Eyre Force: Phillies 3, Braves 2

by dajafi on Aug 31, 2009 1:43 AM EDT Comment 10 comments

It wasn't exactly a repeat of their August 14 showdown, but once again Joe Blanton and Jair Jurrjens squared off Sunday night, once again both pitched very well, and once again the Phillies came away with a hard-fought 3-2 victory. Blanton tossed his tenth straight quality start (and 16th in his last 18 starts), holding the Braves to one run--a Martin Prado solo homer in the first inning--on three hits over seven innings, striking out seven. Jurrjens matched him for the first six innings, allowing only a Chase Utley solo home run that tied the game in the fourth and needing only 75 pitches to do it.

Ultimately it came down to defense--specifically, two plays the Braves didn't make, and one the Phillies did. Raul Ibanez led off the bottom of the seventh with his second walk of the night off Jurrjens, the only two allowed by the Atlanta starter. Pedro Feliz followed with an excellent bunt to the left side that Chipper Jones barehanded in time to make the play, but threw beyond the reach of Adam LaRoche to give the Phillies runners at second and third with no outs. Carlos Ruiz, already 2 for 2 in the game, launched a fly ball toward the left field corner that Garret Anderson came up just short on, the ball trickling out of his glove as both runners scored to give the Phils a 3-1 lead.

Ryan Madson came on in relief of Blanton for the eighth, and immediately got into trouble by hitting Matt Diaz and allowing a full-count single to Prado. Madson got ahead of Jones 1-2, but the veteran hitter pulled a changeup through the hole on the right side and Diaz beat Jayson Werth's throw home, cutting the lead to 3-2. On came Scott Eyre, appearing for the first time in two weeks, to face Brian McCann. After falling behind, McCann lashed a line drive to the right side that Chase Utley snagged on one hop and threw to Jimmy Rollins at second--and Rollins, seeing that Prado was not even halfway to third, fired to Pedro Feliz who ran Prado down for the second out. (McCann, who had taken a big turn, dove back to first just ahead of Rollins' return throw bid for the Phils' second triple play in a week.) Eyre stayed on to retire Anderson on another grounder to Utley and end the inning, showing some emotion as the throw reached Ryan Howard's glove.

Brad Lidge came on for the ninth and retired the Braves 1-2-3 for the second time this weekend, striking out Greg Norton on a slider to end it. The win restored the Phillies' NL East lead to eight games over both the Braves and Marlins, as they enjoy an off-day before hosting the San Francisco Giants, co-leaders for the NL wild card playoff berth after a weekend sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

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It's a minor point

and one that the ESPN commentators (unsurprisingly?) missed as well, but the player attempting to field Chipper Jones’ off-target throw was Martin Prado, upon further viewings. I figured it was also LaRoche, but Prado was over to cover the play. May have been all the difference, as I thought it looked like a pretty catchable ball.

by barryjive on Aug 31, 2009 1:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Blanton delivers

Another low-scoring win in a game started by Joe Blanton.
The Phillies don’t play a lot of games where the winning team scores 3 runs or less, but Joe Blanton has been involved in most of them this season. Overall, the Phillies are 7-6 in games where the winning team scores 2 or 3 runs (no 1-0 games this year so far), and Blanton has been the starter in four of the seven wins and four of the six losses – for eight of 13 overall. His record is 3-3 with two no decisions. His worst performance in any of those eight games was three runs in six innings vs. the Brewers in a 3-1 loss. The best were in two wins where he went 7.1 shutout innings vs. Santana and the Mets; and 7.1 giving up one run vs. Pittsburgh.
Just for those curious of the breakdown, Phillies have won four times by 3-2, once by 3-1, once by 3-0 (Hamels) and once by 2-0 (Blanton). They lost three times by 3-2, once by 3-1, once by 2-1, and once by 2-0 (Lincecum).
And even though it might seem that Brad Lidge has blown most of his small leads, in these low-scoring games he’s been half decent. Of the seven wins, Lidge saved five and gave up only one run. Of the six losses, only a 3-2 loss to LA involved a Lidge blown save, a solo homer by Rafael Furcal. However, Lidge also blew saves in what could have been a 3-2 win over the Yankees (later won by 4-3); what could have been a 3-2 win vs. the Dodgers (his third loss) , what could have been a 3-2 win vs. the Cubs (later won by 4-3); and another could have been 3-2 win vs. Atlanta two weeks ago. So those five blown saves ended up as two wins, three losses.

by phillyinportland on Aug 31, 2009 3:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hamels 1-0

Add another low-scoring win to the record after Hamels’ complete game win over the Giants, 1-0. The only low-scoring final they’re missing now is a 2-1 win. Who knows, the way the team is hitting and JA Happ is pitching, it could Happ-en tomorrow.

by phillyinportland on Sep 2, 2009 2:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pedro 2-1

Off by a day. Last three wins by 3-2, 2-1, and 1-0. That’s got to be pretty rare. And, oh yeah, the other game in there they scored zero runs. Like something out of the ’60s, six runs in four games, three wins.

by phillyinportland on Sep 4, 2009 2:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

James Calvin

Jimmy Rollins was the Player of the Game last night, for his defense alone. He was terrific. That double play was a really heads-up move.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Aug 31, 2009 10:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What was the WPA on that play?

by FuquaManuel on Aug 31, 2009 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

WPA on the double play: 27.7%. By far the biggest swing in the game, either way.

Eyre’s was 33.5% for his 1 inning of work. I guess that’s him being well-rested?

by PhillyFriar on Aug 31, 2009 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rich Hoffman

“Redefining Lidge” came true this weekend.

Both times Lidge came into the game, he was rested (i.e., he did not pitch back-to-back games). Both times, he got the Braves to retire in order.

Here’s a little reminder from the column.

With rest: 2.38 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 75 percent of the appearances without allowing an earned run.

Without rest: 9.95 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, and 56 percent of the appearances without allowing an earned run.

Sounds about right.

Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?

by mikefive on Aug 31, 2009 1:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Eyre

Why doesn’t this guy get more love? He is money with RISP (0-28). His BB rate is what I consider high at 14 BB in 27.1 innings yet his WHIP is only 1.28. Should Romero not get healthy Eyre has been a great investment.

by Steve-O- on Aug 31, 2009 7:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs