Victorino, Offense Lead the Way for Blanton
The Phillies have finally snapped their losing streak. After losing six in a row, the Phillies pulled out a win against the Baltimore Orioles 9-6. Joe Blanton started for the Phils and muscled his way into the seventh inning after the offense gave him a 7-0 lead after the second inning.
Bailing out Blanton –
The offense helped out starter Blanton staking him to a huge lead early in the ball game. This gave Charlie Manuel the option to let his righty take it as far as he could before calling on the bullpen. At 115 pitches and two outs into the seventh the call was made. Blanton struck out seven, allowed five runs and gave up another home run. His ERA is still well above five but he does have five wins. For now, I will take it.
Tater mashing time –
Jim Thome didn’t go yard tonight but did collect three hits in his first three at bats. The 41 year-old obviously is very comfortable DH-ing during these inter league games so he picked a perfect time to come back. Manuel stuck him in the fourth spot in the lineup hitting behind Hunter Pence.
Victorino with five RBIs –
Hitting from the five spot, Shane Victorino decided to knock in five runs tonight. The five RBIs tonight tied a career high for the center fielder as he fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. He now has 60 hits, 8 HR and 33 RBIs for the season and trails only Pence for the offense leads on the team (62/13/36).
Offense explodes –
The Phillies blew up tonight with 12 hits. However, only one hit came after the fourth inning and lead off man Jimmy Rollins was the only starter without a hit going 0 for 5. Rollins had hit in seven of his last eight games so I wouldn’t look too much into it. It just seems like it was an off night.
Good series to win –
It is a little weird calling the Orioles a first place team this late in the season so consider this a good win for the Phillies. Baltimore will most likely be bringing up Tommy Hunter from Triple-A Norfolk for the start tomorrow to face Vance Worley and Cliff Lee will get the start Sunday. A series sweep is exactly what this team needs right now. Getting way ahead of myself, Go Phillies.
