Fightin' Phils Win Again!

Pat Burrell and Chase Utley continued their hot hitting to send the Phillies to their sixth comeback win in just 21 games.

The dynamic duo combined for five RBI in the Phillies 8-6 win over the Rockies. Utley knocked home two runs in the third to gives the Phils an early 2-0 lead. Burrell did it when it mattered in the ninth. Pat the Bat drilled a bases clearly double to left-center to give Philly an 8-6 lead.

The Phillies need the offense after Brett Myers looked as hittable as I can ever remember. He lasted seven innings, but surrendered 11 hits and two walks. Myers kept the ball over the middle of the plate all game and the Rockies made him pay. Luckily he mostly scattered the 11 hits to only give up the six runs, but it could have been much, much more.

Unlike Myers's last start against Houston, he didn't go after each hitter with fastballs. He started many hitters off with sliders and his cutter. This change in approach could be due to the catching change. Chris Coste caught Myers's last start and went with a fastball heavy approach. I remember noticing other games Coste caught, he tried to get his pitchers to go with the fastball first.

Carlos Ruiz caught Myers tonight and called a game heavy on the breaking pitches. I'm going to try to keep track of this and see if it's a trend that Coste calls for fastballs and Ruiz for the breaking pitches.

Chase Utley did it all for the Phils tonight. He had the RBI double mentioned before, but his biggest hit of the game came in the ninth. With one out and So Taguchi on first, Utley singled, but made the hustle play to get to second on the throw to third base. This set up an intentional walk to Ryan Howard and then the bases clearing double for Burrell.

Plus, Utley made another defensive gem which made top plays on SportsCenter. It's always nice to see his defense get recognized after he struggled a bit earlier this year with the glove.

Side note, did anyone notice on the Burrell double that Ryan Howard was literally ten feet behind Utley? He must have gotten one heck of a jump on the ball and Utley must have been holding at second in case Willy Taveras caught the ball in left-center. Even if this was the case, I would have thought Utley could out run Howard from second to home by more than ten feet.

Just thought I would point that out.

So far so good in the Brad Lidge experiment.

Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for the save. He struck out two Rockies in the process. He's now thrown eight scoreless innings to open the year with eight strike outs. The six walks are a little worrisome, but he's only surrendered four hits.

Quick Hits:

• Pedro Feliz notched three hits. He's starting to look more comfortable in this lineup.
• Jason Werth homered for the second straight game. He cleared the fence tonight, instead of going the inside the park fashion like last night.
• Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless eighth.
• Both Garret Atkins and Matt Holliday homered and doubled for Colorado.

Rocktoberfest Revenge Part Two

The Phillies look to finish enacting their Rocktoberfest Revenge tonight behind Brett Myers's arm and Chase Utley's bat.

Brett Myers looks to continue his strong pitching in Coors Field. The right hander has toyed with the Rockies in eight career appearances against Colorado. Myers has never lost to the Rockies and has a very low 2.21 ERA against them.

The former closer opened the year with two straight disappointing starts suggesting he may not have finished the transition of moving back to the starting rotation. That changed quickly during his last two starts.

Myers was flawless against Cincinnati and Houston throwing 15 innings and the only runs he surrendered were four solo home runs. Myers has kept the walks down the last two starts which has helped keep those four home runs as solo blasts.

The Rockies will send Jeff Francis to the mound. Francis hasn't fared to well against the Phillies historically, but pitched well when it counted. In Game 1 of the NLDS last year, he gave up just two runs in six innings in the Rockies 4-2 win.

Overall against the Phillies, Francis is 2-1 with a 7.08 ERA in four starts.

Here's how the projected line up has done against Francis:
1. So Taguchi, 4-13 with a home run
2. Jason Werth 3-10 with three doubles
3. Chase Utley 2-8 with a home run
4. Ryan Howard 2-5
5. Pat Burrell 3-8
6. Pedro Feliz 8-38 with a home run
7. Chris Coste 1-3
8. Eric Bruntlett 0-1
9. Brett Myers never faced Francis.

Quick Hits: Chase Utley hit his ninth home run of the year last night. He's hit six in five games, and homered in five consecutive games. Pat Burrell also jacked his seventh home run and team leading 19th RBI. Burrell and Utley are going to be fighting for the Triple Crown at this rate.

Last night Kyle Kendrick wasn't keeping his pitches down and it cost him dearly. He's going to put his spot in the rotation in jeopardy pretty soon if he doesn't return to his 2007 form. Kendrick has struck out eight batters in four starts. That's awful. More hitters putting the ball in play naturally means they are going to get more hits. Kendrick has got to find a way to start k'ing his opponents up.

Rocktoberfest Revenge

Rocktoberfest swept the nation last year and a playoff series against the Phillies. The Rockies entered the playoffs winning 14 of 15 games and made it three more in a row in the NLDS against the 'Fightin's.

Tonight the (9-9, 2nd place NL West) Rockies host the Phillies (9-10). Left hander Mark Redman takes the mound for the Rockies. He's 2-1 with a 4.60 ERA. He's got two straight solid starts (not quality, only went five innings in each).

Redman isn't going to strike out a lot of batters which plays into the Phillies hands. Ryan Howard and his 26 strike outs in 19 games might actually make some solid contact tonight. Add in the Coors Field effect and the Phillies could tee off tonight.

The Phillies as a whole have struggled however against Redman.

Here's the projected lineup and how each has fared against Redman:
1. Jason Werth (1-3 vs Redman)
2. So Taguchi (3-9 and 2RBI)
3. Chase Utley (2-7 and 3BB)
4. Ryan Howard (0-5)
5. Pat Burrell (4-19 and one home run)
6. Pedro Feliz (1-12)
7. Chris Coste (1-2)
8. Eric Bruntlett (1-3, triple and 3 RBI)
9. Kyle Kendrick (never faced Redman)

Mark Redman was an all-star for the 2006 Royals. Yes, the Royals were that bad in 2006 that he was the "best" player on that team.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 9, Rockies 7.
Be prepared for lots of runs, early and often from both teams. Scoring in Colorado has been down the last few years, but this will have an old time feel for it. Chad Durbin picks up the win in relief.