Having Fun: Phillies 7, Marlins 2

When I have to recap a game, I typically take a bunch of notes while the action is going on. Beyond a simple recording of facts, I put down quotes and immediate reactions. It's helpful -- it keeps me on task and I remember more of the game.

About halfway through tonight's game, I stopped taking notes. Not because I knew I'd remember things -- I was pretty sure I wouldn't -- but because I was having too much fun watching the game. And the Phillies were having fun, too. In a season full tough wins and difficult losses, these games matter for more than their addition to the win column. They're spirit lifters. Not every game can be this fun, but it's nice that the Phillies are capable of putting one together.

Kyle Kendrick has fully bounced back, going the distance in tonight's 7-2 win. He gave up just two runs in the third and six hits total. He struck out five, keeping his pitch count low by inducing grounders. This was his second complete game of the season -- he's never had more than one in a season before now. In the fifth inning, Kendrick hit his first career triple, which was so fucking cool to watch. Kendrick's family is in town, and he could not stop grinning both during and after the game. The sheer force of his happiness was threatening to levitate the stadium.

Mere hours after being named NL Player of the Month for May, Domonic Brown continued to punish baseballs, presumably for that one time a baseball broke his hamate bone. He racked up three hits tonight, including a two-run home run. I'm guessing someone didn't tell him that May is over now. Seriously, I'm not even sure what to say. I've wanted Brown to succeed for so long that actually seeing it happen is just unbelievable.

There were apparently other people in this game tonight too, this game during which the Phillies finally realized they were playing the Marlins, and the Marlins remembered that they were actually the Marlins. Erik Kratz hit a solo home run. So did Delmon Young, right after Domonic Brown hit his. Freddy Galvis hit a triple! Even Ben Revere got in on the action with two hits of his own -- out of the infield, too! -- some heads up base running, and a couple of great catches.

This was a fun game. The Fangraph is also pretty fun.

Source: FanGraphs