Rollins Leads Phils to 7-1 Victory

The 2011 Philadelphia Phillies have tied the franchise record for victories with 101.  In the process Charlie Manuel has tied Gene Mauch for the most managerial victories in team history.  Let’s all think back to when Chuck first graced us with his presence.  I, for one, was pissed off that they didn’t hire Jim Leyland.

Leyland understood what the double switch was and he smoked cigarettes in the clubhouse.  What more could you want?  Apparently the Phillies wanted the affable yet unintelligible Manuel.  It seemed that Jim Thome and Charlie were sort of a package deal.  The Phillies got both.  Fast forward to 2011.  Charlie has a world series championship and has achieved cult hero status in Philly.  It is really difficult to dislike Charlie.  Here’t to hoping that he can break the record tomorrow night.

The Phillies are good.  They wrapped up the best record in the national league on what seems like a month ago.  There are not a whole lot of things to worry about, but not freaking out over every negative befalling the Phillies would be boring.  We all worried about Chase Utley, Antonio Bastardo and Roy Oswalt.  Chase hit a homer and went 2-4, Bastardo finally had a clean inning and Oswalt threw six shutout innings with his fastball consistently reaching 95 MPH.  Bring on October.

Jimmy Rollins was 3-5 with a homer and Hunter Pence hit a two run homer to pace the offense.  Derek Lowe pitched for the Braves and made his 15 million dollar salary look like the worst contract in baseball.  It looks like the Braves would have been better off if Lowe got locked up earlier this season with his DUI.  He has seventeen losses.

Joe Blanton looks to completely screw the Braves agains the only healthy, effective veteran on the Braves pitching staff in Tim Hudson.