phrustrated philly phan

Tonight's game belonged to Chase Utley. He set the tone offensively, defensively, and on the base paths. As Harry Kalas exclaimed in the seventh inning, "Chase Utley you are the man," as Utley scored from first on a infield ground out by Ryan Howard. Utley also made a tremendous diving stop of a ball up the middle then threw to first off his right knee for the out. He also contributed two hits.

The first four innings flew by with both pitchers in control. Randy Wolf had his best outing of his comeback this far. He lasted 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 earned runs with one being a solo home run to Andruw Jones. Rick White came in to clean up Wolf's jam in the sixth and earned the win. Ryan Madson threw two scoreless innings as he has seemed to make a great transition back to the bullpen and will be a big asset in the back end of the bullpen. Brian Sanches gave up one hit in the ninth inning also recording a strikeout. The pitchers held the Braves offense down and gave the Phillies a chance to win it and in the seventh inning the Phillies took advantage of a bad Braves bullpen.

Chuck James was very good for six innings. Tyler Yates came in for the seventh and promptly walked Lieberthal, gave up a single to Abe Nunez, then a sac bunt to Chris Roberson. JRoll and Shane Victorino drew walks and that ended Yates night. Mcbride came in for relief and Utley greeted him with a double to center then Howard grounded out and Utley scored. Burrell delivered a single, in addition to an earlier solo homer, that ended the night for Mcbride. Paronto was brought in to stop the bleeding, but a Rowand single, Lieby reaching on an error, Nunez single,Roberson single, and JRoll walk spelled the end of Paronto's night. Wayne Franklin relieved and got Vic to strikeout to end the inning. That gave the Phillies a 9-3 win and that was all they needed. Ryan Madson came in for the bottom of the seventh and had a quick 1-2-3 inning and did not let the Braves back in the game. The one negative was that the Phillies struck out six times in six innings against Chuck James, not a strikeout pitcher. They need to put the ball in play so they have a more efficient offense. Tonight's game was definetly a positive in that they battled and game back from a 3-1 deficit in the seventh to take the lead. They should a lot of heart in battling back on a getaway day.

Tip of the Cap- Chase Utley for an all around great game today. A great play to score from second on an infield groundout. He contributed two hits to the Phillies 13 hit attack and defensively made a beautiful diving play and throw from his knee to nail the runner at first. He makes the Phillies exciting to watch everyday. A close second was Mike Lieberthal for throwing out two runners at second base. He is clearly playing some inspired baseball since Coste has started to get more playing time.

Wag of the Finger- Nobody a great finish on a key road trip. The Phillies finish 6-3 on the road trip and come home and prepare to face the Reds this weekend in a key series.

Friday's Game- After a day off tomorrow the Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park for a 3 game set with the Cincinnati Reds. I am very excited for this series. Hopefully the phans respond this weekend with some big, enthusiastic crowds. The Phillies hand the ball to Jon Lieber, who besides his poor throw to first, had his best outing of the season. Kyle Lohse toes the rubber for the Reds. Lohse is 2-5 with an ERA approaching seven. I like the Phillies chance of taking two or maybe even three games this weekend. Go Phils, lets win this wildcard.

One last note visit http://phillies.scout.com/2/554982.html to read a great article about everything that happened with the Phillies since the Abreu trade. Real interesting article