Categories: 2009 RecapsPosts

Spectacular Blanton Sizzles Fish

Joe Blanton said he found a chink in his armor and fixed it. Boy did he ever, leading the Phillies to a 5-3 win over the Marlins.

Blanton threw his best game as a Phillie, going seven and striking out a career-high 11 while allowing just five hits, reducing his ERA to a season-low 6.14. His fastball moved; his breaking balls stayed down. He was the Blanton we had been waiting for.

The game was much tighter at the close, however, as Chad Durbin failed to close out the ninth and Scott Eyre fell victim to a bad throw by Ryan Howard, his first error the season. Brad Lidge had to enter in a three-run game, his first test since his two blown saves at Yankee Stadium. He got the final two outs, one scoring a run (ground out), the other a strikeout of Wes Helms.

The Phils offense struck early off Andrew Miller, mostly thanks to a poor Florida defense. Shane Victorino had a 4-for-5 night, while Pedro Feliz collected two two-out RBI hits, one a clutch insurance double in the seventh.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.