Game Recap:
Chase Utley's 11th inning home run, his second of the game, put the Phillies on top for the first time, and Ryan Madson recorded a 1-2-3 bottom of the 11th to preserve the win.
What went right?
Chase Utley went 3-5 with two solo home runs. He also scored twice.
The Phillies bullpen was awesome tonight, throwing six shutout innings and picking up the slack that Cole Hamels left out there.
Pedro Feliz was 1-5 with an RBI.
Ryan Howard was 1-5 with a run scored.
Raul Ibanez went 1-5 and scored a run.
Jayson Werth was 1-4 with a walk and a run scored, and had several great defensive plays that saved the game.
What went wrong?
Cole Hamels was not himself, allowing four runs on 11 hits. He struck out one and walked two.
Carlos Ruiz was 0-4.
Jimmy Rollins was 0-5, but he did have an RBI.
Game Analysis:
Just look at the line score, and it'll tell you everything you need to know about this game, except for who actually won. The Mets outhit the Phillies 16 to nine, walked five times and saw 212 pitches. The only problem was that once Cole Hamels left the game, the Mets couldn't do anything to get anyone across the plate, as they left 16 men on base. Thanks to a two homer night by Chase Utley, and a great showing by the bullpen, the Phils are again three games up on the Mets.
So far, both the games in this series have felt like playoff games. Tonight, the Mets got to Cole Hamels, and chased him after just five innings and 100 pitches. Cole looked a bit off, especially after his complete game shutout last week against the Dodgers, but he's not going to be at his best every time out. When he's not, the Phillies are going to have to get support from the bullpen and offense, and that's what happened tonight. Even though the bullpen got into a couple of jams, they managed to get out of each one without giving up any more damage. Add to that the fact that Chan Ho Park managed to pitch two scoreless innings to lower his ERA to a pedestrian 6.50, and it was a good night for the guys out of the bullpen.
Even though the offense wasn't exactly clicking tonight, Chase Utley did what he had to do, and the Phils had one big inning in the seventh, and that's all they would need. I'm not going to touch the Raul Ibanez stuff that's been going down today; that's not my style. All I'm going to say is that stuff like that gives the honest bloggers, like myself, a bad name. Don't start accusing people of anything. Anyway, it was nice to see the middle of the lineup produce tonight, as Utley, Howard, Ibanez and Werth each had at least one run scored, which is exactly what needs to be done for this team to keep winning. Last night, the Phils lost a game they probably should have won, and tonight, they won a game they should have lost. Let's see what's going to happen tomorrow. I know it won't be boring.
Tomorrow's game features Jamie Moyer (4-5, 6.27 ERA), going against Tim Redding (0-2, 6.97 ERA). Would you look at that? The Mets have a starting pitcher with a higher ERA than Moyer. Hopefully, that works in the Phillies' favor tomorrow.
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