Wooohooo. A win.

Phils had just five hits today, but they pulled through for the win, as the Cubbies had just three.

All three of those hits were against Millwood, including the runs (one unearned), but you have to hand it to him for doing a fine job in 6 and 2/3 innings.

Nice to see that Mr. Jones was able to get an out too.

Despite what I said earlier about Marlon Byrd's bat going to suck, I admit I'm eager to see how he really does.

PhilliesBlog trade reports:

Phillies give up:

Ricky Ledee
Alfredo Simon (Clearwater)

for San Francisco reliever:

Felix Rodriguez

----

Phillies give up:

Josh Hancock
Anderson Machado (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre)

for Cincinatti's:

Todd Jones (reliever)
Brad Correll (single-A outfielder)

----

Marlon Byrd returns from triple-A.


Of course, I can understand that Ed Wade was pressured to do SOMETHING, but does anybody else think this will really do anything? Wagner and Madson will eventually return, the Phils will have about 8,000 relievers. Bowa will start taking starters out of the game by the 4th inning. We'll be one less decent PH in the line-up, and Marlon Byrd's bat will still suck.

Good luck, Ricky. PhilliesBlog will miss you.

Well damn.

Five-game losing streak. I did not see this coming.

Once again, Phillies pitching just couldn't keep the opponent quiet. Of the 10 Cubs runs, only one was unearned. Milton gave up six; Cormier two; Hernandez two.

On the brighter side of things, some Phils offense really shined today, namely Burrell and Abreu who each had two homers, and Ledee who had three hits including a double. Abreu had five RBIs. With all these losses, I haven't selected GameStar for a while, so I'm picking Abreu anyway.

Thome went 0 for 5. Lieby went 0 for 4.

Some pretty bad baserunning by Lieberthal may have kept the Phils from catching up in the 8th, but who know how that might have played out in the end.

Polanco had some damn nice defense in the 5th, including a shallow-right fly he caught in front of him while running into the outfield.

But, all in all, I'm pretty disgusted.

I didn't see the game today, but I suppose I didn't really have to.

So ... I know things suddenly look very bleak (for some of you, they have looked bleak since opening day). But being swept by the Marlins isn't the worst thing in the world for the Phils. It's close, but it's not the worst.

Yes, we're short Madson and Padilla and Telemaco and Wagner for a bit. Yes, the offense has basically been dead lately. Yes, our starting rotation needs some work, despite some small signs of improvement.

Yes, this road trip is incredibly important, and we're blowing it.

The season, however, is just a little less than half over. We're going to continue to struggle against the division, there's no doubt about it. Eventually, yes, we will have to beat these teams. But there are plenty of games left.

Trade talks and rumors are getting pretty crazy, and some big changes could affect the Phils post-July 31 ... but things will settle down, I am confident of this.

Why am I always so annoyingly optimistic? Because, in my opinion, there's no reason not to be, whether we're swept by the Marlins or the Diamondbacks. But I'm not optimistic just for the hell of it. The Phillies this season are more often mediocre than fantastic ... but if and when things suddenly click, the fightins will be unstoppable. There are too many great players on this team, and the personalities (besides maybe Bowa's) mesh together well. They just need to have more fun, and some people, WIP610 morons, for example, need to get off their backs at least long enough to actually enjoy the sport, if they even can.

Yes, it's time to start winning some games. Now, let's roll out some optimistic stats to keep the faith in those who are beginning to doubt more than ever.

Coming into today's game:

The Phils ranked 4th in the NL for runs scored with 500.
On-base percentage was 3rd best in the NL at .346.
Phils were 2nd in the league in walks with 426.
The Phils were 4th in the NL for homeruns, at 127.
Slugging percentage was 4th best in the league, at .430.
The Phils 31 come-from-behind wins ranked 2nd in all of baseball.
Phils rank 4th in NL with .986 fielding percentage.
They had the 4th fewest errors in the league.
Bobby Abreu ranked 2nd in runs, 3rd in walks, 3rd in stolen bases, 4th in on-base percentage, and 8th in RBIs in the NL.
Doug Glanville has a streak of 268 consecutive games without committing an error, 1st among active outfielders.
Jim Thome ranked 1st in the league with 31 homers, 2nd in slugging percentage (.648).
The Phils have a die-hard fan who keeps up with the team through a really cool website.

Now, it's time for some crazyass winning streaks.

Then again ... what am I saying?

The Expos can actually beat the Marlins.

So much for splitting the series.

Last night's loss, after two rain delays and a late offensive push by the Phils to tie the game in the 8th, was one of the most depressing I've seen all year.

Well ... hmm ... I mean ... hmmm ...

At least we're not the Expos. Yeah, at least we're not the Expos.

So there.

Coming into a game a week or so ago, Eric Milton was supported by more offensive runs than any other pitcher in the National League. It's that stat that kept many people from judging Milton as one of the best pitchers in the league, despite his excellent record.

Well, today Milton showed he didn't need all that help.

(But maybe just a little.)

Milton went eight innings without giving up a hit in a game that looked to become one of the most memorable of the season. Then, ninth inning, the Cubs got a hit on a shallow center fly slightly misplayed by Doug Glanville. And then the Cubs hit again. And again.

Within just a couple minutes, the no-no was blown, and the game was tied. Typical Philadelphia sports moment.

But ... this game will, no doubt, be memorable.

Milton's pitching was fantastic. Though we can't expect our starting rotation to have similar feats all the time, it's nice to see one of our guys step up every once in a while. After all, we almost had our THIRD complete-pitched game of the season.

12 strikeouts, 1 walk, 3 hits, 2 earned runs. Eight and 2/3 innings. Well done, Milton.

Pat Burrell came to the plate in the ninth with Thome on second and you could see his confidence. Burrell is very easy to read in that respect, you have to admit. When Pat's not confident, he looks like he's batting in his sleep. When he's confident, he looks like a baseball player. You can see the intensity, and this was very apparent in the ninth, just before he rocketed a single in right-center to send Thome home to win the game. It was a moment for Burrell. It was a moment for the Phillies.

GameStar runnerup is Utley, who knocked in the Phils' first two runs, one on a sac fly, the other with a homerun in the 6th.

It just bothers me that so many supposed Phillies fans have absolutely no faith in this team.

So what if they're not meeting expectations or winning games on a runaway train? The rest of the division isn't exactly amazing either. Some teams get hot and then they get cold. And yet, the Phillies have held first (and second) for a while now. They're breaking franchise records; they sent two players to the All-Star game; Larry Bowa has become, I believe, the second most winning manager in Phillies history, and everyone still must complain ... 'those damn Phillies, they're not going anywhere.' I just don't see the point in that. Okay, PERHAPS if we were the Expos I'd lose a little faith, but if the Phils were consistently in third or even fourth in the division, I'd still have faith, and I'd hope they could find away to the top before the season's end. That's what rooting for teams is all about, at least for me.

Anyway, here's to hoping the Phils will sweep the Marlins today.

You have to hand it to the Braves; their defense was just phenomenal tonight.

John Smoltz also was stellar.

Phils offense just couldn't really get going against Braves pitching. The Phils had just six hits, with only Thome, Bell, Rollins and Abreu splitting that output.

Abbott ... is terrible. Please, God, bring Padilla back soon. Abbott pitched a whopping four and 2/3 innings tonight, giving up eight hits and four earned runs. He also walked three. His record is now an outstanding 2-9. Nice job.

Maybe we can break even the series tomorrow. I don't like second place.

One run on six hits.

This is not exactly the offensive output that's going to help us beat the teams in the East.

Yes, the Phils finished .500 against the Mets as they tied the series, 2-2, and as Larry Andersen said before the game, the Phils would be just fine with that if they didn't get the win today.

Well, the Phils didn't get the win today, and I don't know about the team, but I am not fine with it. The Phils may not have had a lot of hits, but there were a few instances when they could have capitalized big-time ... namely, with bases-loaded in the 7th.

Anyway, of the six Phillies' hits, Polanco and Bell both had two. Bell also scored the Phils' only run.

Myers may have started out strong, but he began to implode by the 5th/6th inning. Not that it really mattered, but the five hits against Geary in his two innings didn't help either.

Phils head out to Atlanta tomorrow for a quick two-game series with the Braves.

We must sweep.

Yes, the Mets' defense looked like Single-A ball at times yesterday, but you still have to give the Phils credit for capitalizing on those errors and more.

Single. Double. Homerun. Three runs batted in. Three runs scored. His 30th homerun. His ninth consecutive season with 30+ homeruns. Yes, I'm talking about PhilliesBlog GameStar Mr. Jim Thome, who clearly stood out amongst the rest of the pack yesterday.

The Phil's crushed the Mets 8-2 with a fairly productive offense.

Abreu had two hits of his own, and stole his 21st base. Rollins, Lieberthal and Perez each had doubles, and four RBIs between the three of them. Polanco was the only non-starting, non-pitching '0-for', but he did walk once and scored.

Much has been said in the media about Bowa's taking out Wolf in the sixth with the bases-loaded and a 2-0 count on the batter at the plate. Cormier came in and forced the Mets into a double play, ending the inning. While this was certainly something to cheer about, I wouldn't necessarily say it made Bowa look like a genius, as I have read elsewhere. But, it was certainly some fine pitching by Cormier to help make it happen, with, I would say, a little support from our old friend LUCK.

Speaking of pitching, Wolf, Cormier, Worrell and Madson each pitched magnificently yesterday, giving up only two runs. Wolf, now 4-5 on the year, gave up six hits and couldn't reach the sixth inning, but he also struckout five. It wasn't a bad performance, though it could have been had he pitched the rest of the sixth inning.

Today, Brett Myers (5-6) goes up against Al Leiter (5-3). Go Phils.

Ooh, that's a win that feels nice, isn't it?
 
There was never really a point in last night's game when I felt that the Phils had lost control, and that's how it should be every game. Hitting, pitching ... it was the performance of a soon-to-be championship team.
 
Though there was a toss-up for who should earn GameStar, I went with Abreu because, despite the many Phils fans who stubbornly choose to hate him no matter what he does, he is making a great leader for the team.
 
Abreu had two RBIs last night with a homer and a single. He's hitting consistently, now .307.
 
The Star runnerup is, of course, Millwood.
 
Seven innings, just three hits against him. This is the Millwood we're paying so much damn money for.
 
Said Millwood (Courtesy of this MLB.com article): "It may sound selfish, but I think I needed this game more for myself than I needed it for the team. It's huge to get a good win against an NL East team, but to be struggling the way I was, it was more for that than for anything else."
 
Millwood's record is now 7-5, and who knows ... maybe this could be his turnaround for the season. Personally, I tend not to be pessimistic when rooting for the Phils, but I don't think it will be a major turnaround. If Millwood pitches his next two games like he did tonight, maybe then I'll have a little bit more faith in him. Regardless, we're going to need him HEALTHY and CONFIDENT in the post-season.
 
As for the rest of last night's game, the Phils had 12 total hits, with each starter getting at least one, besides Millwood.
 
Rollins had two hits and stole two bases.
 
Thome reached base four times, with a homer, single and two walks. He had three RBIs on the night, and is hitting .291. His homer was 345 feet. Abreu's, by the way, was .410. They were both blasts.
 
Besides the homers, the Phils had no extra-base hits.
 

Oh, Lord, the frustration! The FRUSTRATION!
 

So, Thome and Abreu were both 0-fors at the All-Star game, but that's alright. I just want this damn break to be over so we can see the Phils play again.

The next eight games are against the rest of the major players in the division, so I hope the Phils are rested are ready to pull away from the pack.

Four games against the Mets.
Two games against Atlanta.
Two games against the Marlins.

Now is the time.

Home Run Derby results:



Too bad, Jim.

I tend to agree with most decisions made by Larry Bowa, but his hot-headed personality just gets on my nerves.

You could see Billy Wagner roll his eyes when Larry Bowa began to run his mouth again today, and I couldn't help but roll my own. Sit down, Larry. Chill out a little bit, would ya?

Despite the series loss, and the fact that the Phils were shutout Saturday, the last three games were pretty fun to watch. The Phils really need to start winning more against teams in the division, but they're in first place going into the All-Star break, and that's plenty to keep me happy.

Abreu had a decent game today with two hits and a walk and a run scored. Ledee walked twice himself, singled and scored once. Everyone hit but Thome and Utley, who pinched for Worrell in the 8th.

Be sure to watch Thome go deep during the homerun derby Monday night.

That's more like it.

-Although it would have been nice if the Phils had never allowed Baltimore to come back after being down 3-0 in the 1st inning, the close score made the game that much more exciting, and the Phils still came through with the win.

-Thanks to a 2-run shot by David Bell in the 8th, the Phils tied the game, 6-6. Bell also had a ground-rule double in the first, knocking in 3 total.

-The ump behind the plate tonight was just ridiculous. As he called the pitches, the strike zone was about the size of an early-90s Oprah. High pitches, low, outside, inside ... they were all strikes.

-Announcer Larry Andersen said he thought Millwood eventually found a groove towards the end of his 6 1/3 innings tonight, but I'm not so sure. I really haven't had much faith in Millwood for a while now. He's still stiking out a lot of batters, but he's just giving up too many runs.

-Lieby had a pretty good game with a homerun of his own, a single, a walk and two runs scored.

-Although the Mets are gaining some ground in the division now, the Marlins lost to Tampa Bay tonight, putting the Phils ahead two games in the division. Sweet.



Note: Blogging may be light for the next few days as I'm moving out of state and setting up a new internet connection. Go Phils.

In the words of teenage IMers everywhere:

WTF!

I can't stand losing these extra inning games. Last night, after about the ninth inning, everyone was just trying to end the game with a homerun. The swings powerful and ugly. These are the games the Phils must win in order to be taken seriously.

In PhilliesBlog news, the Ricky Ledee Karma page made the Links of the Week on Bill Simmons' (EPSN.com columnist) Page 2.

Way to go Ricky. Get well soon.

Most Phillies' runs in a four-game series since 1932. Not too bad.

Props to GameStar Mike Lieberthal who hit his 200th career double yesterday. He also had a homerun, a single, and four RBIs.

Burrell also had a good game with three hits and a double of his own, two runs scored and three RBIs.

Jason Michaels had a couple walks and a single, increasing his hitting streak to nine games. He's hitting .307.

Not a BAD performance by Wolf, as he went seven full innings, giving up five hits, and striking out five. But he also gave up four runs.

Phils are 3-1 on this homestand. Let's hope the runs keep coming. The Orioles are in last place in their division, 16 1/2 games behind the Yankees, so we SHOULD be able to pick up some more wins this weekend.

Man, this just shows how out of it I've been. When I said we should have swept the Expos yesterday, I didn't realize we had another game to play. Sheeeet.

Said Tim Worrell after last night's game:

"You don't get anywhere playing like that ... It's a little frustrating as a team. But we're at the beginning of a [14-game] homestand and we're 2-1. I can't tell if we're playing bad. I can't tell if we're playing good. We just kind of do the same thing day in and day out. Tonight was my part in contributing to the so-so play. But we still have a chance to definitely end up with a good homestand." (Courtesy of this Inquirer article)