GaryMrMets
06-30-2004, 03:08 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/9046513.htm
Posted on Wed, Jun. 30, 2004
Home is where the hits are
Suddenly, Phils' offense clicking at new ballpark
By PAUL HAGEN
hagenp@phillynews.com
Maybe it's just the law of averages taking hold.
Maybe the Phillies finally are getting used to their plush, new surroundings.
Maybe it's the Montreal Expos' pitching.
Or, maybe it's nothing at all, just a random spike that can occur with any small sample taken over the course of a long baseball season.
This much is certain, though: The Phillies are two games deep into their longest homestand in 4 years, 14 straight days or nights of playing in front of large and enthusiastic crowds at Citizens Bank Park.
And as the bright-night lights dimmed over the field and the people filed out, all that angst about how much better the Phillies have been hitting on the road seemed as yesterday as Travis Lee.
To refresh the memories of anybody who might already have forgotten, when the Phillies flew home from Boston on Sunday night, they were hitting .271 as a team on the road and averaging 5.3 runs per game.
At home, even playing in a just-add-water-for-instant-offense park, they were hitting .243 and averaging 4.7 runs.
Shrugs all around. The best theory seemed to be that the Phillies' hitters had become so starry-eyed watching baseballs fly over the fences that they began subconsciously dropping their back shoulders and swinging for the fences.
That apparently hasn't been a problem in the first two games since their return.
After outslugging the Expos last night, 17-7, they had scored a total of 31 runs and were batting .427 as a team.
Arena Baseball.
They also hit seven homers, giving them 43 for June, a club record for any month. The previous mark, 42, was set in June 1977. And they still have one game to go.
"Crazy, man," said shortstop Jimmy Rollins. "You can't explain the last two games. It really is crazy. What it does is solidify our confidence. We think, 'Man, we can do this every night.' It's not going to be that way, of course. But you have that confidence."
Told that, in fact, the Phillies have scored eight or more runs in nine of their last 23 games, Rollins only grinned and pointed out that this meant there were 14 games when they scored fewer than eight.
It probably didn't hurt last night that the Expos were forced to make a late pitching change. Tony Armas Jr. was scheduled to start for Montreal, 5 days after shutting out the Phillies for six innings at Olympic Stadium.
Except that he experienced shoulder tightness while throwing on the side and was scratched. So manager Frank Robinson handed the ball to 23-year-old Shawn Hill, who was making his major league debut after being called up from Double A Harrisburg.
Hill retired the first four batters he faced, including three strikeouts...then 11 of the next 15 batters reached base, forcing Robinson had to go to his bullpen in the third inning.
Still, this has been an impressive display.
Pat Burrell was batting .174 in June coming out of Boston. In the first two games at CBP, he went 5-for-8 (.625), including a homer and a double, scored five runs and drove in three before being taken out after four innings with a mild right groin strain.
He said he hasn't changed anything mechanically.
"When things are going bad, the biggest thing for me is to try to slow the game down," he said. "I get anxious and start trying to do too much.
"Things weren't going good, but it wasn't because I didn't want them to or I wasn't trying. Sometimes you have to go back to square one. Just go back to how I started the year. It can be challenging, yeah, but if you believe in what you're doing, it will work out."
Burrell said that coming out of the game was precautionary and that he hopes to play tonight.
Centerfielder Jason Michaels pointed out that the Phillies can't rest on what they've done the last two games.
"We've got to keep this going," he said. "From what it looks like to me, we're just getting better at-bats. So we have to keep that going."
Trying to prevent that will be Expos righthander Zach Day. He's allowed three or fewer earned runs in 12 of his 15 starts this season and in 57 career appearances has served up more than one homer only three times.
Posted on Wed, Jun. 30, 2004
Home is where the hits are
Suddenly, Phils' offense clicking at new ballpark
By PAUL HAGEN
hagenp@phillynews.com
Maybe it's just the law of averages taking hold.
Maybe the Phillies finally are getting used to their plush, new surroundings.
Maybe it's the Montreal Expos' pitching.
Or, maybe it's nothing at all, just a random spike that can occur with any small sample taken over the course of a long baseball season.
This much is certain, though: The Phillies are two games deep into their longest homestand in 4 years, 14 straight days or nights of playing in front of large and enthusiastic crowds at Citizens Bank Park.
And as the bright-night lights dimmed over the field and the people filed out, all that angst about how much better the Phillies have been hitting on the road seemed as yesterday as Travis Lee.
To refresh the memories of anybody who might already have forgotten, when the Phillies flew home from Boston on Sunday night, they were hitting .271 as a team on the road and averaging 5.3 runs per game.
At home, even playing in a just-add-water-for-instant-offense park, they were hitting .243 and averaging 4.7 runs.
Shrugs all around. The best theory seemed to be that the Phillies' hitters had become so starry-eyed watching baseballs fly over the fences that they began subconsciously dropping their back shoulders and swinging for the fences.
That apparently hasn't been a problem in the first two games since their return.
After outslugging the Expos last night, 17-7, they had scored a total of 31 runs and were batting .427 as a team.
Arena Baseball.
They also hit seven homers, giving them 43 for June, a club record for any month. The previous mark, 42, was set in June 1977. And they still have one game to go.
"Crazy, man," said shortstop Jimmy Rollins. "You can't explain the last two games. It really is crazy. What it does is solidify our confidence. We think, 'Man, we can do this every night.' It's not going to be that way, of course. But you have that confidence."
Told that, in fact, the Phillies have scored eight or more runs in nine of their last 23 games, Rollins only grinned and pointed out that this meant there were 14 games when they scored fewer than eight.
It probably didn't hurt last night that the Expos were forced to make a late pitching change. Tony Armas Jr. was scheduled to start for Montreal, 5 days after shutting out the Phillies for six innings at Olympic Stadium.
Except that he experienced shoulder tightness while throwing on the side and was scratched. So manager Frank Robinson handed the ball to 23-year-old Shawn Hill, who was making his major league debut after being called up from Double A Harrisburg.
Hill retired the first four batters he faced, including three strikeouts...then 11 of the next 15 batters reached base, forcing Robinson had to go to his bullpen in the third inning.
Still, this has been an impressive display.
Pat Burrell was batting .174 in June coming out of Boston. In the first two games at CBP, he went 5-for-8 (.625), including a homer and a double, scored five runs and drove in three before being taken out after four innings with a mild right groin strain.
He said he hasn't changed anything mechanically.
"When things are going bad, the biggest thing for me is to try to slow the game down," he said. "I get anxious and start trying to do too much.
"Things weren't going good, but it wasn't because I didn't want them to or I wasn't trying. Sometimes you have to go back to square one. Just go back to how I started the year. It can be challenging, yeah, but if you believe in what you're doing, it will work out."
Burrell said that coming out of the game was precautionary and that he hopes to play tonight.
Centerfielder Jason Michaels pointed out that the Phillies can't rest on what they've done the last two games.
"We've got to keep this going," he said. "From what it looks like to me, we're just getting better at-bats. So we have to keep that going."
Trying to prevent that will be Expos righthander Zach Day. He's allowed three or fewer earned runs in 12 of his 15 starts this season and in 57 career appearances has served up more than one homer only three times.