Hits Parade Leads To Loserville

When your team smacks 15 hits around you expect them to score some runs.  The Phillies did manage five runs tonight but left too many runners on base.  Starter Joe Blanton was tagged for six runs in four plus innings tonight and the offense actually tried to keep him in the game.

Boston and Philly traded runs back and forth with the Red Sox getting the best of our Phillies winning 7-5 to set up the rubber match tomorrow with Cliff Lee on the hill.

Wait our bullpen? – It is no secret that the Phillies bullpen has had its issues this season.  Tonight, to no avail, the bullpen actually stepped up and did its job.  Joe Blanton got into some trouble early and gave up six runs working into just the fifth inning before being pulled.  The bullpen came in and threw 4 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball.

Let there be hits – The Phillies mashed out 15 hits tonight.  Boston and Philly combined for 26 hits with four players collecting three hits each.  John Mayberry Jr., Shane Victorino and Hector Luna had three hits while Freddy Galvis hit his second home run in as many nights and had two RBIs.  He is now hitting .242 for the season.

Um, bring me my glove – The Phillies left 10 runners on base tonight, not to mention the couple ground-into-double plays that happened.  Yes, they erupted for 15 hits but many of them weren’t timely.  I know you must crawl before you walk but these guys are professionals and need to get the job done.

Its the little people – Luna made a big splash hitting a grand slam in his first at bat this season and he picked up another RBI tonight against Boston.  Luna now has five RBIs and Glavis has 19.  There has been argument about whether or not Jimmy Rollins should bat lead off.

Rollins has only seven RBIs and is batting .227 for the year.  Would he be better suited for the six hole and move Galvis up?  No of course not.  There is no argument here.  Galvis is seeing more opportunity to knock guys in from the eighth spot.  Obviously a lead off hitter will not have as many run scoring chances.  So let’s just leave it at that.

Brighter stars – Um, well Cliff Lee starts tomorrow.  Yeah!  Go Phillies!  Also, every other team in the NL East lost tonight.