For 6 2/3 innings, Brett Myers flirted with a no-hitter before young 1st baseman Joey Votto broke up the attempt with an RBI double scoring 2nd baseman Brandon Phillips, recipient of Myers’ 6th walk of the game.  Phillips had stolen 2nd before scoring.  Votto drove in a 2nd run in the ninth off of reliever J.C. Romero as Cincinnati’s Edinson Volquez, with help from the bullpen in the eighth and ninth, shut out the Phillies by a 2-0 score.

With the loss, the Phils’ lead over Florida in the NL East dropped to 1 1/2 games as the Marlins upended the Atlanta Braves with 4 run outburst in the ninth and the Mets defeated the Giants.  The Mets and the Braves are now tied for 3rd place, 3 1/2 games off of the pace.

Myers retired the first 13 batters he faced before walking leftfielder Adam Dunn with one out in the fifth inning.  But Dunn was caught attempting to steal 2nd base, and it’s a good thing.  Myers then walked both Votto and 3rd baseman Edwin Encarnacion before retiring the side on a strikeout.

Meanwhile, the Phillies stranded 7 runners between the second and fifth innings as Volquez walked 2, hit 2 batters and gave up 2 hits and the shortstop made an error.  But for want of a big hit, the Phils failed to push anything home.

Myers retired the next 4 Reds in a row before walking Phillips with 1 out in the seventh and giving up Votto’s RBI double as the Reds took a 1-0 lead.

After Myers opened the eighth inning by getting catcher Paul Bako on strikes, he walked pinch hitter Ken Griffey Jr. and shortstop Jerry Hairston Jr.  Manager Charlie Manuel then went to lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero who recorded a strikout and a ground out to end the inning.

Winning pitcher Volquez retired the final 6 Phillies he faced before being replaced by young lefthanded reliever Bill Bray to open the eighth inning.  Things got a bit dicey for Bray thanks to the second Reds error.  Bray was replaced by closer Francisco Cordero who issued a walk but then got a ground out to end the eighth. Volquez gave up 2 hits, walked 2 and struck out 8.

AP sports writer Rob Maaddi provided these observations for Yahoo sports about Volquez’s performance;

Acquired from Texas in the trade for Josh Hamilton, the 24-year-old Volquez has been dominant for the Reds. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his 12 starts. The right-hander overpowered hitters with a 94 mph fastball and kept them off-balance with a darting changeup.

“The biggest thing is more confidence,” Volquez said.

“A shutout against this club in this ballpark is almost impossible,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “Volquez was awesome.”

“He had effective changeup and throws in the high 90s and also has a good slider,” [Shane] Victorino said. “When you have three pitches like that, you tip your hat to the guy.”

After Phillips opened the ninth with a single and again stole 2nd base, Romero walked Adam Dunn and Votto followed with another RBI double as the Reds scored their 2nd run.  With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Encarnacion was intentionally walked and Bako grounded into a fielders choice force at home.  Manuel then went to Ryan Madson who prevented further damage by getting Cordero to ground into a double play.

Cordero closed out the game with a 3-up, 3-down ninth earning his 12 save of the season.

Losing pitcher Myers gave up but one hit, Votto’s 7th inning RBI double, but his 6 walks tarnished an otherwise brilliant outing.  Myers struck out 8 and deserved a better fate.

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

In Thursday’s final, ace lefthander Cole Hamels, looking to right his ship after 2 sub-par efforts, starts against young recently recalled Homer Bailey.

On Friday, the Phillies take to the road for 3 games each against
Atlanta, Florida and St. Louis before returning home to play Boston and the   L. A. Angels in inter-league competition.

In Friday’s opener, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by Tim Hudson for the Braves.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Thursday’s games, click here.

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45 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer survived a fourth inning pounding to win and 2nd baseman Chase Utley pounded his MLB leading 20th homer in the third, pinch hitter Geoff Jenkins clubbed a 2 run homer in the fourth and rightfielder Pat Burrell pounded a 2 run double in seventh as the Phillies erased an early 5-1 deficit enroute to a 7-5 win over Florida in Sunday’s series final.

By winning, the Phils jumpped back into first place in the NL East, 1/2 game ahead of the Marlins.  The Mets who won and the Atlanta Braves who lost, are tied for 3rd place 3 1/2 games behind the frontrunners.

The Phils took a short-lived first inning lead as Utley was issued a 2 out walk and stole 2nd base.  He scored on 1st baseman Ryan Howard’s single to centerfield.  But 1st baseman Mike Jacobs led off the second inning with a homer to rightfield to tie the score.  Jacobs would be at the center of Florida’s 4 run outburst on Moyer in the third by belting a 3 run shot, again to rightfield, which followed an RBI single by 3rd baseman Jorge Cantu as Florida took a 5-1 lead.

Florida would not score again in the game as Moyer held them to two base hits over his last four innings, singles in the sixth and seventh innings, both of which were rubbed out on doubleplays including a line drive which Ryan Howard turned into a twin-killing.

With the score at 5-1 the Phillies offense again did what they do best.  They went to work against young lefthander Andrew Miller scoring two runs in the third, on centerfielder Shane Victorino’s sacrifice fly RBI and Utley’s homer. 

Miller pitched 5 innings, leaving with a 5-3 lead having given up 3 runs on 3 hits walking 4 and striking out 1 before being replaced by reliever Doug Waechter to open the sixth inning.  Miller threw 88 pitches.

With two outs and Burrell on 1st in the sixth and facing reliever Waechter, manager Manuel sent Geoff Jenkins to pinch hit for rightfielder So Taguchi.  Jenkins went yard to tie the game as Waechter, who was later charged with the Phils’ lead run and charged with the loss, had his consecutive scoreless string ended at 11 1-3 innings.  For Jenkins, it was his 5th homer of the season and the Phillies’ 5th pinch hit homer.

Waechter was pulled for lefthanded reliever Taylor Tankersley in the seventh after giving up a one out single to Victorino.  Tankersley got Utley to pop out and then plunked Ryan Howard.  The AP game recap for Yahoo sports relates the rest;

With two outs and runners on first and second, Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez replaced Taylor Tankersley with Logan Kensing. His first pitch went to the backstop, allowing Shane Victorino and Howard to advance and setting up Burrell’s go-ahead hit down the left-field line.

“It’s tough to cover four innings against a lineup like that,” Gonzalez said.

Moyer (6-3) allowed seven hits in seven innings, won his fourth straight start and improved to 8-0 in eight career starts against Florida.  Brad Lidge got three outs for his 13th save in 13 opportunities.

“I made a few bad pitches and Jacobs hit two of them out,” Moyer said. “It’s about location for me and I missed my spots. I had one bad inning and we played some great defense behind me and that kept us in the game.”

Reliever Tom Gordon followed Moyer to start the eighth and walked lead off hitter leftfielder Luis Gonzalez before getting the next 3 hitters out.  Lidge struck out 2 of the 3 hitters he faced in the ninth.  Surprisingly, Moyer, who has won 4 straight starts, leads the Phillies in win.

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

The Cincinnati Reds come to town for 4 games starting Monday.  Bronson Arroyo opposes Kyle Kendrick in the series opener.   In Tuesday’s game two,  Aaron Harang, who has been shaky in his last two starts with an excellent four inning relief stint in the marathon 18 inning game with the Padres sandwiched in-between, faces Adam Eaton who has been strong in his last two starts.  On Wednesday, Edinson Volquez opposes Brett Myers. In Thursday’s final, ace lefthander Cole Hamels is slated to start.  The Reds have yet to name their pitcher.

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

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In recent days, baseball fans have witnessed three horrific injury situations.  Two of these events occurred on line drives striking pitchers and the third occurred when plate umpire Jerry Crawford was in the path of a swing follow-through by Houston’s Carlos Lee on a foul ball in last Monday’s game with the  Phillies.  The YouTube video of the pitch, swing and injury can be viewed here.

The possibility of injury occurring to a homeplate umpire increases as he positions himself to get as close-up a view of pitches as possible in order to make a ball/strike call.  Perhaps MLB should consider a reinforced football helmet protecting the top, back and sides of the head as a possible way of alleviating much of the serious injury danger in such situations, leaving the umpire with a ringing headache or perhaps a mild concussion, but no injury or loss of blood. 

However, the two recent situations of pitchers being hit by batted-ball line drives, starter Chris Young’s broken nose on Albert Pujols’ line drive and closer Jose Valverde’s drilling by a Pedro Feliz liner in the ninth inning of last Saturday’s game with the Phils point up the fact that pitcher’s position is undoubtedly the most vulnerable on the baseball diamond. 

The pitcher is a sitting duck with nowhere to hide.  He’s just completed his follow-through on a 90s plus fastball when a screaming liner comes back in his direction.  There’s very little that a pitcher can do to keep himself out of harm’s way when a rocket screams off of a bat headed directly for his face at dizzying speed.

A pitcher such as former Phillies great Jim Bunning, who won 17 or more games in 6 of 7 seasons at one point in his career,  would nearly fall off of the mound to the side on every follow-through thus taking himself out of the direct line of fire.   Baseball Library describes Bunning’s delivery;

The 6′3″ righthander’s unusual pitching style, a sweeping sidearm delivery that finished with his glove hand touching the ground well in front of the mound…

Of course, Bunning’s style, while bringing him to two no-hitters, including a perfect game on Father’s Day 1964, rendered him not exactly a candidate for a pitching gold glove award.

But one cannot write about baseball’s most dangerous and most vulnerable position without touching on the career of sensational Cleveland Indians’ lefthander Herb Score who went 16-10 in his rookie season in 1955 and 20-9 in 1956, including a hitless appearance in the eighth inning of the 1956 All Star Game, racking up 508 strikeouts in his two seasons before before having his career wrecked by a line drive which hit him in the eye.

Baseball Library writes this of Score;

Score’s debut in 1955 was propitiously timed. He was the first and best of a young crop of Cleveland pitchers that included  Gary Bell, Mudcat Grant, and Jim Perry, and he was expected to lead the new staff in replacing the old.

Score astonished. He won 16 games, fanned a league-leading, rookie-record 245 batters, and was named AL Rookie of the Year. His 1956 seaon was more than an encore. He upped his strikeouts to 263 while taming some of the wildness he had shown in his rookie season. He posted 20 wins, pitched a league-leading five shutouts, and held opposition batters to a minuscule .186 average. Teammate Hal Newhouser, who was at the end of a career that saw him lead the AL in victories four times and in ERA and strikeouts twice, said he would trade his past for Score’s future in a minute.

On May 7, 1957 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, [Yankees shortstop] Gil  McDougald hit a line drive that struck Score in the eye and ended his season. Questions were raised in the aftermath of the bloody scene as to whether Score would ever see properly again. He made a partial comeback in 1958, and pitched a full season in 1959. Perhaps it was the layoff or fear or loss of vision; whatever the reason, he was no longer unhittable, despite retaining a fine ratio of strikeouts to innings pitched.

Just as the circumstances of Score’s injury haunted him undoubtedly
causing reflexual fear rendering him loss of effectiveness thus shortening his career, one myst wonder how Chris Young will react upon his return after the broken nose heals.   As for Valverde, miraculously he suffered little ill effect and went on to earn his 15th save against the Phillies and then to pitch a hitless inning of relief 5 days later against the St. Louis Cardinals.

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For seven innings, Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels and Nationals Jason Bergmann engaged in a classic pitching duel out of baseball’s yester-years, and then the bullpens took over.  The Phillies ‘pen was just a little bit better as pinch hitter Greg Dobbs solved Nationals closer Jon Rauch for a one out single to center to score Eric Bruntlett, who pinch ran for 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz who opened the inning with a double, with the only run of the game as Phils shut out Washington by 1-0.

With the win, and with NL East 1st place Florida Marlins edging Arizona and the  Atlanta Braves sweeping a doubleheader from the Mets, the Phils are now tied with Atlanta for 2nd place with the Mets now sitting in 4th place looking up.

For pinch hitting specialist Dobbs, it was  his league-leading 10th pinch hit and ninth RBI in 22 pinch at-bats this season.

The AP report for Yahoo sports describes the scene;

A sore back sent Philadelphia’s pinch-hit specialist Greg Dobbs to the batting cage early in Tuesday’s game. He wanted to make sure he kept the blood flowing and didn’t tighten up.

When he was finally called on in the ninth inning of the scoreless game, he didn’t feel any soreness at all.

“I pretty much didn’t feel anything—except the adrenaline and my heart pumping,” Dobbs said.

Dobbs blooped a single to center field… giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 1-0 win

“I was watching Bruntlett out of the corner of my eye,” Dobbs said. “He can run, so there’s no reason to cheat off the bag. I was like, ‘You’re going to score, right? Yeah, you’re going to score.’ It was a relief.”

Dobbs nearly gave the Phillies an insurance run as well. He attempted to score from first on Shane Victorino’s double, but was thrown out at the plate to end the ninth inning.

Hamels was brilliant again in following up on his previous start, a complete game, 4 hit shutout over the Atlanta Braves on May 15th.  In seven innings, he again allowed only 4 hits while striking out 11, tying his season high, and walking only 2 in running his scoreless string to 19 innings. He eluded trouble in both the fourth and seventh innings and at one stretch retired 8 straight Nationals hitters.  Bergmann was every bit as good in his seven innings, giving up 5 hits, striking out 5 while walking 3, as the Phillies continue to battle offensive lethargy, getting runners on but an inability to push runs across.

The Phillies left 10 runners stranded and 1st baseman Ryan Howard struck out in 3 at bats and walked in his other plate appearance.  Howard’s strike out tally thus far is 65 in 191 plate appearances or 34% of the time.  He contnues on a pace to strike out 235 times for the season.

Reliever Tom Gordon had little trouble retiring the Nationals in the eight inning to win his 4th game against 2 losses.  Closer Brad Lidge, who notched his 11th save, struck out the first 2 batters he faced in the ninth before walking rightfielder Elijah Dukes who proceded to steal 2nd and 3rd base.  After walking pinch hitter Rob Mackowiak, Lidge got 2nd baseman Felipe Lopez to ground out to 2nd base to end the game.  Lidge has alowed but 1 run in 20 innings this season for a 0.45 ERA.  Rauch was charged with the loss for the Nationals.

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

Wednesday’s final has become a battle of lefthanders as Phillies seek a series win with veteran Jamie Moyer facing Matt Chico who replaces youngster Shawn Hill who, it is reported, had a cortisone shot in his right elbow on Saturday.

The Phillies move on from Washington to Houston for a 4 game series with the Astros before returning home to play Colorado and Florida.  In Thursday’s opener with the Astros, Kyle Kendrick opposes Roy Oswalt in a rematch of their April 16th duel which Houston won by a 2-1 score.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Wednesday’s games, click here.

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The Boston Red Sox roughed up young Royals starter Luke Hochevar for 5 runs in the third inning, sending 10 men to the plate and scoring on 4 hits as the youngster walked 3.  And BoSox catcher Jason Varitek homered in the sixth adding two more insurance runs.  But the Big News was that cancer surviver lefthander Jon Lester No-Hit Kansas City as Boston won by a 7-0 score.

Lester, who recovered from anaplastic large cell lymphoma during the 2006 off-season, returned and went 4-0 in 2007 for the Red Sox in 11 starts and was the starting pitcher going five innings in the Red Sox 2007 World Series Championship clinching 4th game against the Colorado Rockies.

AP Sports writer Jimmy Golen describes Lester’s memorable performance as well as the Red Sox defensive plays which helped to preserve the no-hitter for Yahoo sports;

The 24-year-old lefty shut down Kansas City 7-0 Monday night for the first no-hitter in the majors since Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz threw one last September.

It was Lester’s first major league complete game. And what a way to do it.

“You don’t feel tired in that situation. You’ve got so much adrenaline going,” he said. “I’m sure it will hit me in the morning.”

Lester (3-2) allowed just two baserunners, walking Billy Butler in the second inning and Esteban German to open the ninth; he also had an error when he threw away a pickoff attempt.

Lester struck out nine, fanning Alberto Callaspo to end the game before pumping both fists in the air.

Manager Terry Francona gave a long, hard embrace to Lester, who missed the end of the 2006 season after he was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I’ve been through a lot the last couple of years. He’s been like a second dad to me,” Lester said. “It was just a special moment right there.”

Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury made a diving catch of Jose Guillen’s line drive to end the fourth—the best defensive play of the night. Lester also got help from first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who made a nice scoop on shortstop Julio Lugo’s throw after David DeJesus hit a grounder in the third.

Lester and [closer] Jonathan Papelbon combined to one-hit the  Royals on July 18, 2006.

Mel Parnell was the last Red Sox lefty to throw a no-hitter, beating the Chicago White Sox on July 14, 1956. Hall of Famer  Nolan Ryan is the only other person in history to no-hit the Royals.

                    

Lester’s battery-mate Jason Varitek, who clubbed the 2 run homer in the sixth inning to cap Boston’s scoring and who lifted Lester in triumph after the final out, has caught a record-tying four no-hitters, including Buchholz’s last season.  He joins co-record holder Ray Schalk who played from 1912-1929.

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Ace lefthander Cole Hamels was brilliant in pitching a 4 hit complete game shutout, his first career shutout, and the Phillies offense solved Braves Chuck James for 5 runs, including 3 homers, in 4 innings to win by a  5-0 score.

The 2nd place Phillies picked up ground in the NL East with the win, coupled with a Mets 1-0 loss to the Nationals and rain postponement of Florida’s game in Cincinnati.  The Phils now trail the 1st place Marlins by 1 game and lead the Mets by 1 1/2 games.  The Braves are in 4th place.

Hamels was dominating throughout the game.  After 3rd baseman Omar Infante singled to rightfield with 1 out in the first inning, Hamels retired the next 15 hitters in a row before centerfielder Gregor Blanco singled to centerfield in the sixth inning. Hamels finished allowing only 4 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 6.   Only two Atlanta runners reached second base through the entire game as Hamels, who tossed 120 pitches — 85 for strikes, lowered his ERA from 3.36 to 2.89 for the season.

The AP recap of the game for Yahoo sports notes these observations from Hamels and Phils’ manager Manuel about his performance;

“I’m happy because all along I’ve said sooner or later he was going to throw a shutout and close out the game,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

“I think throwing a lot of first pitch strikes helped keep my pitch count down,” he said.

Meanwhile, James, who escaped a one out bases loaded jam in the first inning, was solved by 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz for a lead off solo shot to leftfield in the second inning, by a one out 426 foot solo blast to centerfield by 1st baseman Ryan Howard and an RBI single by Feliz in the third and by rightfielder Shane Victorino’s 1 out, two run shot to leftfield in the fourth inning.  James gave up 6 hits and walked 5 before heading to the showers. 

The Braves bullpen took over in the fifth and held the Phils scoreless on 6 hits the rest of the way.  Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, centerfielder Jayson Werth, Feliz and Hamels, who helped his cause with the bat as well as his arm, all had 2 hit games.

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

 The Toronto Blue Jays come to town on Friday for 3 games as interleague play begins.  Friday’s opener is another battle of lefthanders, with veteran 45 year old Jamie Moyer, working to get back on track after being pounded in his last start against the Giants.  He is opposed by 26 year old rookie David Purcey.

On Saturday, Adam Eaton is opposed A.J. Burnett.  In Sunday’s get-away game, Kyle Kendrick opposes Toronto’s ace Shaun Marcum with his 2.22 ERA and 8 plus innings in his last two starts.  On Monday, the Phils begin a roadtrip with 3 games against the Washington Nationals.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s games, click here.

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