Right when we gut the team, we begin playing better. The Phillies have now won three straight games, and we now sit only 2 1/2 back of the Reds and Diamondbacks for the Wild Card. Not too shabby. Even better, the Phillies did it against a good but struggling Cardinals team.
Scott Mathieson picked up the win on Tuesday as the Phillies held off an early inning rally by the Cards. Mathieson gave up three runs on three hits and five walks and he’s now 1-2. Ryan Howard hit homerun number 36 and Chris Coste went yard with his fourth homerun of the season.
Wednesday’s game was over very early. Jimmy Rollins homered twice and a box score fit for a video game. He went three for five with five runs and four RBIs. David Dellucci and Aaron Rowand both went deep as well and Ryan Howard drove in three runs. Bret Myers was roughed up but he picked up the win. He gave up six runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts in six innings in the 16-8 win.
The Phillies finished up the sweep yesterday. A three run third and some solid pitching by Cole Hamels did it for us. Hamels improved to 4-5 and he gave up one run on two hits and two walks with a career high twelve strikeouts. Chris Coste went four for five with two RBIs and Aaron Rowand homered. Just as important, Chase Utley racked up a hit in each game and his hitting streak is now an amazing 35 games.
Next up is a three game series at Shea against the Mets. We have to win two of three. Not to overtake the Mets, which is a near impossibility now, but to keep making up ground in the wild card. It’s wide open right now and it would be huge if the Phillies could squeak in there despite being sellers at the trading deadline.
August 6th, 2006 at 4:42 am
Winning tonight (Sunday) would still make the series a success despite yesterday’s giveaway game!
Hey, I was hoping we could link blogs. I’ve asked before with no reponse, and if you don’t want to that’s cool, but I thought we’d do each other a favor and try to get the word out more by linking. Let me know.
http://pabaseball.blogspot.com