The Phillies got 6 innings of shutout, 4 hit ball from starter Adam Eaton, the offense work up sparked by solo homers by leftfielder Pat Burrell and centerfielder Aaron Rowand and the defense made huge plays as the Phillies got off to a 5-0 lead and made it stick defeating the Toronto Blue Jays by a  5-3 score.

With the win, the Phillies ended their homestand winning 7 of 10 and got back to the .500 mark for the season.

Eaton held the Blue Jays scoreless on 4 hits through 6 innings to win the game despite walking 5 while striking out 2 and thanks not only to the offense but to some magnificent defense.

In the first inning, after 1st baseman Lyle Overbay walked, centerfielder  Vernon Wells lined to 1st baseman Greg Dobbs who easily doubled up Overbay to end the first inning.

In the 2nd inning, after 3rd baseman Troy Glaus led-off with a walk, leftfielder Matt Stairs fouled out to 3rd baseman Abraham Nunez.  Then 2nd baseman Aaron Hill flied out to centerfield and Aaron Rowand nailed Glaus, who had taken off for second base, for another inning-ending doubleplay as Glaus tried to get back to 1st base. 

Then leftfielder Pat Burrell parked a 1 out solo blast to left centerfield to get the Phils on the board by 1-0.

In the 3rd inning the Phils notched 2 more runs as Rowand led-off with a solo shot to centerfield and Gregg Dobbs got a 2 out RBI single to put the Phils up by 3-0.

In the 4th inning, down by 3 runs, Vernon Wells led off grounding to deep 3rd base.  Nunez fired accross the diamond past Dobbs for an error and Wells took 2nd base on the play.  When Wells tried to steal 3rd, catcher  Rod Barajas nailed him, thus saving a possible run as Stairs followed by lining a single to leftfield.  Hill followed by flying out centerfield to end the inning.

The Phils scored a 4th run on Rowand’s doubleplay grounder to shortstop in the 4th inning.  Losing pitcher Jesse Litsch who gave up 4 runs on 7 hits, was replaced by Brian Tallet who pitched into the 6th inning.

Aaron Rowand drove in the final Phils’ run with a one out single to rightfield in the 6th inning off of reliever Tallet.  5-0 Phillies.  All the while, Eaton kept the Blue Jays at bay and off of the board.  The Blue Jays’ bullpen kept the Phils off of the board the rest of the way.

Having fired 109 pitches through 6 innings, Eaton was replaced by Geoff Geary who retired the Jays easily in the 7th inning on a pop-out and an infield double-play. 

In the 8th inning, Toronto nearly got back into the game.  Rightfielder Alex Rios led off with a solo blast to centerfield off of Geary.  With 1 out, Vernon Wells crushed a Geary serve to the 2nd level in leftfield.  With 2 out, Stairs, who is 3 for 3 off of Geary in the series — all homers, did the same crushing a ball out to rightfield.  Closer Brett Myers, who replaced Geary, got a ground out to 2nd base to end the inning.

                  

In the 9th inning, after walking the lead-off hitter, Myers was awesome stiking out the next hitters before getting Rios to ground out to 3rd base to end the game.

For Eaton, the win was his 4th of the season against 3 losses. It was his 3rd straight solid outing.  For Myers, it was his 6th save of the campaign.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on this and all of Sunday’s games,  click here.

AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston reports for Yahoo sports;

The Phillies sent LHP Fabio Castro to Double-A Reading, leaving the Phillies without a lefty reliever in the bullpen.

Sam Carchidi reports for Philly.com;

Ryan Howard continues to make progress and thinks he will be able to come off the disabled list for Friday’s game in Atlanta.

The first baseman has been on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left quadriceps and has been hitting and running without any setbacks, the team said. For the first time since his injury, he took ground balls before yesterday’s game and, with a smile, said he felt “perfect.”

After working out with former Phillies trainer Jeff Cooper in the next few days, Howard will be used as a designated hitter at single-A Lakewood on Wednesday and Thursday.

“And then go down to Atlanta,” he said. “The way things are now, yeah, I should be ready for the 25th. I’ve been feeling all right, so hopefully by the 25th, there will be little or no pain.”

The Phillies have Monday off before heading to Florida to play 3 games with the Marlins.  The opener with Florida is a battle of lefthanders with Cole Hamels opposing Scott Olsen.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps of Monday’s games, click here.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 7:33 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc. 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.