The playoff race entered August, the dog days of summer.Rudy Seanez was placed on the disabled list after injuring his shoulder on a diving tag play at first base. The Phillies soon acquired Scott Eyre, a left hander who had been released by the Chicago Cubs.
Pedro Feliz and Geoff Jenkins returned from the DL in August. Later in the month, the Phillies acquired Matt Stairs from the Toronto Blue Jays for Fabio Castro.
The big games:
August 8: Pat Burrell tied the game in the 8th inning with an RBI single against the St. Louis Cardinals. Later in the inning, Shane Victorino hit a 3 run home run to give the Phillies the lead. The Phillies hung on to win the game 5-4.
August 11-14: 4 games in L.A, 4 losses in L.A. The Phillies were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers, all in close games. The Phillies lost most of those games in the late innings, the few games in which the bullpen did not hold up and were not able to turn the ball over to Brad Lidge. In game 3, Nomar Garciaparra hit a walk off home run off Clay Condrey.
August 22-25: A week after being swept by the Dodgers, the Phillies redeemed themselves. The Phillies blew out the Dodgers in the first 2 games. Game 3 lasted 11 innings. The Phillies were down 2-1 in the 9th inning. Pedro Feliz, who did not start the game, singled to drive in the tying run. In the 11th, Feliz struck again, but with a 3 run walk off home run as the Phillies won 5-2. On the 25th, Myers pitched 7 shutout innings as the Phillies swept the Dodgers at home.
August 26: The Phillies were down 7-0 against the New York Mets. Jamie Moyer struggled, allowing 6 earned runs. However, the Phillies started to come back slowly off Pedro Martinez, who lasted just 5 innings. Rollins and Howard each homered to put the Phillies closer. Down 7-6 With 2 outs in the 9th inning, Jayson Werth singled to get things started. Eric Bruntlett doubled to the gap in right center field as Werth scored, tying the game. In the 13th inning with bases loaded and one out, Chris Coste smoked the ball to straight away center field. Victorino scored the winning run in the Phillies 8-7 come back win.
Other highlights:
August 9: With a 3-1 lead, and one out away from finishing the 8th inning, Charlie Manuel decided that Brett Myers was finished for the evening. Myers left the mound with a few words. Manuel confronted Myers in the dugout, and the two exchanged words, but it was all over after the game.
August 10: Chase Utley breaks the tie in the 7th inning with a 2 run home run to help captivate a Phillies win. How can we forget Jamie Moyer hustling down first base running over umpire Randy Marsh?
August 15: In a game for the ages, Jamie Moyer beat Greg Maddux in a 1-0 pitchers duel in San Diego.
August 19: Tied at 4 in the 8th inning, Jayson Werth hit a solo home run to give the Phillies the lead. As usual, the Phillies held on in the 9th inning to win.
August 20: Brett Myers pitched a complete game shutout against the Washington Nationals. Myers had a season best, 1.65 ERA in the month of August.
As a team, the Phillies did not hit well, batting .231 as a team. The pitching staff collected a 3.34 ERA. The Phillies managed to win games, entering the month of September one game back from the National League East.
3 comments:
Do you plan on majoring in journalism when you go to college?
You're a damn fine writer at such a young age.
Thank you!
I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet, but I defintely want to do something involved with sports, probably something with communications/journalism.. something involved with baseball.
Myers production in August said to me his trip to Allentown did some good. Maybe it was something in the water here...
Happy New Year! Go Phils. Go IronPigs.
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