I'm hoping that the Phillies have one of their patented offensive explosions on Wednesday because the back end of this bullpen is getting a little beat. Tom Gordon and Brad Lidge made it interesting in the 8th and 9th innings tonight, but they managed to get out of their respective innings with minimal damage, giving the team a 3-2 victory over the Reds.
Neither Gordon nor Lidge was sharp tonight. Gordon allowed a lead-off triple, which scored on a sacrifice fly, before facing pinch-hitter Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey came out to a nice ovation from the fans but didn't hit No. 600, as he walked on four pitches. Flash then managed to get out the next two batters. Lidge also faced only five batters, but it felt like a lot more - maybe because of his 20 pitches, only nine were strikes.
Adam Eaton pitched well again, his third good start in a row. Good thing too, considering that Kris Benson can't stay healthy.
Chase Utley continued his hot streak by going 2-for-3 with a walk, a RBI and a run. Baseball's infatuation with the second baseman is reaching new levels every day; I've run out of adjectives to describe his play right now. He continues to lead the NL in all-star voting and is second in baseball behind only David Ortiz. (Theo Epstein swears that Ortiz will be OK, but he'll still be out for at least two to three weeks and won't be playing in the Philadelphia series.)
[I hadn't considered that aspect of his injury.]
But come on, Phillies fans, where's the ballot-box stuffing for Pat Burrell? He added another two RBIs tonight with his 6th inning home run. He continues to rank sixth in outfield voting, trailing undeserving players like Griffey and his lofty .255 batting average, non-home-plate-touching cheater Matt Holliday, and whiny, unoriginal Met Carlos Beltran. Show Pat the Bat some love (eww, not like that) and throw some votes his way. (Josh Hamilton, too. I'm a sucker for a good comeback story like his.)
The Phillies lead in the division is now 2.5 games, after the Braves came back to beat the Marlins.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox also staged a comeback tonight to beat the Rays 7-4. The Sox now trail in the division by only half a game and are 22-5 at home this year. Which means they're 14-20 on the road. So two weeks from now, there might be some pretty spirited conversations and blogging going on around here. We counted out to the possible starting pitchers - Moyer, Kendrick and Eaton vs. Lester, Colon and Wakefield. Well, it's not as bad as some past pitching match-ups that we've been witness to. Check back later in the week as we reminisce over the last 10 years of Phillies-Red Sox interleague games.
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