halladay dominates

Roy Halladay threw eight dominant innings against journeyman Pat Misch and the Mets last night in a 4-0 win. In the 3rd, Halladay got the first Phillie hit of the game, then scored on a Polanco RBI single. That was all he needed but the Mets gift-wrapped three more runs, as Misch, Ruben Tejada, and David Wright combined for three errors. It took 38+ innings for the Phillies finally to get on the board this year at Citifield. Can we all now move forward? Tonight it's Kyle Kendrick v. Mike Pelfrey, which could be a two-way disaster, a lopsided victory, or an unexpected pitchers' duel. Who knows with these two iffy guys?

Chase Utley played five innings down in Clearwater, going 1-3 with a triple.

the late great abbey lincoln

I've just read that Abbey Lincoln, the great jazz singer and writer, died today at her apartment on the upper West Side of Manhattan. She was 80 but I am still stunned. She seemed more like a force of nature than anything else. One night some years ago I was driving across northern Pennsylvania on the way back from Buffalo, New York, with a friend. Radio reception in that part of the state is the pits but suddenly in the night came the sound of Abbey Lincoln singing "The World Is Falling Down". It was like hearing a voice from heaven. Even my friend, not much of a jazz fan, was impressed. That is one of many favorite Abbey Lincoln songs of mine. She's got lots that speak loud and clear. Thanks, Abbey, and rest in peace.

utley, howard? oh, happy day!

First there was Ryan Howard saying that he thought he would be back once he is officially off the DL so long as the swelling in his ankle continues to go down. Now it's Chase Utley, saying that he may be back on Tuesday! Is any of this possible? Howard is still taking fielding practice and Utley is scheduled to play five innings tonight down in Clearwater.

This news may be the best of the weekend. If the Phillies do not step it up and win tonight behind Halladay, they've got little shot tomorrow behind Kendrick.

more bagels in ny

Cole Hamels again pitched a gem and again got nothing but a wicked line drive off his his right thigh in the 4th. In the 6th, he also got the only Phillies' hit off of knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, a loop single that mercifully broke up the no-hit bid. Hamels has pitched outstanding ball for most of the season, though his 7-9 record would indicate otherwise. In the last nine games, his run support total is nine.

The Mets got their only run on an RBI double by Carlos Beltran that scored David Wright from 2nd. Wright had reached on a misplayed ball by Shane Victorino.

After one of the most dramatically exhilarating games ever on Thursday, the Phillies went silent in NY. They have been blanked 10 times this year, five times by the Mets. Last night was the fourth time in a row that they have been blanked at Citifield. Just think about it: 36 innings without scoring a run. It's confounding, it's embarrassing.

Carlos Ruiz was pulled from the line-up with a tight quad but may be back today when Roy Halladay probably takes on soft-tossing left Pat Misch, who is sure to be another challenge for the offense.

phillies drop dodgers 10-9

For seven innings there was nothing to say about this game. Blanton was awful, the bullpen was awful, and Dodger starter Clayton Kershaw was poised to win a rare one against the Phillies. (Kershaw, by the bye, finally looks to be coming into his own.) Then trailing 9-2 in the bottom of the 8th, the Phillies strung some hits together to make it 9-6.

Hope, huh, especially against the hard-throwing Jonathan Broxton in the 9th, the same closer the Phillies have memorably traumatized in the past. Broxton started off by hitting Polanco and walking Sweeney and Werht. He then got Francisco to hit a grounder to third but third baseman Casey Blake booted the ball and a chance at a doubleplay. Instead, two runs scored on the error.

The Phillies had now cut the lead to one, without the benefit of a hit and with a man on first and second and still nobody out. That brought the man they now call Clooch to the plate. Without doubt, Carlos Ruiz, otherwise known as Chooch, has been the Phillies most clutch hitter all season. He delivered the first and final hit of the game, lifting a double to deep left center. Werth and Franxisco flew around the bases and the Phillies had, most improbably--or not--, come back to stun the Dodgers and take two of three in the series.

more glimmers

Shane Victorino has been activated for tonight's game in Philadelphia and Antonio Bastardo has been sent down. That means that Domonic Brown stays on the roster for a bit longer. Ross Gload, despite what looked like a bad injury last night, is listed as day-to-day. What a boost it would be for him to avoid a trip to the DL. Chase Utley was cleared yesterday to begin baseball activities. Woohoo!

Otherwise, it's raining, it's pouring and you wonder if there will be any games tonight.

oswalt first, lidge last

Roy Oswalt put on a strong showing in his first home game as a Phillie, going seven innings and giving up none. The Phillies scored one in the 4th, on a Dom Brown fielder's choice with the bases loaded. They scored again in the 6th, when Raul Ibanez drove in Mike Sweeney with an RBI double--and extended his hitting streak to 18. Sweeney was pinch-running for Ross Gload who had doubled but pulled up lame at second with a groin injury. What a bummer--and what else is new? Another day, another injury. Gload had been doing a good job filling in for the injured Ryan Howard.

Ryan Madson pitched around a lead-off double in the 8th and Brad Lidge came in for a 1-2-3 final inning. After last night's debacle, it was an all-round good game, with the Phillies besting Chad Billingsly and the Dodgers 2-0, but it was really all about the pitching. Asked after the game about having his old mate Lidge save another game for him, Oswalt replied, "He saved about 60 for me in Houston...Hopefully he can save another 50 or 60 here."

Shane Victorino, meanwhile, was on the second day of his rehab assignment with Lehigh Valley. Tuesday night he played five innings and went 1-2. Last night he played seven. He tripled in his first at-bat, homered in his second, and finished off the night with a two-RIB single in 5-1 win for the IronPigs. Victorino has given the listless 'Pigs a much-needed jolt of his high energy approach to the game and to everything.

brutal start, brutal finish

Kyle Kendrick has a dismal record against the Dodgers and last night's performance only added to it. Kendrick left in the fourth, shortly after throwing a perfect toss to Jimmy Rollins, covering second. It was a dead doubleplay ball but Rollins, inexplicably, fell down. A couple of batters later, Kendrick was headed to the showers. He gave up seven runs in 3.1 innings. For the Dodgers, the good Vicente Padilla showed up, at least early on, throwing what Vin Scully has aptly called his "soap bubble" pitch.

The Phillies came back to make it a 7-4 game but the bullpen, in the person of Bastardo, Herndon, Baez, and Romero, was brutal. Will Danys Baez ever bear down and make some pitches when they are needed? As for Romero, he looked beyond awful in the 9th. Only Contreras and Durbin did their jobs in an ugly 15-9 loss.

Worse, Polanco fell on his injured elbow and came up wincing repeatedly. He was finally lifted but says he is OK. Rollins, who had another mindboggling error on another dead doubleplay ball (he simply dropped it), also seemed to tweak his ankle saving a bad toss by Baez from going into center field. He looked to be in real pain. If the Phillies again lose either of those guys, they are done.

Some bright notes: Dom Brown hit the first homer of his major league career, a solo smash to deep right, and drove in four. Ross Gload had two home runs. Raul Ibanez extended his hitting streak to 17. Not that any of it really mattered.

The last time the Phillies gave up 15 runs was in 2007--here at home--to the Dodgers. I remember that dreadful game, too. But really the fans were quick to boo last night. They sounded like lunkheads. I mean, when Jimmy Rollins trips over second base on a dead-easy play and falls down, you gotta think it's not your night.

bastardo back to philly

As expected, lefty Antonio Bastardo was recalled from Lehigh Valley to join the Philies for the series with the Dodgers. Bastardo, like some other minor league guys, has the talent. Will he finally make the most of his opportunity?

David Murphy, who has become one of the better beat writers covering the Phillies, has an interesting piece on NL contending teams down the stretch on his High Cheese blog for the Philadelphia Daily News. See it here: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies/A_quick_look_at_the_stretch_run.html

consistency

Despite two stints on the DL, Placido Polanco has been the Phillies' most consistent hitter all season. No surprise, really there. That's what Polly does. His .319 BA leads the team and is 3rd in the league. The guy now carrying the team, though, is Raul Ibanez.

The last time I was at Citizens Bank Park was before the All-Star break. I said to one of the guys who sits next to me that I thought Raul was on his way back, simply because he seemed to be moving better, running better. My neighbor snorted and said, ".280. When he's hitting .280, I'll believe he's back." Well, Ibanez is now hitting .274 and his current 16-game hitting streak is much of the reason that the team is holding its own in the absence of so many key players. During this streak, he has a .407 BA, four home runs, and 16 RBI.

Ibanez says it's all about not doing too much, that in baseball less is more. He also credits his mates, whom he defines in one word: character.

6-5: we'll take it

Early on Roy Halladay did not seem to have his best stuff, then midway he looked good. In the 7th, though, the Mets got the Phillies' lead down to one. But Halladay gutted out the inning and held the score at 6-5. Ryan Madson took care of the 8th, then it was Brad Lidge for the 9th. As soon as he gave up a single to lead-off hitter Josh Thole, I turned the radio off and reached for the Rachel Carson book I am reading. After reading a section on the Chesapeake eel (amazing stuff: They and all American and European eels end their lives with a long migration to the Sargasso Sea), I felt more in tune with the big picture and turned the radio back on. Lidge had just got Reyes to pop up to center. Game over, the Phillies win.

After the Mets took a 2-0 lead in the 1st, the Phillies cut it to 2-1 in the second on a Jayson Werth home run that maybe should have been caught by Carlos Beltran, who looked as bad at the plate as he did in the field. Then in the 3rd, a Jose Reyes error opened the floodgates to a five-run inning, including a three-run homer by Raul Ibanez off of R.A. Dickey, who was soon gone. But the Fightins' did not add on and let the Mets chip away at the lead. You started to get a bad feeling. Was this a game where Halladay gets the run support but loses anyway? In the end, however, the Phillies take two of three from the Mets.

Everyone is now chattering about the young homegrown talent on the Mets, as seven of their starters were from their farm system. Let them produce, then go crazy.

John Mayberry was sent back to Lehigh Valley after the game. Word is that a pitcher (Bastardo?) will take his spot on Tuesday.

faint light, long tunnel

Ryan Howard is off crutches and is saying he will be back when his DL stint expires next week. Shane Victorino is scheduled to start a rehab assigmment with Lehigh Valley on Tuesday. If all goes well, he may rejoin the team this weekend in New York. Woohoo!

former phillies on the mound

An old photo from a game years ago in Oakland.

Lots of former Phillies or Phillie farmhands were pitching last night. Promising farmhand Gio Gonzalez pitched for the Oakland A's, while first-round draft pick Gavin Floyd went for the White Sox against former-Phillie Kevin Millwood of the Orioles. Brett Myers, now of the Astros, was squaring off against Randy Wolf, now with the Brewers. That's not all, though. Bruce Chen, in yet another of his baseball reincarnations, was pitching for the Royals. Gio won, Floyd won, Wolf won, and Chen won. What a bummer that Cole Hamels lost.

hamels suffers another hard-luck loss

Cole Hamels was fantastic, allowing one run on six hits, striking out a season-high 11, and walking none. But the one run was a solo homer to Jeff Francoeur and that was the only run of the game, as Johan Santana (0R, 5H, 6K, 3BB) and the Mets again blanked the Phillies. The Phillies had lots of chances but did not get it done. And Hamels, despite outpitching Santana, was once again a hard-luck loser. It makes me want to scream.

Chris Wheeler said sometime during the broadcast that earlier that day Davey Lopes had said he no longer gets angry with players when they do dumb things, he just feels disappointed. I can understand that but this game has left me vexed. First, there's Jayson Werth, who again made a boneheaded base-running mistake. Werth may have good numbers but he has been irritating to watch for much of this season. Jimmy Rollins was also thrown out at third on a bunt attempt by Polanco, but that was thanks to a rather sensational play by Santana on the ball. And maybe because Jimmy is still limping from his foot injury.

Speaking of which, you would think all the people venting about Rollins' average might want be able to connect his limping to a poor swing.

If Rollins were to go down again, the line-up would be scary. It's already beyond bad without Utley, Howard, and Victorino. Yesterday Chase Utley talked about getting the splint off his thumb. Then MLBN's best program ever, Batting Practice Live, caught Victorino rooting in the ivy beyond the center field wall. He seemed to be looking for balls that had been hit there but it was too funny. On the radio pregame show, Scott Proefrock said that Victorino will likely go on a rehab assignment on Tuesday. Do hope it's with the 'Pigs, who need a shot of octane, if only borrowed.

And what about the pinch-hitters? Dobbs is now something like 3-35. Nice guy and all that but enough. Just as bad is John Mayberry, Jr., and his long, loopy swing. Back to Triple-A with you, kid.

Everyone had better come ready to hit tomorrow. I am so tired of the R.A. Dickey story.

phillies shine on wall of fame night

For seven innings it was a well-paced game, with both starters on their game. Joe Blanton (2 R, 7 H, 0BB) had the best game of his rocky season; Jonathan Niese (1R, 4H, 5BB) settled down in the 3rd. Neither figured in the decision. Chad Durbin pitched a scoreless 8th for the Phillies but Bobby Parnell did not get an out in the bottom of the inning. Two Mets' pitchers later, 11 Phillies had come to the plate, scoring six runs. New guy Mike Sweeney, who also made a nifty diving defensive play, led it off with a single, went 1st to 3rd on a Werth single, and scored the tying run. Many men later Sweeney had the final hit of the inning, another single. In between it was lots of good at-bats, good hitting, and good baserunning. The Chooch train was running; Carlos Ruiz knocked in the go-ahead run in the 8th.

Danys Baez got two outs in the 9th but left with two men on. The struggling J.C. Romero then gave up a three-run homer to pinch-hitter Mike Hessman. Brad Lidge came in for a quick final out in the 7-5 win.

If Mike Sweeney does nothing else in his Phillies' career, he will be remembered for last night. For the 16-year-veteran Sweeney, this is his first stint on a contending team. He has played on winning teams only twice before in his career. It was nice to hear him say that while he and Cliff Lee were both with the Mariners, Lee frequently talked about how wonderful it had been to play in Philadelphia.

Before the game catcher Darren Daulton was inducted into the Phillies' Wall of Fame. All kinds of alumni were on hand (it's Alumni Weekend) for the ceremony, including some of Daulton's partners in crime from the 1993 team. It was sweet to see Johm Kruk give Dutch a hug and a kiss. Tough guys getting mellow. It is still mind-boggling that Daulton, Kruk, and closer Mitch Williams have gone on to careers in the media. All three are very good, too.

phils get a gimme

Roy Oswalt left in the 7th, leading 2-0 and with two on. J.C. Romero and Jose Contreras quickly combined to give up four runs. The Marlins took the 4-2 lead into the 9th and promptly made an error to allow Polanco, leading off, to reach first. The Phillies went on to tie the game, but with two on and no outs proceeded to run themselves out of the inning. Talk about ugly baseball. In the bottom of the 9th, with the tying run on second, Gaby Sanchez laced a game-winner over the third base bag but umpire Bob Davidson saw it differently: foul ball. Cue eruptive anger on the part of the Fish. And no wonder. But Sanchez then made out and the game went on. In the top of the 10th, Carlos Ruiz almost hit a home run, then did, for a 5-4 lead. (Ruiz, the anti-Werth in this series, also doubled in the first two runs for the Phils.) Brad Lidge came in and almost had a 1-2-3 inning but he got the save so say hey.

It was great to see Oswalt pitching like his usual tenacious self.

kendrick and friends top fish

PostMuse (www.postmuse.blogspot.com) sent this sweet postcard from a trip back to her hometown.

Kyle Kendrick had a serviceable six innings, thanks in large part to some good defense behind him, including a stellar catch by Jimmy Rollins and a terrific assist by Domonic Brown. Both plays kept potential tying runs from scoring. The Phillies' offense again took advantage of the Marlins'shoddy defense, stringing together a lot of hits in the 7-2 victory. Brown also had three RBI, including a sac fly off a lefty reliever in the 5th.

The Phillies traded with the Mariners for veteran Mike Sweeney. The other end of the deal (PTBNL or cash consideration) will be determined later. Charlie Manuel says that Sweeney will take Howard's spot at 1st, fueling speculation that Howard will be out for about a month.

Hot pitching prospect Jarred Cosart has been shut down for the rest of the season, which means I will not get to see him pitch at Lakewood. And slugging 1st baseman Matt Rizzotti, who has pretty much come out of nowhere, has been promoted from Reading to Lehigh Valley.

howard to dl; halladay helps himself

On the day that Ryan Howard, the one constant in the line-up all these years, was put on the DL, Roy Halladay took the mound in Florida and led the Phillies to a 6-1 win. Halladay went seven, limiting the Fish to one run on five hits and striking out nine. He also knocked in two with a bases-loaded single. Carlos Ruiz (four hits) and Ben Francisco (three hits)went back-to-back with solo home runs. Chad Durbin finished off the 8th and 9th. It was a good team win and they will need a lot more of them in the absence of Howard, Utley, and Victorino. Jimmy Rollins is playing but still limping.

is that the sound of the dl approaching?

After injuring his ankle Sunday in D.C., Ryan Howard flew to Miami with the team. Last night he headed back to Philadelphia to get the ankle examined by the team doctor. So much for all the talk about not going on the DL. And why wasn't he just sent back to Philadelphia on Sunday? Nothing like a couple of flights to help the swelling. Looks very much as if the current Swiss cheese line-up is facing another hole.

phillies claw back after the big piece goes down

This afternoon's game started with the news that Raul Ibanez had a sore wrist and was out of the game. But it got much worse. In the 1st, John Lannan, who once broke Chase Utley's hand and who has several times hit Ryan Howard, hit Ryan Howard on the elbow. Howard later injured his ankle at second base and had to be helped from the field. Rollins' grim face in the dugout said it all.

So the Phillies took a 2-0 lead, then the Nats tied it, then went ahead, then the Phillies tied it 4-4 and on to extra innings they went. In the 11th, the Phillies scored two and could have scored more but left two on base. (In total they had 11 LOB's today.) Brad Lidge then came in for that rare 1-2-3 save, his first such since late June. Roy Oswalt had a sac bunt in the 11th.

X-rays on Howard's ankle and elbow were negative. Howard says he should be able to play in a few days. Too bad that's what they all say. Jayson Werth is now the only regular to be injury-free. It's all just too numbing.

Weird stats of the day: Cole Hamels has allowed 4+ runs only twice in his past 17 starts. And he is 7-7. The combined averages of Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt average out to precisely 3.00. The three have given up far fewer hits and walks than innings pitched. And they have a combined record under .500. Any time the offense wants to chip in with some support, it would be lovely.