Midnight’s Children

The Phillies got just what they were hoping for when they traded for Joe Blanton a few weeks ago. He was able to give the team 7 strong innings last night as the Phillies beat the Cardinals 2-1. Blanton allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks his best outing so far as a Phillie. If he can continue to give the team innings like this the trade will turn out to be a positive. They will need his best pitching to keep the gap growing between the Phillies & the Marlins and Mets.

The Phillies only managed 4 hits in the game but 2 of them were of the long ball variety. Greg Dobbs hit his 4th of the year in the 3rd inning and Ryan Howard hit his 31st in front of his famly in St Louis in the 4th inning to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. That would turn out to be all the support Blanton would need. The bullpen continued to sparkle as Romero & Durbin combined for a scoreless 8th inning and Lidge came on in the 9th inning to record his 27th consecutive save. The lead is now 1-1/2 over the Marlins and 2 over the Mets who lost for the 2nd night in a row to Houston. The rubber game of the Cardinal series is tonight with Brett Myers 4-9 vs Todd Wellemeyer 8-4. Myers is looking for another strong effort to follow his win against the Nationals earlkier this week. The Phillies are hoping he can repeat his performance.

In his second start since returning from the minors Brett Myers was looking like the Brett Myers of old as he threw 7 solid innings allowing on 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk. The Phillies have been hoping for an outing like this from Myers for many months now. He had control of all his pitches and you could see his confidence growing with each inning he pitched. Granted he was facing the last place Nationals but the Phillies will be hoping he can keep this up for the remainder of the season. It does not apprear the team will be able to trade for a quality starter before the deadline so having Myers turn it around now will be the only option the Phillies have at solidifying their rotation.

The Phillies offense was pretty quiet tonight with the exception of a 2-run homer from the ailing Chase Utley whose hip may require surgery at the end of the season. After having an unusual dry spell for the last few months the Phillies finally announced that Utley has had some discomfort with the hip and it has been hindering his swing. The fans kind of knew something was wrong but with the team not announcing it until today they were left to sit and wonder what was wrong with the always reliable Utley.

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 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 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 ended their road trip with a 4-3 loss in San Francisco yesterday. J.C. Romero surrendered a 2 run homer to Steve Holm in the 7th inning to give the Giants the lead for good. This was the 1st homer allowed by Romero who had allowed only 1 earned run in 14 innings. Even the Phillies broadcast team was shocked by the homer by Holm who had replaced Bengie Molina who had been lifted for a pinch runner in the 6th. When Romero enters a game it is usually lights out. The loss gave the Phillies a 3-4 road trip as they head home to face Atlanta on Tuesday. The Phillies fans were treated to a rare triple by Ryan Howard who chugged his way around the bases after hitting the ball into the deepest part of the park. You could see how out of shape he is as he was gasping for air when he finally reached 3rd base. Well at least he got a hit and only struck out twice yesterday. That is becoming a good day for Howard.

The Phillies were beat today by the Giants 8-2. Tim Lincecum pithced 8 innings allowing just 4 hits and 2 earned runs. He was in command from start to finish. The lone bright spots for the Phillies was a solo home run by Ryan Howard in the 2nd inning and Chris Coste in the 8th inning. Jamie Moyer lasted just 4 innings allowing 6 earned runs on 9 hits. Tough day for the Phillies who were just man handled by the young Lincecum.