Phillies Recap: August 11, 2009

Philadelphia Phillies 4, Chicago Cubs 3

Rich Harden had his best stuff tonight and at times looked nearly unhittable. He took advantage of a more generous strike zone than J.A. Happ had and worked through the Phillies order with ease in the early going. Meanwhile Happ struggled with his command as he danced through raindrops before surrendering two runs in the third. However, one word can be used to describe the Phillies' effort tonight: gritty. The Phils fought tough, were patient, and found a way to beat the Cubs, 4-3 on three hits.

Happ was not his normal, confident self tonight as he seemed rattled at times on the bump. Perhaps it was playing at historic Wrigley Field or perhaps it was pitching so close to his hometown. Either way he allowed an uncharacteristically high number of base runners, but survived six innings. The Cubs lacked the one big hit to put the game out of reach, but Brad Lidge blew his seventh save of the season in the ninth after the Phillies took the lead. A strong performance by Scott Eyre (2-1) earned the win and Chad Durbin picked up the save.

No one disputes that Rich Harden is one of the best pitchers in the game today. He had everything working to his advantage as he was perfect through the first 16 batters. Backed by a few circus-type catches by Milton Bradley in right field, Harden did not surrender a base hit until Jimmy Rollins crushed a two-out, two-run homer to tie the game in the sixth. The Phillies would add a run later on a bases loaded walk to Ryan Howard against Carlos Marmol. In the top of the 11th inning, Ben Francisco came through with a wall-scraping homer for the winning margin.

This was an important game for the Phillies. They came out after the sweep at home and looked lost. Rich Harden was dealing and it looked like the Phils would have their offense shut down again. But great teams find ways to win, even with three hits, and the Phillies did just that. They fought back after a blown save by Lidge to win the ballgame. On the eve of Pedro Martinez's inaugural start with Philadelphia, they improved to 62-48.

Phillies Recap: August 2, 2009

San Francisco Giants 7, Philadelphia Phillies 3

Neither Cole Hamels nor Barry Zito was nearly as sharp as their teammates from last night's game. However, while Chip Caray practiced his over-reactive inflection points, both starters battled hard and kept their teams close early. The Phillies utlimately lost a tough get-away game to the Giants by a final score of 7-3.

Hamels (7-6) fell victim to some early misfortune, as the Giants dinked and dunked hits on him. In the bottom of the second, former Phillie Aaron Rowand opened the scoring with a run-scoring triple with no one out. Hamels bounced back though and limited the damage by stranding Rowand at third. After cruising through the next couple of innings, Hamels found two-out trouble when Zito blooped a broken bat single that led to a three-run outburst. Hamels ran into another jam in the sixth inning which ended his afternoon, as he was tagged for six runs over five plus innings. Chan Ho Park, who allowed two of Hamels' runners to score, Ryan Madson, and Scott Eyre threw an inning each in relief.

Barry Zito (7-10) started out much stronger, facing the minimum through three frames. In the fourth, Jimmy Rollins tied the game with his 11th homer of the season, a no-doubt-about-it shot to left. The Phils then scratched out another unearned run. They added another run in the fifth as Carlos Ruiz came through and proved my theory right. But, as the game progressed, impatient at-bats by the Phillies hitters led to five strikeouts in six innings by Zito. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth, and he was propelled to his seventh win of the season. The Phillies' only other major threat came in the eighth inning when they had two aboard for Utley and Howard, but lefty Jeremy Affeldt escaped unharmed.

The Phillies lose a series for the first time since they were swept by the Braves to start July and finish the road trip 3-4. It was not the start the Phillies or Hamels wanted, as they stumble home for an off day, before taking on the Rockies. The Phillies are now 59-44 on the season. They are currently 5.5 games ahead of the Marlins, who were still in play when the game ended.