Saturday, July 29, 2006
Phillies 12 Marlins 3
The Phillies took care of business tonight against the rookie-laden Florida Marlins to even the series at 1-1. The Phils received contributions from just about everyone including Danny Sandoval who was called up from Triple A to take the place of David Bell. Sandoval started at shortstop and went 1-2 with two walks. 4 years to the day Scott Rolen was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals, Abe Nunez started at third and looks to be the starter for the rest of the season. Nunez went 1-4 with an error in the 8th inning. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard who both have become immensively popular in Philadephia both had big nights. Howard hit a 3 run homer for his 34th of the season. Chase Utley hit a single to extend his streak to 29 games then followed that up by hitting his 20th home run of the season. Chris Coste continues to earn his playing time by going 2-4 with 2 RBI's to raise his batting average to .339 in his limited AB's this season. On the pitching side of things, Cole Hamels had his best outing recently and got his 3rd win of the season. Hamels went 7 1/3 giving up just 3 earned runs while striking out 7. The only bad moment came in the eighth when a line drive off the bat of Marlins' centerfielder Joe Borchard hit him in the leg right below the knee. X-rays taken were negative. Ryan Franklin came in and threw 2 pitches and got a double play to get out of the eighth inning jam. Charlie Manuel then read his roster for the first time in 3 weeks and realized the Fabio Castro is actually on the roster. Castro was brought in for the ninth and after shaking off the rust, he walked the first batter on four pitches, he had a quick inning. He proved that he deserves more innings as the rest of the bullpen continues to tire out.
Tip of the Cap- Cole Hamels for putting together a solid outing. This was necessary on several fronts. It will improve his confidence but also helped the bullpen out going into tomorrow's doubleheader. Hopefully Hamels will not have to miss any time after getting hit in the leg by a batted ball
Wag of the Finger- Charlie Manuel for sending Hamels out for the 8th. I thought it was obvious that Hamels was out of gas but Manuel saw it differently and nothing good happened in the inning. Manuel should have let Castro throw two innings since it will probably be September until he pitches again.
Tomorrow's Doubleheader- In the 1:35 game, Randy Wolf makes his season debut and return from Tommy John surgery. I have no idea what to expect from him. Five innings of quality pitching would be a sign that he really is feeling good. Wolf faces Anibal Sanchez (4-0, 3.00) as the Phils hope to take control of this 5 game series. In the 7:05 game, Ryan Madson takes the ball against Brian Moehler, who is returning from the DL. Madson has had three crappy starts in a row and needs to have a good one tomorrow against the light hitting Marlins. This could be Madson's last start unless Lieber or Lidle is dealt in the next 40 hours or so.
