The Phillies were one out away from their third straight shutout last night, but the Nationals got a two out hit to score a run in a game the Phillies ended up winning 6-1. The Phillies haven’t had three straight shutout wins in 40 years, and were oh-s0-close to getting it done last night.
The Fightins’ let the Nationals hang around in a close game, and that usually equals bad things. They had a two run lead in the bottom of the 7th when Jayson Werth came to the plate with the bases loaded. As I tweeted, Werth could really break the game open with a hit in that situation. Welp, he got more than a hit. His grand slam made it 6-0 Philadelphia.
Werth’s grand slam extended the club record for grand slams in a season to 10. This team just seems to either hit a grand slam or strike out with the bases loaded. It’s an all or nothing deal.
Joe Blanton took the mound after watching Pedro Martinez and Cliff Lee dominate on the mound and get shutout wins. Blanton did his part to keep the streak going, pitching 6 innings while giving up 5 hits and striking out 7. He continues to state his case for the playoff rotation and has been very consistent all season. It’s going to be a tough decision for Charlie Manuel to make, but having too many good pitchers is never a bad thing.
The pitching has really come around for this team in the second half of the season. As John Finger pointed out, the Phillies pitchers had an ERA of 4.98 before the All-Star break. They’ve lowered that to 3.13 since then. Pitching matters most in the later part of the season and the playoffs, so they’re coming together at the right time.
The highlight of the game was easily the delayed double steal by the svelte Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. Howard was on first with Utley on third in the bottom of the first when Howard broke for second. The Nationals threw to second and Utley broke for home, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead. It was just one of the many mental mistakes the Nationals made on the night, showing why they are the worst team in MLB.
It was the 7th steal of the season for RyHo, after coming into the season with 2 for his career. With his steal of home, Utley became the 10th player in franchise history to record 20 steals and 20 homers in the same season.
It’s only the Nationals, but it seems as if the Phillies are starting to click on all cylinders, right on time.
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