I would like to apologize for no recaps the past games...I got a bad virus and my computer was really slow...seems to be better now...last night, J.A. Happ impressed as the Phillies won 8-0 behind the lefty hurler. Now on to tonight...or I guess it is last night now...
Well we made it one time through the rotation and Jamie Moyer did not bring his good stuff north as he surrendered five runs today. Luckily the potent Phillies offense had his back and came back to seal a 9-6 win over the winless Astros. This win moved the Phillies to 4-1 on the season. Coming into the game, the first four batters in the lineup were hitting above .400 and for the most part that did not change tonight.
The Phillies struck first in the top of the second inning. Jimmy Rollins got on base and was knocked in on a sac fly by Jayson Werth to take an early 1-0 lead. Jamie Moyer would pretty much sail through the first two frames. In the top of the third, the Phils added three. With the bases loaded, Ryan Howard put together a great at bat and managed a walk to force in a run, making it a 2-0 game. Up stepped Jayson Werth to the plate next and he ripped a double to left that scored Polanco and Utley for a 4-0 lead. That lead would not hold for long as the Astros bats broke out in the bottom half of the inning.
Jamie Moyer got the first two batters out and looked to have another quick inning after only throwing 21 pitches through the first two. The Astros pitcher, Felipe Paulino, hit a double off of Moyer to get into scoring position. Jason Michaels happily deposited a hanging change up into the seats in left field for a two-run homer, which cut the lead to 4-2. Jeff Keppinger would reach on a base hit and then Hunter Pence took Moyer out to left field for another two-run dinger to tie the game at four a piece. Moyer would load the bases and give up the go ahead single to Tommy Manzella giving the Astros their first lead in a game this season, 5-4. Surprisingly, Manuel kept Moyer out there for another inning but Jamie found his way through it. He got hit hard though, surrendering a total of five runs on nine hits, two of those were homers.
The top of the seventh had the heart of the order up for the Fightin's, Chase Utley got on base and Ryan Howard crushed a ball off of the top of the wall in left center for a two-run homer to put the Phils back in fron 6-5. Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez would reach base as well and Shane Victorino finally managed a hit after a little slump to knock in Werth to give the Phils a 7-5 lead.
Victorino would keep his hot bat for his appearance in the ninth as he gave the Phillies some extra insurance with a two-run homer to score Jayson Werth and to make it a convincing 9-5 lead. Houston would add on one run in the bottom of the ninth of Ryan Madson as former Phillie Jason Michaels knocked in former Phillie Michael Bourn.
The Phillies bullpen did a great job in the seventh and eighth, so props to Chad Durbin and Danys Baez for your combined two innings with a strikeout each. Madson looked a little shaky in the ninth but it didn't matter with the four run lead. Hopefully in a save situation he will keep the hits to a minimum.
APTER THOUGHTS: Let me start by saying that I love the offense of this team. Everyone can hit and it seems as if the Phils have really taken pride in getting good AB's as Ryan Howard always says. Seeing J-Roll take pitches and walk and looking at Howard lay off the breaking pitches outside makes me confident that this team has really improved.
A lot of analysts and reporters shunned the Phillies for signing Polanco saying it was a downgrade at the position and so on and so forth but this guy has been nothing short of spectacular. He is hitting .542 so far this season and he has yet to strike out or walk. Polanco gets the hits needed and now that Rollins is started to have more quality at-bats, his skills are so valuable. Ryan Howard has been on a tear so far to start of the season. He isn't waving at sliders outside and is maintaining a .417 average through five games. In tonight's game he had three RBI's in four at-bats and Werth was three-for-four with three RBI's too. This offense just has so many weapons and to actually see them click like they have this season, there is nothing in baseball that is prettier.
The offense is stealing the headlines, which is good but I am worried about some of the pitching I have seen the first time through the rotation. Hamels, Kendrick and Moyer...Kendrick and Moyer specifically, got lit up in their respective starts and cannot expect to get all of this run support every time out there. Hamels only let up three runs in five but didn't have the command, Kendrick was throwing too good of strikes right down the middle and Moyer hung too many pitches at a slow speed for the Astros to feast on all night. I am hoping for a better outing from all three of these guys because Halladay set a pretty high standard on opening day and Happ looked relatively sharp in his start.
Up next...The Phillies close out the series in Houston tomorrow at 2:05pm on WPHL in Philadelphia. It will be the battle of the Roy's as Doc Halladay (1-0, 1.29 ERA) takes on Roy Oswalt (0-1, 4.50 ERA).
Lidge/Romero update...Brad Lidge pitched in a rehab game today in Clearwater and got roughed up for four runs on three hits in just two-thirds of an inning. Romero did quite well in his inning of work as he struck out two and allowed one hit.
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