Game Recap:
Down 7-3 in the top of the seventh inning, the Phillies scored nine times, then held on for a one run win in one of the craziest games of the season.
What went right?
Placido Polanco went 2-5 with a run scored.
Chase Utley had himself a game. He was 2-4 with a grand slam, two runs scored and six RBI.
Ryan Howard went 1-4 with a two run home run.
Jayson Werth was 3-5, scored three runs and had a solo home run.
Raul Ibanez was 2-5 with an RBI.
Shane Victorino went 2-5 with two stolen bases and a run scored.
I could keep going, but let's leave it at that. The offense had 15 hits and three walks.
What went wrong?
The pitching!
Joe Blanton only last four and a third innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on ten hits. He walked two, struck out three and allowed three home runs.
Chad Durbin pitched an inning and allowed three runs on four hits. He didn't walk anyone and struck out one.
Brad Lidge made things interesting in the ninth inning, allowing a, unearned run to score before loading the bases with two outs. Luckily, Placido Polanco won the race to third to end the game.
Game Analysis:
There are certain games in a season that you can look back on and think that it made a huge difference coming down the stretch, and then there are games like tonight. It certainly was entertaining, but I'm not sure how much it's going to mean in the long run. Was it a big win for the Phillies, especially considering that they came back from a four run hole with a nine run inning? Of course, but when you look at the flip side of that coin and notice how poor the pitching was tonight, it does still raise a lot of concerns that don't look like they're going to go away here.
I'm not trying to be overly negative, but the pitching for the most part was horrible tonight. Joe Blanton didn't make it out of the fifth inning, and he was lucky that he lasted that long. The Rockies nailed him for four runs in the second inning and two more in the fifth before Charlie got the hint and took him out. Blanton just never looked sharp tonight, only recording one 1-2-3 inning in his four plus innings of work, and the Rockies just were able to get clean hits off of him time and time again. Any time a team can get ten hits and two walks off of a starting pitcher in just four and a third innings, it's not a good thing. Blanton had looked better in a few of his previous starts, but tonight it was back to normal for Big Joe. It's not a stretch to call this a wasted season for Blanton, not with the way he's pitched this year.
It wasn't just Blanton that looked bad on the mound tonight, though. The bullpen didn't do much better. Antonio Bastardo picked up the win, but he danced in and out of trouble in the six inning, giving up three infield singles and a run before getting out of the inning. He didn't look great, and things just got worse in the seventh inning, when Chad Durbin couldn't hold Colorado down. The Phillies had just taken a 12-7 lead, and if Durbin had shut down the Rockies in the seventh, they more than likely would have gone down without much of a fight. Instead, he allowed three runs and four hits, and just like that, a 12-7 lead had become a much closer 12-10 game. Brad Lidge ran into trouble in the ninth inning, as the first two men he faced both reached. Neither was really the fault of Lidge, as Ryan Howard had Dexter Fowler's ground ball take a hop on him, and then Carlos Gonzalez singled to right where Howard would have been playing had Fowler not reached base. Eventually, Lidge got out of the inning and the Phillies won, but it wasn't pretty.
The bullpen has got to do a better job down the stretch at holding leads or keeping the Phils in the game. Sure, this game took place out in Denver, so the ball is going to fly a little bit more out there, but that's no excuse for giving up five runs out of the bullpen. Chad Durbin had been pitching very well of late, so this was likely a one time thing with him, but seeing Lidge out there made me feel more like I was watching something from last season, rather than last month or the 2008 season. It was a good play by Placido Polanco to end the game as well. Lidge got lucky tonight, plain and simple.
However, the offense looked terrific tonight. Again, part of that has to be attributed to playing in Denver, but after being put down for much of this road trip, the bats came to life tonight in the seventh inning. The Phils batted around, hitting three home runs in the seventh, with the capper being Chase Utley's two out grand slam. It was a clutch hit for a man who hasn't had many of those moments this season, but he looked great tonight. Utley's six RBI tied a career high, which he also set against the Rockies. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard hit a home run for the second time in three games and Jayson Werth added a home run of his own. This is what the offense needs to do for the rest of this season. If the pitching isn't going to live up to their end of the deal, then the Phils need to go out there and get some runs in big situations. Fortunately, they were able to do that tonight. It was good to see this team score some runs again, and they'll need to keep it up. They're not going to have Joe Blanton pitching for them every night, so they won't need to score 12 runs a game, but they still need to give Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and even Kyle Kendrick the support that they'll need to win games down the stretch.
Was tonight a big game? Absolutely. I just don't think that it carried as big of an implication as some people might. It was a typical game in Denver between two teams starting questionable pitchers with good offenses. Of course it was a fluke situation, but after sitting through two weeks of pitcher's duels, it was damn entertaining. Now, if the Phillies can keep up this offensive showing back at home, that will make all the difference.
Tomorrow night, the Phils come home for seven games, starting with three against the Milwaukee Brewers. Cole Hamels (8-10, 3.31 ERA) will go for the Phils, and Chris Capuano (2-2, 5.06 ERA) pitches for Milwaukee.
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