Bringing the Broom Sticks and Boom Sticks

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)

Swept Again

Comcast Sportsnet had a great poll up but they missed one option. The question: what is the cause of the Phillies' struggles? A. bull pen inconsistency; B. Cole Hamels' struggles; C. Raul Ibanez's absence; D. Jimmy Rollins' struggles. I would love to add: E. All of the above.

The Phillies are 4-14 in their last 18 games. In those last 18, the bull pen has blown countless saves and pitched absolutely terrible. In games when the Phillies would be trailing only a run or two, the bull pen would surrender multiple runs to put the game out of reach. A part of this is due to the starters not going at least seven innings and that is completely draining the bull pen.

Ryan Madson has been the most dreadful of relievers. Since June 16, he's given up nine runs in seven appearances (6 2/3 innings). He has blown three saves. Madson isn't the only pitcher struggling as Hamels, who hasn't won a game since June 4, has been terrible. In his last five starts, he's 0-3, averaging less than six innings a start. He's given up 19 runs on 44 hits and 8 walks in 27 2/3 IP. Those are not numbers you want from your ace.

After being benched for four games, Rollins came back to go hitless in the first two games of the Braves series until Thursday night when he had two hits, snapping an 0-28 drought.

Tuesday: In a seesaw battle, the Phillies blew a 4-3 lead in the eighth and gave up a walk off hit in the 10th. Martin Prado capped his 4-5, four RBI game with the winning hit as the Braves won 5-4.

Wednesday: Jair Jurrjens took a no hitter into the seventh as the Braves dominated the Phillies 11-1.

Thursday: After tying the game up at two in the sixth, the Braves scored three in the eighth off Madson to win 5-2. JA Happ went seven strong, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.

Series MVP's:

ATL: Martin Prado: 7-12, 4 runs, 2 doubles, HR, 6 RBI

ATL: Matt Diaz: 7-11, 4 runs, double, HR, 3 RBI, SB

Next Series: New York Mets (39-39; 17-22 on road) @ Philadelphia Phillies (39-37; 13-22 at home)

We all know how big the Mets series is. It's the start of their final 10 game home stand going into the All Star Break. The Mets lead the series 4-3 but the Phillies have won the previous two. The Phillies can win the series still but at this rate, I am afraid of a sweep or series loss. Luckily Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez have hit some rough patches. I have nothing more to say.

Pitching Probables:

7/3: Hernandez, L (5-3, 4.04), Lopez, Ro (0-0, -.--)

7/4: Nieve (3-1, 2.25), Moyer (6-6, 6.05)

7/5: Santana, J (9-6, 3.34), Blanton (4-4, 5.08)

Mets Choke Away Series

It's like a reoccurring theme for the Mets. They have the Phillies right where they want them and then they fall flat on their face while the Phillies walk away laughing. From the 2007 collapse to last year's World Series run, the Mets could have easily taken a three-game sweep from the Phillies but instead, lost the series. It was an odd series as only one starter got the decision.

The Phillies starting pitching is still on it's dominating tear (despite Cole Hamels getting hit hard in the second game). The bull pen really picked itself up as the Mets' faltered once again versus Phillies. The offense struggled for the first six innings of each game and then exploded to over come the early deficit.

In the first game, JA Happ took the mound versus Johan Santana and both pitchers got whacked around. The Phillies were able to hit four homers off of Santana (three of them lefties) and Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez became the first pair of lefties to go back-to-back versus Santana.

After the Phillies took the 4-3 lead, the Mets put up two runs in the sixth, and added one in the seventh. Despite the Phillies getting one back in the eighth from Chase Utley's solo homer, the Mets held on to win 6-5 with Santana earning the win.

On Wednesday, Utley used his bat and Jayson Werth used his glove to beat the Mets. Utley tied the game up at one with his solo shot in the fourth but the Mets got a three-run inning in the bottom half off of Happ, his only hiccup of the game to take a 4-1 lead.

The Phillies then exploded with three runs to tie the game up. Both teams were scoreless all the way to the bottom of the 10th with the Mets threatening. With a runner on, David Wright hit a ball that looked like it would clear the gap in right center but instead was robbed with a diving catch by Werth to end the inning and save the game. Utley lead off the inning with another solo homer, his second of the night, to put the Phillies ahead for good. Ryan Madson pitched a clean 11th to earn his second save of the year, replacing the injured Brad Lidge.

Thursday's game had a similar scenario with a similar result. After the Phillies tied the game at three in the seventh, the game found itself going into extra innings once again. With runners on first and second in the top of the 10th, Ibanez ripped a homer into the Mets bullpen to take a commanding 6-3 lead that Ryan Madson closed out for his third save.

Series MVP: Utley (5-13, 4 runs, 5 hits, double, 2 homers, 5 RBI's)

Next Series: Red Sox (36-24; 15-16 on the road) vs. Phillies (35-23; 12-14 at home)

The Phillies are coming home for an American League East home stand (I'll be attending one game in each series and I'll post pictures from each) that is starting tonight versus the hot Boston Red Sox. They are riding a series sweep versus the Yankees and have had the Phillies number the past few years.

Probables:

6/12: Joe Blanton (4-3, 5.46) vs. Jon Lester (5-5, 5.09)

6/13: Antonio Bastardo (2-0, 2.45) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-4, 7.33)

6/14*: J.A. Happ (4-0, 2.98) vs. Josh Beckett (7-2, 3.77)

*attending