Notes From The Phillies’ 5-3 Win Over Washington

The Philadelphia Phillies won the second game of their series with Washington, taking down the Nationals 5-3. Their record improves to 24-25.

• Jonathan Pettibone did his job on the mound. He turned in a quality start, lasting six innings and allowing just three runs. Pettibone gave up nine hits, one walk, and struck out six. The rookie pitched out of a tough situation in the fourth inning, getting Kurt Suzuki to ground out with the bases loaded.
• Pettibone also hit the first double of his career off of Dan Haren in the fifth inning.
• Jimmy Rollins would then drive Pettibone in with his fourteenth double of the year.
• Domonic Brown and Erik Kratz hit back-t0-back home runs in the second inning to give the team an early 2-0 lead.
• Brown would add another RBI with a double in the eighth inning.
• Delmon Young went 1-3, with an RBI single in the eighth inning that gave the Philllies a late lead.
• Antonio Bastardo got the first two outs of the seventh inning, but also allowed two walks.
• Bastardo was pulled in favor of Chad Durbin. Durbin has struggled throughout the season, but he was able to give the team a big out tonight, forcing Ian Desmond to fly out to centerfield to keep the game tied. However, things wouldn’t go nearly as smoothly for Durbin when he was brought back out to start the eighth inning; the veteran allowed the first two runners to reach base before being pulled in favor of Jeremy Horst.
• Horst entered the game and got Chad Tracy to fly out with one pitch. Three pitches later, Horst finished the inning by getting Denard Span to line out to right.
• Humberto Quintero led off the ninth inning with a walk in a pinch-hit appearance.
• Jonathan Papelbon recorded his ninth save of the season.

Final Thoughts

Domonic Brown’s numbers may not be overwhelming, but I think he’s slowly but surely establishing himself as a legitimate starting outfielder. Brown has now hit in five straight games, and six of the last seven. He’s now leading the team in home runs (9) and RBI’s (27) and he’s come up with his share of timely hits this year. The Phillies’ outfield has been a mess for most of the year, with Ben Revere looking pretty feeble in center and the platoon of Delmon Young/Laynce Nix/John Mayberry out in the right, but Brown has been the one player in this group of outfielders that has begun to emerge and show a little bit of promise.

No one is going to be more excited about the imminent return of setup man Mike Adams than Charlie Manuel. Manuel really has been without a solid eighth inning option for several weeks, and there’s been too many nights like tonight where he’s had to ask the remaining unreliable members of this bullpen to work miracles. I’m not sure why he tried to stick with Chad Durbin through the eighth instead of going to Justin De Fratus though. Durbin has been an absolute gas can all season, and the team was fortunate enough that he was able to get them out of the seventh inning jam. De Fratus hadn’t pitched in a couple of days, and he’s responded well over the last couple of weeks when Manuel has asked him to get some big outs in the eighth.

But all’s well that ends well. Fortunately for the Phillies, Durbin and Jeremy Horst were able to successfully navigate through a rocky eighth inning, and passed a two-run lead to their closer.

Speaking of the closer, it’s time to take a moment and recognize what a great season Jonathan Papelbon has been having. Papelbon has performed at an All-Star level. He’s only allowed runs in one appearance, and he’s had 16 straight scoreless appearances. He’s been perfect in save situations, and he’s made some difficult saves, including his memorable five-out performance against the Diamondbacks.

The team will try to reach the .500 mark and win the rubber match of the series tomorrow with Cole Hamels on the mound. It’s time for Hamels to break out of his early season struggles. He can’t just be good tomorrow, he’s got to be great. He needs to come out and make a statement for his team and anchor them with a shutdown performance to finish off this series with a win.

And a couple of early runs from his offense could really help him out.