A sweep would have been nice, but I’ll take two of three. The Phillies have slowly risen to at least the top of the second tier of teams in the Wild Card race. With their win today (and as of 4:30 PM EDT), the Phillies are in fourth place for the Wild Card, three games back of the Reds and Dodgers.
Things got off to a nice start on Monday. Ryan Howard hit homerun number 39, and in the process, drove in his 101st run of the season. Even if Howard didn’t swing the bat the rest of the year, he had a great year number wise. 50 homeruns and 140 RBIs are not out of the question, although without Abreu as a table setter, it’ll be tough.
Bret Myers threw an okay game and he improved to 8-5. He gave up four runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts over five innings. Jimmy Rollins and Scott Victorino both drove in two runs in the 9-6 win.
Yesterday’s game was pretty ugly. Tim Hudson held the Phillies to a single run on seven hits. The only run of the game for the Phillies came on David Dellucci’s sac. fly in the eighth. A really good start by Cole Hamels went to waste. He gave up one run on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts over six innings. Gary Geary was credited with giving up the other two runs.
The Phillies bounced back in a big way today. An eight run seventh inning was the difference in this one. Pat Burrell homered and Chase Utley drove in three runs in the 9-3 win. Randy Wolf left the game in the sixth after his best start since coming back. He gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Next up is a huge series with the Reds. Right now, the Reds are tied for the Wild Card lead and if we can knock them down a peg or two, it’s one more team we’re closer to passing.
August 11th, 2006 at 4:05 am
I hope Cormier and Franklin help implode the Reds bullpen leading to a series sweep for the Phils! This is the biggest series of the season. I’m just glad they’re still sticking around and making the season worthwhile.