Ok so now I am starting to get annoyed a bit.  Joe Blanton started things well enough by striking out the first two hitters in the game but then got tagged for a double followed by a two run bomb by Bryan McCann.  For the third straight game in 2009 the FIghtins trailed in a home game before ever swinging a bat !   Is it a sign that our starting staff may be an achilles heel or do we stay with the standard theme that it is early and no worries yet, a bit of both but these games do count so it is time to wake up boys else we dig a hole too deep!

Raul Ibanez tied the game in the Phillies second with his own two run dinger scoring Ryan Howard in front of him but Blanton could not hold the score as Atlanta exploded for five runs in the third.  Blanton was done after four frames being tagged for seven runs on nine hits !  J.A. Happ got tagged for two runs in his stint, one a bomb by rookie Jordan Schafer, his second of the young season already!    Chad Durbin could not find the plate in the seventh and actually walked in a run before being replaced.   Not good indeed!  Down 10 to 3 after six and one half  of play not something to brag about !

And then…… we woke up, sort of.  Bobby Cox had to use four relievers in the home seventh including his normal fifth starter as the Fightins batted around plus four to score 8 runs while only collecting four hits!  The Atltanta pen walked in four runs with the bases juiced and collectively walked five batters and hit another!   Key singles were delivered by Ibanez, Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz. Phillie batters showed alot of patience in their at bats en route to gaining the team’s first lead of the season.

Ryan Madson pitched a perfect eighth to set up his bullpen buddy Brad Lidge.   Raul Ibanez led off the home eighth with yet another walk!  Pedro Feliz was giving himself up attempting to bunt Ibanez over but Jorge Campillo (Atlanta’s fifth starter) could not throw him a strike and the count went to 3-0 and Charlie gave Pedro a green light, he promptly doubled to left to knock Campillo out of the game !  Jeff Bennett came in for Atlanta and gave up a sacrifice fly RBI to pinch hitter Eric Bruntlett before working out of the inning. 

Lidge worked the ninth to earn his first save of the season, he was tagged by Mike Diaz for a solo bomb but struck out two to close it!  FInal Count :  Phillies 12 Braves 11……. my wife said in the sixth that alot of game was left and to not count our boys out!  She is quite the prophet eh!

Javier Vazquez pitched six effective innings for the Braves and should have earned the win.  The statement of the series still was that Atltanta starters did what was expected and ours did not,  the Phillies had many poor at bats in the series which were a combination of good Atlanta starting  pitching and poor approach by the Fightin’s.   The seventh inning comeback erased some of that especially the at bat by Ibanez who showed his hitting prowess by taking an outside pitch to left for a single rather than attempting to pull it.  Now the team goes on the road and must do more of what they showed in the later stages of this game.  The Atlanta pen could be their issue this year in light of what we saw in this series in games one and three.

Chatter

Pat Gillick was clearly overcome with emotion during the pre-game ring ceremony as he greeted each player, coach and clubhouse staff member to give them their rings.  Gillick’s tears symbolized heart felt emotions in conclusion of a great feat.  It was great to watch !  GIllick and team president David Montgomery will personally deliver the rings to each coach or player who could not attend the event, a real touch of class.  Speaking of a class act, So Taguchi did not attend the ceremony out of respect for his teammates this season on the Triple A Iowa Cubs, he felt that he should honor his committment to this year’s team instead, that is a team player truly defined ! 

Philly fans showed both sides of our colors by booing Adam Eaton and roundly cheering Pat Burrell.  Sometimes I just shake my head.   Cole Hamels takes the ball on Thursday in Colorado, perhaps the young ace can find our first starter’s win!  Stay tuned, still 159 to play.

Cole Hamels pitched like an ace in game one of the NLCS going seven strong innings and holding the Dodgers to only two runs. With the exception of Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez the Dodgers could have been blanked. Chase Utley came thru with a two run home run in the sixth off Dodger starter Derrick Lowe and Pat Burrell blasted a solo home run in the same inning to end Lowe’s day and put the Fightins ahead.

Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge closed the game out without incident and the Phillies earned a big win. Philly fans were loud and strong in this one and indeed had an impact.

Chatter

Charlie Manuel pinch hit for Hamels in the seventh frame with So Taguchi hoping that Taguchi could get a sacrifice bunt down to advance Carlos Ruiz who had reached on a single. Taguchi popped the bunt up and heard the wrath of the Philly fans! Manuel had Gregg Dobbs available but chose to go for the sacrifice. I think Charlie outfoxed himself on that move, it did not cost the game but not so sure Dobbs wasn’t the better move as Greg Maddux was on the hill for the Dodgers. The Phillies have not been a small ball team all year and I see no reason to start now.
Manuel did make a very good mound visit in the top of the eighth when he came out to see Ryan Madson and reinforce to not give Manny nothing to hit in his at bat….. Manny swung at the first pitch, an outside change up that he pulled as a soft line drive to third baseman Pedro Feliz to record the out.

Sitting in LAX right now preparing to board for trip to China, Fightins will begin game two soon with Brett Myers on the hill. Hope that Brett controls the adrenalin and he should do fine.

With the division won yesterday the final game of the regular season became one that allowed skipper Charlie Manuel to rest his core players and play callups and reserves.  Kyle Kendrick was given the start and he pitched four innings but had similiar struggles as he displayed during the stretch drive.  Kendrick gave up three runs on four hits while walking one.

The Phillies bats though stayed hot as rookie catcher Lou Marson, the Phillies minor league player of the year,  collected his first big league hit in his first at bat in the game and later belted his first major league home run.  It is expected that Marson will make a strong push to make the ballclub next spring.  So Taguchi had a good game out of the leadoff spot as he had three hits.  Eric Bruntlett and Tadahito Iguchi also had two hit game.  The Phillies prevailed by an 8 to 3 count capped off by a pinch home run by Matt Stairs.  Les Walrond got the win in relief.  The Fighins finished the season with a record of 92 wins and 70 losses.

Chatter

Kendrick will be sent to Clearwater, Florida to work at the spring training complex.  He will not be on the initial playoff roster but as needs arise may be added later.  Management must decide who they are going to place on the playoff roster as the NLDS will start on Wednesday.  The Milwaukee Brewers will be in town Wednesday to kick off the best of five series, their ace C.C. Sabbathia threw today in the clincher so he will not be available till at the earliest the second game.  Cole Hamels will take the ball for the Phillies, lets hope he does not psyche himself out like he did last year. 

Great time to be a Phillies fan!  Sure hope our team stays fired up and approaches the playoffs to win, team members admit that last year they were pretty happy to just make it, this year there is an urgency to do some damage!

Brett Myers took his third turn in the rotation since being recalled from a minor league stint where he was optioned to refind his “mojo”.  Myers was coming off seven shut out innings in his last start against the Nationals.   Super hot Ryan Ludwick doubled against Myers in the second frame and was plated by a Troy Glaus single.  Ludwick touched all four bases again in the fourth as he hit a ball way up into the cheap seats in left field for his 27th home run, a solo shot.

Meanwhile Todd Wellemyer was cruising as the Cardinals starter as he held the Phillies scoreless thru five frames.   Chase Utley got the Fightins on the board in the sixth as he belted his 28th home run of the season to make the score 2 to 1.   Both Wellemeyer and Myers were pulled after six frames for pinch hitters, each pitched very effectively by keeping their respective clubs in a close game.

The Phillies threatened in the seventh getting two runners on but Tony Larussa used two pitchers from his bullpen to get out of the jam without allowing a score.  In the eighth the Fightins tied the score as Pat Burrell plated Utley with a key two out single.  Shane Victorino then hammered a three run home run to score Ryan Howard and Burrell.   The Flying Hawaiin has been clutch since the all-star break! 

Chad Durbin pitched a scoreless seventh for the Phillies but was tagged for a leadoff single by pinch hitter Brendan Ryan  in the eighth and J.C. Romero was summoned into the game.  Romero balked the runner to second, Ryan then advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a ground ball error by Ryan Howard.  Romero then hit Joe Mather to conclude his evening.  Ryan Madson became the third Phillies hurler of the inning and he proceeded to walk Albert Pujols on four pitches to load the bases for Ryan Ludwick.  Ludwick hit the first pitch on the ground to third base for an around the horn double play to end the inning!  A real heart thumper of an inning for Phillies fans! 

Brad Lidge came on to pitch the ninth as was immediately greeted by Troy Glaus with a home run off the left field foul pole.  After a fly out to right field Aaron Miles then slapped a single to left, pinch hitter Rick Ankiel singled to right and Cesar Isturis was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Lidge then struck out the next two hitters to end the game!  Another nail biter of an inning!

The Fightins are now 50-0 when leading after eight innings and Brad Lidge has converted 28 saves in 28 opportunities albeit this one was hairy!  The second place Marlins lost as did the third place Mets so the Phillies increased their lead on both rivals.

Chatter

 Shane Victorino was given the start off as Jayson Werth began in center field and Geoff Jenkins got the right field start.  Victorino came into the game as a pinch hitter for Jenkins in the seventh inning.   John Maine was put on the 15 day disabled list for the rival Mets and closer Billy Wagner was sent back to New York early from Houston for an MRI on his left shoulder.  The Mets appear wounded but the Phillies cannott afford to relax as the Marlins appear to be in it to the end and the Mets, albeit wounded now,  have  kicked our tails in head to head games thus far.  So Taguchi got another standing ovation in his pinch hit appearance, he gets a greeting in Philly but the noise is a bit different.  Taguchi hit over .400 for the Cards last year pinch hitting but is below the Mendoza line in the role for the Fightins!

Cole Hamels gave up four runs to the Cardinals in the fourth inning including a three run home run by Joe Mather.  Hamels was touched for another run in the fifth as Ryan Ludwick took him deep to left field.   All tolled Hamels pitched six innnings and gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits.  It was his second subpar performance in a row.

The Phillies fought back to within a 5-3 score as they scored three times in the sixth inning.  The highlight of the inning was a two run home run by Pat Burrell, his 27th of the season.   That score held till the Cardinals eighth when Ryan Ludwick blasted his second home run of the game (25th of year) off of Ryan Madson to give the Cards a three run lead.

Jason Isringhausen recorded the final four outs to earn his 12th save of the season.   The Marlins and Mets also lost so the Phillies maintained the same lead that they started the game with in regards to the Eastern division.

Chatter

Apparently the Phillies were close to making a deal for a starting pitcher prior to the deadline, it was a three team deal which fell through when the third partner backed out.  Speculation is that pitcher was Bronson Arroyo of the Reds.  Hamels had difficulty in this one getting the ball down and was hurt on high strikes, hopefully he can bounce back in his next start, pitching up in the zone leaves his changeup very receptive to being hit hard!  So Taguchi got a standing ovation from the Cardinal fans when he pinch hit for Hamels, Taguchi did a great job for St. Louis when he was a member of their team and the Card fans showed alot of class in their greeting.

In a game extended by a near two hour rain delay the Fightins offense exploded with two big innings in a come from behind 12 to 10 win over Atlanta.  The game began at 1:35 as newly acquired Joe Blanton took his second turn on the hill for the Phillies.  Blanton was touched for two runs in the first frame as Brian McCann and Mark Kotsay gained RBI hits.  The game was delayed in the bottom of the second inning as the skies opened up and thunder and lightning was prevalent.   

 When play restarted both starting pitchers were replaced, Jo-Jo Reyes came in for Jorge Campillo and Adam Eaton came on for Blanton.  Eaton was tuned up for three runs in the fourth inning as Kelly Johnson hit a two run home run followed immediately by a dinger by Omar Infante.   The Fightins came right back with a five spot in their fourth at bat to tie the game.  Chris Coste hit a two run home run to center field. So Taguchi then collected a pinch hit, Jimmy Rollins followed with a single, Shane Victorino then hit his 8^th homer of the season to knot the score.

 Pat Burrell hit his 26^th home run of the season in the fifth inning to put the Phillies up one.  Meanwhile Clay Condrey replaced Eaton on the mound and held the Braves scoreless for two frames.  The Phillies erupted for five runs in the sixth inning as Shane Victorino knocked in Carlos Ruiz with a single,(Ruiz had doubled on a pinch hit); J-Roll went to second on the hit as he had been walked prior to Victorino’s at bat.  Rollins and Victorino then pulled off a double steal.  Ryan Howard then plated both with a single.  Jayson Werth homered to bring in Howard and himself.

 J.C. Romero pitched a scoreless seventh for the Phillies, Jimmy Rollins hit the team’s fifth home run of the game in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 12 to 5.  In the top of the eighth things got interesting again as the Braves put up a five spot of their own.  Rudy Seanez started the inning for the Phils but could only get one out as he gave up multiple hits including an RBI double to Infante.  Seanez left with the bases loaded, Ryan Madson came on and immediately walked in a run. Martin Prado then cleared the sacks with a double to right field that Jayson Werth misplayed trying to make a diving catch. 

 Brad Lidge came on to pitch the ninth to earn his 24^th consecutive save.  Play concluded at nearly 7 pm some 5 and ½ hours after it started!

 Chatter

 With Manny being Manny in Boston an article was posted in the New York Post that the Phillies might be a trade destination for the enigmatic slugger.  Ramirez respects Phillies manager Charlie Manuel like a father figure as Manuel was the hitting coach in Cleveland when Ramirez played there.  Boston management seems at wits end this time with Ramirez so if a deal could be made with the Fightins not having to give up too much, considering that Manny wants out of his contract at year end perhaps a move might be intriguing!  He might be the professional hitter the lineup seems to need.  The team has an off day tomorrow which is a good thing for the bullpen as they had to use seven pitchers in each of the past two games.

Jayson Stark of ESPN rebutts the Ramirez rumors stating that the Phillies focus is on acquiring pitching.  Lefthander J.A. Happ was pulled in the third inning of his start in Triple A today for no apparent reason, he was being congratulated in the dugout by teammates…………. speculation is that he is either involved in a trade or may indeed become the lefty in the bullpen the team has been trying to acquire.

Talk about a challenging first assignment with your new team, Joe Blanton sure stepped into one in his first start for the Phillies.  First place on the line within the division, facing the archrival Mets in New York and just for good measure face their staff ace Johan Santana.  No pressure Joe but lets see what you can do!

 The Phillies jumped out to an early one run lead as consecutive singles by Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth allowed Burrell to score. Blanton held that lead till the Mets third at bat.  His troubles started with a four pitch walk to Met shortstop Jose Reyes. Endy Chavez then legged out an infield single to second base as Reyes was running on the pitch also.  David Wright then smoked a double down the left field line to score Reyes but Chavez was thrown out at the plate on perfect relays by Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins.  Carlos Delgado then appeared to strike out on a curve ball in the dirt but the third base umpire said he did not swing.  Two pitches later Delgado, a notorious low ball hitter, golfed a low fastball over the right field fence to give the Metropolitans a two run lead.  Blanton wriggled out the inning with no further damage. 

 Between innings Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel was ejected from the contest as he argued the lack of a call in the Delgado at bat.  On the replay it did appear that Delgado broke his wrist on the swing.

The Mets added two more runs in the sixth inning as with two outs Blanton issued a four pitch walk to Marlon Anderson.  The walk once again burnt the right hander as the next batter Ramon Castro deposited a hanging slider over the left field wall.  The Phillies got one back in the top of  the seventh as Shane Victorino touched Santana for a solo home run to left field. 

 Blanton was pulled after six innings, an inauspicious debut for the Fightins at best.  The Mets loaded the bases in the seventh but did not score as Chase Utley made a diving catch on a line drive hit with mustard by hot dog pinch hitter Fernando Tatis.  Pat Burrell doubled in the Phillies eighth but was stranded on base.  Santana pitched eight innings, he issued no walks in the contest, in his three starts against the Fightins he has given no free passes.

With Billy Wagner ailing the Mets summoned Duaner Sanchez to close but he could not get the job done as he gave up consecutive singles to Jayson Werth, Greg Dobbs and Shane Victorino.  Joe Smith came in and faced Carlos Ruiz who hit a ground ball to short that Jose Reyes played badly as Victorino beat him to second on a fielders choice, Werth scored on the play.  The Mets then went to left hander Feliciano to face So Taguchi who came up huge with a double to right field to tie the game, it was Taguchi’s first pinch hit of the season!  Mr. Clutch Jimmy Rollins  then plated two more with a line double to left field. The Mets got a “Bronx cheer” as Chase Utley grounded out to second pushing Rollins to third, Pat Burrel was then intentionally walked.  Rollins scored on an bobbled ball hit back to the box by Ryan Howard that Feliciano could have had a inning ending double play on!  Aaron Heilman then became the Mets fourth pitcher of the inning as he came to face Jayson Werth who led off the inning and walked him!  He finally got out of the inning as Dobbs popped to short.

Brad Lidge pitched the ninth inning and gave up one run but earned his 22nd save of the year.  Chad Durbin was credited with the win.  Mets fans were stunned by the outcome as the comeback win was a definite deflator!

 Chatter

 Endy Chavez was thrown out at the plate twice in the contest, once from left field and the other from right.  Luis Aguayo, the Mets third base coach was overly aggressive on both plays as Chavez was out by a lot each time.  Carlos Ruiz had a couple of hits for the Fightins which is a good sign as he has struggled mightily recently.  The Phillies have held first place since May 31st, the last time the Mets held first by themselves this year was in April.   The Phillies are now 4 and 7 against New York with seven games remaining in the season series, must win the head to head games if title is to be claimed.  As Jimmy Rollins said in the post game interview this is only one game so must come back tommorrow night fightin just as hard!

The Phillies opened the last series of play before the All-Star break at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kyle Kendrick took the hill vs. Doug Davis for Arizona.

Ryan Howard got the scoring started by clubbing his major league leading 28th home run in the second inning to give the Fightins a one run lead. The Diamondbacks answered with the game tying run in the top of the sixth inning as Chad Tracey plated Orlando Hudson.

In the Phillies half of the sixth with two outs Pedro Feliz reached on a walk and advanced to third on a double by Shane Victorino. The struggling Carlos Ruiz came to the plate batting out of the eight hole. Rather than walk Ruiz to get to the pitchers spot Arizona chose to pitch to him. This ended up burning the D-backs as Doug Davis unfurled a wild pitch allowing Feliz to score and Victorino to advance to third. The D-Backs then chose to intentionally walk Ruiz. With pitcher Kyle Kendrick batting the Phillies executed a delayed steal with Ruiz breaking from first, getting caught in a rundown and allowing Victorino to scamper home with the third run!

Arizona took the game lead in the top of the seventh frame as consecutive hits by Miguel Montero, Alex Romero and a double by pinch hitter Emilio Bonifacio plated two runs. Starter Kendrick was lifted in favor of left handed specialist RJ Swindle. Swindle’s task was to get Stephen Drew and keep Bonifacio from scoring. After working an 0-2 count Swindle hung a 55 mph curve ball over the plate and Drew lined it into right field to give Arizona the lead. Chad Durbin then was brought into the game by Manager Charlie Manual and retired the next two hitters to limit the Diamondback lead to 4-3.

The Phillies threatened in the bottom of the seventh with one out as consecutive singles by Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth put runners on first and third. Chase Utley then hit a scorched ground ball that looked destined for center field but D-Back second basemen Orlando Hudson made an incredible diving stop, flipped the ball to shortstop Drew at second who then completed the inning ending double play with a throw to first base!

Arizona added another run in the eighth as Montero got his third hit of the game with two outs. Romero then hit a deep drive to center field that Victorino just missed making a spectacular leaping catch of against the fence. He was able to recover in time to throw out Romero via shortstop relay at third base trying to stretch the hit.

The Phillies tied the game in their half of the eighth as a Shane Victorino triple plated Ryan Howard and Eric Bruntlet (pinch running for Pat Burrell who singled). Arizona hurler Tony Pena was able to pitch out of the inning without further damage.

The game advanced to extra innings as the game remained tied at regulation end. The Phillies finally prevailed in the twelfth inning as So Taguchi led off with a single, was sacrificed to second base and scored on a line single to right field by Jayson Werth.

Rudy Seanez gained the win in relief as the Phils used all available position players and all but Ryan Madsen out of the bullpen.

Chatter

Pat Burrell was disappointed by the naming of David Wright instead of him to replace injured Alfonso Soriano on the All-Star team but consider this; it has been sixty years since the Major League home run leader at the break was not on either team. Ryan Howard leads the majors in taters and the N.L. in RBI’s. Howard’s average is below .240 which may have been part of the consideration but truth be told if not robbed of about 20 hits by the infield shift deployed by many teams against him his average would be .290. As it stands Howard came into the game with more RBI’s than hits! The game marked the 29th sellout crowd of the season for attendance.  Mike Cervenak made his major league debut with a pinch hitting appearance in the 11th inning.  He hit a hard line drive to left field but it was caught.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored four runs in the final two innings as they came from behind to beat the Colorado Rockies by the score of 8-6 on Tuesday night.  Pat Burrell hit a bases loaded double in the ninth inning off of Manuel Corpas for the game winning hit.

Burrell led the Phillies with three RBI all coming on the double, Chase Utley had two RBI, while Jason Werth, So Taguchi, and Greg Dobbs all had one RBI.  Werth’s RBI came on a solo home run in the seventh inning.

Ryan Madson picked up the win for the Phillies as he pitched in relief.  Brad Lidge saved the game in the ninth inning to pick up his fourth save of the season.  Phillies starter Brett Myers pitched seven innings and allowed eleven hits and six earned runs.  Myers did not pitch good like the team had hoped for.

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