Phillies 2nd baseman Chase Utley had 2 hits on Thursday, 1 being a seventh inning grand slam homer, and drove in 6 runs in a make-up game with the Colorado Rockies.  5 of those runs came amidst an uproarious 9 run seventh inning where the Phils sent 12 men to the plate against 3 Rockies’ relievers.  1st baseman Ryan Howard and rightfielder Jayson Werth also homered in the inning as the Phils erased 7-3 deficit.  Joe Blanton was pounded for 6 runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings and the bullpen didn’t do much better.  Meanwhile, Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin was somewhat effective for 5 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs, but he had thrown 101 pitches. Then the Phils bombed the Colorado bullpen. After the 9 run seventh, the Phils bullpen nearly blew all of their 12-7 lead as the Rockies scored 3 in their half of the inning.  Clinging to a 2 run lead in the ninth, things got a bit dicey for closer Brad Lidge as the Rockies scored a single run.  But with Rockies runners oon 1st and 2nd base with 1 out, Lidge recorded a strikeout and a fielder’s choice grounder to end it as the  Phillies edged the Rockies by a 12-11 score in a wild slugfest.

With the win, The Phils were finally able to make up a little ground moving to 2 games behind NL East division-leading Atlanta who were finally beaten by the Mets.  The Phils widened their NL wildcard lead to 2 games over San Francisco as all other teams had the day off.  The St. Louis Cardinals dropped to 5 1/2 games behind the Phils.  The 3rd place Florida Marlins dropped to 10 games behind the Braves while the Mets moved to 12 games off the pace in 4th place.

Blanton got by the first inning despite giving up 2 two out singles.  He was not sooo lucky in the second as Colorado solved him for 2 homers and 4 runs.  Meanwhile, Chacin held the Phils hitless through 2 outs in the fourth when Jayson Werth singled and stole 2nd base.  Leftfielder Raul Ibanez followed with an RBI single to get the Phils on the board. 

The Phils scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings as well, but Rockies scored 2 in the fifth, including a leadoff homer — the 3rd of the game off of Blanton, and 1 in the sixth to pull out to a 7-3 lead.  With lefthander Antonio Bastardo having tossed the sixth inning giving up 1 run on 4 hits and eventually gaining the winning pitcher decision, the Phils’ launched their seventh inning onslaught against Rockies relievers Joe Beimel and losing pitcher Manny Delcarmen — 12 men to the plate, 9 runs, 9 hits, 3 homers including Utley’s slam.  The Phils looked to have a comfortable 12-7 lead but it didn’t last long.

Reliever Chad Durbin coughed up 3 runs on 4 hits — 2 singles and 2 doubles, as the Rockies closed to 12-10.

With the Phils clinging to the 2 run margin, closer Brad Lidge found himself in hot water after a Ryan Howard fielding error and a single put runners at 1st and 3rd base with none out.   Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki grounded into a run-scoring fielders choice to narrow the lead to 12-11.  Tulowitzki went 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs.  But Lidge recorded a strikeout and a fielder’s choice grounder to narrowly cvlose out the Rockies and gain his 19th save in 24 opportunies.

For fuller game coverage, click here for the AP game recap for Yahoo.

To view the scores of all of Thursday’s games, click here.

Following Thursday’s make-up game, the Phils return home for 6 games, 3 weekend games against the Milwaukee Brewers and 3 against the Florida Marlins.

Friday’s opener is a battle of lefties as Cole Hamels is opposed by Chris Capuano.  On Saturday, ace Roy Halladay again tries for his 17th win going against Dave Bush for Milwaukee.
 
To view the schedule of all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 at 4:56 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc
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