Phillies 3   Mets 0

Brett Myers won this game for the Phillies with an enormous 8-inning outing where he had 10 strikeouts.  Brad Lidge came in for the close and Greg Dobbs had a 2-run home run in the 7th inning to insure the win.  However, it was all about Myers!  He shut down the Mets’ offense and made it obvious that he’s back.  Calm, cool, collected.  He’s baaaack!

Saturday is Jamie Moyer’s turn.  He needs to be at the top of his game.  The Phillies really need to sweep this series, show the Mets that they are the better team.  Mike Schmidt sent an email to the team where he said “The Mets know you’re better than they are.”  Inspiration?  I hope so.  It seems like they can see the light at the end of the tunnel and they’re starting to get that fire to go out and win games.  I’ll be listening and hoping for the best!

The Phillies just lost 2 games of a 3 game series with the Washington Nationals, who are the worst team in baseball.  They’re hot right now but when will the Phillies get hot?  I can’t recall a hot streak this season that lasted more than a couple of days.  It’s difficult to be a Phillies phan this year.  On paper, they look like the team to beat!  In reality, they’re 3 games behind the Mets and falling fast.  They aren’t a terrible team but they just aren’t putting it together.

So what’s the deal?  What’s wrong?  There are players who are putting it together with hot streaks on an off during the season.  Chase Utley was amazing the first half but hasn’t done a lot this second half.  Ryan Howard is doing his best to be the home run king during the second half.  Jayson Werth is on a tear and they’ve added Matt Stairs to help give them some pep.  But it’s just not happening.  Pitching, their supposed weakness, has been the steady hand on the tiller.  Hitting has just been off and on.

I don’t know what they can do but looking up at the Mets from a strange position of 2nd place doesn’t seem to be motivating them.  They can’t seem to get it together as a team–get on the same page with everyone getting hot.  I can only hope that it’s not yet another season of major disappointment but I can feel the pessimistic Phillie phan in me moaning with the destiny card–it was bound to happen.  Great team, no chemistry.  Excuses galore.  But I’m not quite giving up hope yet!  Perhaps there is a way they can come together and have an amazing tear like last year, perhaps not.  Either way, I’ll follow their every game, stomach tied in knots, with every finger crossed!

Friday — Phillies 2   Cubs 3

Saturday — Phillies 5  Cubs 2

Sunday — Phillies 5  Cubs 3

I thought it was a typo at first and I’d received the same email twice with the Saturday and Sunday scores.  But no, instead I realized that Myers is definitely back!  He’s definitely a vital part of this staff, along with Moyer and Hamels.  Even Kendrick and Blanton get it done.  Now it’s up to the hitting to happen and it finally is starting to, thanks to Jayson Werth being the sparkplug that Jimmy Rollins usually is.

The Phils go on to face the Nationals, Mets, then Marlins in the next week and a half.  It’s the last time they face the Mets this season so hopefully they can pull it out and get back into the lead in the NL East!

Phillies 5   Dodgers 2

winning pitcher: Chad Durbin, losing pitcher: Joe Beimel

home run by Pedro Feliz!

In the bottom of the 9th, to tie the game, Feliz had a pinch hit single.  Then in the bottom of the 11th, he hit a 3 run home run to win it outright for the Phillies.  The Dodgers had just changed pitchers to face him and no, that didn’t go over so well.  Even Cole Hamels had pinch hit before him for an out.  But he was definitely the hero of this game!

Hurray for those who had him on their fantasy rosters!  Sweet deal for you.  Now the Phillies are still behind the Mets but only by half a game.  The Mets have lost 2 in a row while the Phils have won 3.  So maybe things are turning around!  Jimmy Rollins still isn’t scoring at all and Utley isn’t doing his usual hitting mania but I have faith he’ll turn it around.  Maybe Rollins is waiting for the off season to heat up?  I sure hope he does something soon!

The Phillies dropped the last of the games to the Cardinals, 3 to the Dodgers, then they finally won 2 of the 3 games against the Padres.  Wow.  What has happened to this offense?  I can only hope they are doing the classic meltdown that the Mets did at the end of September 2007 now and they’ll get back on track.  This is a bit strange and disconcerting as a Phillie fan.  And difficult to write about, to be honest.  What reasons are there?
All of the Dodgers games they lost by 1 or 2 runs.  Then they won the games against the Padres by 1 run.  I have to admit that I don’t get to watch the games but it’s probably better for my blood pressure.  The Olympics have put a dent in my baseball time for these two weeks.  But that’s better than being preoccupied with fantasy football!  At least Cole Hamels finally scored himself a win!  It’s a mystery to me so if anyone has any more information on what’s going on, please feel free to let me know!  This is just too nervewracking…

Phillies 6    Pirates 3

winning pitcher: Scott Eyre,  losing pitcher: Tyler Yates,  save: Ryan Madson

home run by Chase Utley

The Phillies keep doing this — the bats are hot but one of them manages to make a splash!  This time it’s Chase Utley to the rescue with a 2-run home run in the 7th inning.  Pitching has actually been the thing that is keeping the Phillies in these games of late.  Jamie Moyer even did some great baserunning and scored a run last night!  At 45, he isn’t exactly a speedster around the bases but he did what he could and scored a run.  The pitching is just startling.  Not excellent, amazing.  Just getting the job done.  Oh where are you offense?

Friday, Aug 8 Phillies 0 Pirates 2

Saturday, Aug 9 Phillies 4  Pirates 2

With one game left to go in this series, Jimmy Rollins is finally showing signs of coming alive! Friday night was a 12 inning marathon with neither team able to score. It looked like Chase Utley was going to win the game for the Phillies, running to second Shane Victorino was too far ahead of the ball and Utley and Victorino were out. Joe Blanton came out and only allowed one hit in 7 innings but the end of the rotation allowed the two runs that should not have won the game but did.

Jimmy Rollins then looked like an elite shortstop of Saturday, clobbering 4 hits to bring him back into this game. Though the “talk” seems to be all about how the Phillies haven’t been scoring much over the last 25 games, that talk may be silenced soon if Rollins is really back to form. Lucky for the Phillies, they’ve managed to hang on to first place in the NL East but the Mets are 1 game back and the Marlins 2.5. So if they want to leave the competition in the dust, they had better show how good they are.

On paper, this is an excellent batting team. But on the field, things seem to have stalled. But this could just be the August doldrums and they will pick things up. Ever the optimist, I think they will get it done. My Cheesesteak of Suffering widget says that it’s been 9210 days, 23 hours, 19 minutes, and 20 seconds since the last championship in Philladelphia. I think this Phillies team has the opportunity and talent to reset that clock back down to ZERO.

Phillies 0  Marlins 3

winning pitcher: Chris Volstad  losing pitcher: Cole Hamels  save: Kevin Gregg

Cole Hamels just doesn’t get the run support the other pitchers on the Phillies receive for some reason.  He has had a 3.79 ERA in his last 6 starts but hasn’t received a win.  The guy’s going to get a complex!  Kyle Kendrick gets a lot more run support!  Let’s hope they can keep things moving and give Hamels a good outing for his next game…  Because this sure isn’t helping my fantasy teams.

Phillies 5   Marlins 0

winning pitcher: Kyle Kendrick, losing pitcher: Anibel Sanchez

home run by Ryan Howard

Despite Kendrick’s control issues during the game, he kept the Marlins from scoring!  Nothing like the roller coaster ride that this half of the season has become.  Tums anyone?

Cole Hamels goes up against Edinson Volquez tomorrow night for the series finale.  Hopefully his recent bad starts don’t impact him and he comes out strong!

Phillies 2  Marlins 8

winning pitcher: Josh Johnson, losing pitcher: Jamie Moyer

Home Run by Shane Victorino

Victorino’s controversial home run didn’t help the Phillies win, that’s for sure.  The ball either hit right next to the foul pole or actually the foul pole in left field and went into the bullpen.  It’s hard to tell on the replay without doing a frame-by-frame slow down but it sure didn’t matter for the game!

The Marlins really opened up on Jamie Moyer.  It was bound to happen as he’s defeated them 10 times in his career.  On this most important season, the Marlins are now 1.5 games back and the Mets 2 games back.  This is one tense run to the wire!

Ultimately, Josh Johnson managed to keep the Marlins in the game and the Phillies from getting a rally started.  This is an example of a cold day for the Phillies.  Here’s hoping Kendrick can keep it from being a repeat tonight and they can come back to stay on top.  I think the Phillies need to get something happening–perhaps with the other teams right behind them in the standings, they’ll be able to pull it together and really leap out front.  Every game counts!