So, the Phillies managed to win the three-game weekend series against the lowly Pirates despite the following factors:1. Chase Utley went 1-for-12 and stranded 15 baserunners (he was 4-for-22 with 21 runners stranded on the six-game homestand).
2. Pat Burrell went 0-for-9 with three strikeouts (he's hitless in his last 12 at-bats and went 1-for-17 on the homestand).
3. Ryan Howard went 2-for-11 with one RBI (he went 5-for-24 with two RBIs on the homestand).
4. The Phillies batted .235 (23-for-98) and scored 10 runs against the Pirates. In the six games against Florida and Pittsburgh, they batted .226 (44-for-195) and scored 17 runs. At one point, they were shut out for 23 consecutive innings. Yet they still managed to go 3-3, and as they open a seven-game trip tonight in Los Angeles, the Phillies actually have made a slight gain in the NL East. They are two games ahead of the second-place Mets, 2-1/2 ahead of the third-place Marlins.
Go figure.
Utley provided the big hit yesterday, a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Pirates reliever Tyler Yates in the seventh inning. Greg Dobbs made an interesting observation: He said he wasn't aware of how rough a week Utley was having, mostly because few hitters look so good even when they're going to bad. Now that I think of it, I know what Dobbs means.
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Dobbs got a pretty big hit himself (a pinch-hit, of course) to tie the game before Utley's homer, and with that RBI double, Dobbs broke Doc Miller's 95-year-old Phillies record for most pinch-hits in a season. Also, within the notebook, Jamie Moyer made a nice open-field block on first-base umpire Randy Marsh, Rudy Seanez begins his rehab assignment tonight at triple-A Lehigh Valley (more on that later), Scott Eyre earns a victory in his Phillies debut, Tom Gordon heads to LA to have his elbow examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum, Adam Eaton actually pitches well at double-A Reading ... and more.
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To me, though, the biggest story at the Bank yesterday was the news on Brad Lidge's balky shoulder. Lidge is hoping to be able to pitch tonight, and as I wrote in this space yesterday, the Phillies better hope so, too. Other than maybe Cole Hamels, I'm not sure there's a player the Phils can ill-afford to lose more than Lidge.
Do you agree?
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A preview of this week's four-game series against the Dodgers.
PHILLIES (64-53) at DODGERS (58-59)
Tonight, 10:10: RHP Kyle Kendrick (10-5, 4.37) vs. RHP Derek Lowe (8-10, 4.10)
Tuesday, 10:10: LHP Cole Hamels (9-8, 3.35) vs. LHP Clayton Kershaw (2-3, 3.71)
Wednesday, 10:10: RHP Joe Blanton (1-0, 3.27) vs. RHP Brad Penny (6-9, 5.66)
Thursday, 10:10: RHP Brett Myers (5-9, 5.09) vs. RHP Hiroki Kuroda (6-8, 4.02)
Hot: Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins was 10-for-23 (.435) during the six-game homestand; Phillies CF Shane Victorino is batting .337 with eight homers and 19 RBIs in his last 23 games; Dodgers LF Manny Ramirez is 17-for-37 (.459) with four homers and 11 RBIs in nine games since being acquired in a July 31 trade; Dodgers 2B Jeff Kent is batting .379 with seven RBIs in his last eight games.
Not: Phillies 2B Chase Utley is batting .222 with two home runs and five RBIs in his last 10 games; Phillies LF Pat Burrell is hitless in 15 at-bats and 2-for-24 in his last seven games; Dodgers CF Andruw Jones is batting .153 with one home run since coming off the disabled list July 4; Dodgers C Russell Martin has six hits in his last 36 at-bats (.167).
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