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Wednesday, June 30
Oh yeah ... Said Jim Thome, regarding the many Phils fans in Boston: "That was exciting ... I've been here a lot, and I've never seen that before in this park, all that chanting by the other team's fans. Usually the Boston fans won't let you do that. It was great to see on our end." (Courtesy of this Inquirer article.) Spoke too soon. The Phils really should have swept the Expos tonight, and they came close to doing so. Unfortunately, Tim Worrell just couldn't handle that super-tough Montreal power. The beginning of this game was a bit nerve-wracking when Abbott loaded the bases with no outs after giving up a homer. He really surprised the next few batters though and finished the inning without any more damage. His five innings weren't awful. Nice to see Thome homer again. 15 total for the month. But ... Phils should have won this game.  So much exciting stuff to talk about but so little time to do so. The Phils are still a few percentage points ahead in first place, and in case you haven't noticed, they are playing well. Barring the Phils' almost hitless first game against the Sox, and the loss of the series in the final game, the Phils have been pounding out hits -- and runs. Pat is back -- or so we like to hope. Since his homerun in Boston on Sunday, Burrell seems to have either a) boosted his confidence, or b) worked on his swing. Regardless, he has hit well since then, going 3 for 5 Monday and 2 for 3 with a double yesterday. My favorite player on the team, Mr. D. Bell, is simply on fire right now. He's homered in the last three games and by now you surely know about the cycle on Monday, a game I experienced first hand the day after getting home from the Boston series. Speaking of Monday's game, I didn't get a good look at Utley's upperdeck homerun when it happened, and I still haven't managed to see a highlight of it since. I know they even showed it again during last night's game, but I had just come back from the toilet. Why am I telling you this? Because I am pissed. I want to see the replay. Plus, mlb.com doesn't have the highlights from that game -- or the game itself. Boo. What else? Let's see. I want Ricky Ledee back. Wecome back, Wolfy. Michaels, sorry for ever doubting you. Madson, you're still the shit ... MVP, kid. I had hoped to speak more about the Sunday Boston game, but time is not on my side right now. I will say though that there were plenty of Phillies fans in attendence all weekend, which is all I wanted. It was disappointing to see the Phils get pounded, but I got to see them play in Fenway. Good stuff. I hope to return to the daily, sometimes twice daily, posts, but I may not be able to post the box scores for a while. Saturday, June 26
Yes, it is true. Blogging has been light the past week or so as I have been getting ready to move. But my devotion to the Phillies is still strong, even though I am very frustrated with them right now. I'm heading up to Boston this morning to see Sunday's game against the Red Sox. Go Phils. Thursday, June 24
 So we CAN beat the Expos. Well, that's always nice to see.
Offense was decent ... eight hits, include three bombs by Thome, Lieby and Bell. I still wasn't too impressed with Millwood who gave up five hits, two earned runs, and three walks in six innings. If the Phils had been playing a better team, Millwood might have been eaten alive. Anyway, he got a win. I gave PhilliesBlog GameStar to Rollins because he continues to impress (me, at least). It would be great if he could bump that average up to .300 by the end of the season, but regardless, he's turned into a pretty good leadoff man, in my humble opinion. Last night he walked, singled, tripled, scored once and knocked one in. Thome, by the way, is still way ahead of the homerun hitting pack with 24 HRs. Behind him are Dunn and Pujols with 20 each.  Sunday, June 20
 This game, on the other hand, was a great game to be at.
You don't often have a game in which Jimmy Rollins hits an inside-the-park homerun AND Jim Thome hits two homeruns, all in the same game. Nope, I'd say that particular combination of offensive plays won't happen again this season, or perhaps in our lifetime, but, ultimately, it still could, so let's hope it does, just so that we can later say--"Hey, remember the championship season of 2004 when Thome hit two homeruns every time Jimmy Rollins hit an inside-the-park homer? That happened 13 times that season!" --but that would be silly. Good game to be at though. And don't forget Thome also hit a double and walked. He's hitting .323 and he's leading the league with 23 homeruns--above Dunn, Griffey and Pujols, each with 19, and, of course, Amer. Leaguer Manny Ramirez with 18. Also, Brian Powell was fairly solid. And by the way ... Happy first place ... and happy Father's Day.   Go Milton. Go Milton. Go. Go. Go.
His ERA is still a bit high at 4.31, but his record just keeps getting better. After giving up one earned run yesterday, Milton's record went to 9-1 this season. He struck out eight yesterday in a fine performance on the mound. Offensively, the Phils really didn't do much. They hit six times total, four of them coming from Thome and Abreu. Both Thome's and Polanco's homeruns were damn nice to watch, weren't they? Thome's shot lined off the second deck Bud Light sign. Polanco's soared deep into left center. Hey, when the team hits only six times in the games, it's nice when a few of them are homers, and these were pretty nice. I'd really like to see Burrell start hitting again. Obviously. But it's frustrating to watch him slump like this. He seems a bit too anxious at the plate again, and it's not helping him. Then again, it's never that simple. He should take some batting advice from Ricky Ledee.  Saturday, June 19
At least the Phils scored some runs. But the pitching last night just plain sucked. I was at the game and there was little to cheer about. Rollins had three hits and two RBIs. He's now batting .279. But that's about all I have to say about this game. Time to get another winning streak going already.  Friday, June 18
Game 1 of Doubleheader:  Today I am wearing a 'Jason Michaels is off thee hook' T-shirt. Or, rather, I would be if I had such a T-shirt.
In case you missed the game, here are some things Michaels did yesterday: On defense, made a great diving catch in rightfield. Threw a runner out a the plate. On offense, had four RBIs on a homerun, double and a single, and walked. He was the true star of the game. 
Game 2 of Doubleheader: Should have won this one, kids. Regardless, nice homerun by Ledee. Good games for Rollins and Byrd, each with three hits.  Tuesday, June 15
Tigers homerun. Fan catches ball. Fan walks down to five-year-old kid sitting in leftfield front row. Fan gives kid ball. Kid throws ball back onto field. This was the best part of this game. The rest? Well ... not so fun. MLB.com has begun listing the Wild Card standings ... not that this will matter to the Phils since they will easily finish first overall.  It's interesting to think that this game lasted until almost 2 a.m. but never completely finished. Good game though, despite the rain and delays. Championship seasons are made of memorable games like this.  Sunday, June 13
 Things that were nice to see in Sunday's game:
-Pat Burrell getting a double. -Polanco again raising his batting average with two hits, including a double, and scoring the Phils' winning run. -Ricky Ledee getting the clutch single to tie the game. -Paul Abbott keeping the Twins scoreless through five innings, giving up three hits. -Billy Wagner getting his first save since early May. Am I missing anything? The reds come to town tomorrow night in what could be an interesting game with Griffey looking for his 500th career homerun and Thome looking for his 400th. Fun stuff.  Said Carlos Silva after yesterday's game: "When I got traded, I was hurt. It hurt my feelings, to be honest. But my first day with the Twins, they treated me like I've been here a long time. Here, I get to work on things. If I was still with the Phillies, maybe I'd still be in the bullpen. I'm happy because of the way I threw, not because I beat the Phillies."  Saturday, June 12
 417 feet.
This was the distance of Ricky Ledee's second homerun against the Twins last night. It seemed more like 500 feet as he launched it into the right field upper deck within seconds, but 417 is quite a feat too. Ricky's average is now up to .350 after a single and two homers last night. His homers knocked in five runs. He't not the prettiest face in baseball, but he knows how to hit. But look at the rest of this offense. Last night, both Polanco and Lieberthal had three hits each. Polanco homered. Rollins hit twice and scored twice. Thome doubled and walked, knocked in two and scored twice. Even Marlon Byrd had a double and scored a run. The only person who really didn't do jack last night was Pat Burrell, whose 'funk' seems to be turning into more of a slump. It's somewhat forgivable for now though, since the Phils still managed to score 11 runs. The Phils have scored 35 runs in their last three games. Incredible. Why can't they hit like this at Citizen's Bank Park?  Thursday, June 10
Courtesy of Mike: (taken May 28 against the Braves) 
The Phillies should play the White Sox more often. This has been a weird -but fun- series so far. 48 runs (17 homers) in the last two games. Does that seem normal? Polanco has certainly shown that he's ready to reclaim his position on the team (not that he ever wasn't). Two singles, a double, a sac fly, three RBIs and a run scored. Two games off the disabled list and he's already earned the PhilliesBlog GameStar (the most noble award a player could ever recieve).
Abreu is still racking up numbers. He knocked in three last night on two homeruns. He walked once, and scored three of the Phils runs. Thome also homered for his third consecutive game, raising his lifetime total to 398. For those of you who are still clicking Ledee's face (which should be ALL of you), Ricky's hitting .327 in 55 at-bats. He singled, doubled, and walked last night. On the defensive side of things, well, no good news here. Wagner, finally back from the DL, was pitching 100 mph last night, but he also gave up four runs and made the score a lot closer than it should have been. Telemaco is on the disabled list, and Brian Powell will be coming back up from triple-A to start Saturday. Paul Abbott, recent acquisition from the Devil Rays, should get a start Sunday. Oh yeah ... Milton. He wasn't pitching quite as well as usual, but his record just keeps getting better. He's now 8-1. Trix was a much better cereal when the contents were just round, instead of shaped like pieces of fruit.  Tuesday, June 8
"What is this a homerun derby?" -- Harry Kalas I must say I was very excited to watch this game. Madson's first start. The return of Polanco. I left work early to ensure I wouldn't miss a pitch. Larry Bowa had said he would be happy if Madson threw a good four innings. Personally, I was hoping for a no-hitter. I was that confident. Apparently, Madson wasn't. Things started out kinda nice. A three-run lead thanks to a homerun by Thome. And then it was the Phils turn to pitch, and everything fell apart. Madson gave up three homeruns and a total of six runs. He was pulled before the first inning was over. His ERA shot from 1.07 to 2.62. There is a bright side to this. The Phils had a fairly productive offensive night with 15 hits and 11 runs scored. Both Rollins and Thome had three hits each. Abreu reached base the most times with two hits and two walks. Had the Phils' offense not stalled out from the third through the seventh, the Phils could have easily won this game. (Easy to say now, of course.) Despite how painful this game was to watch, the Phillies were only down by three runs at the game's end. Not incredibly bad considering we managed to put 11 on the board.  Sunday, June 6
It amazes me how less eager I am to write about the Phils after a loss, especially like the one today when they blew a four-run lead. Milwood was looking pretty good up until the fifth inning when the Braves took over the show. Before that inning, Milwood had given up two hits. He gave up three times that in the fifth. Rollins, now batting .265, had a pretty good offensive day with three hits, including a double, and one run scored. Thome hit his 395 lifetime homerun, walked, and singled. He also had a nice diving grab at first, which will forever be stressful to watch as we don't want to see him bang up his hands any more. Good stop nonetheless. Luckily, the Marlins also lost today, so we're still at two games behind. In other news, Ryan Madson will officially get his first major league start on Tuesday against the White Sox. This, I am very excited for.  Saturday, June 5
Getting ahead early is something the Phillies have to do every game. But I also wish they would continue to score runs throughout the game, unlike, for example, today when they went scoreless after the second inning.  But Brett Myers did a fine job on the mound, eh? After the first inning, he settled down to keep the Braves scoress through the seventh. He gave up six hits.
Offensively, Ricky Ledee had some clutch hits (any time the Phils have guys in scoring position is clutch these days) to drive in three of the Phillies five runs, and score another himself. Pratt and Utley had the other two RBIs. Jim Thome struck out four times. We never like to see that, even if we expect it. (Thome lead the league in strikeouts last year with 182, despite leading the league in homeruns and placing third in RBIs.) Little win streak we got going. I miss first place.  Bell. Cortisone shot for pain in lower back/hip region, which he has reportedly felt for weeks, but it is now intensifying. It bothers him when swinging the bat and running. For those with very slow comprehension ... this is bad news. Even if he doesn't go on the DL right away (and he's not), this is still the type of injury that could never completely go away. We'll see. This info brought to you by this Inquirer article. Friday, June 4
That's more like it. Phillies 9. Braves 1. I suppose, since we probably should let Hernandez pitch every once in a while, that a situation like tonight is the best time to bring him in. Eight run lead ... plenty of room for him to royally screw up and still finish the game with a victory. Anyway, Hernandez didn't screw up tonight. In fact, he was even throwing some impressive 95-96 mph fastballs. But, before I go on, PhilliesBlog GameStar goes to, who else but, Eric Milton. Milton pitched a solid seven innings, giving up only five hits and one run. He gave up only 2 hits from the 2nd through the 7th inning. He walked just two, and struck out five.
Milton's record is an extremely impressive 7-1. Mike Lieberthal. Four hits in his last two games. Homerun tonight. I honestly think this could be a turning point for Lieby. He had to come around sometime and, though I may be jumping the gun a bit, I think that time is now. At least, we can hope. After a little break from hitting yesterday (0 for 5), Rollins showed tonight that he's not heading back to his early season woes. He hit twice again tonight (albeit one was a lousy infield knock) and drove in three of the Phillies runs with his eighth inning, bases load double. Must have felt pretty nice. Utley, on the other hand, continued his funk. His average has dropped from .302 to .242 since May 28. But even bigger news is that David Bell will miss all the games this weekend because of...actually, I wasn't able to find out exactly what was wrong with him ... but I think it's his back again. I could be wrong. Regardless, he had a cortisone shot today, and will miss a few games. That will take away a real good bat from the lineup. Anyway...we got a win. Finally.  Thursday, June 3
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.   Well, at least Rollins is hitting, now that no one else is. Rollins reached base at every at-bat today. He even hit his second home run of the season. He scored two of the Phils' three runs. Not bad J-Roll, but ...
Today's star was Randy Wolf. He kept the Mets scoreless through seven innings and he only gave up one hit through six and a half. Fine, pitching there Wolfy. Just a shame we lost ... and got swept ... by the Mets. Luckily for us, Florida also keeps losing, so at least we're still only two games out. 
Courtesy of MLB.com Tuesday, June 1
 First series loss since the Phils played the Cardinals in early May.
We, bloggers, readers, fans, need to rally. We need something to get the energy going again. Ricky Ledee's face will not do. Ideas. Send them. This loss exhausted me. I have little to say. Millwood gets GameStar for some very solid pitching. He kept the Mets scoreless through seven, striking out six and walking only two. He gave up four hits. GameJerk goes to Worrell, who gave up 3 runs in the 10th. I like Worrell. Really I do. But I also like winning. Too many Mets fans at Citizens Bank Park for this series. That bothers me. Go Phils. 
Courtesy of MLB.com |
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