Game Recap:
J.A. Happ held the Mets to one run over seven innings as the Phillies ground out a win against New York.
What went right?
Chase Utley was 2-4 with a two run home run.
Pedro Feliz was 1-3 with an RBI.
Raul Ibanez went 1-4 and scored a run.
Ryan Howard was 1-4 with a run scored.
Jayson Werth went 2-5.
J.A. Happ picked up his tenth win of the season, allowing one run on eight hits in even innings. He walked two and struck out one.
Brad Lidge worked a perfect ninth inning, striking out two to get the save.
What went wrong?
Jimmy Rollins was 0-5.
Game Analysis:
Leave it to J.A. Happ to keep the Phillies off of a losing streak. Each of the last three times he's started, Happ has stopped the Phils from losing two in a row and he looks every bit like the 2009 National League Rookie of the Year each time. Last night wasn't his best showing, but considering he was only one missed play away from pitching seven shutout innings, it certainly wasn't a bad thing. I was happy with the way Happ had been pitching, but if he can keep this up, he's going to be irreplaceable down the stretch.
Chase Utley continued his ownership of the Mets this season, hitting a two run home run in the sixth inning to put the Phillies on top for good. Just like always, the Phils couldn't hit Tim Redding, but once he got out of there, it was back to normal against New York. It was good to see Raul Ibanez start hitting the ball hard again, and even though he just got one hit, it looks like he might just be starting to come out of that slump of his.
Aside from that, Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson looked every bit like their 2008 versions last night. Both worked clean innings and struck out two, and for Lidge, he's going to have to keep working on pitching just like that for the rest of the season. There are 42 games left to play in the regular season, so hopefully that's enough time for Lidge to get the kinks out before the playoffs start. If it is, I don't know how far this team is going to go, but it might be very far.
Later today, Pedro Martinez (1-0, 4.50 ERA) makes his return to New York. He'll be facing Oliver Perez (3-3, 6.06 ERA). Seeing Pedro win against the Mets would put a smile on my face.
No comments:
Post a Comment