The four games against the Cincinnati Reds all resulted in Phillies victories, but not one of them came easily.  First the bullpen caved in but they overcame blown saves from Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge on Thursday, then they found a way to victory despite a 5 run deficit from starter Joe Blanton on Friday; next they nearly had  a perfect game thrown against them through 8 innings on Saturday, and won again on Sunday despite producing only 1 run.
It’s a clich√©, but good teams find ways to win tough games. We know the Phillies are more then capable of doing this, but they haven‚Äôt shown much of it this season until this series. With their newly rediscovered tenacity, the Phillies are only one half game behind the Mets, and only 2 games out of the wild card spot. They also gained a game on the Braves, now only 4.5 out of first place.
However, as great a 4-game sweep with 3 walk-off wins can be, they were not without issue. With the exception of the 9th and 10th inning of Friday’s game, the Phillies offense was still struggling to score runs.
They can’t get away with playing poorly for 8 innings on a regular basis, and then expecting to just flip the switch on in the 9th. Just look at the results the team had been getting for much of the last two months.
It’s great that they can do it, but to rely on 9th inning rallies is to be fooling themselves. Rather, it‚Äôs imperative that they develop a consistent level of play through 9 innings. If not for Roy Halladay throwing 9 scoreless innings Saturday, and Cole Hamels throwing 7 and 2/3rds on Sunday to keep the Phillies in the game, we wouldn‚Äôt be talking about the Phillies in such a positive light right now.
In three of the four games, the offense made things too easy on the opposing team’s starting pitcher. Mike Leake only threw 83 pitches through 8 innings on Friday. Travis Woods threw only 92 pitches entering the 9th in his bid for a perfect game. Matt Maloney threw just 78 pitches after 6 innings before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the 9th. This has been a disturbing reoccurring trend throughout the season.
The good news for the Phillies is that they are starting to get healthy. Ryan Madson and Carlos Ruiz returned to the team this weekend, and both contributed positively to the team’s success. Placido Polanco will begin rehab work this week, and hopes to join the team next weekend.
The same offensive fundamental problems that have hurt this team remain a concern, but the Phillies are going into the All-Star break on a very high note.
going back to the chip
chooch coming back is definately a step to getting the team back into contention
too many of the guys at the top of the order need to start hitting, this lack of run support for good pitching performances needs to end or we will be on the outside looking in on the playoffs
I thin the scouting reports on PHils Hiters is obvious..
Start out with 1st pitch Fastball down the pike for most of the batters always take the 1st Pitch
(Now the batters are down 0 balls-1 strike) , then throw 2 consecutive breaking/junk pitches out of the zone where most of the hitters are likeliy to chase one of these and not make solid contact…
How many lame fly-ballsdid the Phils hit this weekend.. It’s the breaking/curve/junk ball pitchers that give this line-up fits… (especially to Victorino,Werth,Ibanez,Francisco,Dobbs who are all primarily fast-ball hitters)
no coincidence that chooch comes back and we pitch 2 shutouts i agree fan chooch for whatver reason and i dont mean statisical but he’s huge
pman tell shane to do push ups like major league next time he pop up
we got a freakin 5-6 4-2 40 running homerun swinger
i am so sick of seeing shane swing for the fence
jason lets get back to getting on base and ur hr’s will come
Shane should perfect the art of bunting, especially when he’s batting from left-side and lay one down to the left-side of the infield..He should do this 3-4 times a week to try to start a rally…