Late Rally Bites Snakes

Jimmy Rollins hit the first pitch that Joe Saunders threw over the left field fence for the 37th time in his career.  Impressive, but not quite as noteworthy as the guy who actually bought a Wheels shirtsy.  Really?  Someone actually paid money for this product.  I feel like this is the seed for the aneurysm that will eventually kill me.

Last night was difficult to watch.  Roy Halladay was rolling merrily along, making the D-backs batters look silly, when Lyle Overbay stepped to the plate and ruined everything prompting some of the more sensible bloggers to wish eternal damnation on the below average first baseman.  It is really nice to have Cliff Lee around after a loss like the one last night.  Cliff allowed three hits through seven innings of work, with the only blemish a two run home run to Paul Goldschmidt.  He struck out seven, bringing him within one strikeout of his highest season total ….. in the middle of August.  He walked two batters, but was certainly in control of Arizona throughout his outing.

After seven innings, with the score knotted at two, this had the look of another wasted outing from one of the aces.  Hunter Pence draws a walk and John Mayberry Jr. hits a single meaning that the double play looming on the horizon would still put the Phillies on top (the announcers made sure to make us aware that Pence did a nice job going from first to third, probably mentioned Scott Rolen).  To the shock of everyone, Wilson Valdez hit a two run double.  Off of the bat, it looked like Wilson thought he hit a home run as he stood there and watched the ball travel toward the center field fence.  He eventually came to his senses and ran around the bases.  The Phillies then proceeded to add on five more runs and assuring Lee the victory.

There was a scary moment in the bottom of the sixth inning.  After a swing and miss Ryan Howard appeared to grimace and attempted to stretch out his side.  He just about hit an opposite field home run, but disappeared into the tunnel with head trainer Scott Sheridan for the bottom of the seventh.  He didn’t miss an at bat and singled against Brad Ziegler in the eighth.  I know that he missed some time with the ankle injury last year, but this is the type of injury that the Phillies can ill afford.  Howard leads the world in RBI and is the team’s real power threat.  The line-up is altered dramatically without his presence.  Huge relief that he returned to the field.

Pence was 2-2 with two walks, John Mayberry Jr. didn’t have any extra base hits but he was 3-4 with an RBI and Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino had two hits apiece.  It didn’t start out as an offensive explosion, but in the end the Phillies secured twelve hits and scored nine runs.  9-2 Phillies win.

I still hate Lyle Overbay.

Vance Worley goes for another series win as Ian Kennedy attempts to win his sixteenth game of the season.  Do you think anyone has a shirt with Tom McCarthy on it?  I might not sleep tonight.