Phillies pound Braves, enter All-Star break with best record in baseball

You couldn't have scripted a better way for the Phillies to enter the All-Star break. After two nail biters against the Braves, the Phillies demolished Atlanta, winning 14-1 to maintain their 3.5 game lead in the NL East.

It was an offensive explosion for the Phils, who knocked out 20 hits against Derek Lowe and the rest of the solid Braves pitching staff. It was a complete team effort as every starter had at least one hit and one run, with most scoring twice and picking up multiple hits. Raul Ibanez had a huge game, driving in 6 runs while hitting his 12th home run of the season. Michael Martinez and John Mayberry, both filling in for injured All-Stars, also were key contributors, combining for 7 hits, 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. When Martinez and Mayberry have games like that, you know things are going well.

Cole Hamels also put together one last dominant start before the All-Star game, giving up just 3 hits while striking out 6 in 8 innings of work. He picked up his 11th win, tying Roy Halladay for most wins on the team.

The Phillies now enter the All-Star break with the best record in baseball. After crushing the second best team in the NL, they have to feel pretty good about their season so far. They've positioned themselves in such a way that all they need to worry about is getting healthy for the playoffs. With their starting pitching, they are built for another deep playoff run as long as they get even league average offense. If they hit even close to how they did today, they might not lose another game.
(Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

Cliff Lee strikes out 16, still takes loss for Phillies

Reason #540 why wins and losses mean very little for pitchers: Cliff Lee struck out 16 batters yet still took the loss in a 5-0 Braves victory over the Phillies. Yeah, that seems fair.

While Lee had a rough start to his outing, giving up 3 runs in the 3rd inning, he was nothing but dominant after that, striking out 11 batters in innings 4 through 7. In other words, of the 12 outs Lee needed to get in those 4 innings, he got strike outs for 11 of them. Lee's 16 strikeouts were not only the highest in the majors this season but they were also one short of the Phillies team record of 17, which is held by Art Mahaffey.

Lee was dominant but Derek Lowe was better for the Braves, no-hitting the Phillies for 6 innings before allowing a pair of hits that chased him out of the game. The Phillies offense then had their chance to make a comeback but failed, striking out three straight times with two runners in scoring position in the 7th.

This just in: Cliff Lee is good. The Phillies starting pitchers have so far held up their end of the bargain, giving the team quality innings and special outings on a regular basis. The fact that Lee has a record of 2-3 is much more indicative of an inconsistent Phillies offense than anything he is doing. I have a feeling the "great pitching but inconsistent hitting" theme could be an ongoing narrative to the Phillies season.
(AP PHOTO)

How sweep it is: Phillies take control of NL East

That will just about do it for the National League East.

Everything worked exactly as the Phillies planned when they set up their rotation so that Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt would face the Braves in a pivotal 3 game series this week. After Hamels and Halladay won their starts, it was up to Oswalt to complete the sweep, and he more than rose to the occasion, giving up just one hit in 7 innings while striking out 8 batters. Since the Phillies didn't score until Raul Ibanez doubled in Jayson Werth in the 8th inning, Oswalt didn't get credit for a win but he certainly gets credit for pitching a gem.

The win over the Braves pushes the Phillies division lead to 6 games with just 9 games left to play. While there is another series with the Braves looming at the end of the season, it's safe to say that the division is basically wrapped up at this point. Given that the Phillies have won 10 straight games and are playing better baseball than anyone else in the league, it should only be a matter of days before they clinch their 4th straight NL East title.

Halladay wins his 20th as Phillies take 5 game lead

I think we can all agree that wins are an overrated stat for pitchers. That said, you still have to be a damn good pitcher to win 20 games, which Roy Halladay did on Tuesday night against the Braves. More importantly for the team, with the 5-3 win, the Phillies have taken a solid 5 game lead in the National League East and lowered their magic number to 6.

Halladay becomes the first pitcher since Steve Carlton (23 wins in 1982) to win 20 games for the Phillies. It's also the third time in his career that Halladay has won 20 games. While there is much more to pitching than just wins, it's pretty safe to say that Halladay will be the favorite to win the NL Cy Young award.

With two wins in the books, everything has gone right for the Phillies in their series against the Braves. They made an effort to line up their three aces in the series and both Cole Hamels and Halladay haven't disappointed. While it isn't a must-win, I would expect the third ace, Roy Oswalt, to have a strong showing tomorrow as the Phillies look to sweep the Braves out of town and out of the division race.

Hamels pitches Phillies to 4 game division lead

The second place Braves are in town. There is a bit of a chill in the air. The rally towels are out. Yep, we're getting close to another Phillies October.

Before the Phillies get to the postseason, however, there is the little matter of winning the division to take care of first. With a 3 game lead entering Monday and 6 games left to play against the Braves, it's still a bit early to be printing postseason tickets. After Cole Hamels' dominating, 8 inning, 6 strikeout, 1 earned run performance on Monday, though, the Phillies took yet another step closer.

For Hamels, it was just another solid outing, his 5th straight win and his 6th straight start of giving up 2 or fewer earned runs. On a team with three ace pitchers, Hamels has been the best down the stretch, picking up his game when it matters most, allowing only 2 runs in his last 36 and 2/3rds innings.

The win, their 8th straight, pushes the Phillies to 4 games up in the division. With Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt taking the mound the next two nights, it's hard to see the Phillies not at least holding that 4 game lead after the Braves leave town on Thursday. With 90 wins, a dominating pitching staff and a commanding lead over everyone else in the National League, everything seems pointed in the right direction for the Phillies. Can't wait for October!

Cliff Lee is human after all

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

We knew this day had to come sometime. Cliff Lee, who had been nothing short of a machine since joining the Phillies in late July, had his first bad outing as a Phillie, getting shelled for 6 runs on 10 hits in a 9-1 rain-shortened loss to the Braves. I guess even Superman can be defeated now and then.

Lee went 5 innings in the game, 2 shorter than any other outing he had with the Phillies. His ERA as a Phillie also jumped from the eye-popping 0.68 to 1.80, which is still insanely good. Lee was hurt by the long ball in the game, giving up 3 homers to the Braves, 2 of which came in a 5-run 4th inning. Cliff Lee hadn't given up 5 runs in his previous 5 starts with the Phillies combined.

The rest of the Phillies team barely showed up in this one, with only Chase Utley getting the team on the scoreboard with a homer. Let's just chalk this one up to an anomaly and watch in five days when Cliff Lee dominates his next opponent. If anything, this bad outing will just make Lee mad. The rest of the league won't like him when he's mad!

As Trade Deadline passes, Phillies come out winners

As the MLB Trade Deadline came and went today at 4 pm, one thing was for certain: the Phillies were the big winners. Their acquisition of Cliff Lee on Wednesday set the bar that the rest of the National League tried to get to, but none did. The Phillies got the best pitcher of any team at the deadline, and arguably the best player, setting themselves up nicely for a return trip to the World Series.

Let's take a quick look at what other National League contenders did at the deadline:

NL East:
Braves: Acquired Adam LaRoche from the Red Sox for Casey Kotchman
A peculiar trade that isn't much of an upgrade for Atlanta. LaRoche is the slightly better hitter, but this move doesn't really make the Braves any more of a threat.

Marlins: Acquired Nick Johnson from the Nationals for Aaron Thompson
Johnson is a patient hitter, something the Marlins definitely need (see every Jamie Moyer start against the Fish). Not sure what this does to Jorge Cantu, but not a bad move for the Marlins. Not earth-shattering, but not bad.

NL Central:
Cubs: Acquired John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny from the Pirates for prospects
This move shores up the shaky Cubs bullpen, but how much can you trust anyone from the Pirates?

Cardinals: Acquired Matt Holliday from the Athletics for prospects
Like the Phillies, the Cardinals didn't make a move on deadline day, choosing to strike early and sit out the frenzy. Holliday gives them a dangerous lineup, especially when added with their other recent acquisitions of Julio Lugo and Mark DeRosa. Still, the Cardinals are a few pitchers short of being a complete team.

Brewers: Acquired Claudio Vargas from the Dodgers for Vinny Rottino
A minor move for some deep bullpen help.

NL West:
Dodgers: Acquired George Sherrill from the Orioles for prospects
This might be the 3rd best trade by any NL contender after the Lee and Holliday deals. Sherrill was a solid closer for the Orioles and slots in nicely as a setup man for the Dodgers. The Dodgers had several other talks to acquire big-name players, but they failed to get Roy Halladay or Adrian Gonzalez.

Giants: Acquired Freddy Sanchez from the Pirates and Ryan Garko from the Indians for prospects
The Giants offense is terrible, so they made two moves to upgrade it to mediocre. The Giants pitching will be dangerous if they make the playoffs, but there is still no reason to worry about them scoring any runs.

Rockies: Acquired Joe Beimel from the Nationals for prospects
Nice under the radar move by the Rockies. Biemel is a good situational lefty who could give the Phillies lefties some fits.

As you can see, no National League team made any moves that make them significantly better. The Cardinals probably did the most to upgrade their team, but, as we saw in their most recent series in Philadelphia, they still lack the pitching to compete with the Phillies. Probably the biggest moves that should worry the Phillies came in the American League, where the Red Sox were able to land Victor Martinez, a bat that greatly upgrades their offense. That move makes it even more likely that we will see a Red Sox/Phillies World Series this year. With Cliff Lee, the best pitcher traded this year, on the mound for the Phillies, I like the chances of a WFC repeat.

Braves sweep Phillies into tie for first

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. I've got nothing to say about how the Phillies are playing right now. They can't hit, can't pitch and can barely field.

The sweep by the Braves drops the Phillies into a first place tie with the Marlins. The Phils upcoming three game series against the hobbled Mets looms large right now, and it should be huge, just like every Mets/Phillies series. How the Phils do this weekend could tell us a lot about whether this team is any good this year. If they don't take two out of three from a seriously banged up Mets team, this Phillies team is likely doomed.

At least they were World Series Champs last year!

All is right again, King Cole is back!

A day after watching Jamie Moyer get pounded by the Mets, the Phillies were desperately hoping for a good pitching performance. Enter Cole Hamels, who has had a rocky season to say the least as he has dealt with injuries and poor outings. Hamels proved he was back in a big way tonight, however, as he went 6 innings, struck out 7 and gave up 2 runs, leading the Phillies to a 10-6 win over the Braves.

While it would have been an accomplishment had Hamels simply managed to escape the game without getting injured, he did so much more to instill confidence that the Phillies rotation woes might be cured by having their ace back and pitching every 5th day. The Phils still remain in first place after beating the Braves and if they could just get consistent outings from their starting pitchers, they could run away with the division.

A pitcher that hasn't been himself lately is Brad Lidge. Lidge came into the game in the 9th inning with the Phillies up 10-3, presumably to get some work in as he continues to recover from injury. He nearly blew the game, however, after allowing a walk, double and a subsequent 3-run homer before mowing down three Braves in a row to end the game. Lidge's ERA now sits at 8.49 for the season, a far cry from the 1.05 he put up last season.

A little pitching will go a long way for the Phillies. Let's hope Cole Hamels has now sent a message to the rest of the staff to step up their performance.

Sweep averted: the sky isn't falling in Philadelphia

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

If baseball games were only 7 innings long, this would have been a very different post. The Phillies appeared on their way to their third straight loss as they entered the bottom of the 7th inning trailing 10-3 to the Braves. The starting pitching had once again put the team in a first inning hole and the Phillie bats remained cold despite Raul Ibanez's first homer with the team. Hopefully everyone stayed tuned into the game, or was following it online like I was, because what happened next was reminiscent of the magic of the 2008 Phillies. They won!

The Phils sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the 7th inning and exploded for 8 runs to lead them to a 12-11 win. What was even more surprising about that output was they only had four hits in the inning and none of them were more than a single. In fact, the Phils managed four singles, five walks and to get hit by a pitch in the outburst. Four of the walks scored runs when they happened with the bases loaded. Talk about a meltdown by the Braves bullpen, Atlanta needed four pitchers just to get through the inning!

Heroes for the Phillies included the aforementioned Ibanez, who went 2 for 3 and had 3 RBI, 2 walks and 3 runs scored. His homer was the first for the team this season. Despite giving up a homer in the 9th, Brad Lidge also continued his perfect streak of saves in a Phillie uniform.

So now the Phillies put a win on the board, moving their record to 1-2 on the season. Not a great start to the season, but it sounds a whole lot better than 0-3. With Cole Hamels pitching on Friday in Colorado, it's safe to say the Phils have an excellent shot at moving to .500.

Do the Phillies know the 2009 season has started?

Boy, the Phillies really are doing their best to make us forget about how magical last season was, aren't they? I know it's way too early to start complaining, but has there ever been a defending champion that started out their season with such a dud? Two games are in the books for the Phillies and all they have to show for it is 1 run and 10 hits. This is the same team we always see that gets the slow start in April and starts picking up steam when the weather changes, I'm not sure why I was expecting something different this year just because they won the title last year.

You do have to hand it to the Braves, though. Their pitching looks fantastic with a pair of solid starts by Derek Lowe and Jair Jurrjens backed by a nearly flawless effort from their bullpen. The Braves offense also looks pretty good with all 5 of their most important offensive players homering already this season. Count on Atlanta being a contender in the NL East.

As for the Phillies, we can only hope they salvage at least one win in this series tomorrow afternoon after they get their World Series rings. We can only hope that Joe Blanton get through the inning unscathed, something both Brett Myers and Jamie Moyer have failed to do. Of course, giving up 4 runs a game isn't the end of the world when your lineup isn't filled with a bunch of cold bats. Really the only thing the Phils have going for them right now is their bullpen, which hasn't given up a hit in 7 perfect innings so far.

Let's wait a week or two before we pronounce that the sky is falling in Philadelphia. That's not to say that everything is sunny in Philadelphia because while it's too early to panic, it isn't too early to worry.

Hey, they're still the Champs!

So what if the Phillies lost their first game this season, 4-1 to the Braves?

Who cares that Brett Myers gave up three homers to the first 8 batters he faced?

So what if the Phillies looked feeble at the plate as they managed only two hits off Derek Lowe in 8 innings? And, so what if they were never really in the game until Lowe was pulled and the Braves turned to their closer, Mike Gonzalez?

And, who cares that Ryan Howard predictably struck out when he had a chance to tie the game? And so what if newly acquired Raul Ibanez did the same?

Who cares if they are 0-1?

At least Brad Lidge pitched a perfect inning.

At least Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz were healthy and in the lineup.

At least they made it interesting in the 9th inning.

At least they're playing baseball again.

The Phillies are still the WORLD CHAMPIONS! And don't you forget it!

I think we are all just glad that baseball is back. Let's go get 'em next time.