Hey, the Phillies won at home! Phillies 4, Royals 3

On a night when I stupidly forgot to post the game thread (so sorry), the Phillies won 4-3. They ended their home losing streak, winning their first game at CBP since June 7. Say it with me: THANK YOU, BASEBA’AL.

The eighth inning was the worst of the night. David Hernandez, who has given up 11 runs in his last 7 appearances, gave up another two tonight. It was a two-run homer hit by Kendrys Morales, making the score 4-3. The only other run the Royals scored tonight was in the second inning off of starter Jeremy Hellickson.

And speaking of, this is the Jeremy Hellickson we all remember from earlier this very season. Six innings, five hits, one run, one walk, and six strikeouts. This is just what he needed to get back on track. And while I’m not a huge fan of Pete Mackanin’s pitcher management good on him for getting Hellickson out of the game while the getting was good. It put more of a strain on the bullpen (Hector Neris wasn’t available tonight even after an off day, hmmmmmm...), but it hopefully did wonders for Hellickson’s confidence.

The Phillies scored four runs on 12 hits tonight, and while that’s not the best conversion rate, they won so I’ll definitely take it. Odubel Herrera opened the game with his first ever lead-off home run, and for the guy who will probably be the Phillies’ only representative to the upcoming All-Star Game, that’s just one more marvelous thing to add to the giant list of marvelous things he’s done this year. I am an Odubel Herrera fan girl and I’m not afraid to say it.

Maikel Franco had two hits (thank god, he needs them). Cesar Hernandez had two hits (??!?!?!), and his average is up to .276 now (!!?!?!!?!!!?????????!!?!?!?!?!). Cameron Rupp had three hits, raising his average 10 points in one night, from .273 to .283! Seriously! I’m not making this up!

Every position player but two had a hit tonight. Guess which ones?! I know you don’t want to guess, so I’ll just tell you. It was Freddy Galvis and Ryan Howard. Freddy totally wasted a double from Cameron Rupp in the eighth, lining into a double play. I yelled when that happened, probably waking up my neighbors. And I don’t even want to talk about Ryan Howard’s night. It hurts too much. His average is beyond sad. I can barely look at him anymore.

No matter what happened with Galvis and Howard, the Phillies, won, and it was (mostly) a team effort. They won. They won at home, and they won, they scored more runs than the Royals, and they won. PRAISE BE BASEBA’AL.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: “That baby had some hair on it when he let it go.” — Larry Anderson on Maikel Franco’s throw to first in the ninth inning. Now that’s an image.