Game Recap:
Home runs by Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz in the seventh inning proved to be the difference, as Cliff Lee got the Phillies their second straight win.
What went right?
Raul Ibanez went 2-5 with an RBI.
Jayson Werth was 2-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored.
Pedro Feliz went 2-3 with a home run, an RBI and two runs scored.
Ryan Howard went 1-3 with two walks and a run scored.
Cliff Lee pitched seven innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on ten hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out four. He also went 1-4 at the plate with an RBI.
Ryan Madson ran into a little trouble in the ninth, but got Adam Dunn to line into a game ending double play to pick up the save.
What went wrong?
Chase Utley was 0-5.
Paul Bako was 0-2, and was lifted for a pinch hitter before Cliff Lee came out of the game.
Game Analysis:
It wasn't a perfect game by any stretch, but the Phillies managed to hold on for the second straight night against a pesky Washington Nationals team. The Nationals may be the worst team in baseball, but they are a tough bunch that will hang around until the very end. They did the same thing last year, and they're doing it again this season. Luckily for the Phillies, there's nothing like playing the worst team in baseball to take care of a losing streak. Cliff Lee wasn't great, but after his last two starts, anything would be an improvement, and tonight he went seven innings, which is a good run for a starting pitcher. He still gave up a lot of hits and had some trouble, but he got out of it, and the offense put him in position to win the game.
For the second straight night, the offense finally looked like it was coming back. Raul Ibanez looked sharp again, hitting two doubles and driving in a run, while Jayson Werth smacked his 33rd home run of the season, making him a serious contender to get to 40 homers for the season. Pedro Feliz followed Werth up with a shot of his own, which would be the right stuff for the Phils tonight.
Ryan Madson didn't have his best stuff tonight when he was called upon to close, but he did enough to get the job done. He allowed a leadoff single and a stolen base, but struck out Christian Guzman and then got Adam Dunn to line into a double play to end the game. It's the sort of thing that Brad Lidge hasn't been able to do much this year. I honestly feel that if Lidge had been in that game, Dunn probably would have hit a pitch so far it may just be landing right now, and the Phillies would only be up five games on Florida. Instead, Madson got a slow line drive to Utley, who caught Justin Maxwell straying too far from second base. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.
There are going to be some people that will point to this and say that Madson doesn't have what it takes to be a closer. You know what, back in June, I may have agreed with you, but not now. Not after Brad Lidge has blown ten saves and cost the Phillies more wins than any closer I can remember. The Phillies could have had a chance to be at almost 90 wins right now this season. Instead, they're still leading the National League East, but not by nearly as much as they could be. Right now, it looks like Charlie Manuel is going to do a bit of closer by committee, and while that might upset some people, I'd rather see Ryan Madson or Brett Myers coming in to fix the mess that Brad Lidge started rather than just seeing Lidge out there, blowing another save. The Phils have another month to work this out, it's just a matter of sitting back and seeing what happens down the stretch.
Tomorrow, Joe Blanton (9-6, 3.80 ERA) looks for his 10th win of the season. He'll be going up against Livan Hernandez (7-10, 5.44 ERA). The Phils are going for the sweep tomorrow, so let's see if they can get it. Go Phils!
No comments:
Post a Comment