Rookie lefthander Cole Hamels (9-8), Jon Lieber (9-10) put together solid performances, lefthander Jamie Moyer (10-14) recovered from a rocky 1st inning and the offense delivered timely hitting as the Phillies swept the 3 game series from the Florida Marlins by 5-2, 8-6 and 10-7 scores.   With the sweep and the Phillies’ winning streak at 5, they moved into the wildcard lead on Saturday by 1/2 game over the L.A. Dodgers who defeated http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/ari Arizona on Friday by a 2-0 score, lost to them on Saturday by a 9-3 score, but won on Sunday by a 5-1 score.

        Friday: The Hamels and Howard Show…

On Friday, Cole Hamels won his 9th game of the season with another solid performance giving up one run on 6 hits, while striking out 10 and walking 3 and baseball’s homerun leader, 1st baseman Ryan Howard (58 HRs, 143 RBIs, .313 BA) provided a big 3 run blast to left field to lead the Phillies to a 5-2 victory in the opening game of the series.     The Phils jumped out to a 1-0 lead off of Marlins rookie starter and losing pitcher Rickie Nolasco (11-10) in the 1st inning as 2nd baseman Chase Utley (31 HRs, 98 RBIs, .309 BA) singled in a run, the first of his slump-breaking 3 hits for the game.

In the 3rd inning, Howard hit his 3 run shot with one out off of Nolasco to extend the Phils’ lead to 4-0.

Rookie Nolasco didn’t last through the 4th inning, being relieved after getting into a 2 on, 2 out jam.  Reliever Reynel Pinto (0-0, 3.51 ERA, S1) got the side out in the 4th and pitched the 5th inning as well.
Nolasco’s line was 4 runs on 7 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.

Florida got a run in the 5th on 3rd baseman Miguel Cabrera’s (25 HRs, 111 RBIs, .336 BA) RBI single to right field.

In the 6th inning, rightfielder Jeff Conine (10 HRs, 65 RBIs, .274 BA) capped the Phils’ scoring with an RBI single off of reliever Matt Herges (1-3).  After 6, the Phils led 5-1.

In the 7th, with 2 outs, reliever Geoff Geary (7-1, 3.02 ERA, S1) relieved Hamels and got the 3rd out. 

The Marlins scored their 2nd and final run in the 8th off of Geary on catcher Miguel Olivo’s (16 HRs, 58 RBIs, .267 BA) 2 out RBI single.  Lefthanded reliever Matt Smith (0-0. 0.00 ERA), who is unscored upon in 22 relief appearances this season with the Yankees and the Phils, was brought in to face a righthanded pinch hitter and retired the side.

In the 9th inning, closer Tom Gordon (3-4, 3.04 ERA, S33) successfully recorded his 33rd save to seal the win.
        

                     Saturday:  Lieber, Conine, Ruiz Star…

On Saturday, the Phils got out of the gate in a hurry scoring 3 runs off of Marlins starter Brian Moehler (7-10) along with another fine pitching performance by winning pitcher Jon Lieber (9-10) who gave up just 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 6 and walking none through 7 innings.  The Phillies led 6-2 after 6 innings enroute to an 8-6 victory in their 2nd game of the series with the Marlins.

Chase Utley singled in a run and catcher Carlos Ruiz (3 HRs, 10 RBIs) singled in 2 runs to stake the Phils to an early 3-0 lead in the 1st inning off of losing pitcher Moehler.   Ruiz struck again in the 3rd inning with a run-scoring double off of Moehler as the Phils’ lead increased to 4-0.

The Marlins scored 1 run in the 4th with 1 out as centerfielder Alfredo Amezaga (3 HRs, 18 RBIs, .262 BA) got an RBI on a ground out to the pitcher.

After the Phils got a runner on in the bottom of the 4th inning on a 1 out single, Moehler was relieved by Herges who got out of the inning after getting into a 2 on, 2 out jam by walking Ryan Howard intentionally.  4-1 Phillies after 4 innings.

In the top of the 6th, Amezaga singled in the 2nd Marlins’ run.  In the bottom of the 6th, shortstop Jimmy Rollins (24 HRs, 76 RBIs, .279 BA) clubbed a solo blast to right centerfield and Conine drove in a run with a line single to left field.  6-2 Phillies after 6 innings.

In the Florida 8th inning, reliever Ryan Madison (10-9) replaced Lieber and was tagged for a 2 out, 2 run homer by rightfielder Joe Borchard (10 HRs, 28 RBIs) as Florida cut the score to 6-4.  The Phils got the 2 runs back in the bottom of the 8th inning as Jeff Conine came through with a 2 run double off of reliever Taylor Tankersley (2-1, 3.03 ERA, S3).  8-4 Phillies after 8 innings. 

Closer Tom Gordon was brought in to pitch the 9th inning and was tagged with solo homers by catcher Miguel Olivo and shortstop Hanley Ramirez (15 HRs, 57 RBIs, .289 BA) before retiring the side in the 9th inning to end the game.
 

         Sunday: Phillies Sweep on Moyer’s Finesse, 7 Run 3rd Inning

Lefthander Jamie Moyer got off to a rocky start giving up 4 runs in the first inning as Hanley Ramirez led off with a solo homer to leftfield, 1st baseman Wes Helms (10 HRs, 45 RBIs, .314 BA) doubled a run and centerfielder Cody Ross 13 HRs, 45 RBIs) clubbed a 2 run shot.

But Moyer settled down after that and the Phils more than made up the deficit as they exploded for 7 runs in the 3rd inning knocking out Florida’s starter and losing pitcher Scott Olsen (12-9, 3.97 ERA).

Olsen was pounded as Rollins and Utley each clubbed 2 run homers to leftfield and rightfield respectively. Utley’s was the first of his two for the game.  Catcher Chris Coste (7 HRs, 30 RBIs, .324 BA) broke the 4-4 tie and capped the 7 run inning by belting a 3 run shot. After the onslaught of homers, Olsen hit 3rd baseman Abraham Nunez (2 HRs, 28 RBIs) with a pitch with 2 out in the 3rd and was ejected from the game by plate umpire Mark Wegner.

According to Yahoo’s game recap;

Olsen denied trying to hit Nunez.

“They were hitting the ball. You’ve got to move feet,” he said. “You’ve got to go inside and move them off the plate a little.” 
 

Reliever Jose Garcia then relieved Olsen and got the side out in the 3rd inning.  7-4 Phillies after 3 innings.

The Phils scored 1 run in the 4th on Utley’s RBI single to right field off of Garcia.  Utley went 3 for 4 for the game and drove in 4 runs.

In the Florida 6th, Wes Helms hit a solo shot, his 2nd homer of the game, off of Moyer to give the Marlins their 5th run.  In the bottom of the 6th, Utley hit his 2nd homer of the game, a solo shot off of Garcia to put the Phils up by 9-5 after 6 innings.

Leftfielder Pat Burrell (27 HRs, 91 RBIs) clubbed a solo shot to cap the Phils scoring in the 7th. 10-5 Phillies after 7 innings.

Moyer was replaced for the 7th inning by Ryan Madison and by Geoff Geary in the 8th inning.  They both shut down the Marlins on 1 hit apiece.

Florida scored their final 2 runs in the 9th inning as 1st baseman Mike Jacobs (20 HRs, 77 RBIs, .274 BA) replaced Helms and clubbed a 2 run shot off of reliever Rick White (4-1, S1) who pitched the 9th inning for the Phllies.

For full recaps including box scores and play-by-play on Friday’s, Saturday’s and Sunday’s games click here, here and here.

On Monday, the Phils pay a make-up game with the Houston Astros as
lefthander Randy Wolf (4-0) goes against rookie Matt Albers (0-2) for the Astros.  The phils then head for Washington for 3 games with the Nationals.

For full coverage of all of Monday’s games in both leagues; previews, recaps, box scores and play-by-play coverage click here.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 25th, 2006 at 7:49 am and is filed under All Time Baseball Highlights, Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, All Time Hitting Highlights. 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.