Sep 23 2008
Phillies split first two against Braves; Magic number in NL East remains 4
With only 4 games left in the 2008 season, the Phillies are standing on the doorstep of their second consecutive NL East title. On Monday night, the Phightins broke a 2-2 tie with a thrilling four-run eighth inning. The exclamation point on the evening was a three-run home run by Pat Burrell that cemented a 6-2 win. Tonight, however, was a whole new ball game and Burrell went from hero to goat in a span of 24 hours.
The bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the third and the Braves held a 2-1 lead. After a walk to Ryan Howard, Burrell stepped to the plate with a prime opportunity to break the game open. Unfortunately, like so many other times in his Phillies career, Burrell came up empty with a lame foul out to third. This seemed to be the play that took the wind out of the Phillies’ sails a bit. Any time that the Phils blow a bases loaded chance, they seem to be in a funk for the rest of the game, or a few innings at the very least. Also, how do they not totally destroy Mike Hampton? The guy hasn’t been good since 2000.
After a Ryan Howard triple, Burrell somewhat redeemed himself in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI double to deep center that cut the deficit to 3-2. However, the Phils proceeded to run themselves out of the inning. Burrell got caught in a run down on a Shane Victorino ground ball to short and Victorino followed that up by getting gunned down at second. First, what was Burrell thinking trying to run to third on a ground ball to the shortstop? Did he forget that he runs about as well as a mastodon in a tar pit? Then Shane got thrown out for the eleventh time in forty-four chances. It’s still a good percentage, but it was a really bad time to get thrown out. Oh by the way, this was the last inning where the Phillies got a hit. Good Times!
Finally, Cole Hamels didn’t pitch poorly, but he wasn’t as sharp as you’d expect an ace to be in a playoff race. He only gave three runs (two earned) in 7 innings, but it seemed that he was laboring for a good chunk of his time on the mound. One annoying thing that happened was Cole serving up yet another home run to Casey Kotchman. Kotchman has 13 total home runs this season and three in three games against Cole. Both of Kotchman’s NL home runs have come off of Cole. It’s baffling how money Kotchman is against Hamels. It’s also kind of sad that Cole gets killed by Kotchman. All in all, Hamels didn’t have a bad outing. The line-up is mainly responsible for this L.
Looking ahead to what’s left of the season, the Phillies now lead the Mets by 1.5 in the NL East. The Phils still control their own destiny, but it’s far from over. A loss tomorrow would hurt a lot and would leave the door wide open for the Mets to tie it up heading into the weekend. The Phils really need Myers to bounce back and pick up a big win tomorrow. At this point last year, the Phillies trailed the Mets by 1 game with four games remaining. I’ve been saying for months now that the 2008 Mets are the 2007 Phillies. I pray that I’m wrong and the Phils are able to hang on, but with all Philadelphia teams, you need to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Go Phillies!
