Big games require players to step up into the limelight and shine.  Joe Blanton did just that as he gave the Phillies six and 1/3 innings of great pitching limiting the Brewers to just a solo home run by Prince Fielder.  Jimmy Rollins shined by leading off the game with a solo home run to give the Phillies the early lead.  Pat Burrell shined by belting a three run home run in the third inning to put the Fightins up by four, he stepped up again in the eighth and belted another home run, this one a solo blast.  Jayson Werth shined as he also belted a solo home run.   The Phillies led the majors in home runs and displayed that skill predominantly in this one! 

On defense the big man Ryan Howard made a spectacular stop on a ground ball to record a 3-1 out in the eighth inning.  Howard did not hit the ball in this one but found another way to contribute.  Brad Lidge pitched the ninth to end the game and make the Fightins a perfect 80 and 0 when leading after eight innings.

Chatter

“Beat L.A., Beat L.A.”  will be the chant beginning thursday in the NLCS.  Cole Hamels will get the ball and will have had seven days rest so lets hope our young ace performs as well as he did in the first game of the NLDS.  The Phillies hold home field advantage for the series so Philly fans can and will have an impact on the series, positive approach on and off the field can take us to the Series……….time to shine folks, lets get it done ! 

Cole Hamels pitched magnficently in his second chance at the playoffs unlike last season when nerves got the best of him.  Hamels pitches eight shutout innings striking out nine brewers.  The Phillies gave Hamels a lead in the third inning as Carlos Ruiz led off with a singleand advanced to second on a sacrfice bunt by Hamels.  Hamels reached first base himself as Milwaukee second baseman Ricky Weeks erred by dropping the throw from third baseman Bill Hall while covering first base.  Chase Utley then smoked a double over the head of Brewer center fielder Mike Cameron to score both Ruiz and Hamels.  Consecutive walks were then issued to Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Shane Victorino to score a third run.

Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo did not pitch bad and kept the Brewers in the game thru four.  The Milwaukee bullpen did an excellent job after Gallardo as they did not allow the Phillies to score another run. 

Brad Lidge came on to pitch the ninth inning and struck out the side albeit he struggled. Ryan Braun knocked in Ray Durham with a double with one out.  Lidge then struck out Prince Fielder and walked J.J. Hardy, both Braun and Hardy advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch.  Lidge then struck out Corey Hart to close the game.  Lidge ended up striking out the side.  42 saves in 42 tries!  80 and 0 when leading after eight!

Chatter

Skipper Charlie Manuel most surely will be second guessed for taking Hamels out after eight as Lidge struggled with the ninth.  Hamels had thrown less than 100 pitches and was dominating the Brewers.  Lidge needed over 30 pitches to get thru the ninth.  Ryan Howard was walked three times and would have been four but he got impatient and swung at a high pitch.  It seems the Brewers have decided that he will not be the man to beat them in this series.  Getting the first win is key as in the previous 26 NL series that were five game sets the team winning the first one has prevailed in the series 23 times.  Brett Myers goes at it tommorrow against C.C. Sabbathia,  I feel a very good outing coming on from Mr. Myers, we just need to get him some runs to work with!  

Phillies kept lefty J.A. Happ on the playoff roster along with both left hand hitting outfielders Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs.  Pitcher Rudy Seanez was kept off the roster, the Fightins are going with 11 pitchers and 14 position players at least for this series.   The win was the first post season victory for the Phillies since 1993 when they won game five of the World Series.   Cole Hamels was working on six days rest, if he can pitch like this with that type of rest maybe the team should invest in a six man rotation next season!

The first round of the playoffs starts tommorrow so I thought it would be a good time to review the matchup and predict the outcome.   Cole Hamels will face off in the first game against a relative unknown Yovani Gallardo.  Gallardo only threw 24 big league innings this year but my son tells me that Gallardo has a live arm and is one to watch in the future.  He had knee surgery only four months ago but worked very hard to push himself back to the show.  The Phillies historically struggle against pitchers they have not seen so not sure what to expect with facing Gallardo.  Hopefully they will figure him out early and get to the Brewer Pen which I think is a weak spot.

The  regular season series went to the Phillies by a count of 5 to 1 in the six games played, included in that tally was a four game series sweep in September that set the stage for the Fightins drive to the N.L. east division title.   It is acknowledged that the Phillies have yet to face Brewer superman C.C. Sabbathia as his turn was not included in the September series and that may have indeed put a different slant on the outcome. 

The Phillies will open the playoff series with young ace Cole Hamels who battled nerves in last years playoff round against Colorado.  Hamels has outstanding stuff and when he is on is very tough to beat, the Phillies have not given him much in offensive support this season else the 14 wins he did get may have been more like 18 to 20.   Sabbathia was forced to throw on Sunday so the Brewers will not have their ace to match up with Hamels in the opener but rather will pitch him in game two on three days rest once again.  No one else in the Brewer starting rotation puts much fear in me at this point, Ben Sheets would but he is hurting physically.  The Phillies will follow Hamels with  righthander Brett Myers, his first playoff start, and then the staff’s best starter Jamie Moyer (16 wins)  in games two and three.  Philadelphia’s bullpen is amongst the best in the game anchored by Brad Lidge who had 41 saves in 41 tries, the team is perfect when leading after eight innings going 79 and 0 when that happens.   Key to the team success will continue to be the relief firm of Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero, Scott Eyre and Ryan Madson as they most assuredly will be counted on for innings 7 and 8 and potentially as early as the sixth.  The eighth inning has been the achilles heel this season so these boys gotta step up for the Fightins to have continued success.

Philadelphia’s offense is keyed by National League Home Run and RBI champion Ryan Howard who had a torrid September to carry the team on his back, in my opinion he is the National League MVP.  Other keys to the series will be the spark ignited both defensively and offensively by Jimmy Rollins, as he goes so do the Phillies.  Shane Victorino has been the most consistent Phillie offensively and will have to continue to do so and second sacker Chase Utley will need to continue his steady “best in the game” form at second base.  Jayson Werth and Pat Burrell had big hits down the stretch along with Greg Dobbs who led the National League with over 20 pinch hits this season.  The Phillies led the league in homeruns this season collectively, in short they are a very good offensive ballclub.

The Brewers counter with Ryan Braun and Prince Feilder in the power department and Mike Cameron is one of the games best defensively in the outfield as well as at the plate with 25 bombs this season. Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy are very good players as well and will be a challenge to the Phillies.  Milwaukee did struggle in September,(11-16), and are not as strong in the pen where Solomon Torres,( 7 blown saves), is the closer.  Eric Gagne imploded many times down the stretch so I feel if we can get to their bullpen early we can do some damage with our offense. 

Overall I think that the Brewers  really scuffled in September resulting in the firing of Ned Yost as the  manager and rode Sabbathia heavily to get to the playoffs. I’m hoping that they may be spent by doing so, they also come into the playoffs relatively inexperienced.  Sabbathia pitched on short rest for most of September and albeit he is a true stud should be running on a low tank.  I think that the Phillies are deeper in pitching, are overall better on offense and are at least a match as a defensive team.  It is my opinion that they will win the series in four games, hope that I am right!

Veteran Jamie Moyer took the ball for the Fightins and he started out by retiring the Nats in order in their first at bat but unlike last night the Phillies also went down in order in the first.  The game remained scoreless till the bottom of the fourth when Chase Utley scored on a sacrifice fly out by Pat Burrell.  Ryan Howard also scored in the inning on a sacrifice fly by  Carlos Ruiz.  Utley and Howard had led off the inning with consecutive singles, Shane Victorino also singled in the inning.  The Phillies scored two but left the bases loaded to end the inning.

Washington scored in the top of the fifth to make the count 2 to 1.   Jayson Werth had a play on a hard hit liner that would have been the third out of the inning but he dropped the ball when he crashed into the right field fence.  Werth made ammends in the bottom of the fifth when he blasted his 24th home run of the season to put the Phillies back up by two. 

Jamie Moyer pitched another good ball game as he went a very professional six innings.  Moyer only yielded one run on six hits.  He was pulled in the home sixth for pinch hitter Matt Stairs.  Chad Durbin was first relief in the seventh and he faced the minimum of three batters to end the inning.  Ryan Madson was called upon to pitch the eighth and although he gave up one run held the lead at 3 to 2 ! 

Shane Victorino got his third hit of the game in the bottom of the eighth, a two out single.  Pedro Feliz then delivered a clutch double to score Victorino to give the Fightins an insurance run for the closer!  

Brad Lidge came on in the ninth and needed that insurance run as the Nats scored one and loaded the bases with one out !  He then coaxed Ryan Zimmerman to hit a ground ball that Jimmy Rollins made a diving back hand stop on, flipped to second baseman Chase Utley who then completed the double play with the toss to first!   Great great great play by J-Roll!!!!!

Lidge earned his 41st save in 41 tries!  The Phillies went 78 and 0 when leading after eight!  We are the Champions of the East once again!  Tip of the cap to the Mets! Great race, hope you boys get in also!

The Celebration

Many fans stayed in the park and similiar to last year players came back out of the clubhouse to circle the field and acknowledge the fan support.  Chris Coste and Pedro Feliz borrowed bikes from Philly’s finest police officers and circled the field, Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard rode the grounds crew cart around, Pat Burrell had his dog Elvis on the field,  Jimmy Rollins danced with his mom behind the plate, the legend Harry Kalas sang “High Hopes”……………….. it was just a mass celebration and a great ending to the regular season!   Nothing brings a city and area together like a sports franchise that wins!   If these boys can rattle off a few more and somehow get to the World Series our area would explode!   Time to celebrate a division but far from done this go round!  Lets have three more champagne parties !

Chatter

SI.com reports that GM Pat Gillick may be leaning to returning next year to the Phillies rather than retiring.  Gillick is widely recognized as one of the best GM’s in the game, he has a pretty sweet deal with the Phillies as he is able to place heavy reliance on Assistant GM’s Ruben Amaro and Mike Arbuckle and serves in more of a governance role rather than having to deal with day to day operations.  I think it would be great to have him come back.

Brett Myers took the hill for the Fightins in the series finale against Atlanta and staggered thru a shaky first inning as the Braves hit him hard and often.  They scored two runs in the first frame on four hits before he was able to coax a ground ball double play ball to end the inning.   The Phillies bounced back in the second to score one as Pat Burrell doubled, went to third on an infield hit by Shane Victorino and scored on a single by Pedro Feliz.

The Braves got the run right back in the third as the key blow was a triple by Brian McCann.  Chase Utley hit his 33rd home run of the year in the home third to make the score 3-2.   Big Ryan Howard tied the game with his 47th home run in the fourth.   Pat Burrell got his second double as he hit an outside pitch perfectly down the right field line which albeit he did not score was a great sign that he is seeing the ball again!  The Braves re-took the lead in the fifth as Brian McCann doubled to score Martin Prado.   That marked the end of Brett Myer’s evening as Charlie Manuel went to Chad Durbin.  Durbin came in and gave up an unearned run on a Ryan Howard error and another on single by Brandon Jones.  Charlie then lifted Durbin for Scott Eyre to face pinch hitter Chipper Jones, remember this is only the fifth inning!    Chipper bombed Eyre with a three run home run……….. Braves took a 9 to 3 lead!

The Braves added a run in the eighth to make it 10-3, included in the mix was a steal of second base up by six…………..old school thought process was to put the next pitch in the batters ear!  J.C. Romero chose not to do that, guess these are not old school times!  There was a bench clearing in the bottom of the eighth though when Julian Taveras chose to physically run over to third base and attempt to “pick off” Shane Victorino.  Victorino took exception with it noting the score to Mr. Taveras!  Both benches cleared shortly thereafter.  No ejections though.  The Phillies did pick up a run to tighten the score to 10-4.

Chatter

Some of the loser element of the Fightin’s  faithful tried to start Eagles chants in the eighth…….. give me a break please, either stay with this team to the end or stay home.  

Phillies bats need to wake up this weekend or a possible early winter is at hand, what seemed like a sure playoff berth is now back up for debate.   The Fightins will send Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer and Cole Hamels to the mound but they will need offensive support to succeed.  J-Roll needs to lead the charge and the others must follow!

Don’t know what has happened to Brett Myers the last two games, location was horrible again as too many pitches are middle of the plate, needs to get head back into “pitching” and not “throwing” it would seem.  The Marlins and Braves simply teed off on him these last two contests. Might need him in the bullpen this last weekend and I am sure with his moxy he will make himself available!

 Three left with those pesky “Nats”, a team the Fightins should beat but have historically always played the Phillies tough, expect no different in these three.

This season has been a roller coaster ride so there the fitting end indeed is that it comes down to the last series of the season.  The Mets and Phillies have given their fans agina on many nights but hope on many others, one of the teams is gonna lose out but they have been so close all season what better way than have it decided on the last weekend of the year……..only thing better is if they played head to head to decide it !  Stay tuned Phillie fans, we have felt heartache many times but here is hoping that we are playing next week instead ! 

The Atlanta Braves drew first blood in this one as they scored a first inning run. Martin Prado doubled off Phils starter Cole Hamels and scored on Kelly Johnson’s single. The Phillies tied the game in the home second as Pedro Feliz knocked in Ryan Howard.

Atlanta re-took the lead in the third as Hamels had picked off Kelly Johnson going to third but threw the ball away allowing him to score. Casey Kotchman hit a solo home run in the sixth to put the Braves up 3 to 1. It marked the third time this year that Kotchman has taken Hamels out of the park. The big fella, Ryan Howard led off the home sixth with a triple and scored on an RBI stand up double by Pat Burrell.

Cole Hamels pitched seven effective innings for the Fightins, he struggled early with command but settled in and threw a good game. Hamels gave up 2 earned runs on eight hits and left trailing 3-2. He had seven strikeouts and only issued one walk. Scott Eyre came on in relief and got one out in the eighth before giving the ball to Chad Durbin who got the next two outs. Durbin also recorded the first two outs in the ninth before giving the ball to J.C. Romero who struck out Greg Norton to end the inning.

Mike Gonzalez closed the game for Atlanta as they won 3 to 2.

Chatter

Office talk today was whether Ryan Howard is worth the expected big money he is due to receive. If he goes to arbitration again this year he most likely will be seeking between 15 and 18 million. To sign him to a long term contract the Phillies would most likely have to pay an average rate of 20 million or more. Is the big man worth it? My opinion is yes, I think he is an unique player that only comes along infrequently. We are honored as Philly fans to see his efforts on a daily basis, yes he strikes out alot but hey he is a 50 Home Run 130 + RBI guy, how many of those folks exist ? I say he is worth the money and the Phillies should sign him as the cornerstone to our team. Just my opinion but I do not feel equal value would ever be attainable for the big fella in any trade!

Average attendance at Phillies games this year was close to 43,000 per game with 48 games to date being sold out! As stated in last night’s review this season will establish a new attendance record for the club as the attendance will go close to 3.3 million!

The Fightins need to bounce back and win the series tommorrow night. The Mets won so they gain back the game they lost last evening. As of this writing the Brewers were trailing against Pittsburgh.

Once again Jimmy Rollins started off a ball game with a hit as he stroked a double to lead off the Phillies first frame. Chase Utley followed with a double of his own to score J-Roll with the game’s first run. The Phillies manufactured a run in the second inning as Shane Victorino singled, advanced to second on a ground out, to third on a wild pitch and then scored as Carlos Ruiz singled to knock him in. This gave starter J.A. Happ an early lead to work with in his second big league start of the season against Atlanta.

J.A. Happ made the lead hold up till the top of the sixth when he was tagged for a two run home run by Kelly Johnson. Happ did a nice job by going six and 2/3 innings limiting the Braves to five hits and two runs and left with a runner on second base. Skipper Charlie Manuel went to the bullpen when Atlanta announced pinch hitter Yunel Escober and brought in veteran Rudy Seanez. Atlanta’s skipper Bobby Cox countered by pinch hitting for Escobar with left handed hitter Greg Norton. The Phillies walked Norton intentionally and went after Martin Prado instead. Seanez got Prado to ground out to third………… Prado is the hitter who lit up the Mets in yesterday’s game in a similiar situation.

Seanez got two outs in the eighth including a play at the plate where J-Roll threw out Kelly Johnson on a ground out, Johnson had led off the inning with a three bagger. Scott Eyre came in to get Casey Kotchman for the last out of the inning. Gregg Dobbs led off the eighth inning with his 22nd pinch hit of the season. Greg Golson pinch ran for Dobbs and advanced to third base on an errant throw to first trying to pick him off! Golson’s speed paid off as he then scored on a ground ball to third base where the throw came home but Golson beat it ! Pat Burrell then busted the game open as he nailed a three run home run that scored Jayson Werth and Chase Utley in front of him. Utley had been walked intentionally and Werth had hit the ground ball to third and reached on the fielders choice. Shane Victorino then tripled but was stranded as the inning ended. The score was 6 to 2 Phillies at the end of eight!

Ryan Madson came on to pitch the ninth inning and albeit he gave up two hits was able to close it out for the win. The magic number for a playoff spot is down to three with the win and four for the division !

Chatter

The Marlins loss earlier in the day to the Reds officially put them out of the running for the division crown. The Phillie Phanatic had a shot a catching a foul ball hit into the stands on the fly but dropped it! The obligatory boo was delivered to the Phanatic by the Philly faithful, speaking of the paying crowd, the game was once again sold out and fans were very loud in thier support of our Fightins! The Philadelphia Inquirrer’s Jim Salisbury speculated in his column today that the Phillies payroll next season might indeed approach $120 million and that does not include any potential run at a pitcher like C.C. Sabbathia which he sees as highly unlikely……… I hope he is wrong on the Sabbathia front…………… the team has drawn well over 3 million each of the last two seasons and will set an attendance record this season, all due to a winning team…….. ownership needs to cough up some of the financial benefit of that and give this core nucleas the weapons it needs to stay in the hunt and bring home titles !

Good starts in games usually help relax things a bit.  The Phillies got off to a good start again in this one as Jayson Werth hit a double off the center field wall to plate Chase Utley with the games first run.  Werth advanced to third when the Atlanta centefielder bobbled the ball.  Ryan Howard then drove Werth home with a sacrifice fly to left field.  This gave Cole Hamels a two run lead before even throwing a pitch!   Atlanta answered back in the bottom of the first however as Brian McCann doubled off the wall to score Chipper Jones who had walked.   Casey Kotchman tied the game in the second inning with a solo home run. 

Pat Burrell hit a two run bomb in the sixth inning that scored Jayson Werth ahead of him.  Werth had reached on an error.   Cole Hamels struggled with his control but managed to pitch six innings and left the game with a two run lead.  Hamels was high with most of his pitches but was able to make key pitches when he needed them, it was a gutty effort by the young ace.

Ryan Madson pitched the seventh inning and some shaky fielding allowed Atlanta to score an unearned run.  Both Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins committed errors that gave the Braves five outs in the inning.  Rollins error was actually a fly ball that Pat Burrell should have called him off on but did not, Rollins went deep into left field and attempted an over the should catch that fell out of his glove.   Howard’s error was later changed by the official scorer to a hit for Kelly Johnson, it extended Johnson’s hitting streak to 16 games but it was a pretty weak change of heart to be honest! Howard botched an easy ground ball and Johnson should have been out.

J.C. Romero pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Phillies.  Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth inning to close the game striking out two batters.  He earned his 38th save in 38 tries.  The Phillies improved to 78 and 0 when leading after eight innings.  They swept all nine games played in Atlanta this year, first time Braves were swept at home by Phils since 1909!

Chatter

Chipper Jones and Brian McCann are really the only two hitters in the Atlanta lineup that scare anybody at the moment.  It is a far cry from the Braves heydays when they dominated the division.  Despite being in a deep slump Pat Burrell remained in the lineup,  I think one of the things players appreciate most about skipper Charlie Manuel is the fact that he shows confidence in guys both when they are going good or bad.  That trust paid off as Burrell blasted career home run # 250 in the sixth inning.  Earlier in the year Ryan Howard could not hit dirt and now he is on an MVP pace, baseball messes with ya that way !

The Brewers lost earlier in the day to the Cubs, good and bad news for the Fightins.  Good that Milwaukee lost but bad that the Cubs magic number is down to 2 to clinch the central division.  The Cubs play the Mets next and one has to wonder if they rest a few folks after they clinch. 

Question to Ponder

Atlanta’s John Smoltz is a free agent next season, what about Mr. Smoltz in Phillies pinstripes in 2009 ?

Jimmy Rollins started this one off hot as he doubled in his first at bat, advanced to third on a single by Jayson Werth and scored on a double play ground out by Chase Utley.   The Phillies scored three more in the second as starting pitcher Brett Myers came thru with a two out single to score Pat Burrell who had led off the inning with a walk.  J-Roll stayed hot in his second at bat as after Chris Coste, ( on with an intentional walk), and Myers had advanced on a wild pitch Rollins singled to center field to plate both runners.   Pat Burrell smoked a long solo home run to the upper deck in  left field in the fourth to make it  5-0.  Shane Victorino doubled and then a HBP to Coste and walks to Rollins and Jayson Werth forced in another run and Brewer starter Jeff Suppan was done for the evening after only going 3 and 2/3 innings!  The score at the end of four was 6 -0 Phillies.

The Brewers scored a run in the seventh on a Prince Fielder solo home run.  It was only the second hit allowed by Brett Myers in the game !  Myers was outstanding and on three days rest!  He pitched a complete game two hitter !  The man is full of energy and propelled the team to win in this one!

Big offensive game for J-Roll as he was on base all five plate appearances with two hits and three walks.  Shane Victorino also had a big game as he had three hits in the contest. 

Chatter

The Phillies will definitely need a fifth starter on either Tuesday or Wednesday.  With the rainout this past Friday forcing Joe Blanton to throw on Sunday the only pitchers amongst the first four capable of throwing Tuesday and Wednesday are  Jamie Moyer and  Cole Hamels, both would have to go on three days rest…………. while possible it is not likely they will ask Hamels to throw on that short a rest.  J.A. Happ or Adam Eaton will likely get a start in one of the two initial games of the Braves series.

Shout out to Catherine Hildwine who won the $100 McDonalds giveaway for the game when Pat the Bat smoked a home run in the fourth……….. good job Cath bringing the team good luck in this one!  There was a major league game in Milwaukee tonight even though the Brewers were in Philly!  In a rarity the Houston Astros “hosted”  the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park as Houston is still in recovery from the hit of Hurricane Isaac.

On an unusually hot day in September, ( heat index over 100!), things started lethargic for the FIghtins.  Starting pitcher Joe Blanton was tagged for a two run home run in the Brewers first at bat by Ray Durham to put the Phils immediately in a hole.  Blanton’s woes with the Phillies have been caused by his lack of demand on his pitches and he hung a curve ball to Durham that the hitter actually seemed to double clutch on before swinging!    The Phillies got one back in the fourth inning as Chase Utley doubled, went to third on a single by Ryan Howard and scored on a double play ground out by Pat Burrell.   Milwaukee made it a two run game again in the top of the fifth as Mike Cameron smoked a Blanton changeup into the rarified air of the left field upper deck!

Ryan Howard tied the game in the home sixth by belting his 44th home run of the season over the left field wall to score Chase Utley in front of him.   Dave Bush did a nice job for Milwaukee as he went six innings and only gave up five hits.  Bush is a local Philly boy as he grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs,  likewise Joe Blanton pitched effectively for the Fightins as he was pulled in the offensive seventh in favor of pinch hitter Matt Stairs.  

Ryan Madson got the first two outs in the eighth before skipper Charlie Manuel went to lefty Scott Eyre to turn switch hitter Ray Durham into a right hander.  Eyre did the job by striking out Durham who was left in for the at bat despite only hittiing .219 against lefthanders this season.  Milwaukee had Ricky Weeks and Bill Hall available on the bench, not our worry though!

Jayson Werth led off the eighth with a single off of righthander Guiellermo Mota  which prompted a pitching change by Milwaukee, they brought lefthander Brian Shouse in to presumably face Utley and Howard……… but in a surprise move our three hole hitter Chase Utley sacrificed Werth to second with a bunt!   Ryan Howard was then intentionally walked with first base open  but the Brewers still  kept Shouse in to face right hand hitter  Pat Burrell rather than go to righty Eric Gagne.   Burrell singled to left field to score Werth with the go ahead run on a very close play at the plate!  Shane Victorino then belted a three run home run to put the Phils up by four !   Pedro Feliz then singled.   All of this happened against Shouse, he did not retire a hitter as finally Brewer skipper Ned Yost came and got him…………. if Milwaukee sports talk shows are anything like Philly’s  then Mr. Yost’s ears will be burning off as the second guessers will be out in full force!

Brad Lidge recorded the final two outs in the ninth after Scott Eyre got the first one.  Charlie is taking no chances down the stretch and is using Lidge even in four run lead non save closeouts.  The Phillies increased thier record to 67 and 0 when leading after eight.  Lidge should be fine for tonight’s game as he only threw seven pitches to get the last two outs!

Chatter

The team seemed flat once again at the start, perhaps due to the weather or the lack of a capacity crowd.  J-Roll struck out to begin the game and as he goes so does this crew.  Blanton had to be considered a disappointment thus far in the way he had pitched, he too often was getting behind hitters and then was hit hard, even the outs he got seemed to be struggles.  By pitching seven in this one he did his job and saved burning the pen for the game tonight, alot of between game work with pitching coach Rich Dubee has been going on to help the big fella find a consistent release point on his pitches.    Corey Hart lost a ball in the sun in the bottom of the fifth but stayed with it and made a last minute dive to record the catch.   The game tonight has tremendous importance as it will swing the wild card race in a distinctive path forward.  Tuesday offers another challenge for the starting pitching staff as it is a situation for the fifth spot in the rotation, if that spot is skipped Jamie Moyer would have to pitch on three days rest again.  Who do you give the chance to ?  J.A. Happ who got hit around behind Kyle Kendrick last week, Kendrick who is in a deep slump or do you ask veteran Adam Eaton to earn that big paycheck ?    I don’t believe I am saying this but Eaton may be the best option if Moyer cannott go !  Stay tuned.

Chase Utley broke his own team record for getting hit by a pitch in the sixth inning when he took one in the shoulder.  It marked the 26th time Chase has taken one for the team this season!