J.A. Happ did pretty good in this game. But guess what is better than how good J.A. Happ did? The Phillies won. They actually got back at them BoSox. After two painful losses in a row, the Phils have struck back to win by five runs, as the score was 11-6.
The game started out when the Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Chase Utley scored off a Jayson Werth single hit. It was all Boston after that as they took a 4-1 commanding lead after the second inning.
After that second inning, it was all Philadelphia.
Check out what happened here, all in the fifth inning (Gracias ESPN):
5th
J Rollins grounded out to second, P Feliz scored, C Coste to third.
5th
S Victorino singled to right, C Coste scored.
5th
R Howard doubled to deep right, S Victorino and C Utley scored.
Pretty stellar, huh? I guess so.
It was now 5-4, all Phils. But it wasn't over. The BoSox weren't going to give up now. They came right back at the Phils when Josh Beckett homered to the left. It was now tied, 5-5, after the sixth inning.
Jimmy Rollins wasn't going to take that. So after a homer by Beckett, Rollins produced a dinger of his own that went towards the right to give the Phillies their third lead of the game. It was 6-5 now after the home run by J-Roll.
Then came the Flyin' Hawaiian (Shane Victorino), who scored to give the Phils a two-run lead. It was now 7-5. Then came Pedro Feliz's double to give Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth a great chance to score, and guess what? They did. It was now a four-run lead. Then came J-Roll who got hit by a pitch to give a scoring run by Feliz.
Man, things just couldn't get better.
But it did. Shane Victorino got a walk and then came Chris Coste to score a run. It looked over from the looks of it. It was just all over. It was 11-5 and the Phils just gave the BoSox a run just for the hell of it. But it didn't matter, the Phils still won, 11-6.
Hats of to J-Roll. Without his homer, the Phillies would have lost. Now they look to face the Blue Jays at home and look to win. It'll be an epic match-up so I hope all of you get stay tuned to see it because it will be very exciting!
And with J-Roll, anything's possible (it's actually true).
Ross Ohlendorf was credited with the win today while he made the Dontrelle "D-Train" Willis struggle. Ohlendorf earned his first win since a month ago on May 18th. He allowed only one run and two hits in six innings which was solid. You can tell he was hardworking today if you see his facial expression above.
But besides Ohlendorf's performance, the Pirates won, 6-3. Dontrelle Willis did horrible today by walking eight in close to four innings. Count that....EIGHT! Man. That lead to all of the Pirates scoring. All of it!
For today's and yesterday's game, the Pirates have outscored the Tigers to a score of 15-6. That is not good, not at all. Not even close to good. Just plain horrible. It can't even go to okay or average because that is how bad it is. It's not even bad or horrible. It has to be way way worse than that.
But besides it, Pittsburgh earned the victory.
Let's start at the first inning. On bases load, Craig Monroe was up at bat and got walked. Then came former Indianapolis Indians (of the Triple-A league of the MiLB), Andrew McCutchen, to score to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. That moved Andy LaRoche to third and Freddy Sanchez to second base.
Then Eric Hinske was at bat and was walked with the bases loaded still. And here came Freddy Sanchez to score to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. At the end of the first inning, the Pirates took a commanding lead, 3-0, after Craig Monroe scored on a hit by Robinzon Diaz.
The Tigers scored in the fourth inning from a hit by Granderson but Pittsburgh was still looking at victory, 3-1. At the bottom of the fourth, the Pirates ended it with a 6-1 lead.
It was all over after that.
The Pirates won, 6-3. It was a great game and it was just like a lawnmower trimming grass. And that is what the Bucs did today.
The Pirates look to inch closer to a .500 winning percentage (they are 30-33 right now) as they face the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday to improve towards 31-33. Can they do it? We'll find out!
As for right now, the Pirates are going to keep rolling and they are on the block!
Ian Snell has been struggling. He got handed another loss and is now 1-7 for the season. I have seen him play for the Indianapolis Indians of the MiLB and he was one heck of a player.
I just hope this kid improves this year or next year.
Rick Porcello of the Tigers was probably the player of the game to me because he was doing great in pitching and batting. Porcello was handed the win and is now 7-4 for the season.
Porcello threw seven great innings and drove in some RBI's for his fist major league hits. He was just doing really good. Not good, great. Well, not even great, a thousand times better than great.
"Pitching is always the first priority but it was fun to get a couple of hits," Porcello told AP with a smile.
SPECTACULAR!
The Pirates only drove in one run which wasn't good at all. It came on a Freddy Sanchez hit that was a double while Nyjer Morgan scored. It made the score 2-1 but the Pirates couldn't do anything after that.
It ended with a Brandon Inge homer.
It sealed the deal very easily.
Let's hope the Pirates improved because now they have fell to 28-33. The Pirates are now the worst sports team in Pittsburgh because now that the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl and the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, it is time for the Pirates do something now.
They look to improve to 29-33 and 16-12 at home as they face the Tigers today at 7:05. Watch out Detroit, you got something coming right at you.
It wasn't really a pretty game for the Philadelphia Phillies. They looked to hand down the Red Sox at home in Citizen's Bank Park. After a successful road trip and being the number one team in the MLB on the road, the Phillies weren't the team for home. They fell to 12-15 at home while Boston improves to 16-16 on the road as the BoSox slaughtered the Phillies, 5-2, in a 13-inning match-up.
I wouldn't particularly call it a "slaughter" but I just like to put things in my own "fancy" way. But as you can see right here, it's a slaughter:
Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth combined to go 0-for-15 with six strikeouts in the loss.
But I am not done yet, take a look at this as well:
The Red Sox are now 12-2 against the Phillies in their last 14 meetings.
See? So if you look at it that way it you would technically call it a slaughter. But there was much more to this "slaughtering loss." And this recap will explain it all:
Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester was magnificent on Friday as he did something that only two other pitchers have done. From ESPN Stats:
Jon Lester became the first pitcher since Johan Santana and John Lackey to go three straight starts with six innings pitched, 10-plus strikeouts and one run or less allowed.
Pretty good, huh? I think so. Reporters, journalists, and even bloggers were making such a fuss over this. Then came Jason Varitek, who joked this to the Associated Press: "Did he pitch tonight?"
So, you can see what happened.
This was a matchup between division leaders, and Boston showed they were the bigger leader of the pack.
"Lester was so good," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.
Well, duh. He allowed only one run and two hits, but screw that, he struck out eleven guys in seven innings. Now that is what I am talking about. He also retired 18 out of the 19 batters he faced. Okay, I have to stop acting like a BoSox fan because I hate them so much. But they did so good that day.
The Phillies could have won this easily. It all started out in the second inning with Pedro Feliz's hit to make Raul Ibanez score. The Phils were up, 1-0, but then the Sox tied the game in the fourth and took the lead in the fifth inning when J.D. Drew homered to the left. The Sox were up, 2-1.
The Phillies were down. But then Ryan Howard saved the day when he homered to the right to tie the game at two. After that, it was all the Red Sox and they saved the day for themselves after ending everything in the 13th inning, scoring three runs.
It was all over, 5-2.
The Phillies look to face the Red Sox today and look to return and bring on revenge. Watch out BoSox, the Phils will strike. They came close, but screwed it up.
So here we are today, as the Phils look to strike at the Red Sox.
Okay, screw the part of Raul Ibanez going after that blogger. Jerod Morris is cool, and there are many other people who said many worse things about Ibanez. Morris didn't even say he took steroids if you actually looked at the post at MidwestSportsFans.com.
But anyways, the Phils went on towards victory, as Charlie Manuel felt like a father of many kids. Being proud as he could be. And that is why in this recap, there is so much proud to prove:
"My team always comes back. That's what's good about them."
That is what Charlie Manuel said as the Phillies rallied back towards a 6-3 win, the final score in ten innings of play. Raul Ibanez shut everyone up about the attacking of a blogger after he scored a three-run homer to mainly seal the deal.
And it sealed the deal perfectly, because it was in the last inning with only two outs left. It was over. Just over, just like that.
These two teams play against each other very good, but it was the Phillies who played better.
The World Champs finished with a 7-3 record in their road trip and are 23-9 on the road this whole year, which is best in the MLB so far. That, now that, is how you get it done. Having a ten-game road trip and finishing 7-3, that is just great. What's better is that you lead the Majors with your road record.
Do we see a repeat? Let's hope.
"It's a tough ball club, a bunch of mentally strong guys in here, all 25," Ibanez told ESPN. "I've been on teams before where a lot of the guys were tough and mentally tough. This team everybody is mentally tough and never gives anything away."
And that is why they are doing perfect so far this year.
Ibanez is now second in the league with home runs with 21. Adrian Gonzalez leads the league with his 22 homers. Don't worry Ibanez, you'll get there. And if you keep homering, you'll get to about 40 homers.
And that is also how you get it done.
The 46-year-old Jamie Moyer played pretty good as well, having to pitch six solid innings. And four batters did great as Pedro Feliz had three hits and Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Matt Stairs (you got to love that guy) each piled on a run.
But Jamie Moyer was effective, and so were the innings he pitched.
"It's nice to be able to go on the road and feel comfortable in the environment that we're in and play well," Moyer told ESPN.
And if you play well on the road, home will be much easier, and if you are a team facing the Phils at Citizens Bank Park, you are going to die (and especially those New York Mets!).
The Phils face the Boston Red Sox today, looking to take a win against that 36-24 team (Phils are 35-23). It's going to be a pretty even match-up as the Phillies and Red Sox have a pretty similar record and with the Phils at 12-14 at home and the Sox at 15-16 away, it could be a hard-fought game.
But after what the Phillies managed do on the road so far, they look to eat those Red Sox apart today. So watch out: 7:05 is game time.
Joe Blanton is scheduled to start while Jon Lester is for the Red Sox. It's going to be a tough game, and as I look at the ESPN Insider Pick Center, they say the Phils have a 31 percent chance of winning while the Sox have a 69 percent chance of winning.
The Phils will show them. And at 7:05, it's on. Get ready Philly fans, this is going to be fun!
Romero was back! He was actually back, and it was good that he was, because the Phillies won in his debut.
After Ibanez and Bastardo's astonishing performances, JA Happ and Ryan Howard did their thing, followed by JC Romero.
And that is where I bring in my recap:
Howard played kind of like what Raul Ibanez did in the last match-up between the Padres and Philles..
Howard hit a two-run homer in the Phillies sixth straight win of the season. JA Happ also did well as he threw seven scoreless innings.
Pretty solid, don't you think?
Yes I think so.
Romero didn't do as well as Happ did but at least he came in. Coming off a 50-game suspension because of a banned substance, (kind of like what Manny Ramirez is going through right now) Romero threw close to two innings (1 1/3).
His performance wasn't as good, though.
He allowed a run that was unearned on two hits, a walk, and a passed ball by Chris Coste, according to ESPN.
"I was disappointed with my outing, but I'm glad it's over and done with," Romero told ESPN.
Well, doesn't everybody get disappointed if they get a 50-game suspension that costs their team of winning? Luckily for Romero, the Phillies did pretty well without him.
It was better with Romero back in the lineup, though.
With the Phillies leading the NL East with a 31-20 record, three games ahead of the New York Mets, (who have a 28-23 record) I think they'll be fine with Romero back.
The Phillies are now 4-2 against the San Diego Padres this year and they'll face them again on June 23rd. They also sweptthe Padres this series.
Scoring Summary (Courtesy of ESPN.com)
Scoring Summary
PHI
SDG
1st
R Howard homered to center, S Victorino scored.
2
0
4th
P Feliz hit sacrifice fly to left, R Ibanez scored.
3
0
7th
J Werth singled to center, J Rollins scored.
4
0
7th
R Ibanez grounded into fielder's choice to second, J Werth scored, R Howard out at second, C Utley to third.
Ibanez has been huge this year. But today, it was bigger than huge. Much much bigger. He drove in two homers and pinned in five runs. It was his birthday present, as he turned 37 years old.
On the other hand, a kid 14 years younger also had a good performance, topping one of the best pitchers in the league.
Bastardo, a kid from the Dominican Republic, was given help from his pal, Raul Ibanez. According to ESPN.com, it says that Raul translated for the young pitcher.
"I think I did a good job," Bastardo told ESPN.
I am sure you did Antonio.
"It's great we won, first and foremost, and the kid threw a great game," Ibanez said. "He did a phenomenal job."
He sure did.
Peavy did his worst, not doing a phenomenal job like he usually would do, allowing four runs—in the first inning! But it wasn't really his fault. Don't blame the economy, blame his viral upper respiratory infection.
When Ibanez pulled in his first homer, he reached the 200-homer-mark, then moving up 201 with the second. So it wasn't just Bastardo with a phenomenal performance, it was also an old 37-year-old.
"His adrenaline was going," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He was in a rush. You couldn't have slowed him down if you wanted to. But he did one thing real good -- he was aggressive and he wasn't afraid to throw the ball."
And, of course, it's how you get it done.
And Bastardo and Ibanez did just that.
The Phillies move up on top to 30-20, leading the NL East. So really, the Phils don't need Roy Oswalt or Jake Peavy. They got it all right here, in a prospect named Antonio Bastardo.
