Nite Owl Rides Again! - Phillies 2, Padres 0

Holy Mixed Metaphors Batman!

Faced with a Phillies offense that he knew would not help him out, Vance Worley became his alter ego, Nite Owl. As a superhero, Worley was immune to the lack of runs, and was able to call on Doctor Manhattan to help finagle the runs needed for a victory.

Against this matchup, even the Mysterious Joe Wieland didn't stand a chance, as the Phillies took the first game of this four-game series against the San Diego Padres.

After Juan Pierre broke Phillies' tradition by leading off the game with a walk, Placido Polanco blooped a single to left moving Pierre to third. Jimmy Rollins came up, and did what Jim Thome could not yesterday: he "belted" a sac fly, scoring Pierre. Clearly the work of Dr. Manhattan.

Rollins' RBI was followed up by singles from Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino, and the Phillies appeared on the verge of breaking out against Wieland; but a popup from John Mayberry and a weak grounder from Carlos Ruiz ended the bases loaded threat in a characteristically Phillies phashion. The game became a pitchers' duel at this point, with both starters combining for 18 strikeouts and allowing only nine hits.

In the ninth inning, Pence led off with a walk and reached third on a Victorino single. When Vic stole third, the Phils had runners on second and third with no outs, which means, obviously, they are guaranteed to score ZERO RUNS; which is when Worley Nite Owl called for Dr. Manhattan again. Mayberry induced a passed ball, allowing Pence to score easily. Logically, with a runner on third now, and no outs, the Phils could not score further.

Jonathan Papelbon, the Fifty-Eight Cent Man, came on to close out the game; which he did in the most toe-tapping, jig-inducing way possible. A leadoff walk to Yonder Alonso set the stage for John Baker, who grounded into the 15th double play induced by Phillies pitchers this season. Let's all ship up to Boston.

In winning the game, the Phils not only return to a potentially season-salvaging one game under .500, and establish a winning streak that would make Lou Brown proud; they also extended their winning streak at PetCo Park to 12 games, the longest streak at any road park for the Phillies, ever. They do, however, remain in last place in the NL East omg season over should of traded.

Tomorrow night, Coal Hammels takes the mound against Thomas Edison, as the Phils look to return to .500 baseball for the first time in over a thousand years.

Source: FanGraphs

And, as with last night, since it's dark-ass-late, let's go aroundtheleaguearoundtheleaguearoundtheleaguearoundtheleague. I should really stop calling it that since it's the minor leagues but whatever.

Lehigh Valley 8, Buffalo 4

Michael Schwimer: 1.1IP, 3H, 1R, 1K (BS, W)

Phillippe Aumont: 0.1IP, 0H, 2R, 2BB, WP*

Joe Savery: 1.2IP, 1H, 0R, 1K (S), SAC**

Cody Overbeck: 4 for 5, 22B

*Aumont threw 16 pitches, and only four strikes.

** They let him bat!

Clearwater 1, Lakeland 7

Jesse Biddle: 3IP, 7H, 4ER, 4K, 2HBP

Cody Asche: 1 for 3, BB

Cameron Rupp: 1 for 3, 2B

Jim Murphy: 1 for 3, 2B

Lakewood 9, Hagerstown 11

Colin Kleven: 2.2IP, 5H, 6R, 4BB, 3K

Gauntlett Eldemire: 0 for 3, 3BB, 2K, SB, CS/PO

Brian Pointer: 2 for 6, 2B

Maikel Franco: 2 for 3, BB, HR

Aaron Altherr: 1 for 4, SF