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The smile of Chase Utley: Phillies 5, Padres 3

Oh hello I've just briefly stopped into Sweepytown to say SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP. That's all. Good day.

By Liz Roscher
@dj_mosfett

YUP. THAT'S RIGHT. The Phillies have swept their third series since the All-Star break, and it was thanks to today's 5-3 win over the Padres. (And thanks to this win, I get to use that gif again.) It had everything you could possibly want in an entertaining game.

Stellar pitching. I have one name for you: Jerome Williams. Exactly a year after the Phillies claimed him off waivers, he pitched seven innings of five hit, one run baseball. He didn't walk a single batter. And as if that wasn't enough, it was also his longest outing of the season. The one run he gave up was an absolute monster home run crushed into the second deck by Justin Upton, and if you're going to give up a run, it should be like that.

Timely and dramatic hitting. The Phillies got the scoring started in the first inning, and then.... stopped. All scoring stopped. And for the Padres, it took forever to start. No one scored again until the sixth inning when each team plated one run. Cesar Hernandez knocked in another run in the seventh, and then Chase Utley hit a two-run pinch hit double in the eighth inning. But more on that in a minute.

Odubel Herrera. Every game with him is a delightful adventure, and I mean that sincerely. Watching him play is just *fun*. He had two more hits today, and one of them was this solo homer off Padres starter Andrew Cashner. I don't know what he'll do tomorrow, but I really want to watch.

Defensive magic. Cody Asche saved Jerome Williams' bacon in the seventh inning, leaping to make a catch to legitimately rob Derek Norris of a home run.

That is a pretty great catch.

The smile of Chase Utley. Yup, you read that right. CAHSE UTLEY SMILED! That is how infectious these young Phillies are. They got Chase Utley to look like he was enjoying himself! That two-run pinch hit double I mentioned earlier? That is what led to this.

Utley smiles

(Thanks to @dj_mosfett for that screencap which I will be blowing up into a poster to hang on my office wall.) And how about something of the moving picture variety?

But wait! There's more! Chase Utley interacted with an adorable, towheaded child!

My ovaries are swooning. I can't handle this.

The Phillies are 16-5 since the break. The Phillies are so good right now, and we get to have so much fun following them. It almost makes the miserable first half worth it.

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