GaryMrMets
07-06-2004, 12:34 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/9087068.htm
Posted on Tue, Jul. 06, 2004
Phils getting into groove at home
By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com
WHERE'S THE party?
Last night, at Citizens Bank Park, where winning is in vogue.
Just about the time Madonna was heating up her act at the Wachovia Center, the Phillies hit their high note for the season.
At the season's halfway point, the Phils' 6-5 win over the Mets moved them to seven games over .500 for the first time all season, and left them three games ahead of the Mets and Marlins in the National League East.
"We had a lot of expectations," All-Star slugger Jim Thome said. "We're meeting those expectations. We want to carry that into the break."
The All-Star break comes Monday. The Phils have three more games against the Mets, then host the fading Braves for three. They're 6-2 amid a 14-game homestand at the Bank, a ballpark that once held little advantage but now, with 22 sellouts in 42 home dates, is quickly becoming their personal playground. It seems as if everybody is crazy for them.
Billy Wagner's perfect ninth inning justified the love of the 41,571 in attendance, snagged him his 13th save of the season and capped a splendid bullpen effort after Paul Abbott foundered in the fifth. Manager Larry Bowa could hardly express himself when it came to rookie Ryan Madson, who first saved Abbott and the game.
"I'm running out of words," Bowa said.
The bullpen and the hitting are saving the starters, who are having plenty of trouble. Still, the Phillies' three-game lead is their best of the season, and they reached it against a club that had been burning up, winning 13 of 19, sweeping the Yankees over the weekend and setting themselves up especially to face the Phils.
Mets manager Art Howe's plan: Hold lefty staff ace Tom Glavine back from his start Sunday against the Yankees to face lefties Bobby Abreu and Thome, the heart of the Phillies' lineup, and relay the importance of the Mets' four-game series that began yesterday. The hitters got Howe's message, led by Cliff Floyd, who homered and even supplied some eye-popping, body-sacrificing defense.
The message seemed to miss Glavine - but then, as Howe noted afterward, nobody's perfect.
"The best-laid plans go wrong sometimes," said Glavine, who blew a 3-0 first-inning lead.
Tight-lipped, Glavine echoed Howe's complaint about corner-stingy umpire Jim Reynolds, no beautiful stranger to Glavine. They said they had seen this hanky-panky before, since Reynolds was behind the plate on June 2 in Philadelphia when Glavine set his season high of four walks in a seven-inning no-decision. "I had a problem with him the last time I pitched here," Glavine said.
The Phillies remembered: "We just let him pitch," Abreu explained.
Still, by the third inning Glavine was getting his usual borderline calls, working the corners like a surgeon, but he had his worst start of the season. He had already given up six runs and eight hits, the most runs since the Braves got seven in 4 1/3 innings almost a full year ago and the most hits since the Dodgers got 10 on April 27. He finished by tying his season high with 10 hits in six innings but not before getting into a groove for his final four frames.
As it turned out, Glavine regrouping mattered plenty.
Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, previously perfect in the field for 47 games, made his second error in two games yesterday, throwing high to first base in the first inning. Floyd eventually made him pay with his two-out, two-run homer, followed by a solo shot from Richard Hidalgo for a 3-0 hole.
The Phils dug out in the bottom of the first with two-out RBI hits from Pat Burrell and David Bell to cut it to 3-2. In the second, after Placido Polanco's sacrifice fly tied it at 3, two-out RBI hits from Abreu, Thome and, again, Burrell made it 6-3. They were all big hits.
In the fifth, Abbott walked Glavine for the second time, a strategic miscue that cost the Phillies two more runs and cost Abbott his outing after a two-out, bases-loaded single from Floyd cut it to 6-5. But Abbott was pitching under a lucky star.
Madson entered and got the next six outs, including a lucky doubleplay when Kaz Matsui lined to second and Polanco caught Jose Reyes too far off second, just before Mike Piazza singled to right to end Madson's night. Rheal Cormier froze Floyd on a fastball. Tim Worrell cruised through the eighth and set up Wagner.
It was the Phillies' 27th comeback win, tops in the league. That speaks of resilience. It came as no surprise.
They had responded to their 16-inning loss to Baltimore on Friday night with holiday wins Saturday and Sunday, using a pinch-hit single from Tomas Perez to win Saturday in the eighth inning. They also won with a splendid start from snubbed, 11-win All-Star candidate Eric Milton on Sunday.
"We're a good team," Abreu said.
Said Piazza, knowing full well his Mets hold a 4-2 season series lead on the Phils, "Anybody's beatable."
Maybe so. But when you're the favorite to win the division entering the season there's plenty to prove. Last night, against a hot team focused on toppling them, the Phillies proved it.
Not that they put too much stock in last night alone.
"What stamps us as the best team in the division," said a raspy Rollins, shaking a cold and fever and anticipating his first unscheduled day off since May, "is our record."
They cherish the thought.
http://www.philly.com/images/philly/philly/9088/82596486936.JPG
Jim Thome tries to slap a tag on the Mets' Kaz Matsui in the first inning. Jimmy Rollins was charged with an error on the play. AP
Posted on Tue, Jul. 06, 2004
Phils getting into groove at home
By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com
WHERE'S THE party?
Last night, at Citizens Bank Park, where winning is in vogue.
Just about the time Madonna was heating up her act at the Wachovia Center, the Phillies hit their high note for the season.
At the season's halfway point, the Phils' 6-5 win over the Mets moved them to seven games over .500 for the first time all season, and left them three games ahead of the Mets and Marlins in the National League East.
"We had a lot of expectations," All-Star slugger Jim Thome said. "We're meeting those expectations. We want to carry that into the break."
The All-Star break comes Monday. The Phils have three more games against the Mets, then host the fading Braves for three. They're 6-2 amid a 14-game homestand at the Bank, a ballpark that once held little advantage but now, with 22 sellouts in 42 home dates, is quickly becoming their personal playground. It seems as if everybody is crazy for them.
Billy Wagner's perfect ninth inning justified the love of the 41,571 in attendance, snagged him his 13th save of the season and capped a splendid bullpen effort after Paul Abbott foundered in the fifth. Manager Larry Bowa could hardly express himself when it came to rookie Ryan Madson, who first saved Abbott and the game.
"I'm running out of words," Bowa said.
The bullpen and the hitting are saving the starters, who are having plenty of trouble. Still, the Phillies' three-game lead is their best of the season, and they reached it against a club that had been burning up, winning 13 of 19, sweeping the Yankees over the weekend and setting themselves up especially to face the Phils.
Mets manager Art Howe's plan: Hold lefty staff ace Tom Glavine back from his start Sunday against the Yankees to face lefties Bobby Abreu and Thome, the heart of the Phillies' lineup, and relay the importance of the Mets' four-game series that began yesterday. The hitters got Howe's message, led by Cliff Floyd, who homered and even supplied some eye-popping, body-sacrificing defense.
The message seemed to miss Glavine - but then, as Howe noted afterward, nobody's perfect.
"The best-laid plans go wrong sometimes," said Glavine, who blew a 3-0 first-inning lead.
Tight-lipped, Glavine echoed Howe's complaint about corner-stingy umpire Jim Reynolds, no beautiful stranger to Glavine. They said they had seen this hanky-panky before, since Reynolds was behind the plate on June 2 in Philadelphia when Glavine set his season high of four walks in a seven-inning no-decision. "I had a problem with him the last time I pitched here," Glavine said.
The Phillies remembered: "We just let him pitch," Abreu explained.
Still, by the third inning Glavine was getting his usual borderline calls, working the corners like a surgeon, but he had his worst start of the season. He had already given up six runs and eight hits, the most runs since the Braves got seven in 4 1/3 innings almost a full year ago and the most hits since the Dodgers got 10 on April 27. He finished by tying his season high with 10 hits in six innings but not before getting into a groove for his final four frames.
As it turned out, Glavine regrouping mattered plenty.
Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, previously perfect in the field for 47 games, made his second error in two games yesterday, throwing high to first base in the first inning. Floyd eventually made him pay with his two-out, two-run homer, followed by a solo shot from Richard Hidalgo for a 3-0 hole.
The Phils dug out in the bottom of the first with two-out RBI hits from Pat Burrell and David Bell to cut it to 3-2. In the second, after Placido Polanco's sacrifice fly tied it at 3, two-out RBI hits from Abreu, Thome and, again, Burrell made it 6-3. They were all big hits.
In the fifth, Abbott walked Glavine for the second time, a strategic miscue that cost the Phillies two more runs and cost Abbott his outing after a two-out, bases-loaded single from Floyd cut it to 6-5. But Abbott was pitching under a lucky star.
Madson entered and got the next six outs, including a lucky doubleplay when Kaz Matsui lined to second and Polanco caught Jose Reyes too far off second, just before Mike Piazza singled to right to end Madson's night. Rheal Cormier froze Floyd on a fastball. Tim Worrell cruised through the eighth and set up Wagner.
It was the Phillies' 27th comeback win, tops in the league. That speaks of resilience. It came as no surprise.
They had responded to their 16-inning loss to Baltimore on Friday night with holiday wins Saturday and Sunday, using a pinch-hit single from Tomas Perez to win Saturday in the eighth inning. They also won with a splendid start from snubbed, 11-win All-Star candidate Eric Milton on Sunday.
"We're a good team," Abreu said.
Said Piazza, knowing full well his Mets hold a 4-2 season series lead on the Phils, "Anybody's beatable."
Maybe so. But when you're the favorite to win the division entering the season there's plenty to prove. Last night, against a hot team focused on toppling them, the Phillies proved it.
Not that they put too much stock in last night alone.
"What stamps us as the best team in the division," said a raspy Rollins, shaking a cold and fever and anticipating his first unscheduled day off since May, "is our record."
They cherish the thought.
http://www.philly.com/images/philly/philly/9088/82596486936.JPG
Jim Thome tries to slap a tag on the Mets' Kaz Matsui in the first inning. Jimmy Rollins was charged with an error on the play. AP