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!

Friday, Aug. 1st: Phillies 3   Cardinals 6

Saturday, Aug. 2nd:  Phillies 2   Cardinals 1

Sunday, August 3rd:  Phillies 5   Cardinals 4

Cole Hamels ran into trouble and had a bad outing, which is fine since he hasn’t had too many this season.  Then Joe Blanton got his first win as a Phillie on Saturday and Brett Myers is definitely back!  He got 5 strikeouts on his way to a win Sunday.  I wish I could’ve stuck with him long enough to still have him on my fantasy teams!  I’m just glad he’s back.

It looks like things are clicking for the Phillies on the pitching side of things.  Rollins, the spark plug of the team, is still not doing his normal Rollins thing yet.  They’re doing enough to win and now they’re 2 1/2 games in front again in the NL East.   The Mets have dropped to 3rd and 2nd is the Marlins.  The Phillies can keep this up and put it together for the post season!  Go Phils!