Blanton, 3 Homers Lead Phillies to Sweep of Arizona
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Phillies 1st baseman Ryan Howard and rightfielder Jayson Werth, both on homer binges, as well as catcher Carlos Ruiz each hammered off of lefthander Doug Davis and 2 Arizona relievers on Thursday. Joe Blanton survived fourth inning trouble and was again solid through eight innings. Reliever Chad Durbin came on to make short work of the D-backs in the ninth as Blanton and 3 homers led the Phillies to a 12-3 pounding and sweep of Arizona.
With the win, the Phils picked up a full game and now lead both Florida and Atlanta, now tied for 2nd place, by 6 1/2 games in the NL East division race. The Braves edged the Mets and Florida lost to Houston. The Mets dropped to 14 1/2 games back in 4th place with their loss to the Astros.
The big story ought to be another fine outing by Blanton who has pitched well consistently since late May going seven innings or more in 11 of his last 15 games, 8 of his last 10. But Blanton’s eight inning, 97 pitch effort has been supplanted by the homer binges of Howard and Werth. The big 1st baseman has gone yard 6 times in his past 7 games with Thursday’s 3 run clout to centerfield in the sixth inning off of reliever Leo Rosales capping a 5 run outburst which blew a 6-3 game wide open. And Howard was on base in the fifth when Werth went yard to centerfield in the fifth for his 4th homer in 4 games. Ruiz added a solo shot, for his career-high 7th homer of the season, to lead off the 5 run sixth inning.
NOTE: For those souvenir buffs watching Ryan Howard heat up his homer production, either click on the picture of the bat above, or click on the link and then click again on the picture of the bat to order your Ryan Howard MLB authorized autographed bat.
The Phillies extended their latest winning streak to 4 games and have won 8 of their last 10. The AP recap of Thursday’s game for Yahoo sports tells the story of just how hot the Phillies are:
Philadelphia, which leads the National League with 171 home runs, have hit at least one in 10 straight games, and 28 in its previous 15. The 2006 team hit a franchise-best 216 in 2006, led by Howard’s 58…
Every Phillies starter had at least one hit, except third baseman Pedro Feliz. Blanton had two singles, the first multihit game of his career, to become the third straight Phillies pitcher to record two hits in a game. Jamie Moyer and Cliff Lee did it Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
“I don’t know,” Blanton said with a shrug. “Hitting is contagious, I guess. Even for pitchers.”
Blanton (8-6) picked up his second career RBI with a fourth-inning groundout. For once, he benefited from the offensive barrage. Despite heading into Wednesday with a 2.17 ERA in his previous nine starts, the right-hander had only three runs to show for it. He allowed a season-high 10 hits, but limited Arizona to three runs.
Philadelphia pitchers have an ERA of 1.94 in the last eight games.
After Chad Tracy’s fourth-inning single tied it, Blanton retired 15 of his final 17 batters. Blanton said his game plan started working.
“I just stuck with it,” he said. “And the balls started finding people. It’s not an easy game, but when you get runs, you can attack the zone and make them beat you. It can be a lot easier.”
Philadelphia scored three first-inning runs off Davis (7-11), highlighted by Ben Francisco’s two-out single. The Diamondbacks scored a run in the second, and two runs in the fourth.
With Blanton working efficiently even while getting hit, he kept the Phillies in the game long enough for the offense to do the rest.
“He’s a bulldog who comes right after you,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Tonight, he was very good.”
Howard’s shot reached the visitor’s bullpen in center field for his sixth homer and 16th RBI in seven games. Werth continued what has been a career season with 28 homers and 76 RBIs.
“They come in bunches,” Werth said. “Sometimes you feel good and your swing is good. But sometimes the opposite side of the coin is true, too. You take while you can get it and hold onto it as long as you can.”
The Diamondbacks, who have lost five straight, didn’t walk in the series and scored five runs.
But the Phillies hot streak extends to pitching as well. In the 3 games series with the D-backs, twenty-four innings — no walks issued, no homers given up.
Losing pitcher Doug Davis gave 6 runs on 5 hits in five innings of work while issuing 4 walks, striking out 6 and giving up Werth’s fifth inning 2 run blast.
For the scores of all of Thursday’s games, click here.
The Phils now head to New York for a 4 game series on Friday through Monday with the Mets who could wash away their season totally by falling further behind the Phillies.
In Friday’s opener, lefthander Cole Hamels is opposed by Mike Pelfrey for the Mets. On Saturday, lefthander J.A. Happ faces Tim Redding.
For all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
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