Well fans, two crucial early season confrontations have ended with the Philadelphia Phillies (20-15) and the Boston Red Sox (21-13) taking 2 of 3 from the New York Mets (22-13)  and New York Yankees (19-13) respectively.

In Philadelphia, Phils starter Gavin Floyd (4-2) easily retired the first 2
hitters in the 1st inning; Jose Reyes and Cliff Floyd before walking the bases full, walking Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright and falling behind in the count 3 balls, 1 strike to Xavier Nady.  I was ready to reach for my Curt Schilling towel from 1993 because I didn’t wanna see what was gonna happen next.  Nady then fouled off the 3-1 pitch as the count went full.   On the 3-2 pitch, the right-handed Nady hit a drive to deep center field which Phils centerfielder Aaron Rowand took off after and made an  incredible overhead, running catch at the centerfield fence, his momentum carrying him face-first into a collision with the unpadded, unprotected fence. 

Rowand instinctively held up his glove to show the ball, his incredible catch saved at least 3 Met runs, bailed Floyd out of a potential 1st inning disaster and ultimately was pivotal in the final result, a Phils 2-0 victory in the rain-shortened game.

After holding out his glove to show the ball, Rowand collapsed in a heap as blood spurted from his nose.  He was helped from the field as 28,224 fans gave him a standing ovation. 

In the bottom of the 1st inning, after Mets starter Steve Trachsel (2-3) retired Phils lead-off hitter Jimmy Rollins, 2nd baseman Chase Utley hit a right field solo homer, to put the Phils up 1-0.  For Utley, it was his 8th to go along with 25 runs scored, 25 RBIs and a .317 batting average.

Gavin Floyd settled down and pitched well through the next 4 innings, allowing but 2 hits while issuing a total of 4 walks in his 5 innings of work.  In the 4th inning, David Bell singled in a second run for the Phils off of losing pitcher Trachsel who performed well giving up but 2 runs on 6 hits in his 4 innings of work.

Rowand, who broke his nose on the catch, was admitted to Philadelpha’s Thomas Jefferson Hospital for further evaluation.  Phils manager Charlie Manuel told the media that “He’s going to be out for a while. How long? I don’t know yet.”  Manuel indicated that a disabled list stint could be likely for  center fielder Rowand.

Today, the Phils take off for Cincinnati where they begin a 3 game series with the Reds;  Lefthanded new arrival Cole Hamels (0-0) starts the opener for the Phils against righthander Elizardo Ramirez (1-2) for the Reds.

The Mets begin a 3 game series in Milwaukee with righthander Jose Lima (0-1) going against Dave Bush (2-4) going for Milwaukee in the opener.
      
In Boston, in Thursday’s rubber game with the Yanks, righthander
Tim Wakefield (3-4) got the call for the Red Sox vs Shawn Chacon (4-1) for the Yankees as Boston emerged victorious by a 5-3 score.

The Yanks got off to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning as Jorge Posada singled in  Derek Jeter who had a 3 for 4 hitting game and Alex Rodriguez.  Boston got a run back in the 3rd on a ground out which scored a run.  The Yanks went up 3-1 with a run in the 4th inning.  Boston got 1 run in the 6th, 2 in the 7th and an insurance run in the 9th.

The Yanks used 7 pitchers in the game as Chacon left after 4 2/3 innings having walked 5 and having already thrown 104 pitches, only 52 of them for strikes.  Ron Villone (0-1) got nailed the loss for the Yanks.  Wakefield got the win for Boston pitching 6 innings and relieved by Timlin and Foulke with  Jonathan Papelbon (0-1, S13) notching the save.

Boston welcomes the Texas Rangers for a 3 game series with righthander
Matt Clement (3-2) going in the opener for the BoSox vs righthander Kevin Loe (1-3) for the Rangers .

The Yanks greet the Oakland A’s for a 3 game series with righthander
Chien-Ming Wang (2-1) going in the opener for the Yanks vs Lefhander  Barry Zito (2-2) going for the Rangers.

For more scores, recaps and box scores of yesterday’s games, click here.

For schedule, previews and scores of today games, click here.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2006 at 5:52 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.