The San Francisco Giants pounded out 16 hits on Phillies pitching and centerfielder and former Phillie Aaron Rowand homered off of J.C. Romero in the top of the tenth inning to put the Giants up 5-4.  But in the Phils’ tenth inning, with two out and 2nd baseman Chase Utley on base, closer Brian Wilson ran the count full feeding leftfielder Pat Burrell fastball after fastball at speeds reaching 98 mph until Pat “the Bat” yanked a walk-off shot to leftfield as the Phils topped the Giants by a 6-5 score in Friday’s series opener.

With the win, the Phils held on to their 1/2 game lead over the Mets and the Florida Marlins who both also won.

The Phils staked starter Kyle Kendrick to a 4-1 lead as Utley, NL leader in homers (12) and batting average (.364) pounded a 2 run shot to rightfield young lefthander Patrick Misch in the first inning and 3rd baseman and former Giant Pedro Feliz followed a Misch lead-off walk to Burrell in the fourth by going yard for his 4th homer.  The Giants scored in the fourth as 3rd baseman Jose Castillo drilled an RBI single to rightfield for the Giants 1st run.

Kendrick, who went 3 up, 3 down on the Giants in the sixth inning and was sent back out to pitch the seventh, was touched for a Castillo lead-off single to center and a bunt single to the pitcher by shortstop Emmanuel Burriss before hitting the shower.   Ryan Madson replaced Kendrick and was greeted with a single to center by pinch hitter Eugenio Velez to load the bases with none out.  After a strikeout, 2nd baseman Ray Durham laced a 2 run single to rightfield to close the book on Kendrick.  4-3 Phillies.  But then, catcher Benji Molina grounded out, in the process scoring Velez to tie the game.  Rowand struck out to end the inning.

The Giants threatened in the eighth and ninth innings getting a runner to 3rd base in both innings; in the eigth on two Tom Gordon wild pitches and in the ninth on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout on closer Brad Lidge. However, the Giants couldn’t push a run home in either situation, thus opening the way for tenth inning events.

Lefthanded reliever Romero was called on for the tenth inning to pitch to the righthanded hitting Rowand to lead-off the inning.  Rowand’s solo shot to centerfield was the first run cored off of Romero this year and ended a scoreless streak extending back to last season.

AP sports writer Rob Maaddi provides the details of Romero’s scoreless streak for Yahoo sports;

Romero, the Phillies’ left-handed relief ace, hadn’t allowed an earned run in 28 1-3 innings, dating to last season. He pitched 12 2-3 scoreless innings this year before Rowand took him deep. It was the first homer Romero allowed in 60 appearances, spanning 45 2-3 innings.

Following the homer, Romero gave up a single which was rubbed out on a doubleplay.  Then Burriss singled to the pitcher and Velez walked.  But Romero struck out leftfielder Fred Lewis swinging to end the threat and the inning.

In the bottom of the tenth, closer Wilson got rightfielder Jayson Werth and 1st baseman Ryan Howard both on strikes with Utley’s single sandwiched in the middle.

With two out, Wilson got behind 3-0 in the count to Burrell.  The Burrell whiffed Wilson’s next offering followed by fouling off the next one, all five pitches being successive heaters.  Wilson went to the well again with more heat and “the Bat” was waiting on it.  The result was Burrell’s 3rd career game-winning homer, his first since 2002.

Romero, who gave up the temporary lead run in the tenth inning, was credited with his 2nd win of the season; he has yet to lose.  Wilson, with 9 saves in 10 attempts, was charged with the loss.

As an added note, the Phillies are 13-9 since shortstop Jimmy Rollins went down with his ankle sprain on April 8th.  AP’s Maaddi notes;

The 2007 NL MVP won’t come off the disabled list when he’s eligible Monday, but is hoping to return for Thursday’s game in Arizona.

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

In game 2 on Saturday, Matt Cain is opposed by the top of the Phillies starting rotation, Brett Myers.  On Sunday’s get-away game, young 24 year old Tim Lincecum facing ace lefthander Cole Hamels.

Following the Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the best record in the Majors, meet the Phils for 4 games.

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

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When Padres 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez went yard off of Phillies  starter  Adam Eaton in the first inning, driving home 2nd baseman Tad Iguchi, a lot of  people, myself included, thought back to Eaton’s 2007 season and took a deep breath.  Uh oh, here we go again.

But Eaton, who had logged 60 pitches by the third inning, settled down after Gonzalez’s 2nd homer in two games to engage former Phillie lefthander Randy Wolf in a 2-2 six inning pitching duel.  He was followed by a near-perfect bullpen performance marred only by a single baserunner as 1st baseman Ryan Howard a game-winning homer leading off the eighth as the Phils edged the Padres by a 3-2 score.

With the win, combining with a 5-3 loss by Florida to the LA Dodgers and a  Mets open date, the Phillies slipped into undisputed 1st place in the NL East for the first time this season, leading the Mets and Marlins by 1/2 game.

AP sports writer Rob Maaddi discusses the Phils’ emergence into first place for Yahoo sports;

The defending NL East champion Phillies (16-13) are alone atop the division standings for the first time this season. It took them until the final weekend to reach first place last year. They’ve done it with reigning NL MVP Jimmy Rollins out of the lineup since April 8 because of an ankle injury.

“It’s always good to be in first place,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Let’s see if we can stay there a while.”

Eaton, who tossed his best game of the season thus far, caught stride and retired the last 8 hitters in a row that he faced.  He gave up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 2 and walking 2 over six innings.   Wolf’s line for six was 2 runs, 6 hits while striking out 9 and walking 3. 

Meanwhile, the Phillies knotted the game on Wolf in the third inning on back-to-back RBI doubles by Howard and leftfielder Pat Burrell.   Both Howard and Burrell had 2 hit nights as Howard slowly emerges out of his hitting slump.

The Phillies bullpen took over in the seventh inning and held the Padres hitless, only issuing a single walk, that being two out free pass by Ryan Madson to pinch hitter Paul McAnulty.

From there, J.C. Romero, Tom Gordon and closer Brad Lidge were lights-out.  Gordon was awarded his 3rd win vs w losses and Lidge notched his 7th save.

Howard opened the eighth with his game-winning solo shot off of lefthanded reliever Joe Thatcher who lost his 3rd game of the season.  He is winless.  AP’s Maaddi describes Howard’s game winner;

Howard drove a low-and-away pitcher’s pitch into the seats. That’s a sign the slumping slugger is regaining his stroke.

“The last couple days, I’ve had good swings and I’m seeing the ball better,” Howard said. “To come through like this, it makes it that much better.”

Howard started slow last year, but finished with 47 homers and 136 RBIs.

“He’s eventually going to get hot and maybe this is the start of it,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “It’s just a matter of time before he gets to .200 then .250. He’s just too good of a player to be kept down too long.”

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

The Phils entertain the San Francisco Giants for 3 games over the weekend.  In Friday’s opener, young lefthander Patrick Misch faces Kyle Kendrick followed by game 2 on Saturday with Matt Cain opposed by the top of the Phillies starting rotation, Brett Myers.  On Sunday, young 24 year old Tim Lincecum facing ace lefthander Cole Hamels.

Following the Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the best record in the Majors, meet the Phils for 4 games.

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

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Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto blasted two 3 run homers off of Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan, who was bludgeoned for 11 runs in 3 2/3 innings, as the Cubs scored their runs in bunches in decimating the Brewers by a 19-5 score at Wrigley Field on Wednesday.

Soto, getting his first extended MLB opportunity as Cubs starting catcher is capitalizing for all its worth early in the season.  To give a glimpse as to just how outstanding Soto’s been, check out these comparative 2008 stats which speak for themselves;

                       G     AB    R   H  HR   RBI   K   BB     BA   OBP    SLG   
Soto             24    87   12  29    5     20  23   15   .333  .400    .575

R. Howard  28    99   13  17    5     12  38    18  .172  .297    .343

The Cubs scored 6 runs in the first, 1 in the third, 5 in the fourth, 1 in the sixth and 6 more in the eighth off of losing pitcher Suppan and the Brewers’ bullpen.  Meanwhile, Cubs starter Ryan Dempster went six innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, despite streaks of wildness while walking 5 and striking out 1 to get the win.

Pity that the Cubs spent nearly all of their runs on Wednesday, which is more often than not the case in a rout, for the Brewers came back on Thursday to post a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Cubbies on leftfielder Ryan Braun’s one out, two run ninth inning double off of closer and losing pitcher Kerry Wood.

Braun was 3 for 5 for the game, including a sixth inning solo homer off of Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano, with 3 RBIs.

Zambrano pitched a fine 6 1/3 innings and held a 3-1 lead, although he lacked sufficient offensive support after the previoous day’s rout and was let down by lack of close. Brewers’ starter Yovani Gallardo kept the Brewers in the game through six innings.  Once the Padres grabbed the lead in the ninth, it was lights out with closer Eric Gagne credited with his 9th save preserving the win for lefthanded reliever Brian Shouse who retired one hitter to retire the side in the eighth.

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The Phillies couldn’t capitalize on the 13-1 pounding which the Pittsburgh Pirates put on the Mets to gain ground in the NL East as 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s first inning one out, 2 run homer off of Chris Young was the only scoring the Phillies could muster in losing Wednesday’s game 2 to the San Diego Padres by a 4-2 score.

The Phils wasted a 3 for 4 game by rightfielder Geoff Jenkins as 1st baseman Ryan Howard, leftfielder Pat Burrell and the rest of the Phillies offense, for the most part, took the collar all night.  

Veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer was shaky, at best, giving up 4 runs on 9 hits in 5 1/3 innings in being charged with the loss.  2nd baseman, former Phillie Tad Iguchi burned his old club for a 4 for 5 hitting night with one RBI, while 1st baseman Adrian Gonzales’ 2 run first inning homer and 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff’s 3rd inning homer, both off of Moyer, along with Iguchi’s sixth inning RBI single off of reliever Chad Durbin provided the scoring for the Padres.

 MLB.com’s Andy Jasner notes;

Shane Victorino entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and nearly tied it off Joe Thatcher. Victorino hit a line drive down the left-field line and the ball sailed just foul.

Young, whose variety of pitches kept the Phillies off-balance, tossed six innings for the Padres giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6 to win, evening his record at 2-2.  Closer Trevor Hoffman was credited with his fifth save of the season.

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

Thursday’s get-away game features Adam Eaton facing former Phillie lefthander Randy Wolf.   Following the Padres into town are the San Francisco Giants who the Phillies entertain for 3 games over the weekend.  In Friday’s opener, young lefthander Patrick Misch faces Kyle Kendrick followed by game 2 on Saturday with Matt Cain opposed by the top of the Phillies starting rotation, Brett Myers.   In Sunday’s finale, Tim Lincecum facing ace lefthander Cole Hamels.  Following the Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks meet the Phils for 4 games.

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

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Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels not only pitched a dominating game against the Padres for 7 1/3 innings, but personally sent Greg Maddux to the showers with a seventh inning one out single putting runners on 1st and 3rd as the Phils knocked off San Diego by a 7-4 score in the opener of their 3 game series at Citizen’s Bank Park.

With the win, and the Mets extra-inning 5-4 win over the Pirates coupled with the LA Dodgers edging the Florida Marlins by 7-6, the Phils and Mets are tied for 2nd place, 1/2 game behind the Marlins.

Hamels was awesome right from the beginning as he mixed his nasty changeup with a sharp fastball.  The left-hander retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced and allowed only 5 hits, walking 2 while striking out 6 as only 7 Padres reached base against him.  It was Hamels’ 3rd win vs 3 losses.

The Padres left only 3 men on against Hamels, but had two hits rubbed out, one in the third inning on a two out attempt by 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez to stetch a single to rightfield into a double which was foiled by rightfielder Geoff Jenkins’ on-target throw, and the other being after a sixth inning one out single to centerfield by rightfielder Brian Giles.  Giles was rubbed out when former Phillie 2nd baseman Tadahito Iguchi grounded to Hamels who turned a pitcher-to-second-to-first doubleplay.

The Phillies returned to their customary offensive gusto which had left them during the 2 hit complete game thrown at them on Sunday by Pirates’ lefthander Paul Maholm.

1st baseman Ryan Howard put them up 1-0 in the first with a 2 out single to right after shortstop Eric Bruntlett, batting 2nd, singled and stole second.  In the third Bruntlett’s one out single to rightfield uppedd the score to 2-0 scoring centerfielder Jayson Werth who tripled to rightfield.

In the Padres fifth, rightfielder Scott Hairston belted a one out solo homer off of Hamels to leftfield to narrow the score to 2-1. Hairston would clout a 2nd homer in the game, a two run dinger off of reliever Ryan Madson in the ninth to account for San Diego’s final runs.

In the seventh inning, a Werth sacrifice to centerfield, following singles by catcher Carlos Ruiz and Hamels drove in Ruiz with the 3rd Phillies run as Maddux hit the showers. 

The Padres narrowed the gap by scoring their 2nd run in the eighth inning on Tad Iguchi’s one out grounder to shortstop as reliever Tom Gordon came on to retire the side.

The Phillies blew the close 3-2 game open with 4 runs in their eighth inning.  AP Sports Writer Rob Maaddi describes the inning for Yahoo sports;

Pedro Feliz’s RBI single in the eighth drove in Chase Utley, who doubled. Ruiz and [Greg] Dobbs hit consecutive doubles to make it 7-2.

Madson sandwiched Hairston’s 2 run ninth inning homer in between two strikeouts, the latter one ending the game.

Maddux gave up three runs and eight hits in six 1/3 innings in his 3rd attempt to win the coveted number 350.  AP’s Maaddi records Maddux’s reactions to the loss;

Maddux said, “It’s not a milestone. It really isn’t. Trust me, I’ve been on extra credit for five or six years now. I’ve stopped pitching for results. I’m just going out there to see how long I can do it.”

The Phillies got two hit games from Utley, Feliz and Ruiz as the 29 year old catcher drove in two runs.

The Phillies reactivated centerfielder Shane Victorino who came off of the disabled list on Tuesday.  Victorino was used as pinch hitter and late game replacement for Werth in center as Werth shifted right and So Taguchi replaced Pat Burrell in left.  Victorino may be hard-pressed to return as the starting centerfielder, supplanting Werth who has played soo well both as a leadoff hitter and in the outfield.

Phillies Nation’s Tim Malcolm notes the Daily News report that;

Mike Lieberthal will retire as a Phillie. The catcher spent 13 seasons with the club, catching the bulk of the time between Darren Daulton and Carlos Ruiz. A .275 hitter with the Phillies, he holds the franchise record for games caught.

Lieberthal was a two-time All Star catcher who had four 30 plus homer seasons with three other seasons where he hit 25, 27 and 29 homers.  His best season was in 1999 when he hit 31 homers, drove in 96 runs, hit 33 doubles with a .300 batting average.

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

In Wednesday’s game 2, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by 28 year old Chris Young.  Thursday’s get-away game feature Adam Eaton facing former Phillie lefthander Randy Wolf.

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

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Pirates centerfielder Nate McLouth, who homered Saturday night in a losing cause in the Phillies 8-4 win, had a multi-homer game with 3 RBIs and lefthander Paul Maholm tossed a 2 hitter for his 3rd career complete game as Pittsburgh salvaged one game in their series winning by a 5-1 score.

Meanwhile, the Phils fell to a 2nd place tie with the New York Mets who defeated the Atlanta Braves by a 6-3 score.  Actually, the Mets now hold 2nd place by a .003 percentage.

McLouth opened the game with a solo shot to rightfield and Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead after one.  Myers and Maholm then exchanged zeros until the Pirates fourth, even though Maholm walked one Phillie hitter in each of the second and third innings.  Though the Phils had runners on in both innings, each was quickly rubbed out on a doubleplay.

Pittsburgh scored their second run in the fourth on 3rd baseman Jose Bautista’s RBI single to centerfield.  Bautista then stole 2nd base and tried to score on a single to center but Jayson Werth nailed him at the plate to eliminate any further damage.

With the score 2-0 Pittsburgh in the fifth inning, the Phillies plated their only run on their only two hits of the game as leftfielder Pat Burrell doubled to leftfield with one out.  After 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz grounded out to 3rd base, shortstop Eric Bruntlett drove in Burrell with a single to centerfield.  The inning and threat ended with Bruntlett getting caught trying to steal 2nd base.  The Phillies would not get another hit off of Maholm and would only see two more hitters reach base on walks through the rest of the game.

Maholm, working with all the runs he’d need against the Phillies offense, received insurance in the fifth inning McLouth followed a Myers lead-off walk to Maholm by going yard to rightfield to increase the Pirate lead to 4-1.

With Rudy Seanez replacing losing pitcher Myers in the sixth, the Pirates added their final run on a doubleplay ball.  Ryan Madson and Clay Condrey finished up for the Phillies.

In a story also related to Saturday’s game, the Pirates announced that they have released starting pitcher Matt Morris.

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

The Phillies have an open date on Monday before heading home to entertain the San Diego Padres for three games on Tuesday through Thursday.  Ace lefthander Cole Hamels will be opposed by veteran Greg Maddux who aims for his 350th career win.

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

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