Blanton Bests Buehrle With Help From Some Great Defense

The Phillies made it back to .500, as they defeated the Marlins 3-1 Thursday night with with help of two things: A solid outing by Joe Blanton and spectacular defense–and naturally those things go hand in hand. Here are some notes from the game:

• Blanton finished his outing going seven innings pitched while allowing just one run. The last time he did that was September 29, 2010.

• Marlins starter Mark Buehrle pitched three perfect innings before he gave up a home run to Shane Victorino on a 0-2 count.

• Freddy Galvis is really settling in for the Phils. He made a few more great plays at second base that dazzled the crowd at Citizens Bank Park. However, he did make an error on a tough bounce a few innings later. He also seems to be figuring it out out at the plate, as he is now putting the ball in play while getting solid contact. He even laid down a perfect bunt in the seventh inning.

• Ty Wigginton eased the frustrations of many fans with a monster home run to left that almost made it out to Harry The K’s. It was the seventh different team that Wigginton has homered for.

• Hunter Pence made a great sliding catch right after Galvis’ amazing stop, but later had an “uh-oh” moment where he completely lost the ball after he missed dive attempt.

• Phillies starters have now combined for a 1.60 ERA so far this season. Ooof.

• The offense is still only averaging three runs per game, but the Phils’ bats are really showing life these past two games. Even the outs are hard hit balls.

• Chad Qualls still hasn’t given up a run this year, albeit in just three innings, and Jonathan Papelbon recorded his first save as a Phillie at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phils welcome the Mets to Citizens Bank Park tomorrow at 7:05 PM with two great guys taking the mound–Cliff Lee for the Phils and R.A. Dickey for the Mets.

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Freddy Galvis is silly with the glove. (H/T to @Phylan)