Midnight’s Children

The Phillies started off their 9 game road with losing 2 of 3 to the A’s. They dropped a 5-0 game yesterday after sanpping their six gaming losing streak the day before. This now makes 5 consecutive series the Phillies have lost. They remain in 1st place in the National East by 2 games over Flordia only because the Marlins have lost 4 in a row. The hitting has been the big problem for the Phillies who have been in a team slump since they cored the 20 runs in Atlanta a few weeks ago. Their pitching has been suspect also with Adam Eaton taking the loss yesterday with a less than stellar start. He has fallen back into his old ways of getting in early trouble in the count and once he does that he is done. Brett Myers gets the start tonigght which could be his last if it is not a qality performance. The Phillies front office can’t afford to wait any longer on Myers and his mental status. He can’t re-adjust to being a starter and wants to be in the bullpen again. That’s a bunch of crap. If you are a pitcher it doesn’t matter if you start or relieve. You’re in there to do a job and if you can’t get it done then they should waive his ass goddbye. Enough is enough.

The Phillies offense continues to slump and the result was a 3-2 loss to the L.A. Angels who swept the 3-game series this weekend. The Angels have the best road record in baseball and proved why as their pitching shut down the Phillies bats with some smart pitching. Their offense generated enough runs to give their team the lead so the pitchers could stick with their game plan of throwing mostly off speed stuff to the fastball hitting Phillies. Cole Hamels pitched pretty well today pitching 7 innings while allowing 3 runs on 6 hits. Chase Utley did start today after taking yesterday off amdist his 0-25 slump the longest of his career. He did go 1-4 today breaking the 0 for. The Phillies are of to Oakland & Texas this week and will face the A’s  tomorrow night after finishing their interleague homestand at 1-5. If this is how they will be playing if they reach the world series against American League clubs they might as well not bother.

The Phillies proved they still have a long way to go if they want to contend with the big boys after Boston came to town for an inter league series and took 2 out of 3. J.D. Drew went 4-5 leading the Red Sox in the victory. He tagged Kyle Kendrick with a 3-run homer in the 1st inning and the Sox never looked back. They built a 7-2 lead before the Phillies cut it to 7-4. That would be as close as the would get and once Jonathan Paplebon takes the hill in the 9th inning you can pretty much consider the game over. The Phillies won the 1st game on Monday but could not muster much offense over the last two games. Chase took another 0-4 and was hitless in the series. This is the longest draught in his career and when you take his bat and keep it silent you can deal with the rest of the Phillies lineup without too much of a problem. The Phillies have tomorrow off before the best road team in baseball the Los Angerles Angels comes to town on Friday. Should be a good series and the fans will enjoy seeing a team that they don’t get to see very often.

After returning from a 5-4 road trip to Atlanta, Florida & St. Louis the Phillies started inter league play tonight against the world champion Red Sox. Cole Hamels went 7 strong innings allowing just 2 runs on 7 hit while walking 2 and striking out 5. The offense was led by Ryan Howard who hit 2 home runs and had a triple while driving in 4 runs to tie for the league lead in rbi’s. Howard raised his average to .224 with his 3-5 night.  

The Phillies beat Flordia tonight behind the 2 hit pitching of veteran Jamie Moyer. They really needed this kind of pitching effort from their starter tonight. Moyer was simply magnificent as he baffled the Marlin hitters with changeups and curve balls all night. He went 8 innings allowing just the 2 hits and 0 walks. Easily his best outing of the season. Moyer raised his record to a solid 7-3 and is top starter for a rotation that has pithced well all season except for Brett Myers. The win for the Phillies was important after dropping the first two games in the series. They are now 4-2 on the road trip and are headed to St.Louis for a weekend series. The will not have to face the Cardinals top pitcher in Adam Wainwright or Albert Pujols who was just put on the disabled list yesterday. The Phillies could not have expected Moyer to be as sharp as he has thus far. Every win they get out of his 45-year old arm is a bonus and just having him around the clubhouse is a positive influence on any team. We’re just glad to have him in Philadelphia.

The Phillies completed a 3 game sweep with a 6-3 win in Atlanta yesterday. Ryan Howard led the offense with 3 doubles and 4 rbi’s. To my surprise Adam Eaton had his team leading 8th quality start pitching 6 innings and allowing 3 runs on 8 hits. Eaton has been really good in his last 4 starts and is impressing manager Charlie Manual along with the rest of his team. I for one am a serious anti-Eaton fan. I just don’t think he has the quality pitches to make it in the big leagues. I hold my breath every time he walks to the mound for his warmups. The fear of impending doom and self destruction looms when he pitches. He is currently proving wrong and I hope it continues but don’t expect the success to be a constant in the starting rotation. The Phils are off to Florida for a 3 games series starting tomorrow night with Brett Myers on the mound. Another inconsistent starter in the rotation. I’m just glad the bullpen and offense has ben extraordinary so far allowing the Phillies to lead the National League East by 4 games.

The Phillies received a complete game shutout from Cole Hamels yesterday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. The 5-0 win put put the Phillies lead over the Florida Marlins at 2-1/2 games afdter Flordia lost to Atlanta. Hamels effort was his best outing in the last month. He threw a 3-hitter and was really on top of his game in the victory. The Phillies are now off on a nine-game road swing to Atlanta, St. Louis and Flordia. Jamie gets the start tonight against Atlanta’s Tim Hudson. The Phillies need a solid road trip to keep their lead in the National League East. Atlanta is currently 3-1/2 games behind Philadelphia and would like a sweep to get them even closer.

The Phillies continue their winning ways with a 5-4 win against the Reds Monday night in Philadelphia. Chase Utley led the way with his major league leading 21st home run. The Reds played without Ken Griffey Jr. who is still pursing his 600th home run. Kyle Kendick pitched 5 1/3 innings allowing 4 runs on 5 hits to improve to 5-2 on the seaosn. The bullpen threw scoreless baseball with Brad Lidge closing out the 9th inning for his 14th save. The Marlins lost to Atlanta so the Phillies lead in the N.L. East is at 1-1/2 games.

After a 7-3 loss to Flordia on Saturday night that dropped them back into 2nd place the Phillies rallied to beat the Marlins 7-5 on Sunday. Jamie Moyer got the win to improve to 6-3 on the season. He now leads all Phillies starters in victories. Chase Utley continued his hot streak with his major league leading 20th home run while Geoff Jenkins hit a pinch home un to tie the game at 5-5. Pat Burrel’s two run double in the bottom of the 7th inning was the game winner. Brad Lidge pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning to get his 13th save of the year. The win put the Phillies back in first a 1/2 game ahead of the Marlins.

The Philies offense continues to roll as they put up 12 mores runs last night in a victory over Florida to take over first place in the N.L. East. The Marlins tokk a 3-0 lead in the first off of starter Brett Myers who could not locate the plate and was very timid in his approach. Myers’ confidence was very shaky from the start and he is relying on his curve ball in too many key situations. Chase Utley tied the game at 3-3 with a 3-run shot and the Phillies bats were off to the races. They put up  4 more runs in the 2nd innning to take a 7-3 lead and never looked back. Chris Coste and Ryan Howard also homered in the win and Myers settled in to strike out 11 over 8 innings. This was by far his best outling in May and will hopefully give him the confidence he is looking for going forward.