HAPPy Days are here Again!

See what I did there? See my last post after J.A. Happ's last outing...

What a game last night! J.A. Happ pitched another fine game in crunch time for the Phillies. Happ made one bad pitch and paid the price that was a two run homerun but it was the Phillies who would find themselves on top at the end of the night in the first game of a three game series with the Atlanta Braves. The Phillies offense got the job done in the eighth inning, scoring four times to take a 6-2 lead into the ninth. The big hit of the inning was Pat Burrell's three run homerun, but there were so many great plays for the Phillies last night.

In the top of the eighth Rudy Seanez, who entered the game in the seventh in relief of Happ, gave up a lead off triple to the Baves' Kelly Johnson, although it was scored a double and an error on Shane Victorino. After getting Omar Infante to line out to shortstop, Jeff Francoeur hit a chopper to Jimmy Rollins, who played it as perfectly as you could imagine and threw home to try and get Johnson who was running on the play. Carlos Ruiz did an excellent job of blocking the plate but Rollins had it played so well that he got the ball home with time to spare. Huge play. That made the situation a tie game with a runner at first and two outs, where it could have been 3-2 Braves with one out and a runner at first.


Earlier in the year I was as frustrated with Carlos Ruiz and anybody else, but I have to give him props. He has been pretty solid behind the plate. He isn't throwing as many balls into the outfield when trying to catch runners sleeping on the bases in the second half of the season and his batting has improved since the all star break.

By the way, that was a weird play in the ninth when the ball apparently stayed in play rather than being a homerun. Just another reason why I believe that someday all outfields should be uniform. Oh well. Tough break for the Braves, but that's ok with me. Maybe not this guy though...

Meanwhile in Flushing, New York...
...pitchers from the Windy City possessed the ability to hit grand slams. Seriously! The Mets lost to the Cubs by a final score of 9-5, but it was Cubs pitcher Jason Marquis' fourth inning grand slam that would prove to be the game winner, putting the Cubs up 6-2.

Believe it or not but that is the second time this season that the Mets gave up a grand slam to an opposing pitcher. The other was Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners. In all seriousness, has a team ever given up two grand slams to pitchers in the same season before?

The daily look at the situation, courtesy of ESPN's Hunt for October;

The Mets loss decreased the Phillies' magic number to four for the division. And the Mets better wake up soon because the Brewers are now only a game behind and they also finish up at home against the Pirates for three games starting tonight and the Cubs who will likely be playing most of their key guys since Lou Piniella has verbally committed to playing his regulars for the sake of competition. Good man that Lou.

Tonight Cole Hamels takes the mound for the Phillies and Mike Hampton will oppose him for the Braves. You have to like the Phillies' chances tonight, right? You can probably pencil in a win for the Mets tonight with Johan Santana taking the mound for the Metros. Of course, he'll have to pitch a complete game to ensure that...