Phillies ace lefthander Cliff Lee pitched seven solid innings while Yankee starter A.J. Burnett was chased with none out in the third inning as the Phils piled up 6-1 and later 8-2 leads. 2nd baseman Chase Utley had another multi-homer series game driving in 4 runs and leftfielder Raul Ibanez doubled and solo homered.  The Yankees chased Lee with 3 runs in the eighth with the big blow being 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez’s 2 run double.  But Phillies relievers Chan Ho Park and Ryan Madson, despite ninth inning travails, made the deficit too much for the Yanks to overcome as Utley and Ibanez led the Phillies over Yanks by an 8-6 score bringing on a game 6 back in New York.

Lee cruised after giving up a first inning run retiring 10 of next 11 Yanks as the Phils rang 3 runs each in the first and third innings.  It seems to me that there must be some World Series records involved for a team who has had 3 instances of a player having multi-homer games as well as for a player who has multi-homered twice.  Utley did it in game 1 as well as this one and rightfielder Jayson Werth did in game 3.  At any rate, AP sports reporter Ronald Blum notes for Yahoo sports:

Utley hit a… three-run homer in the first inning off A.J. Burnett and added a solo shot in the seventh to join Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit five home runs in a single World Series.

The Phillies took control of this game early to force a trip back to the Bronx for game 6, and hopefully a game 7.

AP’s Blum recaps the game:

While the Phillies have outhomered the Yankees 10-5 in the Series, Ryan Howard is suffering a power outage. He went 0 for 2 with two walks and two strikeouts and is hitting .158 (3 for 19) with 12 strikeouts, tying the Series record set by Kansas City’s Willie Wilson in 1980.

New York scored in the first inning for the second straight game.  [Johnny] Damon singled to left-center and came home when Rodriguez doubled into the right-field corner with two outs. It was his franchise record 16th RBI of the postseason.

It took just eight pitches for Burnett to give up the lead, giving Phillies fans reason to wave those white rally towels.

Jimmy Rollins singled up the middle on the sixth pitch of his at-bat and, with Rollins running, [Shane] Victorino squared and was hit in the hand by a pitch. Utley put the next pitch into the right-field seats.

Burnett got in more trouble in the third, when he walked Utley and Ryan Howard, then gave up run-scoring singles to Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez that put Philadelphia ahead 5-1 and finished Burnett’s night. Carlos Ruiz added an RBI grounder against David Robertson.

New York made it 6-2 in the fifth, helped by a strange decision by Howard. Pinch-hitter Eric Hinske—who homered… in last year’s Series— walked with one out and took third on  [Derek] Jeter’s single. Damon hit a slow roller in front of first and Howard gloved it as Hinske held, then retreated to the bag for the putout as Hinske scored.

Utley… added a solo shot in the seventh.  Raul Ibanez set off fireworks from the Liberty Bell one last time, adding a second solo shot in the seventh off Phil Coke that made it 8-2.

Lee… settled in until A-Rod chased him with a two-run double in the eighth.  Robinson Cano drove in Rodriguez with a sacrifice fly, and New York gave Philadelphia a scare when Jorge Posada doubled and Hideki Matsui singled at the start of the ninth against Ryan Madson.

Derek Jeter hit into a run-scoring double play, Johnny Damon singled and Madson struck out slumping Mark Teixeira for the save.

For Lee, it was his 4th win in 5 post-season outings. He threw 112 pitches through the eighth inning giving up 2 runs on 4 hits through seven until being chased and charged with 3 eighth inning runs giving up a single and 2 doubles.  Madson, who was credited with his 1st save of the series to go along with his playoff win against Colorado, had a dicey ninth inning until coaxing Jeter to ground into a shortstop-to 2nd-to-1st base doubleplay on a 1-2 pitch and wasn’t yet home-free as Damon followed with a single and took 2nd base on fielders’ indifference.  But Madson fanned Teixeira on 5 pitches to end it, stranding Damon at 2nd base.

Girardi’s 3 day short-rest failed miserably in game 5 as losing pitcher Burnett was battered for 6 runs early retiring noone in the third.

The 2 teams have Tuesday as the venue shifts back to the Bronx for game 6 on Wednesday.  Pedro Martinez is slated to oppose lefthander Andy Pettitte who goes on 3 days rest, both pitching their 2nd games in this World Series.  In the event game 7 is necessary, the Yanks have slated lefthander C.C. Sabathia, again on short rest.  The Phils have yet to announce who their game 7 starting pitcher would be.

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Phillies rookie-of-the-year candidate lefthander J.A. Happ provided another quality start on Thursday, although being tagged for a leadoff homer on his 3rd pitch of the game by centerfielder Andrew McCutchen and for the winning 2 run homer in the eighth inning by rightfielder Garrett Jones.  1st baseman Ryan Howard plated a first inning run on a bases-loaded none-out fielder’s choice grounder and catcher Paul Bako belted a second inning 1 out solo homer but the Phils offense went into deep freeze continuing to struggle with runners on and failing to plate runners in scoring position.  They failed to capitalize 4 walks by Pittsburgh’s Charlie Morton as the ice-cold Phillies lost their final to Pirates by a 3-2 score.

Having lost 2 of their 3 games with the Pirates, the Phils remained 7 games up in the NL East race as Atlanta and Florida jockey back and forth and are currently tied for 2nd place.  Atlanta nipped San Diego on Thursday while Florida was pounded by the Mets who are 16 1/2 games back in fourth place. 

While Happ gave up more than 2 runs for the first time in 6 starts, only one Buc reached 3rd and, only once in the game did the Pirates put 2 men on.  Happ was aided by good defense and 2 doubleplays.  The bottomline is, despite the AP game recap which demeaned Happ’s effort:

J.A. Happ looked like a rookie on the key pitch of the game and Garrett Jones didn’t

you cannot expect to win consistently without offensive support and the Phils’ offense has huffed and puffed but, aside from homers, has been unable to produce runs with men on throughout the series.  Even the best pitchers make an occasional mistake.  For the record, Happ has coughed up but 4 homers in his last 63 innings.

The AP recap noted further regarding Garrett Jones:

Jones has been quite a find for the Pirates after being cast off by the  Twins, hitting .291 while anchoring the middle of the order…  His 15 homers lead NL rookies and his 11 homers in July topped all major leaguers.

McCutchen’s leadoff homer was his 2nd homer of the series and Jones’ game-winning eighth inning homer was his 4th dinger against the Phils, the other 3 coming, 1 per game, in the 3 games series in Philadelphia in July just before All Star break.

Phillies Nations’ Amanda Orr describes a couple of Thusday’s Phillies’ missed scoring opportunities:

The Phillies had an excellent opportunity to knock around Charlie Morton right from the chute. The Phillies only had one run to show in a bases loaded, nobody out situation.  Ryan Howard’s RBI ground out put the Phillies on the board, but Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez each popped out to end the threat.  The Phillies added another run in the second inning on Paul Bako’s (2-2, 2 BB) homer.

With a struggling closer in Matt Capps, the Phillies had an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the ninth.  Matt Stairs represented the go-ahead run, but he’d have to snap an 0-for-24 streak. The last time he had gotten a hit was on July 11, when he homered against Capps.  It wasn’t meant to be, because although he swung for the fences, he struck out.

Jimmy Rollins grounded out to end the game….  When the Phillies bats are hot, they’re on fire.  When they’re cold, they’re frozen.  The offense has been very streaky and they’ve become too reliant on the home run. 

Expecting to sweep, the Phillies learned they can not take the Pirates lightly. With the 3-2 loss, the Phillies now have a record of 9-13 at PNC Park since 2002.  The Phillies have a history of falling to bad teams, but they still have a comfortable lead in the division.

PhillyNews.com’s David Murphy adds these comments on the loss:

History will hang the the Phillies’ 3-2 loss to the Pirates last night around the neck of rookie lefthander J.A. Happ, who surrendered a go-ahead two-run home run to Garrett Jones in the eighth inning.

But history - at least in the form of baseball box scores - can be misleading. For while Happ may have lost the battle of the Rookie of the Year candidates, allowing Jones and fellow first-year star Andrew McCutchen to blast home all three of the Pirates’ runs, the war might have been lost in the first inning, when the Phillies converted a bases-loaded, no-out situation against previously unimpressive righthander Charlie Morton into just one run.

“We didn’t hit,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We let him get away there in the first inning . . . We didn’t hit him.”

Happ’s line for the game; eight innings, 114 pitches, 3 runs (on the 2 homers), 7 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.  Opposing starter Charlie Morton pitched 5 innings throwing 106 pitches and didn’t figure in the final decision.  Pirates reliever Denny Bautista shut down the Phils in 2 perfect innings while striking out 2.  Clsoer Matt Capps was awarded the win for shutting down the Phillies on 1 hit in the ninth inning.

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

The Phils return home Friday for a 3 game series against the Atlanta Braves.  In Friday’s opener, Pedro Martinez opposes Tom Hanson who has won 5 of his last 7 starts.  On Saturday, ace lefthander Cliff Lee hopes to continue his undefeated string since joining the Phils.  Lee is opposed by  Derek Lowe who has been pounded in his last 2 outings.

For all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and  here.

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Phillies ace lefthander Cliff Lee continued his domination of NL hitters on Monday and 1st baseman Ryan Howard slammed a 1 out, 3 run homer to left centerfield off of Mets starter Bobby Parnell to stake Lee to a 3-0 lead.  But leadoff hitter centerfielder Angel Pagan opened the first inning by again circling the bases, this time scoring as normally sure-defensive-handed 2nd baseman Chase Utley committed 2 errors on 1 play. A triple and a sacrifice fly gave the Mets their 2nd run in the first.  Howard added a third inning 1 out, 2 run homer to give Lee some breathing room.  After the raucus first inning, Lee settled down and went seven innings to win his 5th game in 5 outings for the Phils. Chan Ho Park took over in the eighth making short work of the Mets and closer Brad Lidge did likewise in the ninth as Lee and Howard led the Phillies past the Mets by a 6-2 score in the series final to win 3 of the 4 games.

With the win, the Phils stayed 7 games up on 2nd place Atlanta and 8 up on 3rd place Florida in the NL East division race.  The Mets dropped 16 1/2 games back in 4th place as their season seems over.

Centerfielder Shane Victorino reached to open the game as Mets’ starter Parnell hit him with a pitch on a 2-2 count.  Victorino was in the leadoff spot as normal leadoff hitter shortstop Jimmy Rollins got the day off, replaced by Sunday’s triple-play hero utility infielder Eric Bruntlett.  After rightfielder  Jayson Werth fouled out, the “flyin’ Hawaiian” took 3rd base on catcher  Omir Santos’ throwing error on an attempted steal of 2nd.  Parnell then walked Utley.  Howard responded with the first of his two homers in the game, an opposite-field bomb to left centerfield, to give the Phils an early 3-0 lead.  Parnell then struck out Leftfielder Raul Ibanez and coaxed 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz into a groundout to end the inning.

AP baseball writer Mike Fitzpatrick reports regarding Howard’s homer for Yahoo sports:

The home run… pushed Howard past 100 RBIs, giving him four straight seasons with at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs. The only other Phillies player to accomplish that was Hall of Famer Chuck Klein from 1929-32.

Although the Mets were the first NL club to score 2 runs against Lee since his arrival with the Phillies, the 1st one was of no fault of his.  2nd baseman Utley first dropping Pagan’s leadoff pop up and then threw wildly to 2nd as the speedy centerfielder continued circling the bases.  Then Lee made what may have been his only mistake of the game.  Leftfielder Gary Sheffield nailed a 2-2 pitch to rightfield for a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to rightfield by 3rd baseman Fernando Tatis.  The Mets would score no further runs as they could only manage a single base runner in any one inning off of either winning pitcher Lee or the Phils bullpen after the first inning.

Parnell walked Werth to open the third inning and Howard gave Lee some wiggle-room by pounding a full-count pitch to rightfield for his 34th homer of the season and 103rd and 104th RBIs.  It was Howard’s 4th multi-homer game of the season, his 2nd within 8 games.

The Phils scored their 6th run in the ninth inning off of reliever Pedro Feliciano on Ibanez’s RBI double. 

AP’s Fitzpatrick writes regarding Cliff Lee:

Lee, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, yielded six hits and no walks against a light-hitting lineup that featured Fernando Tatis (six homers) in the cleanup spot. The left-hander struck out five.

“Whenever he’s on the bump, you feel pretty confident,” Howard said.

The Phillies said Lee became the first pitcher to win his first five starts with the team since Marty Bystrom in September 1980, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

“It was already an unbelievable team before I got here. That’s made it easy for me,” Lee said. “It’s been a pretty smooth transition.”

Elias carries some additional trivia on both Howard and Lee:

Ryan Howard’s first-inning home run at Citi Field on Monday produced his 600th career RBI. He reached that milestone in his 693rd game, the fastest for any major-league player since 1946, when Ted Williams collected his 600th RBI in his 675th game.

Cliff Lee allowed only two unearned runs in seven innings at Citi Field on Monday, improving to 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA since joining the Phillies. Lee and Fernando Valenzuela are the only major-league pitchers in the past 60 years to win each of their first five career starts for a team, with an ERA below 1.00 over those five games. Valenzuela made 10 appearances in relief for the Dodgers in 1980 and then made his first career start on Opening Day of the 1981 season. Through five starts in 1981, Valenzuela’s ERA was 0.20.

Lee went seven innings throwing 114 pitches giving up 2 runs, neither earned, on 6 hits while striking out 5.  He now has a string of 16 innings over 2 games without issuing a walk.  Relievers Park and Lidge went clean on the Mets in the eighth and ninth inning respectively.

Losing pitcher Bobby Parnell went five innings throwing 103 pitches giving up 5 runs on Howard’s 2 homers, 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3.  Ex-closer Billy Wagner made his 2nd appearance for the Mets since returning from Tommy John surgery.  Wagner walked 1, struck out 2 and allowed no hits.

For the scores of all of Monday’s games, click here.

The Phils next head for Pittsburgh for a 3 game series on Tuesday through Thursday before returning home for a 3 game weekend series against  Atlanta to end the month of August.

In Tuesday’s opener, Joe Blanton takes the mound opposed by Ross Ohlendorf for the Pirates.

For all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

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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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Phillies starter Joe Blanton and Chicago’s Rich Harden engaged in a titanic seven inning pitching duel on Tuesday, each giving up a run and a few hits. Cub reliever Jeff Samardzija retired the first 2 Phillies in the thirteenth inning before walking 1st baseman Ryan Howard and leftfielder Raul Ibanez.  Rightfielder Jayson Werth then nailed a 1-1 pitch as the Phillies beat the Cubs in the 13th inning by a 4-1 score on Werth’s walk-off homer for their 10th straight win. 

With the win, the Phils maintain a 6 1/2 game lead over 2nd place Atlanta in the NL East division race.  The Florida Marlins are close behind the Braves in 3rd place at 7 games out after edging San Diego.  The Mets dropped to 10 games off the pace in 4th place after being shut out by  Washington.

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins got the Phils on the board first with a lead-off third inning homer to rightfield off of Harden after getting ahead 3-0 in the count.  The Cubs tied the game in the fourth on a 2 out, RBI double to left centerfield by rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome, only 1 of 5 hits given up by Blanton who walked none and struck out 5 through seven innings.  Blanton threw 102 pitches in another brilliant outing, 3 days after throwing 22 pitches in a Saturday rainout in Miami against the Marlins.

Blanton’s former Oakland A’s teammate Harden was nearly as good going seven innings giving up only Rollins’ homer, on 4 hits.  He threw 117 pitches while walking 2 and striking out 6.

Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge had easy eighth and ninth innings respectively with Madson going clean in the eighth and Lidge hitting a batsman with 1 out in the ninth before inducing a grounder which bounced off his leg to shortstop Rollins who turned a doubleplay.

Only the 1 Cub reached from the eighth inning on as the Phils bullpen was close to perfect.  Chan Ho Park pitched three clean innings and Clay Condrey threw a clean thirteenth inning on 8 pitches to earn his 6th win of the season.

Reliever Jeff Samardzija got centerfielder Shane Victorino to fly out to leftfield on a 1-1 pitch before going to a full count on 2nd baseman Chase Utley who flied out to centerfield.   Samardzija then walked Howard on 4 pitches and Ibanez followed drawing a walk. 

AP Sports Writer Rob Maaddi’s game recap for Yahoo sports described the scene as the Phils winning streak reached 10 games, “their longest winning streak in 18 years. They won 13 in a row from July 30 to Aug. 12, 1991″:

Werth then connected on a 1-1 pitch, launching his 21st homer into the seats in left. Werth circled the bases and stomped on home plate before getting mobbed by his teammates.

The winning dinger was Werth’s first career walk-off homer.

In other related Phillies news;

Pedro Martinez has taken a “really big step” forward after throwing 64 pitches over four innings in a simulated game.

He will throw off a bullpen mound Thursday, and if that goes well, will have another simulated game or pitch in a minor league game Sunday.

For the scores of all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

In Wednesday’s series final, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer battles it out with Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano.

The Phils entertain the San Diego Padres on Thursday for a single game.

For all of Wednesday’s games, click here.

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Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels got more than he bargained for on Monday; his own 2 hits and 2 RBIs, a 7 inning, 1 run, 3 hit gem as well as being beneficiary of a 10 run first inning pounding of Cincinnati starter  Johnny Cueto who lasted 2/3rds of an inning giving 9 of the runs.  Hamels was treated 4 Phillies homers including an eighth inning grand slam by rightfielder Jayson Werth to cap the Phils massive scoring.  When the scoring onslaught mercifully subsided in the eighth inning with 1st baseman Greg Dobbs and 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz going down to end the inning, the Phillies had crushed the Reds by a whopping 22-1 score. 

With the one-sided win, and the Florida Marlins’ loss to the San Francisco Giants, the Phillies NL East division lead jumped to 2 games over the Marlins.  The Mets, who had Monday off, dropped to 4 1/2 games back and Atlanta who lost to the Chicago Cubs dropped to 5 games off of the pace.

One has to wonder though about what the next games will bring after the Phils pumped this many runs into one game.    AP sports writer Rob Maaddi, who’s recap for Yahoo sports read like a lengthy dissertation rather than a recap, notes what happened last season after the Phils lumped this many runs into one game:

They hadn’t scored more than 15 runs since a 20-2 victory at  St. Louis last June 13. After that game, the Phillies went 3-11 and scored a total of 38 runs.

The previous worst defeat for the Reds, baseball’s first professional franchise, was 26-6 on July 26, 1892. That also was against the Phillies.

That 20-2 win over the Cardinals came but 19 days after the Phils pummeled the Colorado Rockies by a a 20-5 score on May 26th.  After that game, the Phils went on a winning run so, I suppose, things could go either way after this one, although the Phils offense coming into the Cincinnati opener has not exactly been in high-gear.  But three 20 run games in 2 seasons — Wow! Keep in mind that between 1957 and 2007, the Phils had scored 20 runs or more in exactly 3 games, one of them being that wild-and-wooly 23-22 ten inning slugfest at Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs which the Phils won on Mike Schmidt’s tenth inning solo shot off of Cubs closer Bruce Sutter.

The Phils scored 22 runs on 21 hits and sending 13 hitters to the plate while scoring 10 runs in the first inning alone.  Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr brings some historical stats in recapping the game:

It was the first time since 1900 that the Phillies beat an opponent by at least twenty runs.

The Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning, nine off Johnny Cueto, who lasted two-thirds of an inning, raising his earned run average from 2.69 to 3.45. The inning marked the fourth time in franchise history that the Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning. The last time the Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning was in July of 2002 against the  Montreal Expos.

Shane Victorino made his best “vote for me” campaign with a 4-for-5 night. He homered, drove in four runs, and walked. Greg Dobbs (4-for-6, 2 RBI) and Chase Utley (2-for-3, 4 RBI) also homered. Jayson Werth (2-for-5, 5 RBI) hit a grand slam in the eighth inning off Paul Janish, a shortstop, as the Reds were desperate to save their bullpen.

Every starter in the Phillies lineup had at least one hit, including Cole Hamels (2-for-4).  Jimmy Rollins (3-for-4) continued his hitting ways.  The only batter who did not get a hit was John Mayberry Jr. (0-for-1, BB), who came in as a substitute.  Matt Stairs had one plate appearance and walked. Other than that, six Phillies had a multi-hit night. Two Phillies (Victorino and Dobbs) had four hits. Every batter reached base at least once.

The last time the Phillies pounded 22 runs was in 1985 against the New York Mets. It is also the third most runs the Phillies scored in one game. Not only did the win make Phillies history, but Reds history, marking their largest margin of defeat, 21 runs.

The rout was sooo complete sooo early that manager Manuel gave both 2nd baseman Chase Utley and 1st baseman Ryan Howard some in-game rest in the fourth inning pinch-running Eric Bruntlett after Utley’s RBI single and pinch-running John Mayberry Jr. for Howard after his RBI single.

But while most of textual thunder has gone to the Phillies’ heavy lumber, Hamels deserves much credit as well.  After leftfielder Jonny Gomes’ second inning leadoff homer, Hamels went on to retire the last 18 of 19 Reds hitters he faced in evening his seasonal record at 5-5.  He walked no one while striking out 2.  The only other hits Hamels allowed were 2 out singles in the first and fifth innings in one of the finest outings he’s had this season.  

The bullpen  largely rested due to both the offensive explosion and Hamels’ performance.  The Big Bucks relievers; Ryan Madson, Chan Ho Park, J.C. Romero and closer Brad Lidge were all able to catch breathers as Tyler Walker and re-activated lefthander Scott Eyre, in a low-risk situation closed down the Reds in the eighth and ninth innings.

For the scores of all of Monday’s games, click here.

In Tuesday’s game 2, young, unbeaten lefthander J.A, Happ, fresh from 3 consecutive excellent outings including a complete game shutout, is opposed by Aaron Harang for the Reds.  Harang has been up and down so far this season.

For all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

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