Raul Ibanez celebrated the halfway point of what’s been a miserable season for him by driving in all the Phillie runs last night. Ibanez knocked Victorino in from second with a single early and broke a 1-1 tie with a solo homer in the seventh as the Phils topped Boston 2-1.
Vance Worley handled the pitching for the Phils, with a big assist to the new back of the bullpen. Worley went seven strong frames before the Phils got a perfect eighth from Stutes and a perfect ninth from Bastardo.
The Phillies are 4-1 in their last five and have allowed a total of six runs in those five games. Four of those runs were allowed in Saturday’s game against Oakland. In eight of their last ten games they have allowed less than three runs.
The Phillies are 51-30 on the year after beating the Boston Red Sox 2-1 last night. They still haven’t buried the Braves, who keep on winning as well. Atlanta is 8-2 in their last ten and remain 4 1/2 games behind the Phils in second place in the NL East. The Mets are in third place, two games over .500 and 9 1/2 games behind the Phillies.
Worley got the start for the Phillies and went seven innings, allowing a run on five hits and two walks. One of the hits went for extra-bases, a double. He struck out five and dropped his ERA on the year to 2.57. The Phils are now 5-2 in the games Worley has started for the year — that’s a better winning percentage than they have with any other starter except Halladay (14-3 in Halladay’s starts).
Worley set Boston down in order in the first. He knocked Dustin Pedroia down before striking him out on a pitch on the outside part of the plate for the second out.
Pitching with a 1-0 lead, he struck out David Ortiz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia in a 1-2-3 second.
Josh Reddick started the third with a single to left, but Worley got the next three behind him to leave Reddick at first. Pitcher John Lackey tried to bunt him to second with the second out, but got behind 0-2 and struck out looking.
Pedroia started the fourth with a single, but Worley got Adrian Gonzalez to hit into a double-play behind him. Worley walked Kevin Youkilis in an eleven-pitch at-bat, but got Ortiz on a fly ball to right to leave Youkilis at first.
Reddick singled again with one out in the fifth. Worley got Marco Scutaro to fly to center for the second out. He got ahead of Lackey 0-2, but Lackey doubled to left-center on a 3-2 pitch, scoring Scutaro to tie the game at 1-1. Jacoby Ellsbury flew to center to leave Lackey at second.
Lackey came into the game 3-for-35 (.086) at the plate for his career. He smashed that ball, though.
Gonzalez singled to center with one out in the sixth. Youkilis was next and hit a ground ball to third, which Polanco fielded and went to second with to force Gonzalez for the second out. Ortiz flew to left to end the frame.
Worley walked Salty to start the seventh, but got the next three hitters behind him. With two outs and Reddick on first, Lackey hit for himself and grounded to third for the third out.
Stutes pitched the eighth with the Phils up 2-1 and set Boston down in order. He got Ellsbury on a fly ball to right, Pedroia on popup that Polanco handled in foul territory and Gonzalez on a ground ball to second.
Golly. Stutes bounces back nicely against some good hitters after being charged with a pair of runs in an inning against the A’s in his last time out on Saturday.
Bastardo came on for the save in the ninth. Youkilis led off with a popup into shallow right-center, which turned into an adventure with Brown and Victorino both playing very deep. Utley handled it for the first out, though. Ortiz popped to Rollins in shallow left for the second out and Salty fouled out to Polanco to end the game.
For Bastardo it was his 13th straight appearance in which he was not charged with a run. In those outings he’s thrown 11 innings, allowing one hit and five walks.
Stutes threw 12 pitches and Bastardo ten. Nobody in the pen has thrown more than one day in a row.
The Phillies lineup against righty John Lackey went (1) Rollins (2) Polanco (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Victorino (6) Ibanez (7) Brown (8) Schneider. The Phils play a day game against a lefty today. The lefty Schneider hits against the righty in this game and Ruiz, I assume, will start today against the lefty.
Polanco and Utley singled back-to-back with one out in the first, putting men on first and second for Howard. Howard hit into a double-play to turn the Phils away.
Eighth double-play that Howard has hit into for the season. Last year he hit into a career-high 14.
Victorino led off the second with a double the opposite way into left and came in to score when Ibanez followed with a single, putting the Phils up 1-0. Ibanez stole second as Brown struck out looking for the first out. Schneider fouled out to Youkilis at third for the second out and Worley grounded to third to leave Ibanez stranded.
The Phils went in order in the third.
Ibanez doubled with two outs in the fourth, but was left stranded at second when Brown grounded to first.
The game was tied at 1-1 when the Phils went in order in the fifth.
Utley walked with one out in the sixth and stole second. Howard struck out for the second out and Victorino grounded to second.
Ibanez led off the seventh and hit an 0-1 pitch from Lackey out to right, putting the Phils up 2-1. Brown and Schneider went down behind him before Ruiz hit for Worley and flew to center to end the inning.
Rollins started the eighth with a single, but Polanco hit into a double-play behind him. Utley hit Lackey’s first pitch high off the wall in right for a triple. Lefty Franklin Morales took over for Lackey and got Howard on a fly ball to center to leave Utley at third.
Fourth man left on base in the game for Howard.
Rollins was 1-for-4 with a strikeout in the game. He’s 1-for-7 in the series so far.
Polanco 1-for-4. He’s 4-for-his-last-15.
Utley 2-for-3 with a walk and a triple. Third triple for Utley in the season in just 136 plate appearances. His career high is six, but that came in 2005 when he got 628 plate appearances.
Howard 0-for-4, struck out twice and left four men on base. He’s 1-for-his-last-16.
Victorino 1-for-3 with a double. His .508 slugging percentage leads the team. The Phillies only have four players slugging .400 or better for the year — Howard at .476, Utley .456 and Brown .411. Their .375 slugging percentage for the team is tenth-best in the NL.
Ibanez 3-for-3 with a double, a home run and drove in both of the runs that the Phillies scored. First home run in June for Ibanez.
Brown was 0-for-3 and struck out twice, dropping his line on the year to 214/294/411.
Schneider 0-for-3 in his second start since returning from the DL. He’s gone 0-for-7 in those games and is hitting 153/194/288 for the season.
Cole Hamels (9-4, 2.49) faces lefty Jon Lester (9-4, 3.66) this afternoon. Lester has thrown to a 2.45 ERA over his last three starts. He’s been tough on lefties, who are hitting 218/277/299 against him, but righties have fared better with a 255/342/437 line. Hamels has a 2.06 ERA in his last 15 outings.
This says that Lidge could start a rehab assignment at Double-A or Triple-A next week.
June 30th, 2011 on 11:15 am
This was supposed to be the 10-8 ballgame of the series. I’m excited that Worley threw well (although not as much with the 116 pitches it took), but also concerned about the offense. I keep thinking that it will get better, but now I’m really starting to wonder. The good news is that you only have to score one more run than your opponent to win the game and that rule also applies to the post-season.
June 30th, 2011 on 11:41 am
I don’t think there’s any denying the Phils have been fantastic so far. I don’t feel sure an offensive surge is coming at all — on the other hand, I don’t think it can get a lot worse. Ibanez, Francisco, Utley, Brown and Howard all seem like good candidates to be better in the second half than they were in the first and unlikely to get worse. I think we will see the addition of a right-handed bat before the end of the season. Victorino has been the best offensive player for the Phils this year. That’s good news that Victorino is playing well, but not how the Phillie playbook goes.
The thing that worries me about the pitching success is that the list of guys who have been awesome in the first half includes the ones you expected, but also a lot of names you didn’t. If the Phils are going to count on fantastic pitching to win that makes sense, but they shouldn’t be counting on Worley, Kendrick, Bastardo and Stutes to repeat their first half excellence. The pitching is obviously the core of the team now, but there are really only four pitchers that make me feel comfortable — Halladay, Hamels, Lee and Madson. That’s a great group, but it’s not a real long list and the lack of offense doesn’t leave the Phils a lot of room for error.
June 30th, 2011 on 1:46 pm
I keep hearing about this “adding a bat”, but I have yet to hear what position that bat would play, and what available player in the Phils budget – remembering that they’re about 2 mil from the luxury tax – has a higher potential than the guy already standing there.
June 30th, 2011 on 2:22 pm
Just about anybody has a higher potential than Ibanez.
Why did Hamels just come out of the game?
June 30th, 2011 on 2:55 pm
Raul’s contract makes it tough to move him off the team, though. I could go with Ben in left and Dom in right full time. One of them’s bound to break out.
Cole has a bruised hand. Looks like he got hit.
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110630&content_id=21211590&vkey=news_phi&c_id=phi
June 30th, 2011 on 3:42 pm
Not saying you would move Ibanez anywhere other than the bench. If you’re going to platoon Brown, then bring Mayberry back up and let Francisco and Mayberry play against lefties.
I think I’m at my breaking point when it comes to injuries. Not Cole!
June 30th, 2011 on 3:53 pm
Yeah, Cole. But the X-ray shows only a contusion in his right hand. They have just said that he will not miss his next start. YAY
BTW, so much for any “offensive explosion”. What a bunch of sad sacks when they do this. and they do it so often.
June 30th, 2011 on 4:24 pm
I still think that of Ibanez, Brown and Francisco, Ibanez is the guy I would guess to be most likely to produce offensively in the second half. I hope it’s not the case, but I think Brown might need a while before he puts up big offensive numbers. I’d be more willing to bet on Ibanez remembering how to hit at this level before Brown learns. I would keep giving Francisco chances, too, but he sure has been awful. Looks like Manuel let Francisco hit against a righty in the ninth today with Brown available.
June 30th, 2011 on 6:23 pm
For me, it has to be Ibanez and Brown. The former is at the end of a wonderful career, and is just not the guy he has been in the past. When he is bad, he is tragic. But he is still capable of winning a game or two for you here and there (cf: Wednesday @ The Bank). Brown is the real deal, and we just have to suck it up and let him play into the guy he will be. He too will win a game or to for us (cf: Tuesday @ The Bank).
Ben Francisco is no more than a bench player. He is AWFUL in right field; today is but one more shining example of how bad he can be out there. Pat The Bat was better in the field than Ben is. If Ben is still on this team next year I will scream.
June 30th, 2011 on 7:33 pm
I definitely agree that Brown has way more upside than Francisco. I don’t think it’s a great time to be waiting for a young player to turn into a regular, though. I would definitely let him play for now, especially if you’re 20 games over .500, but if he’s not playing a lot better soon I hope they add someone they can count on before the end of the season.
June 30th, 2011 on 7:57 pm
I can get into the right handed bat guy, whoever he is. Question is as it was above, and a darned good question: Who is it who goes to make room?
June 30th, 2011 on 10:13 pm
Michael Martinez.
July 1st, 2011 on 10:58 am
We should be so lucky