The Phillies opened a weekend block party last night by kicking dirt on John Smoltz and the Braves’ season. Smoltz helped dig a hole with a throwing error in first that allowed Jimmy Rollins to come off first base to score. He passed Shane Victorino’s bunt down the third-base line, spun and threw a wild pitch down the first-base line. By the end, Victorino was on third, Utley was at bat, and the crowd was going wild. Utley then hit a groundout that was kicked by Mark Texeira to right-center field, allowing Victorino to score. With Utley on base, Ryan Howard hit his 44th home run of the year and trailed the Phils 4-0. What a start to the most anticipated weekend in Phil’s recent memory. In the third, Pat Burrell hit a lofty fly ball to left center that went into the front rows of the stands to make it 6–0. That turned out to be the winner of the game. Kyle Kendrick made 6. In the 6th he allowed back-to-back home runs to Chipper Jones and Texeira to make the game 6-3. He was replaced at the 7th by Tom “Flash” Gordon, who then passed to JC Romero at the 8th and finally Brett Meyers at the 9th. Meyers allowed a home run to make it 6-4, but then rallied to close out the scoring. . The win, coupled with the Mets’ loss in New York to the St. Louis Cardinals, tied the teams atop the division. The long season is reduced to a weekend at the end of September.
“That’s crazy,” shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. “You wish it were easier, but it wouldn’t be as much fun if it were. Hopefully, we’re starting into new territory. A lot of us haven’t quite made it to the top. We’re at zero, and no one wins at zero. We still have work to do.” to do. We’ll see.”
Kyle Kendrick should be considered for the National League Rookie of the Year. The Phillies would be dead and gone without his contributions. Consider his stats. He is 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 121 innings pitched. The best move Pat Gillick has made as Phils GM was bringing him over from AA Reading in June, and that only came down to dire pitching circumstances after a series of injuries to Phil’s staff.
Tonight’s headline vs. the Nationals is Cole Hamels. The rotation has been set up this way to allow Cole to start in Game 1 of the NLDS, should the team make it that far. Phils fans, take a moment to savor the sound of that.
Hamels, who is making his third start after returning from an elbow injury to his throwing arm, commented on being on a pitch count tonight.
“I guess they don’t want me to focus on my limitations,” Hamels said. “It’s frustrating when you’re counting every pitch. You throw six pitches and it’s like, ‘OK, that’s one less batter I’ll be able to face, or one less inning.'”
In his last outing, he pitched 5 innings and looked great doing it, shutting out the last 8 batters he faced.
Let’s hope rotation planning isn’t a wasted strategic effort, because after all, Adam Eaton and his 6.33 ERA is the starter on Saturday night. I’m sure he’s not set up that way so he can start game 2 in the NLDS. The fact that the Phils are now in a position to control their own destiny is simply amazing. The fact that they hand the ball over to Adam Eatin It on the last weekend of the season, in a series of must-win games to decide the division, is insane. That puts my feet firmly on the ground. Finally, it is good news that on Sunday the game is in the hands of Jamie Moyer. He didn’t throw a good game last time, which means he must have a good performance.
The possible tiebreaker situations are many, but imagine this scenario: a 5-5 tie between the Mets, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies. It’s possible. It would lead to a tiebreaker game to determine the winner of the NL East, in Philadelphia. What game would that be?
In the West, the 3 teams would have to fight for the National League West. By virtue of their head-to-head advantage, the Rockies could choose between potentially playing 2 games at home or one on the road.
