Phillies starters Kyle Kendrick, recently called up from the minors, and   Pedro Martinez both went deep in their games on Sunday in besting Mets starters John Maine and Tim Redding.  Both Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson registered saves as Kendrick and Martinez bring the Phillies a doubleheader sweep of the Mets by scores of 5-4 and 1-0.
 
With the twin wins, the Phils increased their lead in the NL East to 6 1/2 games over 2nd place Florida who lost to Washington and to 7 1/2 games over 3rd place Atlanta who pounded St. Louis.  The Phillies lead over the fourth place Mets reached 20 games as they took 3 of the 4 game series.

Here’s a huge breath of relief.  After Saturday’s disaster where the Mets fought back from 4 runs down and pummelled Madson in the ninth for a  10-9 comback win, a lesser team would still be reeling.  But the Phils came back determined despite a continuing sluggish offense.

The Phillies were very fortunate to get 2 excellent, deep 7 1/3 and 8 inning pitching performances by Kendrick and Martinez respectively and fortunate that Brad Lidge was able to survive a 2 run, 3 hit Mets ninth inning to save the first game win.  I say fortunate because in game 1 the Phils left 8 runners stranded, 6 of them in scoring position including bases jammed with 2 outs in the seventh and in game 2 displayed no offense at all. 

Kendrick opened game 1 in grand style striking out the side in the first inning.  He would not record another strikeout in the game, although he recorded 14 groundball outs.  Meanwhile, 1st baseman Ryan Howard doubled in the 1st Phils run in the first inning.  Rightfielder Ben Francisco, acquired with lefthander Cliff Lee and who subbed as Jayson Werth rested, solo homered to leftfield in the fourth inning and, the Flyin’ Hawaiian, centerfielder Shane Victorino clubbed a 2 run homer to centerfield in the seventh as Kendrick carried a 4-0 shutout into the eighth inning.

The Mets cut lead to 4-2 in the eighth as centerfielder Angel Pagan stroked a 1 out single to centerfield and 2nd baseman Anderson Hernandez followed with a 2 run bomb also to centerfield.  The Phils came back in the bottom of the eighth to add an insurance run as pinch hitter Matt Stairs doubled to left centerfield and pinch hitter Andy Tracy drove him in with a single to rightfield.  That run proved to be the game-winner as Lidge was rocked for 2 Mets runs in the ninth.

Kendrick, pitching in place of injured lefthander J.A. Happ, went 7 1/3 innings to record his 1st win of 2009. He threw 106 pitches giving up only the 2 eighth inning runs on 7 hits while walking 1 and getting the 3 first inning strikeouts and giving up Hernandez’s eighth inning homer.  John Maine threw 57 pitches in 3 innings while giving up 1 run and 2 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2.  Reliever Tobi Stoner gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in three innings and reliever Lance Broadway went the final 2 innings and gave up what turned out to be the winning run.

In game 2, the Phillies had zero offense outside of the first inning where a leadoff walk to shortstop Jimmy Rollins and 2 singles, including 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s  RBI single, providing the only run that Martinez needed to beat the Mets.  The Phils were fortunate that Pedro got through the first two innings unscathed.  He then retired 12 of the next 13 hitters before facing a 2 on, 2 out situation in the seventh from which he also escaped without damage.  Martinez then eased out of a 2 out eighth inning runner on 2nd base coaxing a fielder’s choice grounder to end the inning.  Then Madson came on in the ninth to give up a 1 out single but to end the game with a strikeout and a line-out to 3rd base. 

Martinez threw, get this, 130 pitches in his eight innings while shutting out the Mets to continue unbeaten with a 5-0 record.  He walked 1 and struck out 7.  Mets’ starter Redding threw six fine innings giving up only the single run and 3 hits.  He fell victim to lack of offensive support.  He threw 103 pitches while walking 2 and striking out 3.

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

The Phils have Monday off before entertaining the Washington Nationals for 3 games beginning with Tuesday’s opener as ace lefthander Cliff Lee opposes Garrett Mock in a re-match of last week’s game in D.C. 

For all of Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, click here and here.

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Brad Penny, acquired by San Francisco in trade after being waivered by the  Boston Red Sox, returned to the form that saw him string two straight 16 win seasons together in Los Angeles in tossing an eight inning 5 hit shutout of the Phillies on Wednesday.  Back-to-back sixth inning homers off of rookie lefthander J.A. Happ by 2nd baseman Juan Uribe and former Phil centerfielder Aaron Rowand accounted for 3 Giant runs after they scored a single run in the fifth.  Aided by offensive support, Penny shut out the Phillies by a 4-0 score in his Giants debut.

With the loss, the Phillies lead over Atlanta dropped to 7 1/2 games over the 2nd place Braveswith their Wednesday loss to the Marlins.  3rd place Florida is 8 1/2 games back while the Mets are 18 1/2 games back in 4th place.

The Phillies offense continues to scuffle and struggle to score runs. Although they  have won 6 of their last 10 games, their scoring has been mainly by way of the home run ball.  They have left a ton of runners on base and have not scored with small-ball in sometime.  Add to the mix that Penny was on and pounding home mid-90’s fastballs throughout his eight innings and 102 pitches.

Happ got himself into second inning trouble as 1st baseman Ryan Garko and Juan Uribe both opened with singles.  But Rowand flied out to centerfield and Happ got rightfielder Nate Schierholtz to ground a 2-2 pitch into a short-to-2nd-to-1st doubleplay to evade trouble.  Happ then went clean in the third inning, as he had in the first, and got out of a 2 on, 2 out situation in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Penny stifled the Phillies through four innings with the defensive backing of 2 doubleplays as the Giants got a fifth inning leadoff double by Schierholtz who scored on a 2 out single by leftfielder Andres Torres to put the Giants up by 1-0.  As things turned out, that was all that Penny really needed.

In the Phillies’ fifth, 1st baseman Ryan Howard slammed Penny’s 1st pitch for a single to centerfield after which Penny walked rightfielder Jayson Werth on 4 pitches.  But Raul Ibanez flied out to leftfield and both 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz and Carlos Ruiz flied out to end the only possible threat that the Phils put up the entire game.

In the sixth, Penny got insurance as Happ was solved for Uribe’s 1 out, 2 run homer followed back-to-back by Rowand’s solo dinger as the Giants went up 4-0.

Happ pitched a quality performance but made the two mistakes which cost him.  But the burden continues to fall back on an enigmatic, short-circuited offense which is having trouble producing.  Happ threw 102 pitches in six innings giving up 4 runs on 8 hits while walking 1 and striking out 7.  He deserved a better fate than his 4th loss of the season.  3 Phils relievers threw in the final 3 innings holding the Giants hitless as only 2 reached on walks.

Penny threw eight innings, 103 pitches giving up only 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2.  Lefthanded reliever Jeremy Affeldt took over in the ninth and went clean on the Phils on 15 pitches striking out 2 to end the game.

Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr adds these comments on the Phillies current offensive maliase:

You know your offense is going bad when the telecast finds a shot Jupiter before any runs are scored.  Perhaps that is where the Phillies offense went.  They’ve scored only 11 runs in the last six games.  They were shutout for the fifth time this season.  The last time they were shutout was on August 1, against tomorrow’s starter, Tim Lincecum.

Andres Torres did what the Phillies did not do: drive in a runner in scoring position.  In the fifth inning, the Giants took a 1-0 lead with his RBI single up the middle.

J.A Happ didn’t necessarily pitch poorly, although he did give up four runs for the first time since July 24, when he allowed five runs against St. Louis.  He played Houdini for the first four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth and sixth.

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

The Phils hope for a 2 of 3 game series win in Thursday’s final as Pedro Martinez faces CY Young Award candidate Tim Lincecum who won the award last season and who has pitched consistently well since All Star break but has fallen victim in 4 games to lack of offensive support.

For all of Thursday’s games, click here.

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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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Newly acquired Phillies  lefthander Cliff Lee provided another ace-worthy performance on Thursday and 1st baseman Ryan Howard broke a career-worst 14 game homer-less string with a none out, 3 run fourth inning leftfield homer off of Chicago starter Ryan Dempster.  3rd baseman Pedro Feliz added a solo shot to left in the fourth to stake Lee to a 4-0 lead.  Lee got into a little trouble in the fifth as the Cubs scored their only run and his pitch count mounted.  But from there, Lee breezed through the next three innings. The Phils added single runs in the sixth and seventh innings and reliever Ryan Madson shut the lights on the Cubs in the ninth.  Lee was again masterful as Howard and Feliz homered and the Phillies swept the Cubs winning by a 6-1 score.

With the sweep win, the Phils’ NL East division lead over Florida is back up to 4 1/2 games with the Marlin’s win on Thursday over Houston.  The  Atlanta Braves, who have the day off, remain in 3rd place 5 games back while the Mets, also off on Thursday, dropped to 12 games back in 4th place.

Lee, who won his 3rd straight game as a Phillie, again gave up a single run as the Phils swept the Cubs in Wrigley Field for the 1st time since 1984.  Lee threw a lot of pitches; 122 to be exact.  Here’s another important stat on Lee; 3 games, 24 innings, no homeruns.  And he’s helped out with the stick as well getting a couple of hits since coming to the Phils.  Today, he led off the fifth inning with a double but was stranded as Dempster retired shortstop Jimmy Rollins, centerfielder Shane Victorino and 2nd baseman  Chase Utley to retire the side.

Phillies Nations’ Ben Seal provided the recap on this one:

For a few brief moments it appeared that Cliff Lee’s stretch of brilliant pitching with the Phillies might be in jeopardy. His pitch count was rising in the bottom of the fifth inning as  Ryan Theriot knocked a run-scoring single, and Lee looked like he might not be able to last much longer.

Those moments faded quickly, though, as Lee kept his composure to finish the inning, then breezed through three more frames on his way to another sterling effort. Lee allowed just the one run and struck out eight batters over 8 innings…

With each start Lee continues to settle into his new role as ace of a World Series contender, showing that last year’s Cy Young campaign was no fluke. His effort today, lasting deep into the game to preserve a tired bullpen, moves his record to 3-0 with a miniscule 1.13 ERA in three starts with the Phillies.

Lee and Cubs’ starter Ryan Dempster traded zeros for three innings, but the Phils got to the righty in the fourth. Shane Victorino led off with a single and Chase Utley drew a walk to bring up the big guy. He didn’t disappoint. Howard poked a lazy changeup deep to the opposite field, breaking a career-long streak of 14 games without a long ball and giving the Phils a 3-0 lead. Three batters later Pedro Feliz turned on an inside pitch and sent a line drive over the ivy in left to tack on a run. On a windy day with the flags whipping around the outfield, it took two very hard-hit balls to clear the fence.

Just as he did in his first two starts in a new uniform, Lee baffled another batch of National League hitters once he had a lead. His control wasn’t flawless, as he allowed three walks to go with six hits, but he had no trouble retiring batters with runners on base. Even the wandering strike zone of umpire Mark Carlson – who seemed to move the zone with each new batter – couldn’t stand in the way of Lee’s sharp fastball-changeup combination.

The Phillies added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh to guarantee the sweep. Howard walked, then stole second cleanly and scored on Feliz’s grounder through the infield in the sixth. An inning later Utley singled home Victorino after the centerfielder reached on a bloop double, making the score 6-1.

Ryan Madson entered to pitch the ninth and struck out two batters to secure the win for Lee. After another 8 innings of one-run ball, it was a well-deserved win for the Phillies new ace.

The Phillies keep platooning outfielders Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez and and Ben Francisco.  This time it was Ibanez’s turn to sit Francisco started in leftfield.  This is an option which manager Charley Manuel didn’t have 2 weeks ago,

The Phillies last sweep at Wrigley Field was between June 14-17, 1984, when they won four straight.  The Cubs of 1984 went on to win the NL East before losing the NLCS to the San Diego Padres.  Interesting to note: In Lee’s 24 homer-less innings as a Phil, Paul Bako appears to be his designated catcher ala “Lefty” Steve Carlton in his early years with the Phillies when Tim McCarver served in that role.

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

The Phillies next head to Altanta for a 3 game weekend series.  In Friday’s opener, Joe Blanton, who has strung together a number of fine performances although he has not always been blessed with offensive support, takes the mound opposed by Jair Jurrjens.

In Saturday’s game 2, lefthander Cole Hamels is opposed by 34 year old rookie Japanese starter Kenshin Kawakami.

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

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Newly acquired Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee again lived up to his newly annointed ace billing on Thursday by pitching seven fine innings as catcher  Paul Bako clubbed a fifth inning solo homer off of Colorado’s Aaron Cook to break a 1-1 tie.  2nd baseman Chase Utley and centerfielder Shane Victorino each collected an RBI while Brad Lidge recorded his 21st save striking out 2 in the ninth inning.  Lee was impressive in his home debut as the Phillies beat the Rockies by a 3-1 score to take 2 games of their 3 game series.

With the win, the Phils lead both Atlanta and Florida by 7 full games on the NL East division race.  The Marlins dropped into a 2nd place tie by blowing a 6-0 lead over Washington as the Nationals scored 4 eighth inning runs to break an 8-8 tie enroute to a 12-8 win.  Both the Braves and the 4th place  Mets, who are 10 1/2 games behind the Phils, play later on the West Coast.

Lee spotted the Rockies a first inning run as the lead-off and 2nd hitters doubled and singled to place runners at the corners.  1st baseman Todd Helton made the game’s first out by sacrificing in the run on a flyout.  Then Lee got a strikeout and a fielder’s choice groundout to end the inning.  From there, Lee cruised through the next six innings, only working up a sweat in the fifth inning as opposing pitcher Cook reached on his [Lee’s] own fielding error and a 2 out single which put runners on 1st and 2nd base.  But Lee got Helton on a grounder to shortstop to retire the side.

Meanwhile, in the bottom of the first, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who missed hitting for the cycle for lack of a homer, doubled.  Victorino grounded out moving Rollins to 3rd base where Utley drove him home with the tying run on a sacrifice fly to centerfield.

Bako led off the fifth by breaking the tie with his solo shot, his 1st homer as a Phil and his 1st of the season.  After Lee grounded out, Rollins tripled to right centerfield.  He scored as Victorino reached on a fielder’s choice when 2nd baseman Clint Barmes threw wild to the plate after fielding Victorino’s bouncing grounder.  Amazingly, Barmes and the Rockies were not charged with an error on the play.

Nursing a 3-1 lead, Lee retired the last 6 Rockies’ hitters he faced after shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s lead-off single in the sixth.

Lee’s line for the game was 112 pitches over seven innings.  He gave up the first inning run, 6 hits, walked 1 and struck out 9 to record his 2nd win as a Phillie and to even his season record at 9-9.  Cook also provided the Rockies with a five inning quality outing throwing 73 pitches and giving up 3 runs, including Bako’s homer, on 7 hits.  He walked none, but didn’t strike out anyone either.  However the Rockies provided him no offensive support.  Rockies relievers held the Phils off the bases over the final 3 innings, except for a 2 out seventh inning walk issued to pinch hitter Ben Francisco.

Reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge each threw a scoreless inning, each giving up a single, but nothing else to preserve the win.

AP sports writer Rob Maaddi’s game recap indicates that Happ’s complete game shutout on Wednesday has had it’s impact on the Phillies’ front office:

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said J.A. Happ isn’t going to the bullpen to make room for Pedro Martinez. Amaro also indicated the team could employ a six-man rotation when Martinez comes off the DL.

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

Next into Philly are those Florida Marlins for a 3 game weekend series.   In Friday’s opener, a sizzling hot Joe Blanton is opposed by Ricky Nolasco.  Saturday’s game 2 is an all-too-frequent battle of lefthanders as Cole Hamels is opposed by Sean West.

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

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Newly acquired Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee lived up to his projected ace status on Friday by sparkling in his NL debut  going the full nine innings against San Francisco and giving up but 1 run on 4 hits.  Rightfielder  Jayson Werth solo homered in the second inning off of Ryan Sadowski and drove in 2 more runs in the seventh while the 2008 Cy Young winner, himself, singled twice and scored his 1st career run as Lee dazzled in his debut and Phillies beat the Giants by a 5-1 score to draw even in their series at 1 game apiece.

With the win, the Phils maintained a 6 game lead over 2nd place Florida in the NL East as the Marlins won.  Atlanta lost and dropped to 8 games back in 3rd place while the Mets lost and dropped to 10 1/2 back in 4th place.

Lee carried a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings as the only Giants who reached did so on walks.  At one stretch he retired 11 Giants in a row between centerfielder Aaron Rowand’s second inning doubleplay grounder and 2nd baseman Juan Uribe’s one out sixth inning double which broke up the no-hit bid.

AP sports writer Janie McCauley noted Lee’s comments on his debut performance in recapping the game for Yahoo sports:

“I’m kind of glad I didn’t throw a no-hitter…. If I did that the first time, I’d have to live up to some high expectations.”

Jayson Werth homered to put Philadelphia ahead early and added a two-run single in the seventh,  Raul Ibanez drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh for an insurance run and Lee did the rest.

He [Lee] dazzled from the start… tossing his 11th career complete game, fourth this season and third in four starts.  Lee’s line: one run, six strikeouts, two walks, 109 pitches and 78 strikes. He was done in 2 hours, 39 minutes, getting a hug from catcher Paul Bako afterward and tucking the game ball in his back pocket as a keepsake.

He struck out Randy Winn looking on a 93 mph fastball on his third pitch of the game and was through that [first] inning on all of nine pitches.

His defense also was spot on, with Lee hustling forward on  Edgar Renteria’s eighth-inning sacrifice bunt and quickly firing to first.

Lee doubled in the eighth for his first career extra-base hit and that gave him his first multihit game—and doubled his previous career hit total.

“I got the first hit and I was pretty pumped about that but you get a double off the wall in the opposite-field gap, I totally never expected that,” Lee said.

…All-Star CF Shane Victorino was held out of the lineup for the second straight game with a bruised left knee. The injury forced him to leave Wednesday’s 4-0 loss at Arizona in the seventh inning.

Fittingly, it was [subbing centerfielder] Ben Francisco—who also came to the Phillies from the Indians on Wednesday—whose sacrifice fly helped Lee score his first career run.

Lee faced only two three-ball counts until the seventh on a cool night at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark, where an eerie mist hovered over the field for much of the game. He had thrown only 13 balls among his first 54 pitches.

Giants starter and losing pitcher Sadowski completed four innings giving up only 1 run, on Werth’s second inning solo shot, while giving up 3 hits.  He walked 3 and struck out 3 while throwing 83 pitches.  5 Giant relievers gave up 4 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3 through the rest of the game.

Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr adds these comments about Lee:

After a 4-6-3 game ending double play, Cliff Lee was handed the baseball and stuck it in his back pocket. In his much anticipated Philadelphia Phillies debut, Lee absolutely dominated the San Francisco Giants.

He located and mixed his pitches very well and wasn’t afraid to throw any pitch in his repertoire…. Lee put on a show that kept everybody on the east coast awake.

As centerfielder Shane Victorino’s bruised knee woes continue, the acquisition of Ben Francisco in the deal for Cliff Lee couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.  It kinda brings back memories of 2007 when 2nd baseman Chase Utley went down for a month and Tadahito Iguchi was  acquired and came on replacing Utley at 2nd base hitting .304 as the Phils scarely skipped a beat at 2nd base.

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

Joe Blanton, bumped by lefthander Cliff Lee’s great debut, goes on Saturday opposing Giant ace Tim Lincecum.

For all of Saturday’s games, click here.

Hat tip to Phillies Nation for the Cliff Lee picture.

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