NL Beast

BAT!

What a night down at the Bank. Pat Burrell stole the show after the Phils almost let this one get away from them. Down to their last strike in the 10th inning, down 5-4 with Chase Utley on first, the BAT smashes a ball over left field fence for the 2-run walk-off, clinching the 6-5 win for the Phils. The hard-throwing Brian Wilson gave up the four base trip to Burrell, who is putting up the best numbers of his career.

Chase Utley started the Phils scoring early with a 2 run shot in the first for his major league leading 12th home run. The Phillies scored two more on a homer by Pedro Feliz in the 4th, but they relinquished the 4-1 lead after a hit parade by the Giants in the 7th.

That brings me to the subject of Ryan Madson, who has struggled consistently this year and was responsible for letting in the tying run. He has a 5.28 ERA in 14 appearances, but he has not looked on his game at all. Truthfully, I haven’t seen strong stuff out of Madson for a couple seasons. Watch for his name to be floated around for moves later in the season. He’s simply not cutting it in Philly.

Kyle Kendrick has a solid line for the night: 3 earned runs over 6.0 innings, as well as 6 strikeouts and no walks. Can’t ask for much better from your “5th” starter. More on the pitching front: The Giants took a 6-5 lead in the 10th after Aaron Rowand, in his first game returning to CBP, connected off of JC Romero for his third homer of the season. Per ESPN:

Romero, the Phillies’ left-handed relief ace, hadn’t allowed an earned run in 28 1/3 innings, dating to last season. He pitched 12 2/3 scoreless innings this year before Rowand took him deep. It was the first homer Romero allowed in 60 appearances, spanning 45 2/3 innings.

It’s ain’t pretty breaking a streak like that, but at least he did it for good measure: Burrell’s shot in the bottom half of the first extra inning was exactly what this Phillies team is about. Expect many o’ night like this over the next five months.

Lastly, Ryan Howard was tossed in the at bat previous to PTB’s bomb. Howard was angry over a couple of calls before he was finally caught looking. On the way back to the dugout some choice words with the ump got him the boot. Howard was 0 for 5 with 3 strikeouts on the night. Clearly, he is still frustrated.

Phightins 9-3 in their last 12. That’s all for me up in Mets country.

-Greg Berlin