Game Recap:
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard broke out the big bats last night, driving in seven runs by themselves as Joe Blanton won his second game of the season and the Phillies won their third game in a row.
What went right?
Placido Polanco went 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
Shane Victorino may have gone 0-3, but he also walked and scored twice.
Chase Utley went 2-5 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored.
Ryan Howard finished a single short of hitting for the cycle, going 4-4 with a double, a triple, two home runs, three RBI and three runs scored.
Jayson Werth went 1-2 with an RBI and a walk.
Joe Blanton got his second win of the season, allowing three runs on seven hits in six innings of work. He walked three and struck out one.
What went wrong?
Raul Ibanez went 0-3 with a walk.
Scott Mathieson made things more interesting in his first major league appearance of the season, allowing two runs to score in the ninth inning while recording just two outs. He gave up three hits and didn't walk or strike out anyone.
Game Analysis:
Now this is what this Phillies team is capable of. In three straight games against American League division leading opponents, the Phils have outscored the Yankees and Twins by a combined 22-9 score, all while getting good outings from the back end of their rotation as well. It's only a three game winning streak, but compared to what this team was putting out a week ago, these games have been a step in the right direction, and it looks like the offense is starting to wake back up again.
Against Nick Blackburn last night, the Phillies did what they had done during the start of the season, which was to jump on an opposing pitcher early and often. The Phils scored three runs in the first inning, and then chased Blackburn from the game with a five run second inning that featured back to back home runs from Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. For the first time in over a month, it looked like Utley was back in form, and hopefully he can stay that way. His home run last night ended a run of 88 at-bats without a longball, which was the third longest of his career. After rumors came out yesterday about a knee injury, it was even better to see Utley put them to bed quickly with a great showing at the plate, but even he was upstaged last night by Ryan Howard.
The big man has been one of the few Phils still hitting during this poor stretch, but last night, he took it to another level. Howard went 4-4 with two home runs and looked every bit like one of the most feared batters in the National League last night. Somehow, he finished just a single short of hitting for the cycle, having drilled a triple in the first inning, followed by two home runs and then a double. Regardless of what he finished short of last night, Howard's performance was one of the best signs that this team might be coming back together once again. For the past month, the heart of the lineup has been doing very little at the plate, but over the last few games, it looks like things are starting to come together. Howard and Jayson Werth hit back to back home runs in a win against the Yankees, and now Howard and Chase Utley did the same last night. The best part about this little run is that the Phillies are doing it against top competition, so they know that they can play with these teams. This isn't the Phillies playing down to another level. This is the Phillies playing right where they know they can play. It's just taken them a while to find it again.
Plus, the pitching is starting to come around at the back end of the rotation as well. First, Jamie Moyer shut down the Yankees, and then Kyle Kendrick did the same. It couldn't happen with Joe Blanton against the Twins, could it? After all, Blanton has been horrible since coming back, winning just one game and having an ERA closer to his shoe size than anything else. Well, last night, Blanton looked more like the pitcher that's helped the Phils to back to back World Series appearances. Though you can argue that Charlie Manuel should have never let him come out for the seventh inning, Blanton still looked sharper than at any point during his season so far. Having an eight run lead in the third inning helps, too, but a lot of this was on Blanton last night. After one of his worst outings as a Phillie against Boston, Blanton needed a good showing, and that's what he got against the Twins. It wasn't as pretty as some of his efforts in the past, but it got the job done. He was backed up well by his defense, and Minnesota was taken out of the game early by the Philadelphia offense. It was a perfect mix for a pitcher trying to get back on his feet after being rocked several times this year.
This might be the start of something much better after a horrible end to May and start of June for this team, but they still need to take things one game at a time. If they start looking ahead, then they can end up right back where they were two weeks ago, and no one wants that. Instead, if they can keep focusing on what's going right again instead of what was going wrong, then they should be able to keep up a solid run, even with the tough schedule that they have going into the All Star break.
Today, Cole Hamels (6-5, 3.74 ERA) will try and keep things going for the Phils and pick up his seventh win. He'll be facing off against Kevin Slowey (7-4, 3.84 ERA).
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