The MSBL-18 season opened with a pitchers battle at Ford Field between the Phillies' Mike Homant and the Mets' Anthony Juliano. Homant was in mid-season form as he fanned 10 and allowed only one earned run while pitching into the 7th. Juliano also gave up only one earned run and two soft hits as he pitched into the 6th. The Phillies managed three weak singles off the Mets' bullpen. Juliano battled control trouble as he walked 8 and hit one. Combined with two untimely errors this gave the Phillies too many chances and they went into the 7th leading 5-1. Homant tired in the 7th, giving up two hits and a run sandwiched around his 10th K. Phillies' rookie Chad Gromek was more than equal to the relief task as he came on to fan the two batters he faced to close out the win. The pitchers were clearly ahead of the hitters, with the hitting limited to nine singles, mostly of the scratch variety, and with no batter garnering more than one of those.
Phillies Late Rally Turns Close Game into 12-2 Laugher
Thanks to two timely DPs the Phillies' pieced together pitching staff held the Tigers to two runs and the Phillies' batters kept plugging away until they finally cashed in some chances in the 4th to take a 4-2 lead. Tigers' pitching faltered in the 6th as the Phillies scored 8 to put the game out of reach and time. Chad Gromek made his first start for the Phillies, pitching a solid two innings before 4 well placed singles plated two Tiger runs in the 3rd. Will Bromley came on to pitch the middle innings. All six of his outs were Ks, but three walks and hit batter kept the suspense high as he recorded his first win of the season. Kevin Johnstone came on the get the save, but pitched only one inning as the clock ran out in the sixth just as Bob Homant stepped to the plate. In all, Philly pitchers allowed 6 hits while fanning 8 and walking 4. On the offensive side, the Phillies wasted several good scoring opportunities early, unable to cash in men on third with less than two outs in each of the first three innings. Finally a booming triple by Johnstone got the Phillies' scoring going in the 4th and then singles by Narrett and Epple put them ahead to stay. Gabe Narrett was the offensive star for the Phillies with 2 for 2 and a walk, 3 RBIs, 2 runs scored and 3 stolen bases. Evidently catching agreed with him, though not so much with plate ump Keith Opalach who begged regular catcher Jake Yunis to forget about his injured ankle and get behind the plate. It seems the Gabe thought that framing a pitch meant allowing it to get to the umpire's face before stabbing back at it. Whatever works--Keith had a good look at 'em.
The Phillies and A's hooked up in an early battle of undefeated teams at Ford Field. The first two innings flew by as both pitchers seemed in control with 3 strikeouts each and only a few singles given up. But a walk to Witkowski and a double by Gil Bromley started off the Phillies' 3rd inning. After a strikeout (on what the Phillies were sure was a 4-2 pitch) Will Bromley singled in two runs. A fly ball for the second out was followed by four consecutive hits and the Phillies were off to a 5-0 lead. An A's run in the bottom of the 4th was promptly answered by two more Phillies runs. Perry capped off a 3 for 3 night for the A's with an RBI triple in the 6th but it was too little too late for the A's. Mike Homant had his own 3 for 3 night with a run scored and 2 RBI's. Jake Yunis added 2 RBI's and Sean Moran 1 for the Phillies' attack. On the mound, Mike Homant was in command all the way as he struck out 16 A's while walking only two and giving up 5 hits, mostly to the "wrong" field.
Witkowski, Will Bromley, and Epple, the top of the Phillies line-up, did a tremendous table setting job as they went 6 for 7 with two walks in 9 plate appearances--an .889 OBP--while scoring all 6 Phillies runs. In the clean up positions Prentice and Mike Homant took advantage of their opportunities to drive in 4 runs--Prentice getting 3 with a double and a bases loaded HbP, Homant getting one on a sac fly. Epple had the other RBI with a single, with the final run scoring on a wild pitch. In all, the Phillies chalked up 9 hits to go with 4 walks and the hit batter on a wet evening at Bicentennial when few of us expected to play. The two Phillies pitchers kept the game under control all of the way. Will Bromley threw the first 4 innings and earned the win while fanning five, giving up only two singles and one earned run. Kevin Johnston closed out the last three innings, fanning 4 and limiting the Tigers to one hit to earn the save. Although the infield grass was a bit damp and the outfield fairly wet, the Livonia grounds crew did a good job readying the field and both teams played errorless ball for the night.
A hard-fought game that no one deserved to lose ended in a fitting 3-3 tie after 8 complete innings at Hazel. A's lead-off man Weiss scrathed out a single to lead off the game and scored two batters later for a quick 1-0 lead. The Phillies came back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead, but three singles in the top of the 3rd made that lead short-lived as the A's went back ahead 3-2. Will Bromley and Ben Scczepanski led off the Philly 5th with singles and Witkowski promptly brought in Bromley with a sharply hit double play ball. The game stayed at 3-3 for the next three innings and the teams had to settle for a tie. Both teams had several chances to score a 4th run. The A's led off the 6th with two hits but a sacrifice bunt attempt resulted in the lead runner being nipped at 3rd and the next two batters fanned. In the 6th inning the Phillies came within an eyelash of scoring from second base on a hit to left and in the 7th runners made it to second and third with one out only to be stranded. Both teams got excellent defense and pitching. Connor pitched all 8 innings for the A's. He gave up 10 hits, a walk, and he hit two batters but he struck out 15 Phillies to get himself out of most of the trouble. Except for a wild-pitch 3rd strike, no Philly got on via the error route. Mike Homant started for the Phillies and struggled a bit with his control as he walked 4 in his 6-inning stint. He also gave up 7 hits over the 6 innings, but 7 K's and errorless defense, including several sharp plays at shortstop, helped him keep the game under control. Chad Gromek started the 7th and pitched two shut-down innings (6 batters faced, one scatch hit later thrown out attempting to steal second) to protect the tie and keep the Phillies undefeated. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, won big over the Nationals and took over sole possession of 1st place with their 5-0 record.
The Phillies fell behind early but hustled their way back for an relatively easy win over the much improved Nationals. After the Nationals loaded the bases in the top of the first with two walks and a single, it looked like Kevin Johnstone would pitch out of trouble when he whiffed the number five hitter and got two quick strikes on the sixth man. But Hensley lined a two run single to center and the Phillies had to play catch up. An error and a walk got the Phillies' first two batters on in the bottom of the first, and a combination of stolen bases, wild pitches, and infield outs got them home to tie the game. Johnstone then settled in to pitch hitless ball for the next four innings, allowing only two harmless base runnes on infield errors as he fanned 7. In the meantime the Phillies kept putting together scratch hits, walks, hit batters, errors, stolen bases, wild pitches, passed balls, and a balk to score one or two runs in each of their six innings at the plate. Will Bromley came on in the sixth and protected a 9-2 lead by retiring all six batters he faced, adding one K to the Phillies' pitchers' total. Late arriving Jake Yunis went 2 for 3 with a line-out to center from the bottom (10) spot in the order to lead the Phillies' 6 hit "attack". The setting sun and car-metal glare dominated this early game at Clawson. The ball was mostly a black blob on its way to the plate and the Phillies are to be congratulated for laying off bad pitches to earn a combination of 5 walks and 4 hit batters.
The Phillies' first two batters both scored for a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first and it looked as if they might be off and running as they loaded the based and threatened to score more. But getting runners to 3rd with less than two outs and leaving them there proved to be a pattern for the Phillies. The pesky twins kept the pressure on Phillies' starter Mike Homant throughout the evening with 5 hits, 3 walks, and 3 Phillies' errors as they scored one run in each inning from the second through the fifth. Finally a couple walks got the Phillies started in the bottom of the fifth and Jake Yunis promptly cashed the tying runs with a sharp single to center, one of four solid knocks for the evening. Some careless Twins' play let in a 3rd run in the inning and closer Chad Gromek came on in the 6th to try to hold the 5-4 lead. Fortunately for the Phillies, they were able to scratch out a couple more runs in the 6th off of the Twins reliever, as the Twins managed to make things close with a rally in the top of the seventh--scoring one run and bringing the go ahead run to the plate only to have a daring double steal attempt nipped by Yunis' fine throw to 3rd. The Twins were sure that we "missed the tag," but the Phillies were just as sure that the umpires missed the call on a 2-3 pick-off earlier in the inning. Homant ended up with 8Ks and the win. Yunis was 4 for 4 with 4 RBIs and a run scored. Epple had a sharp single up the middle to drive in the two insurance runs that eventually proved to be the margin of victory.
It was a tight pitchers' battle as befitted this early season battle for first place between the undefeated Blue Jays and the once-tied Phillies. Kevin Johntone took the mound for the host Phillies and promptly gave up a fly to center that the Phillies scored as an error but we suspect the Blue Jays called double. An infield out and a wild pitch quickly led to 1-0 Blue Jay lead. Figuring that if it worked for them, why not try it too, the Phillies led off the bottom of the first with a fly to center that was an error in both teams' books. A stolen base, a sharp single and a sac fly knotted the game at 1-1 heading for the second, which is where the game still sat at the end of 6. Both teams played good defense as there were few strikeouts: 4 by Phillies batters and only 3 by the Blue Jays. Johnstone limited the Blue Jays to two ground ball singles through the first 6. But "Joe" (also known as # 15) was almost as dominant for the Blue Jays. He gave only three hits through 6 and with no walks and a couple outs on the basepaths the Phillies had only two men LOB for the entire game. Nevertheless the Phillies had a few chances to score the go ahead run. Early in the game a runner was nipped at 3rd with one out, and later Johnsone hit a long lead-off double to right center that just missed going out. A couple of sharply hit "at-'em" balls left Johnstone stranded on the bases. The Phillies' best chance came in the bottom of the 6th when pinch-hitter Witkowski led off by being safe on an error and Crawford entered as pinch runner that everyone knew was to be a stolen base attempt. Coach B. Homant decided to give Gromek the option of a hit and run if he got his pitch. He did indeed get his pitch and promptly slammed into a double play becasue of the fielder covering second on the steal. Then in the top of the seventh the Blue Jays put together three straight singles, good for a three-one lead going into the bottom of the seventh. A walk, a sharp single by Narrett and a strikeout set the stage for Johnstone. Kevin promptly drilled the first pitch to left center and the Phillies were celebrating a tie game when the ball sailed cleanly over the fence for the walk-off 4-3 win.
On a hot Saturday afternoon at Bishop Folley both teams started a bit sluggish. The Phillies turned a walk and some ground ball singles into two runs in the top of the 2nd and still had a 2-0 lead going into the 4th. Two walks and three hits added up to five more runs and the Phillies were off and running at 7-0. A single run in the 5th and a 4 spot in the 7th ended the scoring. Gil Bromley and Mike Homant were the hitting stars as each contributed to five runs. Gil had 3 for 4 (plus a line-out to short that was likely his best contact) for 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Homant was 2 for 2, including a double along with two walks as he scored 4 runs and drove in 1. A rare happening for the Phillies was that all 10 present had 4 plate appearances as the team totaled 13 hits, 5 walks, and one HbP. Defenseively, the Phillies supported Will Bromley's fine pitching with perfect defense. Bromley allowed only two scratch hits and a walk as he faced only three batters over the minimum while fanning 8 in his complete game victory.
It was one of those great afternoons for baseball at Bishop Foley as the home squad Phillies took the field to try to keep their unbeaten season in order. Although the game was well played by both sides, breaks proved to be the key as all runs by both teams were unearned. The Pirates' Lon Welby doubled in a run in the first. The Phillies jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 1st on two errors and an RBI single by Johnstone. An error, a walk, and long single scored the tying Pirate run in the 2nd, and only quick hustle by the outfield cut down the batter trying for a double and prevented a much bigger inning. The 3rd and top of the 4th zipped by harmlessly. An error and a single created a Phillies' scoring chance in the bottom of the 4th and Clay Stevens took advantage of a stiff breeze to right by lining a double over first base that just sliced away from the diving Pirate right fielder for 2 RBIs and a 4-2 Phillies' lead. A single by Prentice followed by two stolen bases and a wild throw to third allowed the Phillies to pad their lead in the 6th. Pitching-wise, Mike Homant started for the Phillies, limiting the Pirates to 3 hits and 2 walks while fanning 5. Kevin Johnstone came on to earn the save with a 1-2-3 7th. In the meantime, Pirate pitchers limited the Phillies to 5 hits and 4 walks, while striking out 6. The game ended in well under two hours.
Giants End Phillies' Undefeated String at 10 Games in Laugher
The visiting Phillies opened this Capitol Park game with two walks who quickly advanced on wild pitchers and an infield out to take a 2-0 lead. The Giants responded by getting their first three batters on, via a walk, an error, and a hit respectively, all of whom ended up scoring for a 3-2 lead. After that it was all Giants as they went on to amass 15 hits (a few of the seeing eye variety but most accompanied by loud cracks of the bat) to go with 11 walks, a hit batter, and two reaching base on errors. All of which resulted in too many runs to count. Meanwhile three Giant pitchers settled in to allow only two hits--and no more walks--and one more run for the rest of the game while fanning 12. The Phillies had only one runnner left on for the entire 6-inning game. One could philosophize over whether it's better to lose in a runaway as opposed to some walk-off heartbreaker, but 'nuff said.
In what should have been a real pitchers' battle the Phillies' Mike Homant faced off against USA's #18 (whose college season, rumor had it, had just ended and was pitching his first MSBL game of the year. A hit batter, a stolen base, and some sloppy play got the Phillies off to a 1-0 lead in the first, and timely hitting by Vomastek and Prentice netted a 2-0 lead after 3. But two errors leading off the bottom of the fourth led to a 5-out inning as three unearned runs scored. The Phillies did not get another hit and USA bunched three singles in the 5th for two insurance runs. Homant ended up with 10 K's and did not walk or hit a batter but could not overcome the five men reaching base on errors. At the plate the Phillies could manage only 5 baserunners: the two singles in the third, the strikeout error in the first, and one hit batter and one walk. To go with his two-hitter, #18 pitched a complete game and fanned 6 over the 7 innings. For the most part the Phillies were able to put the ball in play, but solid defense kept anything from finding a hole.
TEAM USA SCORES EARLY AND OFTEN, HANGS ON TO BEAT PHILLIES 10-8
The Phillies outhit Team USA 13-7 but early wildness (5 Walks) in the first two innings along with 2 key errors allowed the visiting USAs to jump out to a 10-3 lead after the first two innings. Only five of the 10 runs were earned and Will Bromley found his mound game in the third, allowing only one walk and two weak singles the rest of the way. The Phillies scored in the 3rd, 4th, and 6th innings but were unable to put anything together in the 7th. With the second game of a split-opponent double header to follow it looked like a long day for the Phillies.
PHILLIES END SKID, BEAT PIRATES 8-0 IN SECOND GAME OF DOUBLE HEADER
The Phillies had lost three in a row, the last two tough losses due to some poor defense, and now had to face a fresh Pirate team in the second game of a double header. {Editorial aside: note that this sort of unfair match up can be easily avoided by trading games with some one scheduled the next day, such as the 65 Red Sox who also face an asymmetrical double header on Sunday.} Philly pitcher Chad Gromek had pitched well all year but had never been called on to go more than 4 innings. Now he would need to go all seven. Whether or not he needed the leg up, we'll never know, but the Pirates showed up with a somewhat depleted team--three of their top hitters decided a wedding was more important than baseball {second editorial aside, either schedule your wedding for a weekday morning or a Saturday evening...do you want your main wedding memory to be that you cost your team a game?...and you'll be just as married here in metro Detroit!} and two of the nine who did show up played with a sore arm and a limp. Probably it didn't matter. Gromek came out throwing strikes... a very sneaking fast ball and a hard breaking curve held the Pirates to three weak singles as he fanned 9 and walked only one. The Phillies ran themselves out of an inning in the first but scored three in the second and were never in any danger as they produced 10 hits to go with 3 walks and 3 hit batters in coasting to an 8-0 win. Chuck Vomastek led the Phillies' hitting attack with a double and a single in three at bats, scoring twice and driving in two.
It was a warm, humid evening at Capitol (where their double header had been moved from Flat Rock. The visiting Phillies scored in the second and fourth to take a two-nothing lead over the Cubs but Mike Homant ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth as the first four Cubs reached base in what proved to be a 3-run inning. The Cubs did not keep the lead long, as the Phillies came back with two in the fifth on a couple scratch hits and a run scoring balk. The Phillies went to a fresh Kevin Johnstone to nail down the victory but the firtst batter he faced doubled and the Phillies were lucky to escape further damage whan a perfect throw from Narrett in center nailed a runner going to third while the potential tying run stopped short of the plate to watch the third out take place at 3rd base. Both teams went three and out in the 7th and the second game suddenly became critical to both teams. In the first game the Cubs hit a little better but too many poor throws to first base kept the Philles alive and allowed them to score three unearned runs. Homant and Johnstone combined for 7 K's and 4 W's, while the Cub pitcher had 6 K's and 3 W's. The two Mikes, Witkowski and Homant, led the Phillies' hitting attack, such as it was, with a clean single and a scratch single each.
The Phillies started the evening with 3 rested pitchers and a chance that a fourth would arrive from the airport sometime during game two. Thus, it was a no brainer to use Kevin Johnstone, the game two starter as a two inning closer in the opener to preserve a 2-2 tie. Plan was to let Johnstone pitch the first 3 or 4 innings of the second game and then close with Will Bromley. But as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men aft gang aglie. Bromley reinjured a sore foot in the second and Gromek never made it from the airport. That left Johnstone without a net and needing to go all seven--in effect to pitch a nine inning game. He proved well up to the task, pitching a masterful one-hit shutout through 6. In the meantime, the Philles got to Chris Godley for three very unearned runs in his five innings of pitching. In the bottom of the 6th the Phillies were able to tack on three more runs off of the Cubs' bullpen. The way Johnstone was pitching the extra runs seemed overkill, but they proved to be critical. Four of the first five Cubs reached base, on an error--the Phillies' only one of the night--a walk and two hits and the game was 6-3 with a man on and only one out. But Johnstone regained his command and fanned the final two Cubs' batters, a total of 12 K's for the game. The fielding star of game one with a critical throw to first, centerfielder Gabe Narrett, came back with the defensive gem of game two with a forward diving catch of a liner to center. Will Bromley was the batting star with a walk and two sharp singles--both of these with only one good leg to hobble down to first on.
Phillies Down Nationals 4-1 in Assymetric Double Header as Chad Gromek Throws No-Hitter
A two out walk led to three Philly runs in the top of the first and Chad Gromek made them stand up for a 4-1 Philly win. The Nationals were coming off of a tough first game victory against the Tigers and while they seemed energetic enough and made some fine fielding plays there is no doubt that playing a first game creates a disadvantage. Maybe such a game could be switched with some other game, say in a different age group? That said, Gromek totally dominated the game. He fanned 12 while walking only two and overcoming two fielding errors. One of those was a dribbler to short that was a tough play but that our shortstop prides himself on making. Understandibly the Nationals scored it a hit, but applying the principle that the first hit has to be clean (this was the 5th inning), we scored it an error. Other than that dribbler, no balls were hit solid by the Nationals. Only Philly second baseman Lovie Courtney had any consistent action in the field, with two putouts and three assists as he covered a lot of the right side. At the plate, Mike Homant and Kevin Johnstone each went 2 for 3 to lead a 7-hit batting attack. Five walks, 3 hit batters, and two men reaching base on errors created numerous scoring chances, but National's pitcher Will, #25, was tough when he needed to be. A diving stab of a liner by the Nationals third baseman with two and the bases loaded in the 7th did keep the score two or three runs closer than it might have been. The game lasted a quick hour and 45 minutes as both pitchers worked like they were keeping hot dates awaiting.
PHILLIES HOLD OFF TWINS, 4-2, IN BATTLE OF STRIKE-OUT ARTISTS
Two pitchers with more strike outs than innings hooked up in a battle at Capitol Park on a warm, humid Wednesday night. The Twins' Barrett was tagged for two runs in both the first and the second innings; two of the runs were clearly unearned and the other two could have been prevented by good fielding. In the game as a whole, Barrett gave up 5 hits while fanning only five. The strike out total was probbaly held down by wildness as he walked 7. For the Phillies, strikeout leader Mike Homant took the mound and promptly struck out the leadoff man. He went on to fan 3 of 4 batters in the 4th and 3 for 3 in the 6th. But five hits, two walks, and four fielding errors kept the pressure on throughout the evening. The Twins, playing their usual hard fought game, scored unearned runs in both the 3rd and 4th innings, and had pressure on in the 5th and 7th. In the 7th, the lead-off man walked and the second batter bunted, apparantly for a sacrifice rather than a suprise hit attempt, which did not make sense in a 4-2 game. This did put a meaningless runner on 2nd base, and he promptly took too big a secondary lead and got himself doubled off on a sharp liner to second. Even without any 7th inning stikeouts Homant ended the inning with 11 Ks. Offensively, Jake Yunis led the way with 2 for 3, including a double, a run scored, and an RBI.
The sun was still hot and glaring as this 6 o'clock game got underway at Capitol. The undermanned Mets were forced to borrow the Philly manager in order to have someone in right field and although the Phillies had 10 players left, two of those needed courtesy runners and some key hitters were out of action. The visiting Phillies opened the first with a bunt single, a walk, and a sacrifice, but a strikeout, an intentional pass and a pop-up to third quickly ended the threat. The Mets came back with a lead-off single of their own followed by three straight walks and the Phillies were lucky to hold the damage to three runs. The Phillies went out harmlessly in the second and the Mets added a 4th run in their half, aided by an overly aggressive outfield play by Gabe that turned a single into a double. Both teams lead off the 3rd with a single but nothing came of it and it was still 4-0 going into the 4th. Bromley had gained his control for the Phillies but the Mets were doing a good job of putting the ball in play and their pitcher, Nick, was starting to mix in all his repertoire to keep the Phillies' batters off balance. In the top of the fourth the Phillies' number five batter, Mike Homant, led off with a sharp single and then the bottom of the order came through with a single and a long double by Gil Bromley that drove in two and gave the Phillies some hope. Two more hits, sandwiched around two ground ball errors and the Phillies scored 5 in the inning to go ahead 5-4. At this point Will Bromley really went to work, retiring 10 of the next 11 Met batters. The Phillies added two insurance runs on three hits in the top of the 7th and Bromley worked out of a little trouble in the 7th for the complete game win. In the "what might have been" column, the game ended with Bob Homant in the hole for the Mets; had two more runners got on in the 7th he would have had the chance to tie the game with a single. While never happy to be on the losing side, this time he was sort of glad to not be put in the spot of ruining the Phillies' comeback win. For the Phillies' offense, lead-off man Gabe Narrett led the way with a 4 for 4 day, all clean singles, scoring twice. Will Bromley was 2 for 3 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored, and Gil Bromley had the key hit with his double in the 4th. In all, the Phillies had 10 hits (plus three safe on errors) to the Mets' 6 (plus one safe on error, a liner that eluded Chuck V in left). The Mets had more walks, 5 to 2, thanks to that first inning, and Nick piled up 8 Ks compared to only 4 Ks for Met batters. But the real story of the game had to be the fielding. While the Mets' out-of-position infield made three errors--on Capitol Park hops to be sure--the Phillies infield handled 10 chances without an error, led by Matt Bowman's 5 chances at short. In all, the Phillies defense was responsible for 17 of the Mets outs, with every Philly position handling at least one chance on a ball hit to them. After going over two complete games without a flyball, the Phillies' outfield had five fly balls to catch.
For the second straight game the Phillies spotted their opponents a 4-0 lead and then came back to win, this time tying the game in the 6th and winning in the 8th.As per plan, Kevin Johnstone went the first three on the mound, followed by Mike Homant for two and then Chad Gromek to finish. Not per plan, weak fielding helped the Giants to two quick runs off of Johnstone and then two more off of Homant in the 4th for their 4-0 lead. Two double plays, one a conventional 4-6-3 the other involving run downs and two tag outs at third, kept the Phillies from falling even father behind. In the meantime, the Giants pitcher, Williams, seemed totally in control as he fanned four--on his way to 13--and allowed only one scratch hit and no walks. A walk, two singles, and in infield ground out netted the Phillies two runs in the bottom of the 4th and at least there was hope. In the fifth a texas league single by Matt Bowman turned in to a run with the help of a poor decision on a fielder's choice and two ground ball errors. Chad Gromek came on the pitch the top of the 6th and promptly gave up a single and a stolen base but the runner got greedy and was thrown out trying to steal third, for the last threat off of Gromek. The Phillies managed to tie the game in the 6th on a walk, a ground ball through an infielder's legs, and some lackadaisical play on a throw in from the outfield. The Phillies then looked to win the game in the bottom of the 7th as Chuck Vomastek led off with a walk and Gil Bromley got the hardest hit of the night with a line single to center. Lovie Courtney moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out on an infield grounder, but a strikeout and a great play by the Giants shortstop to nip Chad Gromek at first ended the threat. After Gromek set down the Giants in the 8th, pitching over a two-out fly ball error, it was time to either do or tie. Will Bromley led off the bottom of the 8th with a texas leager to left center; courtesy runner Gromek then advanced to third by two walks and a strikeout. Finally, Jeremy Epple ended the game with a soft grounder to 1st base as Gromek got a great jump off of third and scored standing up for the walk off fielder's choice win. Errors were the real story of the game, with 5 Phillies and 4 Giants reaching by way of an error; all of the Giant runs and two of the Philly runs were unearned. Even the earned runs scored on infield outs and a wild pitch. The Giants' Williams fanned 13 Phillies to the 8 Ks racked up by Philly pitchers, but he walked 5, 4 in the last 3 innings, compared to one harmless walk by the Philly hurlers. Coming after a 19-3 drubbing the last time these teams met it was a very satisfying win indeed.
The Phillies beat the Pirates Wednesday evening in a "closer than it sounds" 4-1 game to run their record to 16-3-2. In the meantime, the A's edged Team USA 7-6, clinching 2nd place for the Phillies. There remains a very long shot at tying for first, but the A's need only one win in their last three games and they do not appear inclined to lose a game. Mike Homant took the mound for the Phillies and struggled a bit in the first three innings when he gave up all three of his hits, a walk, and two runners on via the error route. He had to nail several 3-2 pitches to stay in control of the game as the Pirates scored in the 3rd. The Phillies managed two runs off of Pirate pitcher Swarthout in the bottom of the 2nd on a flair to right center by Homant, a long double to right by Clay that barely eluded the Pirate right fielder, and a clean single to right by Vomastek. The score remained 2-1 into the bottom of the sixth when the Phillies combined hits by Narrett, Will Bromley, and Homant for two insurance runs. Homant, meanwhile, got sharper as the game went on as he pitched hitless ball from the 4th inning on, fanning 9 of the last 12 Pirate batters. He ended up with 13 K's as against 2 walks and three hits. Homant also led the Phillies' hitting attack with 3 for 3, a run scored, and an RBI. Will Bromley was 2-3, also with a run scored and an RBI. Bromley may also have the distinction of hitting two singles that had the greatest difference in distance traveled; his first inning single went about 35 feet and his 6th inning single went about 350 feet (or however far it is straightaway left where his drive two hopped the fence). Next time he promises he will touch first base on his first go-by. (Since he made it to second and back to first there was some sentiment that we should score it a triple, but no go on that one.) Chuck Vomastek also had a fine day at the plate with 2 for 2 and an RBI, both line drives to right center on the first hittable pitch.
Unlike a couple weeks ago when a 19-3 whalloping could be attributed to an absence of Phillies' pitching, this time the Phillies staff entered the game in good shape and with high hopes. The Phillies put a couple hits together off of young Pistono in the top of the first but failed to score. Still, the Phillies looked to be in good shape with Kevin Johnstone taking the rubber and Chad Gromek waiting in the wings. But Giant batters led off the game with a single--erased trying to steal, a single, a double and a double for two quick runs and they were never headed. After a lead off triple resulted in a run in the 3rd, Chad entered the game in the 4th, gave up a couple runs on two doubles and an error, and then the Giants reeled off 6 straight hits in the 5th to go up 9-0. Since the Giants were hitting everything that was thrown with any velocity the time seemed right for Bob Homant to get an inning pitching. But again, after an error and a ground out, the Giants reeled off 6 straight hits for the second time in the game, scoring another 7 runs. Finally Chuck Vomastek was summoned in from left for his MSBL pitching debut. Chuck provided the only Philly highlight of the game with 2/3 inning and no runs allowed. Pistono ended his seven inning stint with 3 soft singles allowed to go with 9 Ks and 2 Ws. Credit goes to the Giants who managed not to gloat too openly.
For a moment it looked as if the Phillies would rally from behind again but not this time, as two runners were left stranded in the top of the 7th. For the evening the Phillies outhit the Blue Jays 9-8, but 6 walks and a hit batter kept Philly starter Will Bromley in trouble most of the game. Will was not as wild as the totals would suggest, as there were a lot of 3-2 pitches, and some of those walks came after two or three 2-strike foul balls. Will also pitched out of several jams, stranding 11 runners over his 6 innings of work. In the 6th he pitched out a bases loaded, no one out jam. In the final analysis, he was beat by a two-out wrong field pop up to very short right, fair by maybe 10 feet. On the offensive side, the Phillies did a good job of putting the ball in play, but with no walks and only one runner reaching on an error, they could only manage three runs off of their 9 hits. The killer play came in the 4th when a sharp liner to right by Gromek looked like it would plate one and leave runners on 1st and 3rd, only to result in the classic line drive double play.
(best I could do, spin-wise) In a game where both teams were trying to position themselves for the playoffs the second place Phillies had Matt Bowman make his pitching debut. Matt had "good stuff" but struggled early with control, walking the first three batters and then having to make a couple fat pitches. Phillies fielders cooperated by creating a 6-out inning so that Matt could get lots of work in, with only 4 of the 11 Met runs being earned. Gabe Narrett was summoned in from center field to make his first pitching appearance of the year and he was so effective at getting the 3rd out of the first inning that he went on to record a 5 1/3 inning stint, scattering 10 hits, including a homer and a variety of extra base hits. In the meantime, the Mets clinched 4th place as an assortment of pitchers limited the Phillies to 6 hits by six different batters and 4 runs. Lovie Crawford finally got to show off his speed on the basepaths as he converted a hit-by-pitch and an infield single into two runs, one via a stolen base, an infield out and a steal of home on an attempted pick off at first. Oh yeah, that final score was Mets 18, Phillies 4.
Going into the bottom of the 4th the home Phillies led the Cubs 8-7 in what had been a seesaw game marked by control problems and frequent hitting on both sides. A tight but consistent strike zone gave both pitchers troubles most of the evening. The Phillies managed to eke across a run in both the 5th and the 6th while their pitcher, Chad Gromek, finally gained his command. The Phillies finally put the game away in the bottom of the 6th with a 6-run inning. The Phillies combined 17 hits, 3 walks, a hit batter and a couple reaching base via the error route to score at least one run every inning. Catcher Jake Yunis stood out for the Phillies with a 3 for 4 night, including a homer, double, 5 RBIs and two runs scored--everything jumping off his bat. He also shut down the Cubs running game as he nailed two for two trying to steal second. Will Bromley also has a great night, batting like a lead-off man should with a 3 for 3 night plus a walk and 4 runs scored. For good measure he included a triple and two RBIs. Besides throwing his complete game, Gromek was 3 for 4, plus safe on an error, stole three bases and scored 3 runs. All in all the Phillies had a good night on the bases, with 8 stolen bases in 8 attempts. And, something this writer cannot remember happening before, they went through the entire game, with a total of 39 plate appearances, without a single K. Three slightly unorthodox double plays aided the Phillies' defense and added to the Cubs' frustration. One was a strike-him-out-throw him out, one a 5-4-3 where the second out was the result of an interference call, and one a line drive shot to first that froze the baserunner on the wrong side of the baseman. That play was the closest thing there was to a turning point as the Cub second inning had started with three walks and a single. They still scored 4 runs but if that liner is a hit, they likely score at least 7 and Gromek does not survive the inning.
What was arguably the best Phillies' season ever was ended Wednesday night by strong Giants' pitching with some help from weak Phillies' fielding. Virtually the same line-up that smacked out 17 hits with 0 Ks in the first playoff round was limited to three harmless singles and K'd 12 times by two Giant pitchers (S. Pistono going the first 6 innings). On the Phillies' side of the ledger, the 8-0 score was very misleading. Kevin Johnstone limited the Giants to a variety of singles, mostly of the scratch variety, and the 3-0 score could easily have been 0-0 going into the sixth. In the 6th three errors opened the door for 4 Giant runs and effectively ended any comeback hopes. If the Giants can field their good team against the A's on Monday it should make for an epic battle.