Phillies win! Game over. They take three from the Reds and now head for Atlanta.The only thing that would have made this afternoon's sellout game better was a beer. Cole Hamels, with a ridiculous lifetime ERA against the Reds, continued his mastery of Cincinnati with a three-hit complete game shutout. Rookie Homer Bailey wasn't bad himself, going into the 7th and giving up five runs, two of them earned. This was less than 24 hours after a fabulous game Wednesday night that the Phillies lost 2-0. Edinson Volquez, the dominating rookie pitcher who came over in the Josh Hamilton deal, held the Phillies to just two hits. Unbelievably, Brett Myers had a perfect game through four and a no-hitterthrough 6.2 . In the end it was a superb outing for Myers, despite his hard luck loss. For Hamels, today was an excellent bouceback game after two rocky starts.
Ken Griffey, Jr., in pursuit of his 600th home run, pinch hit in the previous three games, but played today. He led off the 9th to a nice ovation, then hit a ball to deep center that brought the crowd to its feet. But Shane Victorino caught it in front of the wall. Jr. walked off to a rousing ovation and responded with a tip of his cap to both sides of the park. It was an unexpectedly sweet moment, especially when one thinks of where Griffey, a great player, would be were it not for the many injuries that have plagued him in recent years.
Jimmy Rollins was lifted from the game for not running out a routine pop-up in the 3rd to short, which shortstop Paul Janish inexplicably booted. (Janish later made a much more difficult play.) Carlos Ruiz scored on the error but Rollins ended up on 1st. Charlie Manuel lifted him in the 5th for Eric Bruntlett. Manuel later declined to talk about it with the media, saying only that he and J-Roll had settled things. Was Rollins upset? Said Rollins, "That's like breaking the law and getting mad when the police show up." He added that Charlie has two rules: be on time and hustle, and that he had broken one of them. Message sent, message received.
