Midnight’s Children

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.

After a road trip to Washington and Houston the Phillies returned home last night to the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park. They routed the undermanned Colorado Rockies 20-5 in route to their 29th win of the season. The Phillies pounded the Rockies pitching for 19 hits with Chase Utley and Chris Coste each hitting a 3 run homer. The offense was relentless as they pouned each pitcher that entered the game for Coloradeo. Jamie Moyer went 7 innings for the win and improved to 5-3 on the season. He had a rough 1st inning allowing a 3 run homer to Ryan Spilborghs but Chase Utley got it right back in the bottom of the 1st. Moyer settled in after that while the Phillies bats took it to Jorge De La Rosa. He lasted just 3 1/3 innings allowing 7 runs 6 of which were earned. The Rockies bullpen didn’t fare much better as the Phillies tacked on 13 runs in the remaining innings.

The Phillies managed to get out of Houston with a series split after a 15-6 win yesterday. Cole Hamels was roughed up a bit pitching 4 innings and allowing 6 runs on 7 hits and didn’t strikeout a batter. He did manage to collect 2 hits and an rbi. The Phillies were down 6-4 in the 6th inning when they erupted for 5 runs folled by a 6 run 7th inning. Pat Burrell, Geoff Jenkins and Chase Utley homered for the Philles. The bullpen threw 5 scoreless innings in relief of Hamels with Rudy Seanez notching the win. The Astros Lance Berkman went 2-5 to keep his average at .385 for the season. The Phillies will be home against the Colorado Rockies tonight.

The Phillies bats finally erupted last night in Washington with 8 runs in the 6th inning as they cruised to a 12-2 win behind the pitching of Jamie Moyer. Ryan Howard led the way with a pair of homers including one into the second deck in right center. The first homer to be hit there in the Nationals new park. Shane Vicotino and Pedro Feliz also homered for the Phillies. The offensive explosion was needed by the Phillies as they had scored only one run in the previous two games against Washington. Howard collected three hits and lifted his average to a whopping .195 for the season. He has been hitting the ball (yes hitting) better lately and appears to be getting his aact together at the plate. The Phillies will need his offense to make a run for the title. At the same time Pat Burrell has gotten into a slump that has seen his average fall to .271. I hate to see this happen to Burrell because he has worked so hard to improve at the plate. You could really see his confidence at the beginning of the season. He needs to stick with it and just iron out a few mimor things in his swing and he will be alright. Pat needs to stay back and keep the weight on his back foot and stride into the ball. When he starts diving at those low outside breaking balls he gets all out of whack and that is enough to throw him into a slump. Watch the tape and make the adjustment Pat. The Phillies are off to Houston to play the Astros for a four game weekend series. Adam Eaton gets the ball tonight so I hope the Philles bring their bats with them because they need all the offense they can get. Eaton is by far the worst pitcher on the staff and shoudl be shown the door.

Brett Myers had another lack luster performance in Washington last night as the Nationals beat the Phillies 4-0. Myers dropped to 2-5 on the season  after pitching 6 innings and allowing 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. He has got to figure out what the problem is if the Phillies are going to make a run at repeating as National League East champions. Brett was the intended number one starter but has looked like a pithcer that has no confidence in his fast ball and his location is the primary concern. The Phillies are not going to wait long before making a move to trade him if the right conditions confront the team.

The Phillies won an inter-league game against the Toronto Bluejays 10-3 last night on the strength of Jayson Werth’s bat. He hit three home runs including a grand slam and had eight rbi’s in the win. That tied a Phillies record for most rbi’s in a game. Jamie Moyer evened his record at 3-3 by throwing seven strong innings allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and just 2 walks. The win lifted the Phillies record to 24-19 on the season.