to a “dead arm”. Zambrano will wait till the next series against Houston to take his next turn. In his place lefthander Sean Marshall toook the mound for the Cubbies. The Phillies jumped on Marshall early as they scored three runs in the very first inning. Chase Utley singled and scored on a base knock by Ryan Howard. Shane Victorino followed Howard with a single and then Jayson Werth continued his hot hitting as he belted a hanging curve ball for a double down the left field line to plate both Howard and Victorino!
The Cubs scored two on Moyer in the second inning as some loose defense helped Chicago along. No errors were attributed but both Victorino and Howard misplayed balls that could have gotten the Phillies out of the inning unscathed. Howard botched a throw to second base on a ground ball that would have yielded a double play and instead placed runners on first and third. Victorino lost a fly ball to center field hit by Ronny Cedeno which hit him in the leg and allowed a run to score. Marshall then helped his own cause with a single to center to plate the second run.
Jayson Werth hammered his 21st home run of the season in the fifth, a solo shot to the left field seats. In the sixth Carlos Ruiz led off with a double over center fielder Reed Johnson’s head after which Moyer bunted him over to third. The Cubs went to their pen at that point and brought in Jeff Samardzija and Jimmy Rollins was able to hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score the run.
The Cubs got two runners on with one out in the sixth and Charlie Manuel came and got Moyer in favor of Chad Durbin. A rested Durbin did the job in the sixth as he recorded a strike out and a pop up to end the inning and also worked a perfect seventh inning striking out two. Durbin started the eighth inning and recorded one out before yielding a single. Charlie came and got him at that point and brought in J.C. Romero. Romero threw a wild pitch that allowed the runner to move up to second, he then got Fukodome to ground out to second but pinch hitter Henry Blanco singled to left to plate a run. Ryan Madson was then brought into the game and immediately gave up a hit to pinch hitter Darryl Ward. Madson, to his credit, did strike out Alfonso Soriano to end the inning and escape the eighth inning minefield!
Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth inning striking out Aramis Ramirez to end the game! It was Lidge’s 33rd save in as many attempts. The Phillies upped that perfect record when leading after eight to 62 and 0! Jamie Moyer earned his 12th win of the season and leads the staff in that category….. not bad at all for a 45 year old!
Chatter
Pat Gillick was interviewed on the TV pregame show and stated that the team has a couple things in the works to add to the roster before the end of the day however that nothing was imminent. He stated there was about an 80% chance of getting something done and inferred it might involve a player who cleared waivers at the end of July. The Tigers Kyle Farnsworth is one such player who indeed cleared waivers at that time. The Mets defeated the Marlins today 6 to 2 and now travel to Milwaukee to face a very good Brewers team for three. That is a pivotal series in the East Division race for New York as it leads into the home series with the Fightins. The Mets will throw Johan Santana in the first one at Milwaukee which means the Phillies will also see him against them in the series in New York. Phillies are in Washington next and cannott get beat by the last place club that is playing loose and pretty well right now, in fact they have won six in a row! Keep fightin boys!
