Take That L.A.: Rollins, Phillies Boot Dodgers
That’s the score of the four-game series between the Phillies and Dodgers, a series almost completely owned by the Phils. They finished off the four-game sweep with a 5-0 win Monday night, setting up a giant two-game set with the Mets for first place in the National League East.
Let’s start with Jimmy Rollins, who broke out the bat and did much damage. He went 3-for-3 with a single, double and triple, and reached base all five times. He scored once and drove in two runs while busting the whole time for his hits. This is the Jimmy we’ve been waiting for, the Jimmy that we love cheering. Keep it going, Young.
The offense continued their fine play, and situational hitting was on full display. Rollins knocked his two-run single with two outs in the second inning; Jayson Werth deposited Ryan Howard on a single in the seventh. In all the Phils had 10 hits and took enough advantage of their chances. Sure they left 22 on — including eight left on by Pat Burrell — but across the board the offense resembled more of a fine-tuned machine, one capable of winning games on singles and doubles, not bombs.
And hey, at least the Phils weren’t the Dodgers, who left 32 men on base. Blue should leave Philadelphia pretty steamed with how they were unable to execute, and it’s definitely nice to see the shoe on someone else’s foot. But credit Brett Myers, who wasn’t dominant, but made huge pitches in tight situations. He induced two double plays, a few more groundouts and struck out nine, never letting up when runners reached base (12 of them). It’s truly amazing to see the Myers of May and June stacked up with the Myers of these last seven starts. He’s poised, gritty, confident in his pitches, and back to his old, bulldog self.
JC Romero (despite not being a good spot for him) pulled another Romero-esque outing, polishing off three hitters after letting the first two reach base. Clay Condrey had the same sort of inning in the ninth, and struck out Manny Ramirez in the process. By the way: Ramirez went 2-for-17 without an extra-base hit in the series, a far cry from the happy-go-lucky, new-haircut Manny of two weeks back. LA can have its Manny-do, we got the Victo-beard.
Associated Press photo
