Phils/Braves Weekend Series

7/25/08 Braves 8, Phils 2

Oh, were there some games?... sike! I know all about 'em. In fact for the Phils disgusting Friday night bend-over, I had the best CBP seats of my life, eighteen rows back on the first base side, courtesy of Kristi "Frazer" Vitola, Attorney at Law. Well, what can I say... there were some really shitty calls, MLB umps may be trying to emulate the NFL's popularity by blowing calls all over the league. In this game specifically, first base ump Bob Davidson and second base ump Alfonso Marquez were particularly offensive. I was close enough to see the Braves cheat a double play out of us without tagging second, and then in the ninth, Gregor Blanco was out by a stride at first on the sac bunt, but "No-Eyes" Davidson at first some-fucking-how called him safe, allowing the inning to progress and allowing Brad "Lights Out" Lidge to throw the worst inning of his Phillies career. It's hard for me to blame Lidge though... I mean, he gets paid to be a closer, not late relief. Would Goose Gosssage have been able to do it? Prolly, but the fact remains, you wouldn't have brought in a starter in that sitch, why a closer? Crazy Uncle Charlie, I dunno how safe his job is, and neither do you. Irregardless, win or loss, I had a great time and was honestly beside myself just to watch my faltering, human heroes that close up, even if they failed. Plus, the ninth inning Chase Utley single broke his 0-15 and the Big Man, Ryan Howard promptly shot his 30th dinger of the year over the left field fence.

7/26/08 Phils 10, Braves 9

No time for love, Doctor Jones, we got another game early Saturday, and what a game! While Todd and I scrubbed 6,000 square feet of wall at the new Avon Grove elementary (after some foolish carpenter (well, some foolish something) misused a de-molding agent, we hand scrubbed it off, our arms are jelly) the Phils had a wild one! "Hollywood" Hamels had a rough fourth inning, to say the least. Allowing nine runs, four short of a Philly record, including two walks, two errors, one on Hamels and one on Utley, a double, and a homer to Mark "Adam Sandler" Texiera. Thank goodness the Fightins' showed up today, giving us the comeback we expect and deserve, well at least I expect and deserve it. Down 9-3 in the fifth, your Philadelphia Phillies came alive. The top of the line-up knocked four straight singles, followed by a Pat "the Bat" Burrell sac fly and singles by Jayson Werth and Chris Coste. Now, with the score 9-7 for the Braves, pinch-hittah extraordinaire Greg "the Natural" Dobbs stepped in and smiz-ashed his third, crucial jack of the year on a 1-2 pitch from reliever Blaine Boyer (gotta love hitting off a cat named Blaine!). The pinch hit was Dobbs' twentieth of the season, tying Doc Miller's 1913 Philly record. Greg is hitting .435 of the bench this season, and is exemplary of this team at their best. Nine more pinch hits this year would give Dobbsy the MLB record.

Amazingly, the win went to Adam Eaton, in his first appearance for the Phils out of the bull-pen after proving himself incapable of being a major league starting pitcher. Eaton and five other Phils relievers combined for five plus inning of shutout ball, including a beautiful Lidge rebound from the previous day, pitching a perfect ninth and getting his 23rd save of the season, and his 23rd consecutive save, , utterly shattering the previous record set by Billy "Biggest Asshole in Baseball" Wagner when he did his forgettable stint in Philadelphia a couple years back. The win felt damn good for us Phils, with the hated New York Mets losing to St. Louis, moving us back to one game out of first and within reach of the top spot today. We got one more vs. the Bravos, starting now, turn it on!!