Sorry about the lack of updates over the past few days, but my work schedule has been killer, leaving me with little time to actually post anything, let alone watch the full games. Anyway, I've got a series recap from the Phils trip down to Atlanta, where they took two out of three games from the Braves and looked good doing it.
Series Recap:
After dropping the first game of the series to Atlanta, the Phillies came back and took the next two games. The offense shelled the Atlanta bullpen for six runs in a 10-2 win on Saturday, while Cole Hamels and the bullpen pitched a five hit shutout in a 3-0 win today.
What went right?
Shane Victorino was lights out in the entire series, going a combined 9-13 with his first home run of the year, five runs scored, three RBI and two stolen bases.
Carlos Ruiz had a clutch pinch hit grand slam on Saturday that turned a tight 3-2 game into a 7-2 blowout. He finished that game with five RBI in two at bats.
Jimmy Rollins had at least a hit or a run scored in each of the three games.
Ryan Howard didn't have many hits, but he did drive in a run in every game of the series.
Brian Schneider started at catcher on Saturday and hit a two run home run that gave the Phillies the lead for good.
Roy Oswalt earned his second win of the season on Saturday, pitching six innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits. He walked two and struck out two.
Cole Hamels looked every bit like the fourth ace in the rotation today, shutting out the Braves in his seven innings of work while picking up his first win of the season. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out eight.
The bullpen was nothing short of outstanding during the entire series. In the three games, the 'pen didn't allow a single run, only gave up four hits and two walks in nine and two thirds innings while striking out 11. It was a very good weekend series for the bullpen.
What went wrong?
Placido Polanco had a rough series, going 2-13.
Ben Francisco was 3-11 in the three games.
Cliff Lee had a rough game on Friday night, only lasting three and a third innings while allowing six runs on ten hits. He walked one and struck out three.
Series Analysis:
After an opening homestand that saw the Phillies go 5-1, they faced their first road test of the season against the Atlanta Braves this weekend. While the Phils had a little speed bump on Friday night, they played strong and took the next two games of the series, giving them their third straight series win and pushing their record to an impressive 7-2 to start the year.
Cliff Lee made his second start of the season on Friday night, and it was the mirror image of his first start. Nothing seemed to go his way, he left balls out over the plate and couldn't get hitters out when he needed to get the job done. Chipper Jones' three run double finished Lee off, and while you can argue that Shane Victorino should have made a play on that hit, you also have to realize that Lee should have made a better pitch. There are some nights when pitchers just don't have what it takes, and Friday night was one of those for Cliff Lee. Just like Cole Hamels against the Mets, every pitcher has a couple of bad starts a year. This was one of those for Lee. He'll be fine, and the offense bounced back in a big way on Saturday.
Just as they had in the first game of the series, the Phillies got out to an early lead against the Braves in the second game, and while Roy Oswalt got hit for two runs (though only one was earned) in the third inning, the Phils were able to come back in the next inning. Brian Schneider's two run home run gave the Phillies the lead to stay, and a 3-2 game turned into a 7-2 rout with one swing off the bat of Carlos Ruiz in the seventh inning. Ruiz's pinch hit grand slam ended the game, for all intended purposes, though the Phillies added three more insurance runs to make sure that the Braves weren't going to come back. It was a perfect answer for what the Braves had done to the Phillies the night before.
After the offensive outburst on Saturday, the bats were a little bit more quiet today, but Cole Hamels made sure that it didn't matter. Hamels pitched seven shut out innings while the offense was able to scrape together three runs for a 3-0 win that gave the Phils the series win. Hamels was excellent on the mound, and showed no signs of the pitcher that couldn't get through the third inning against the Mets in his first start of the year. Today, he looked like the same pitcher that was excellent in the second half of the 2010 season, striking out eight and only allowing four hits. While he did have a little trouble in a few innings, he was able to pitch out of it, and looked good at the same time. That's the effort that this team needs out of Hamels, and he gave it today. There's no reason to worry about him, he'll be fine this year, and today's start showed it.
For the third straight game in this series, the bullpen was simply excellent. Jose Contreras worked a perfect ninth inning for his second save of the season, striking out Dan Uggla to end the game. Throughout the entire weekend, the bullpen was excellent. Kyle Kendrick, Antonio Bastardo and J.C. Romero kept the Phillies in the game on Friday night, David Herndon, Danys Baez and Romero held the lead on Saturday, and Ryan Madson and Jose Contreras finished things off today. The combined effort from the bullpen was simply amazing. The Braves only managed four hits and no runs in over nine innings against the bullpen, which helps answer a lot of questions right now. Yes, it was only one series, but the fact remains that the Braves couldn't score a single run against a bullpen that had a lot of question marks coming into the season.
Though the offense didn't score that many runs, save for Saturday's game, they produced runs early in each of the three games. The Phils jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Friday, though they couldn't hold the lead, and they got early leads on Saturday and Sunday as well. Shane Victorino looked like a good leadoff hitter, picking up nine hits in 13 at bats in the series with five runs scored. That's what a leadoff hitter should do, and Victorino is now leading the team with a .429 batting average. Shane has looked excellent in the past two series, and the team is responding by scoring 59 runs in nine games. That averages to over six and a half runs a game, and if you score six and a half runs a game, you're going to win most baseball games.
This was another solid series for the Phillies early in the season. They've won all three series so far, and are sitting in first place in the National League East. The offense is scoring a lot more than people expected, the starting pitching has been solid, with all four aces picking up a win already and Roy Oswalt getting two, and the bullpen has been better than anyone could have expected. The Braves needed a good series against the Phillies after dropping three of four to the Brewers, but the Phillies didn't let that happen. Despite the struggles that Cliff Lee had on Friday, it was quite the successful three game stint in Atlanta for the Phils.
Tomorrow, the Phillies have a day off before going to Washington for a series against the Nationals. Joe Blanton (0-0, 14.54 ERA) will make his second start of the season against Livan Hernandez (0-1, 4.76 ERA).
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