The Phillies did a little cleaning as the swept the Diamondbacks to continue their tear and keep a hold of the NL East lead. The Phillies starting pitching continued to mow down opponents and the bats have awoken from their sleep. Phillies pitchers did not surrender a walk all series and also had six hits, two apiece for Jamie Moyer, Cliff Lee, and Joe Blanton.
Tuesday - Phillies won 5-1: Pedro Martinez got the start and pitched three good innings and then the clouds opened up. Moyer got the ball and pitched six scoreless, allowing only two walks. "You never know what you'll get when you put two old goats out there," said Martinez.
Wednesday - Phillies won 8-1: Lee pitched a complete game, allowing two hits and an unearned run and struck out 11. Jayson Werth hit two homers and Ryan Howard and Chase Utley each hit a long ball.
Thursday - Phillies won 12-3: Blanton pitched another quality start as he went eight innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits. He struck out four. Howard, Werth, and Carlos Ruiz all went deep.
Series MVP's:
Cliff Lee - CG, R, 0 ER, 2 H, 11 K's; Batting: 2-4, run scored
Jayson Werth - 7-12, 6 R, 2B, 4 HR, 6 RBI
Jamie Moyer - 6 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 5 K's; Batting: 2-3
Next Series: Philadelphia Phillies (69-49; 37-20 on road) @ New York Mets (56-65; 33-29 at home)
Meet the lowly Mets. The Phillies lead the series 6-4 and should be able to really take control after this four-game series. The Phillies have won eight of their last nine as well. The Mets are continuing on their downward spiral as they sit 14.5 games behind the Phillies.
If you look at the Mets line up, you will scratch your head at the names in it. No David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, or Carlos Delgado. They will also get to miss Johan Santana as he pitched Thursday, earning a quality start but a loss thanks to no offense.
The Phillies are first in the NL in runs scored while in 11th in team batting average. The Mets are actually second in NL batting average but are 11th in scoring. The Phillies are climbing in pitching, sitting eighth in ERA while the Mets are 11th.
This should be a cake series for the Phillies. They will win atleast three of four or possible sweep. Winning this series will give them a lot of room to work with while the Marlins and Braves struggle to keep up.
Pitching Probables:
Friday: PHI: Hamels (7-7, 4.69), NYM: Pelfrey (8-8, 4.75)
Saturday: PHI: Happ (9-2, 2.66), NYM: Redding (1-4, 6.53)
Sunday: PHI: Martinez, P (1-0, 4.50), NYM: Perez, O (3-3, 6.06)
Monday: PHI: Lee, Cl (11-9, 2.72), NYM: Parnell (3-5, 4.74)
