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Funk shrunk
By egrissom | July 3, 2008
Evidently the collective funk the Phils found themselves in earlier this month was as easy to fall out of as it was to fall into. All it took was a National League team to play.
A lot of things have gone right for the Phillies in Atlanta. Last night they got an early three-run bomb from Howard that put them up 4-0 in the third. Adam Eaton wasn’t great, but he was good enough. The bats have come alive and twice in two games they got huge outs from their pen. Jimmy Rollins is 5-for-8 with two walks in the first two games against the Braves after going 3-for-26 in six games against the A’s and Rangers.
The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 7-3 last night. With the win they improve to 46-39 on the year and ensure they will win their first series out of their last seven. The Phillies have won five in a row against the Braves.
Eaton got the start for the Phillies and went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and five walks. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, a double and a home run. He struck out two.
Yunel Escobar singled with one out in the first. Chipper Jones followed with a ground out to second that moved Escobar to second. Eaton got Mark Teixeira on a popup to short for the third out.
Eaton walked Kelly Johnson with one out in the second. He struck Jeff Francoeur out swinging for the second out and got Mark Kotsay on a pop to third.
Gregor Blanco singled to center with one out in the third. Escobar flew to right for the first out before Eaton walked Chipper and Teixeira back-to-back to load the bases for the lefty Brian McCann. McCann flew to center for the third out to leave the bases loaded.
Eaton threw a 1-2-3 fourth.
Eaton started the fifth up 5-0. Ruben Gotay hit for the pitcher Jorge Campillo to lead off the frame and lined a 2-2 pitch just out to right over the glove of Werth. Blanco followed with a walk. Escobar was next and he smashed a ball back up the middle, but Rollins made a fantastic play to start a double-play. Chipper grounded to third for the third out.
Great play by Rollins changed the inning.
Teixeira led off the sixth with a double. Eaton walked McCann on five pitches to put men on first and second before Johnson loaded the bases with a single to right. With the righty Francoeur at the plate Manuel called on Durbin. Durbin got Francoeur to hit a double-play ball to short. Teixeira scored to make it 5-2. Durbin got Kotsay looking at a 2-2 pitch to leave McCann stranded at third.
Great job by Durbin, who came back to throw a 1-2-3 seventh.
Romero started the eighth. Chipper was the first to face him and hit a 1-1 pitch just out to center. 5-3. Teixeira walked on four pitches before Romero struck McCann out swinging for the first out. Johnson was next and chopped a ball high to first. Howard fielded and tagged out Johnson for the second out as Teixeira went to second. Madson came in to pitch to the righty Francoeur and struck him out swinging to end the inning.
Lidge started the ninth, pitching for the second straight day in a non-save situation. He struck out Kotsay for the first out before Greg Norton hit for Royce Ring and singled to center. Blanco was next and hit a ball to Howard that Howard didn’t handle for an error. With runners on first and second, Lidge struck out Escobar for the second out. Chipper was next and hit a ground ball between first and second. Howard cut in front of Utley and didn’t make the play. He was charged with another error, his second in three batters and ninth on the season. It loaded the bases and brought Teixeira to the plate as the tying run, but Lidge struck him out swinging at a 3-2 pitch out of the strike zone to end the game.
Lidge strikes out the side, allowing a hit and working around two errors to post a scoreless frame. The pen allowed one run in four innings while striking out six. Durbin was fantastic. He threw 22 pitches, Lidge 28 with an assist to Howard, Romero 19 and Madson six.
Lidge and Romero were pitching for the second straight day.
The Phillies’ lineup against righty Jorge Campillo went (1) Rollins (2) Victorino (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Burrell (6) Werth (7) Feliz (8) Coste. Werth again in right despite the righty and a couple of hits from Jenkins the night before. Coste catches Eaton. Howard stays at four and Burrell at five. With two switch-hitters and two lefties in the lineup the Phils have four righties in a row five through eight.
Utley doubled to right with two outs in the first. Howard grounded to first for the third out.
Feliz doubled to left with two outs in the second. Coste was next and hammered a double to left center. Feliz scored and the Phils led 1-0. Eaton followed with a single to left and Coste tried to score from second. Blanco’s throw was strong but a little up the third base line. McCann took it and made a nice tag to nail Coste to end the inning.
Rollins started the third with a single. Victorino flew to right before Rollins stole second. Utley walked and it brought Howard up with two men on. Howard got up 2-1 and then hit one out to left-center for a three-run shot that put the Phils up 4-0. Burrell flew to right and Werth grounded to short.
Coste singled with one out in the fourth and Eaton bunted him to second. Rollins walked to put men on first and second with two down, but Victorino popped to short to end the frame.
With two outs in the fifth, Burrell got ahead 3-1 and then pulled a ball on the outside of the plate out to left to put the Phillies up 5-0. Werth popped to first for the third out.
Feliz started the sixth with a single but Coste hit into a double-play behind him. Eaton struck out for the third out.
Rollins started the seventh with an infield single but Victorino, Utley and Howard went down in order behind him.
Werth singled with one out in the eighth. Feliz flew to left for the second out before Werth stole second. Coste grounded to first to set the Phillies down.
Bruntlett, who had entered the game in left in the bottom of the eighth, started the eighth with a walk. Rollins followed with a triple to right-center that scored Bruntlett and put the Phils up 6-3. Victorino struck out for the first out before Utley singled to left, scoring Rollins to make it 7-3. Utley stole second before Howard walked. It put men on first and second with one down. Taguchi hit for Madson and hit into a double-play.
Bad strikeout by Victorino with nobody out and a man on first. Utley picked him up.
Rollins was 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
Victorino 0-for-5 and left five men on base. He’s 3-for-his-last-21.
Utley 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and an RBI.
Howard 1-for-4 with a three-run homer and a walk.
Burrell 1-for-4 with his 21st home run.
Werth 1-for-4.
Feliz 2-for-4 with a double.
Coste 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Cole Hamels (8-5, 3.38) faces righty Jair Jurrjens (8-3, 2.94) tonight. Over his last three starts Jurrjens has not allowed an earned run in 21 2/3 innings. He’s allowed just five home runs in 98 innings on the year. Opponents are hitting just .248 against him, but he’s walked too many, 37 in 98 innings. He’s just 22 so you might as well get used to him. Hamels has allowed six home runs in his last four starts but has gone at least seven innings in all of them.
This suggests that JA Happ or Brian Mazone will get a start this weekend against the Mets.
Topics: Game recap |
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 am
How is Taguchi still on this team? They are now using Bruntlett as the Burrell replacement, and Taguchi is 0 for 15 or something like that as a pinch hitter.
While I’m at it, why do they routinely take Burrell out of the game but leave Howard in? He nearly cost the team the game last night. You gotta figure that a first baseman is going to be involved in more defensive plays than a left fielder, who may have two balls hit to him in the entire game.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
I wonder if Manuel felt bad for him with it being his 39th!! birthday and all. You could have almost bet the bank that he was going to ground into a double play. I wonder is Madson would have stayed in to finish the ninth if Jimmy wouldnt have gotten a free pass at the plate? Lidge two nights in a row with no save opportunity and then having to throw that many pitches is rough. I hope they dont need him tonight.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Greg makes an interesting point with Howards glove late in innings…Bottom 9, you have the lead with some lefties coming to plate…maybe you do pull him for Dobbs or someone. Doubt it will ever happen…but interesting.
boy did he almost blow it for us late…but I’ll give him props on the bomb.
Thoughts on Lidge coming in both games? Prob only was up bk the game was close at the time, both times we scored late…he was warmed anyway so just bring him in? My buddy’s complaint of Willie in NY was getting the pen up and down and not using guys once warm.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Just a brutal inning for Howard. I agree that Taguchi’s spot on the roster could be better used. If you’re going to keep him on the roster you need to let him play, though. If Bruntlett is the fifth outfielder you don’t need six. Taking Burrell out of the game as much as Manuel does is just a mistake, I think.
I hope they don’t need Lidge tonight too. I thought using him both nights was okay, though. I think Manuel has a strong preference to let a guy start and finish an inning, but I think I would have let Seanez try to start the ninth last night against the bottom of the order. I agree about the pitch count last night for Lidge making tonight harder. Thanks Ryan.
Taguchi is 0-for-15 with a walk as a pinch-hitter. Nice call, Greg.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
39? He looks more like he’s 59. I admit it, I heard the pinch hitting stats from the radio team last night. I can’t take any credit. It just really stuck with me when I heard it.
I was actually hoping that once it became a non-save we would see Swindle to see what he could do. If he got into trouble, you would still have Lidge ready to go. I’ll give Charlie the benefit of the doubt on this one though. I’d rather just bring Lidge into the game if he was ready instead of risking an injury or ticking somebody off.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I’d guess you’ll only see Swindle against a single lefty or starting an inning when the Phils are up or down a billion. We’ll see, though.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Hopefully the Phils will be up by a billion or two tonight because I don’t want to see Lidge. His arm may fall off.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Yeah. If they keep hitting ground balls to Howard late in the game maybe everyone in the pen’s arms will fall off.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am
The Phillies did the reversal move last night in Atlanta. They swept the Braves prior to their slump so, sweeping them again allowed them to reverse the voodoo . . . I think I seen So Taguchi filling in for the bat boy yesterday in Atlanta.