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The Phillies have put Joe Blanton on the DL with a problem with his right elbow.

Righty Vance Worley will start tonight’s game against righty Mike Pelfrey (1-2, 7.23) and the Mets.

Worley, who will turn 24 in September, made five appearances, two of which were starts, for the Phillies in 2010. He pitched very well, throwing to a 1.38 ERA and an 0.92 ratio over 13 innings. In each of his starts he went five innings, allowing two run in ten innings combined. He has made four starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley so far in 2011, throwing to a 2.78 ERA with a 1.10 ratio while striking out 25 in 22 innings. His last start came on Sunday, so he’ll be pitching on regular rest. He went five innings and threw 89 pitches in that start.

Pelfrey has been awful this year, but the best of the five starts he’s made came his last time out when he held the Diamondbacks to a run on five hits and two walks over seven innings. Opponents are hitting 333/405/529 against him for the season. He hasn’t fared well against lefties in his career — they’ve put up a 295/367/442 line against him over 1,620 plate appearances. He started against the Phils on April 6 and was pounded, charged with seven runs in two innings. Blanton had trouble holding a 7-0 lead in that game, but after the Mets tied the game at 7-7 in the fifth the Phils put three more runs on the board to win 10-7.

The article linked in the top paragraph says that Ruiz will be rest for a few days. This says that Dane Sardinha is headed to Philadelphia, but Blanton to the DL and Worley activated is the only transaction showing on the Phillies web site so far.

The Phils are 3-3 through six official spring games. Over the six games, they’ve scored 23 runs (3.83 runs per game) and allowed 26 (4.33 per game).

Of the 26 runs they’ve allowed, 12 of them have been charged to Justin De Fratus (who has allowed four runs over three innings, Eddie Bonine (four runs over two innings) and Michael Schwimer (four runs in one inning).

Overall, the pitchers have thrown to a 3.83 ERA with a 1.28 ratio and 42 strikeouts in 52 innings. Excluding the three guys above, the Phils have thrown to a 2.44 ERA with a 1.13 ratio and 39 strikeouts in 48 innings.

The 13 pitchers who (in my mind) with the best chance to make the Phils this year who have thrown so far (Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt, Blanton, Kendrick, Worley, Lidge, Zagurski, Baez, Herndon, Madson and Romero) have combined to pitch to a 1.86 ERA with a 1.03 ratio and strike out 19 in 29 innings. Lidge is the guy of that group you might want to start worrying about a little — in two outings he’s allowed four hits, including a home run, and hit a batter over two innings.

Finally, the group of Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels and Blanton has combined to throw 15 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and six walks. That’s a 1.80 ERA and an 0.87 ratio. They’ve struck out 11 in 15 innings.

On Wednesday, the Phils lost to Baltimore 6-5. Oswalt got the start and allowed a run on two hits and a walk over two innings. Lidge followed him, giving up a run on three singles. Worley was next, making his second spring appearance, and allowed a run on four singles over two innings. David Herndon and Brian Gordon both threw scoreless frames, while De Fratus and Brian Bass combined to allow three runs on six hits over two innings.

Michael Martinez and John Mayberry both hit solo homers for the Phils in the ninth. Mayberry also doubled in the game.

Hamels was fantastic yesterday as the Phils topped the Red Sox 2-0. He threw four shutout innings, allowing a single to Mike Cameron and a walk. Over six shutout spring innings, he’s allowed two hits and two walks. Cameron’s single off of Hamels was the only Boston hit on the day. Mathieson followed Hamels with two shutout frames before Michael Stutes tossed two scoreless innings of his own. Juan Perez allowed a walk in a scoreless ninth.

Nice outing for Mathieson after he allowed a pair of runs in two innings in his first appearance. Perez has now walked three in his two innings. Stutes has allowed two hits and struck out five in four scoreless frames without walking a batter — the 24-year-old righty threw to a 3.42 ERA with a 1.32 ratio in 53 relief appearances between Double-A and Triple-A for the Phils last year. In 76 1/3 innings he struck out 79.

Jeff Larish went 1-for-3 with a two-run double in the second that accounted for all the scoring in the game. He’s 1-for-7 with a walk so far. Delwyn Young was 0-for-2 with a walk to drop his spring average to .364. Francisco was 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. He’s hitting .375. Brown 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout, making him a hide-your-eyes 0-for-15 with nine strikeouts for the spring. Michael Martinez was 0-for-4 and is 1-for-12. Mayberry went 1-for-3 with a walk — he has an impressive 333/375/600 line after 15 at-bats. He also stole his second base of the spring yesterday.

Joe Blanton is expected to start today as the Phils face the Pirates.

No news is no news on Chase Utley. He can take batting practice, but not run or field. The most interesting part of the article may be Amaro’s quotes about the defense of Delwyn Young at second base. He doesn’t sound particularly enthusiastic.

The article linked above also says that Brian Schlitter has a tender elbow and that Bastardo could pitch in today’s game.

Wilson Valdez took the wrong bus yesterday.

Carlos Ruiz left camp Wednesday for the birth of his second child and should return today.

The Phillies were second in the NL in runs scored in 2010. That’s great news, but the bad news is that their offensive production fell off compared to the rest of the league at an alarming number of positions. Here is the NL rank by OPS for the Phils at the eight positions over the past three years:

Or, to put it another way, relative to the rest of the league and using OPS as the measure, the Phils got worse at six of the eight offensive positions in 2010 compared to 2009:

One of the positions where they didn’t get worse was right field, where they seem sure to see a drop off in 2011. Given that Jayson Werth is coming off the best year of his career and probably won’t be on the team anymore, it seems like a good bet they will be worse in right in ’11 than they were in 2010.

Right field, catcher and third base have been the positions where the Phillies had the most opportunities to improve since 2008. And improve they did, at least at catcher, where Ruiz has led the charge from tenth-best by OPS in the NL in ’08 to second-best in 2010, and in right.

No such luck at third base, where the Phils have been in the bottom five in the NL for six straight seasons and probably will be again next year. The last time the Phils were better than twelfth in the league in OPS at third base was 2004, when David Bell hit 291/363/458 with 18 home runs.

If they’ve been bad and stayed bad for a while at third, the bigger area of worry may be the places where they’ve been good recently and weren’t in 2010. From 2008 to 2010 they’ve dropped from first to fifth at second base and from sixth to eleventh at short. Ryan Howard hit 58 home runs while batting .313 in his MVP season in 2006. The Phils led the NL in OPS at first base in that year. Since then their rank has fallen every year — third in 2007, fourth in 2008, fifth in 2009 and sixth in 2010.

The Giants win the World Series. The Giants win the World Series. The Giants win the World Series. And they’re going crazy. Heey-ohh.

Neither, apparently, did the Phillies. Led by Roy Halladay and the bullpen, the Phils gutted out a 4-2 win last night to stay alive in the NLCS. The Phillies still aren’t firing on all cylinders, but they’re getting closer. The cylinders that keep them giving everything they’ve got are the most important ones and they seem to be firing just fine.

If the Giants came into last night’s game not knowing they have work to do if they’re going to win the series, they know now.

We’ve seen Halladay nearly perfect this year, but he was far from it last night. I’m not sure we’re ever going to know exactly what was going on with him, but we’ll know part of it. From the opening batter when he didn’t get two close pitches to start the game, Halladay looked off. He looked like he was physically ill and we know he was injured. He made it through six innings, though, and he took the Phillies with him.

Halladay walked Andres Torres to start the bottom of the first. Torres moved to third on a single by Freddy Sanchez and came home on a grounder by Buster Posey to put the Giants up 1-0. The Phils jumped ahead in the third. Ibanez led off with a single and moved to second when Ruiz was hit by a pitch. Halladay bunted them to second and third on a ball that should have been called foul before Victorino smashed a ball to first. It went off of Aubrey Huff’s glove for a two-base error that allowed both runners to score and put the Phils up 2-1. Polanco followed that with an RBI-single that scored Victorino and made it 3-1. The Giants got another run in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Pat Burrell and Cody Ross, but Halladay held them to two runs over six innings and Contreras, Romero, Madson and Lidge backed him up with three shutdown frames.

Madson in particular looked like the rest of the world didn’t belong on the same field as he was. And he had thrown 32 pitches the day before.

The Phils trail the Giants three games to two in the NLCS after a 4-2 win last night.

Roy Halladay got the start for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, both doubles. He struck out five.

That guy is unbelievable. They ought to charge people money just to watch him pitch.

He faced a Giants lineup that went (1) Andre Torres (CF/S) (2) Freddy Sanchez (2B/R) (3) Aubrey Huff (1B/L) (4) Buster Posey (C/R) (5) Pat Burrell (LF/R) (6) Cody Ross (RF/R) (7) Pablo Sandoval (3B/S) (8) Uribe (SS/R). Torres back in the starting lineup and leading off with Rowand on the bench. Uribe plays short with Renteria back on the bench. Sandoval at third with Fontenot out of the starting lineup.

The Giants had six players on the bench to start the game. Lefties Travis Ishikawa, Mike Fontenot and Nate Schierholtz and righties Eli Whiteside, Edgar Renteria and Aaron Rowand.

Torres led off the bottom of the first and walked on a 3-2 pitch after Halladay didn’t get a call on two close pitches to start the at-bat. Sanchez showed bunt and took strike one. Torres was running on the next pitch and Sanchez singled into center. It brought Huff to the plate with nobody out and men on first and third. Huff smoked a ball, but Howard made a diving play at first for the first out. Posey hit a 1-1 pitch slowly to second. Utley charged and looked like he was going to field, tag Sanchez and throw to first for the double-play, but didn’t handle the ball cleanly. He picked it up in time to get one out at second as Torres scored to make it 1-0. Burrell struck out looking 1-2 to end the inning.

The play that Howard made on the ball smashed by Huff might be about as big a defensive play you can make in the first inning. Starting Torres helps the Giants get a run. The Utley miscue wasn’t a sure double-play, but it would have been nice to have.

Halladay threw 18 pitches in the inning.

He struck Ross out swinging at a high fastball 1-2 for the first out in the second. Sandoval was next and had a long at-bat, grounding to short 3-2 on the tenth pitch. Uribe hit a 3-2 pitch hard, lining to short on the ninth pitch of his at-bat.

Long inning for Halladay. He had thrown 43 pitches through two innings.

He started the third with a 3-1 lead and got Lincecum on a ground ball to short for the first out. Torres was next and hit a ball to first that went off the glove of Howard and to Utley. Utley threw to Halladay covering first, but the throw was wild and backup up nicely by Ruiz. Torres was given a single. Sanchez lined to right for the second out and Huff swung at the first pitch and grounded to Utley to end the inning.

Short inning for Halladay that time. He was at 55 pitches after three.

Posey grounded to short to start the fourth. Burrell was next and he lined a 1-1 pitch into left for a double. Ross followed him and inside-outed an inside pitch down the right field line an into the right field corner for another double. Burrell scored to cut the lead to 3-2. Sandoval flew to right for the second out and Ross tagged and tried to go to third. Werth made a fantastic throw and Polanco tagged Ross out on a close play to end the inning.

Great throw by Werth. Halladay was up to 66.

Uribe swung at Halladay’s first pitch of the fifth and flew to center. Lincecum struck out looking 0-2 for the second out. Torres was next and smashed a ball to first that went off the glove of Howard for an error. Sanchez followed and singled to left on a 2-2 pitch with Torres moving to third. Huff dribbled a 1-2 pitch out in front of the plate. Ruiz got to it quickly and threw him out to set the Giants down.

Halladay was up to 82 pitches. The Howard error made him throw ten more than he should have, but Torres really crushed the ball.

Posey walked on a close 3-2 pitch that might have been low to start the sixth. Burrell was next and popped to Rollins 0-2. Ross struck out swinging 3-2 for the second out. Sandoval moved Posey to second with a single to right, but Halladay struck Uribe out swinging 3-2 to end the inning and leave both men stranded.

Halladay threw 26 pitches in the inning and was at 108 for the game.

Contreras started the seventh. Lefty Mike Fontenot hit for Lincecum and Contreras struck him out swinging 1-2 for the first out. Torres was next and chopped a 2-2 pitch back through the middle and into center for a single. Sanchez lined a 1-0 pitch to third for the second out and Romero came in to pitch to the lefty Huff. Huff got ahead 2-0 and hit a soft liner near second. Utley made a jumping ice cream cone catch for the third out.

Super catch by Utley at a big time. I’m still not exactly sure how he brought the ball down after he caught it, cause about half of it was hanging out of the end of his glove.

Contreras has allowed one hit, the single by Torres, over three innings in three appearances in the series.

Madson pitched the eighth having thrown 32 pitches in game four and was just silly good. He struck Posey out swinging 2-2, Burrell out swinging 0-2 and Ross out swinging 1-2.

Madson has allowed two hits and two walks over 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the series, striking out seven.

Lidge started the ninth with a 4-2 lead. He got Sandoval on a fly ball to right for the first out. Uribe was next and grounded to short for the second. The lefty Ishikawa hit for the pitcher Affeldt and Lidge struck him out swinging 2-2 to end the game.

Everyone in the pen gets an off day today and should be available on Saturday. Madson threw 13 pitches in the game, Contreras 11, Lidge ten and Romero three. Oswalt didn’t even pitch this game.

The Phillies lineup against righty Tim Lincecum went (1) Victorino (2) Polanco (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Werth (6) Rollins (7) Ibanez (8) Ruiz. Utley drops to third with Polanco moved up to second. Ibanez back in the lineup after Francisco played left against the lefty in game four.

The Phillies bench had six offensive players to start the game, lefties Brian Schneider, Ross Gload, and Domonic Brown and righties Ben Francisco, Mike Sweeney and Wilson Valdez.

Victorino started the game grounded to first on a 2-1 pitch. Polanco got ahead 3-1 and flew to center for the second out. Utley grounded to second 1-1 to set the Phillies down.

Lincecum threw 12 pitches in the first inning.

The Phillies were down 1-0 when they hit in the second. Howard struck out swinging 2-2 for the first out. Werth was next and struck out looking at a 2-2 pitch on the outside corner for the second. Rollins grounded to Huff at first on an 0-1 pitch for the third.

Lincecum had thrown 22 pitches.

Ibanez led off the third and flared a 1-0 pitch into right center for a single. Ruiz got behind in the count, but Lincecum hit him on the arm with an 0-2 changeup. It put men on first and second for Halladay and Halladay bunted the first pitch from Lincecum near the plate. Posey picked the ball up next to the plate and threw to third. Sandoval wasn’t at the bag and Ibanez slid in safely, but Halladay hadn’t run to first because he thought the ball was foul (it was). Sandoval threw to first to force Halladay for the first out. Victorino was next and hit a ball hard to first. Huff got in front of it, but it went off his glove, then off his leg and bounced into shallow right center. Both runners scored on the error and Victorino took second with the Phils up 2-1. Lincecum’s first pitch to Polanco was way up and in and Polanco stared back out at him before singling into left on a 1-1 pitch, scoring Victorino to put the Phils up 3-1. Polanco was running on the 3-2 pitch to Utley and Utley singled into center, sending Polanco to third. Howard struck out swinging as Utley stole second. Werth came to the plate with men on second and third and flew to left on an 0-2 pitch to leave both men stranded.

No RBI for Howard with one out and a man on third. The Halladay bunt was clearly foul. Would have been nice to have run anyway. Victorino taking second on the error by Huff when the ball got away helped him score on the single by Polanco, but he would have scored on the single by Utley if he hadn’t.

Lincecum was up to 53 pitches.

Rollins struck out swinging 3-2 for the first out of the fourth. Ibanez broke his bat lining a 2-1 pitch to third for the second. Ruiz grounded to second 0-2 to set the Phils down.

Lincecum at 67 pitches after four innings.

It was 3-2 when Halladay led off the fifth. Halladay struck out swinging 1-2 for the first out. Victorino flew to right for the second. Polanco hit a 1-1 pitch hard, but Uribe made the play moving to his left and threw him out for the third out.

A nine-pitch inning had Lincecum at 76 for the game.

Utley grounded to first for the first out in the sixth. Howard was next and struck out swinging 2-2. Werth flew to center 0-2 for the third out.

Lincecum had set down 11 in a row and thrown 89 pitches for the game. Howard was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

Rollins led off the seventh and hit a 1-0 pitch hard to second. Sanchez didn’t handle it and Rollins was given a single. He stole second as Ruiz took strike two and the count went 1-2. He stole third as the count went full on Ruiz. Lincecum’s 3-2 pitch to Ruiz was inside and the Phils had men on first and third. Gload hit for Halladay and smashed the first pitch he saw, but Huff caught the line drive and Ruiz was doubled off of first to end the frame.

Whacha gonna do? Gload hammered the ball. His second good at-bat in two days with nothing to show for it. This series is hard for me to watch as a fan — I can’t imagine what it must be like to wait eight hours to get your chance and hit into that. The Phils got lucky that Gload got to hit against Lincecum and the Giants got lucky that he hit it right at someone.

Righty Sergio Romo started the eighth for the Giants. Victorino led off and hit a 1-2 pitch to first. Romo fell down on the mound trying to cover first, so Huff took it to the bag himself. Romo was shaken up, but stayed in the game and walked Polanco on a 3-1 pitch that was inside. Lefty Javier Lopez came into the game and struck Utley out looking 2-2 for the second out. Howard flew to left of a 2-1 pitch for the third.

Manuel hits Utley third in the lineup with Polanco second and it allows the Giants to use Lopez against Utley and Howard without a right in-between. First non-strikeout of the game for Howard.

Righty Ramon Ramirez started the ninth for the Giants. Werth led off and hit a 2-1 pitch out down the right field line for a home run, putting the Phils up 4-2. Rollins flew to center for the first out and San Francisco left Ramirez in to face the lefty Ibanez. Ibanez singled to center, but Ruiz flew to center behind him for the second out. The righty Francisco hit for Madson and chopped the first pitch from Ramirez to third. Sandoval charged and fielded, but his throw to first pulled Huff off the bag for an error. It put men on first and second with two down and lefty Jeremy Affeldt came in to pitch to Victorino. Victorino struck out swinging 3-2 to leave both runners stranded.

Francisco against the righty is a strange choice. Manuel had the lefty Brown and could hit Sweeney for Brown if the Giants brought Affeldt in to pitch to Brown. He also let Ibanez play left in the ninth. I don’t understand the thinking on using Francisco against the righty.

Victorino was 0-for-5 in the game with an RBI. He hit the ball to Huff that Huff didn’t handle, which would have gotten the Phillies a run even if it had been fielded cleanly. He’s 3-for-20 in the series with a double and two walks.

Polanco was 1-for-3 with his second huge hit in two games and an RBI. 5-for-17 with two doubles and a walk in the series.

Utley continues to struggle both offensively and defensively in the series. He was 1-for-4 with a stolen base last night and is 3-for-19 with three walks in the series. He didn’t field a potential double-play ball cleanly early and threw a ball to first away that was backed up nicely by Ruiz. He did make a huge play to end the seventh.

Howard was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, the worst of which came in the third with a man on third and one out. 5-for-17 with three doubles, three walks and nine strikeouts.

Werth 1-for-4 with a home run. He also made a fantastic throw in the fourth inning to get Ross trying to go to third. 4-for-16 with a double, three walks and two home runs. The win means you get to see Jayson Werth play in a Phillies uniform at least one more time.

Rollins was 1-for-4 and stole two bases. 5-for-19 with a double and a walk in the set.

Ibanez was 2-for-4 in the game and is 2-for-15 with a walk in the series. He also lined to third in the fourth inning last night on a well-hit ball. We’ll see who plays left on Saturday against the lefty. I’m guessing Ibanez.

Ruiz was 0-for-2 with a walk. 3-for-15 with a home run and a walk in the series.

Oswalt and lefty Jonathan Sanchez tomorrow in game six. It will be a rematch of game two, which the Phillies won 6-1.

The series between the Braves and the Giants is over and the Phils will face San Francisco in game one of the NLCS on Saturday.

It looks like the ten offensive players for the Giants who will have the biggest impact in the NLCS are righties Buster Posey, Freddy Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Pat Burrell and Cody Ross, lefties Aubrey Huff, Mike Fontenot and Nate Schierholtz and switch-hitters Pablo Sandoval and Andres Torres.

For the 18 players (eight for the Phils and ten for the Giants), here’s the percentage of plate appearances in which they have walked and singled this season (the numbers for Ross and Fontenot are their total numbers for the season — for everyone else it’s just their numbers with the Phils or Giants):

Pat the Bat is the new king of the walks group. He doesn’t have a lot of company from his fellow Giants, though, as San Francisco players occupy seven of the bottom eight slots.

Freddy Sanchez gives Polanco a run for his money as a singles hitter, but it’s going take more than his .292 with no power to catch Polanco (about six more points of batting average, I would guess). Polanco and Sanchez have been very similar offensive players this season. Sanchez was a little more likely to walk or homer, but they hit doubles and triples at a nearly identical rate while Polanco was a little more likely to single in a given plate appearance.

Here’s the plate appearances that ended in a single or a walk and the percentages of plate appearances with a double or triple:

Ruiz is the still the most likely member of the group to get aboard via a walk or a single. He’s widened the gap a bit from the series with the Reds in which Votto was nipping at his heels, having walked or singled in 29.78% of his plate appearances.

Perhaps the most surprising thing to me on any of the six lists is that Andres Torres was more likely to deliver a double or a triple than Werth. Torres had 82 fewer plate appearances than Werth during the regular season, but delivered six more triples and just three fewer doubles. Werth led the league with 46 doubles. Torres was fourth with 43 and seventh in the league in triples. Even forgetting the triples, Torres doubled at a higher rate than Werth (7.54% for Torres and 7.06% for Werth).

Important also to note about the doubles and triples chart is who is at the bottom. Utley and Howard was less likely to deliver a double or a triple than any of the other 16 players — five of who slugged under .400 (Rollins, Polanco, Sanchez, Schierholtz and Fontenot).

Here are the rates for home runs and strikeouts:

Burrell with the Giants this year was both more likely to homer than Howard and less likely to strike out. He was also more likely to walk or double or triple, but Howard still hit a lot more singles.

Burrell pretty clearly outperformed his replacement Ibanez this year, at least offensively and in his time with the Giants. In 341 plate appearances with San Francisco, Burrell hit 266/364/509 with 18 home runs. Ibanez hit 16 home runs in 636 plate appearances while posting a 275/349/444 line with the Phils. Ibanez was more likely to get a hit, but Burrell walked a whole lot more and was more than twice as likely to homer in a given plate appearance.

Overall, the Phils were the better offensive team on the season by a wide margin, finishing second in the league in runs scored while the Giants finished ninth. That gap widened in the second half as the Phils led the NL with 362 runs scored and the Giants were tenth with 306. The teams went 3-3 in the six games they played in the regular season, with the Phils outscoring San Francisco 29-27.

Cole Hamels was fantastic last night, throwing a complete game shutout as the Phils topped the Reds 2-0 in Cincinnati to finish off the sweep in the NLDS.

The Phils plated a run in the top of the first with the help of yet another Cincinnati error. With two outs and men on first and third, Werth hit a ground ball to short. Orlando Cabrera fielded, but his throw pulled Joey Votto off of first base and Polanco came in to score to put the Phils up 1-0. Utley hit a fifth inning home run to end the scoring for the game.

The Phils scored just 13 runs in the three game series, but thanks to the no-hitter by Halladay in game one, the shutout by Hamels in game three and four scoreless frames from the bullpen in game two, it was enough.

Cincinnati couldn’t score, but they couldn’t field either. The Reds made seven errors in three games and only seven of the 13 runs that the Phillies scored in the series were earned.

The Phillies have won their best-of-five series with the Cincinnati Reds, taking game three 2-0 to complete a three-game sweep. They will play either the Giants or the Braves in the NLCS, which starts on Saturday in Philadelphia.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and threw a complete game shutout, allowing four singles and a double. He struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter. That might not even be the best post-season start of his career — in game one of the 2008 NLDS, Hamels held the Brewers to two singles and a walk over eight shutout innings and struck out nine as the Phils won 3-1.

He faced a Cincinnati lineup that went (1) Drew Stubbs (CF/R) (2) Brandon Phillips (2B/R) (3) Joey Votto (1B/L) (4) Scott Rolen (3B/R) (5) Jonny Gomes (LF/R) (6) Ramon Hernandez (C/R) (7) Jay Bruce (RF/L) (8) Orlando Cabrera (SS/R). That’s the same eight players the Reds started in game one against the righty Halladay, but in a different order. Stubbs moves into the leadoff spot with Philips hitting second. Cabrera, who left game two with a side injury, starts but hits eighth. Hernandez moves up to sixth in the order with Bruce dropped from sixth to seventh.

Cincinnati started the game with six players on their bench, lefties Juan Francisco and Laynce Nix and righties Ryan Hanigan, Paul Janish, Chris Heisey and Miguel Cairo.

Stubbs led off the bottom of the first with the Phils up 1-0 and hit a ball in the hole between third and short. Rollins fielded and made a long, strong throw to firs that was in the first. Howard scooped it, but Stubbs beat it out for an infield single. Phillips was next and he smoked a 1-0 pitch into left center. Victorino got a great jump on the ball and caught it on a full run for the first out. Stubbs was running on the 3-2 pitch that Votto hit back to the mound. Hamels turned and looked at second, but there was no play there. He took the out at first and Rolen came to the plate with two down and Stubbs on second. Hamels struck Rolen out looking at a 96 miles per hour fastball on the inside corner for the third out.

Huge play by Victorino on the ball hit by Phillips. That sure looked like a double. The 3-4-5 hitters in the Reds lineup were 1-for-21 with a Votto single in the series at that point.

Hamels threw 15 pitches in the inning.

Gomes chopped an 0-2 pitch to third for the first out of the second inning. Hernandez was next and flew to Werth in shallow right. Votto followed him and hit a 1-1 pitch hard between first and second. Utley made a diving effort, but the ball went off his glove and Bruce had a single. Hamels struck Cabrera out swinging 3-2 to end the inning.

Two hits through two innings for Hamels, both on plays that should have been made defensively by the Phils. Hamels had thrown 31 pitches in the game after a 16-pitch second.

Hamels through quick third. The pitcher Cueto led off and bunted an 0-1 pitch, popping it up in foul territory. Ruiz took it for the first out. Stubbs flew to left on an 0-1 pitch and Phillips flew to right on an 0-1 pitch.

Just six pitches in the inning for Hamels, who was at 37 for the game.

Votto grounded hard to Utley on a 2-2 pitch to start the fourth. Rolen was next and bounced a 1-1 pitch up the middle and into center for a single Gomes got ahead 2-0 and Hamels delivered a pitch that looked high to me but was called a strike. Hamels struck him out swinging at a low changeup 3-2 for the second out. Hernandez swung at the first pitch and grounded to Utley to end the inning.

When Hamels got behind Gomes 2-0 it was the only time I had been even a little worried about him all night. He was fortunate to get the 2-0 call on a ball out of the zone, but the at-bat ended nicely at Hamels got him with a pretty pitch. He had thrown 52 pitches in the game after a 15-pitch inning.

The Phils were up 2-0 when he started the fifth. Bruce fouled out to Ruiz on a 1-0 pitch for the first out. Cabrera grounded to first for the second. That brought up the pitcher’s spot, and righty Miguel Cairo hit for Cueto. Hamels struck him out swinging 0-2 for the third out.

Nine pitches in the inning had Hamels at 61.

He struck Stubbs out swinging 3-2 for the first out of the sixth. Phillips grounded to short on a 1-1 pitch for the second out. He got ahead of Votto 0-2, then struck him out swinging at a 3-2 changeup to end the inning.

Fifteen pitches in the inning for Hamels had him at 76. He had set down eight in a row.

He struck Rolen out swinging 1-2 for the first out of the seventh. Gomes was next and Hamels threw him a 2-2 changeup that was up and over the plate. Gomes hit it hard, but not hard enough. Ibanez took it on the warning track for the second out. Hernandez was next and he ripped a 1-0 pitch into left for a double. Arroyo ran for him at second, but Hamels got Bruce to line to Werth 1-1 to end the inning.

Gomes, Hernandez and Bruce all hit the ball hard right in a row, but Hamels got away with it. He was up to 95 pitches after 19 in the frame.

Cabrera swung at the first pitch of the eighth and flew to left. Ryan Hanigan was next, he had been double-switched into the game in the top of the inning with the new pitcher Bailey moving into Hernandez’s spot. Hanigan popped a 2-0 pitch up between third and the plate in foul territory. Polanco and Ruiz couldn’t figure out who was going to catch it. Eventually Polanco tried and dropped the ball and was charged with an error. Hamels got him to ground to second for the second out and then struck Stubbs out swinging at a high fastball.

106 pitches in the game for Hamels after throwing 11 in the inning.

Phillips started the ninth and quickly got ahead 2-0. Hamels evened the count at 2-2 and then ripped a ball past a diving Polanco and into left field for a single. He threw strike one and then strike two past Votto and then got MVP to hit a 1-2 pitch to Utley and the Phils turned and easy-looking double-play. Golly. It brought Rolen to the plate as the last hope for the Reds and Hamels struck him out swinging to end the series.

The Reds scored four runs in the three-game series.

Gomes, Cairo, Hanigan, Nix, Heisey, Francisco and Janish combined to go 0-for-20.

Votto was 1-for-10 with a single and no walks.

Bruce 2-for-8 with a home run and two walks. He and Phillips were the only two Cincinnati players who on-based at least .300 in the series. Phillips was 4-for-12 with a home run and no walks.

Stubbs 1-for-9, Rolen 1-for-11. Cabrera 1-for-8 and Hernandez 1-for-7 with a double.

The Phillies lineup against righty Johnny Cueto went (1) Victorino (2) Polanco (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Werth (6) Rollins (7) Ibanez (8) Ruiz. That’s the same lineup they used against Arroyo in game two. Rollins still shouldn’t be hitting ahead of Ibanez and Ibanez shouldn’t be hitting seventh.

The Phillies bench had seven offensive players to start the game, lefties Brian Schneider, Ross Gload, Domonic Brown and Greg Dobbs and righties Ben Francisco, Mike Sweeney and Wilson Valdez.

Victorino started the game and flew to right on a 1-1 pitch for the first out. Polanco followed him and lined an 0-1 pitch into left for a single. Utley hit an 0-1 pitch well, but Stubbs took it on the warning track for the second out. Howard got ahead 3-0 and flared a 3-2 pitch into left. Gomes was playing extremely deep, nearly on the warning track, and the ball fell in front of him near the foul line for a single that sent Polanco to third. Werth reached out and tapped a 3-2 pitch to short. Cabrera fielded the ball, but his throw to first was bad, on the home plate side of first, and Votto had to come off the bag to get it. Werth was safe on the error and Polanco scored to put the Phils up 1-0. Rollins swung at the first pitch and flew to center to leave the runners at first and second.

More bad defense from the Reds gives the Phils an early 1-0 lead. Cueto threw 21 pitches in the inning.

Ibanez started the second and hit a 2-0 pitch well to right, but Bruce took it for the first out. Ruiz bounced a single up the middle and Hamels bunted him to second with the second out. Victorino got ahead 2-0 and then lined a 2-1 pitch to Cabrera at short for the third out.

Ibanez and Victorino both hit the ball well in the inning, The other out that Cueto got the Phillies gave him. He was at 32 pitches for the game after throwing 11 in the inning.

Polanco grounded to second to start the third. Utley struck out swinging 3-2 for the second out. Howard chopped a 2-2 pitch to where you might expect the third baseman to be, but the big shift had Rolen near short. He fielded the ball after a long run and threw to first, but Howard beat it out and was 2-for-2. Werth got behind 0-2 and struck out swinging 2-2 to leave Howard at first.

Cueto had thrown 54 pitches.

Rollins had a nice at-bat to start the fourth, working a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Ibanez flew to center 1-2 for the first out. Ruiz was next and hit a 1-0 pitch to third. Rolen made an odd play, moving backwards and then throwing awkwardly to second to force Rollins for the second out. Hamels flew to shallow center to leave Ruiz at first.

Cueto’s pitch count was up to 69.

Victorino grounded to first on a 2-2 pitch to start the fifth. Polanco was next and flew to Bruce near the foul line in right for the second out. Utley followed and Cueto hung an 0-1 slider in the middle of the plate, which Utley hammered over the wall in right-center just out of the reach of Stubbs to put the Phils up 2-0. Howard swung at the first pitch and grounded to Phillips, who was playing second in shallow right field.

First home run of the series for the Phils. Cueto had thrown 83 pitches through five innings.

Righty Homer Bailey was on the mound for the Reds to start the sixth after Cincy hit for Cueto in the bottom of the fifth. He struck Werth out looking 0-2 for the first out. Rollins was next and singled into right on a 3-1 pitch. Ruiz struck out swinging at a high fastball 1-2 for the second out. Ruiz hit a 1-1 pitch between third and short. Rolen slid fielding the ball, then popped up and dropped the ball trying to get it out of his glove. It put men on first and second for Hamels and he flew to shallow right on an 0-2 pitch to leave both men stranded.

Second error in the series for Rolen plus a bad throw to second in game one in which he wasn’t charged with an error. Rollins was 1-for-10 in the series and had been on base in each of his last two times to the plate.

Bailey was back for the seventh. Victorino led off with a single to left. Polanco was next and grounded into a double-play on a 1-2 pitch. Utley hit a 1-0 pitch well to left, but Gomes took it right in front of the warning track for the third out.

Lefty Bill Bray started the eighth to pitch to Howard and got him with a high 3-2 fastball for the first out. Righty Nick Masset took over to pitch to Werth and Werth struck out swinging at a 2-2 breaking ball that was outside. Masset got Rollins to fly to center for the third out.

Lefty Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth for the Reds. Ibanez lined a 3-2 pitch hard to right to start the inning, but Bruce handled it for the first out. Ruiz quickly got behind in the count but lined an 0-2 pitch down the right field line for a double. Hamels hit for himself and drove a ball to left-center, but Stubbs tracked it down for the second out. Victorino flew to center to leave Ruiz stranded at second.

Great job by Hamels not to get injured facing Chapman. He also crushed the ball.

Victorino was 1-for-5 in the game. He also made a very nice play on the ball Phillips hit hard to left center in the first. 3-for-13 with a double and a walk in the series.

Polanco 1-for-4. 1-for-9 with no walks in the set. Going back to the regular season, he has one extra-base hit, a double, in his last 78 plate appearances.

Utley 1-for-4 with a homer. 3-for-11 with a home run in the series.

Howard 2-for-4 with a pair of strange singles. 3-for-11 with three singles and two walks.

Werth 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. 2-for-12 with five strikeouts.

Rollins 1-for-3 with a walk. 1-for-11 with two walks.

Ibanez 0-for-4 with a strikeout, but hit the ball better than that. 3-for-12 with a double and a walk.

Ruiz 2-for-4. 2-for-8 with three walks in the set.

Valdez 1-for-3. Brown 0-for-1. Sweeney 0-for-1.

Utley would be the offensive MVP in the series for the Phils if you had to pick one. He didn’t play especially well offensively.

Rollins, Polanco and Werth combined to go 4-for-32 with four singles and three walks in the series.

The Phils scored less than 4 1/2 runs per game in the set with the Reds making an average of more than two runs per game.