phrustrated philly phan

The Phillies repayed the Cardinals for the season opening sweep by completing their own sweep in St. Louis winning tonight 8-1 behind Cole Hamels and timely hitting. Hamels continued his development getting his second straight win tonight. He went seven innings surrending only two hits and a single run. He struck out 12 while walking two. He mixed his pitches well and worked ahead of hitters instead of falling behind and throwing fastballs down the middle. Hamels is starting to justify the Phillies decision to call him up early this season. He dominated hitters at Triple A and had nothing left to learn there and the only way to take the next step was to pitch against major league hitters.

Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 35 games tying Luis Castillo for the longest hit streak by a second basemen in history. The suspense lasted only until Utley first at-bat when he stroked a single to center and then took second on an error. Utley finished 3-6 with 2 RBI's. Chris Coste and Aaron Rowand had big nights to lead the Phillies to victory. Coste had 4 hits and 2 RBI's. Aaron Rowand went 3 for 5 and hit his 12th home run of the year. He did leave 4 runners on base. The most exciting play came in the 7th after Rowand hit a double when Juan Encarncion did not hustle to the ball, Rowand stole 3rd base and when the throw eluded Scott Rolen scored the Phils' fifth run. I am going to critize Charlie for his substitution of Chris Roberson for David Delluci in the ninth. Tony La Russa had brought in a left to face Delluci but I still believe that Manuel should have left him in because he is a better hit than Roberson. Luckily it worked out when Roberson got an infield single.

Defensively this team has been much better since the All-star break. Ryan Howard has picked up his intensity and has played a very good first base. Jimmy Rollins anchors the defense and I believes deserves a Gold Glove. In the 9th inning, with Brian Sanches pitching, Jimmy Rollins went deep into the hole and threw out David Eckstein. Eckstein always busts it down the line so this was by no means an easy play. This lead to a quick 1-2-3 inning for Sanches but if Rollins doesn't make that play the ninth inning could have been very different. Sanches had a rough last outing so that first out is important.

Tip of the Cap- Cole Hamels for proving that he belongs in the Show. He is making strides in his development and I still believe has the ability to be the best Phillies pitcher since Steve Carlton. With him and Brett Myers, I believe they could have one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball.

Wag of the Finger- Nobody. A great series by the Phillies. They did everything well this series that they have struggled with most of the series. They got good pitching, good defense, and timely hitting.

Tomorrow's Game- The Phillies travel to Shea Stadium to face the best team in the National League. Coming off a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phils are playing some of their best baseball of the year. Randy Wolf makes his second start of the year against Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Chase continues his pursuit of excellence. Should be a fun series as the Phils have pulled within 2 1/2 games of the wildcard.

Yankees Update- I just saw Baseball Tonight and saw Cory Lidle pitching to Sal Fasano. Lidle went six innings and gave up only one earned run. Sal Fasano took an 0 for 4 night at the plate. All of sudden the media has taken a huge interest in Bobby Abreu. All the time he played in Philly the national media barely knew he existed until the 2005 Home Run Derby and now everynight on Baseball Tonight they do a segment about how patient he is and how he sees the most pitches in the league per at bat. Abreu does seem to be having fun again and I think it was a time he got a change of scenery because the Philly media and fans had become unjustly harsh on him. Good luck to Bobby and I may just cheer the the Yankees this fall.

Tomorrow- I will have an update on how Team USA did in their basketball game tonight against Puerto Rico as they prepare for the World Championships.