Phillies Batter Reds, 12-5

Nine hits in twelve plate appearances. Five runs scored, eight runs batted in. Those were the numbers put up by the top three hitters (Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Raul Ibanez) in the Phillies' lefty-heavy lineup, sparking their 12-5 victory over the Reds on Thursday afternoon. (Remember last week, when Rollins was batting .199? Well, he's at .234 now, with eleven hits in his last twenty-six at bats. Nothing to worry about...) Those kind of numbers will win a lot of games, sometimes, even games started by Kentucky Joe Blanton.

The Phillies jumped to a 5-0 lead, after four innings. Greg Dobbs and Chase Utley hit solo homers, and Kentucky Joe contributed a key walk, took a throw off his left (non-throwing shoulder) for the team, and scored a run. Blanton was also dealing on the mound, holding the Reds to three hits (and zero walks!) in the first four innings. It looked like a quality start, without those pesky quotation marks, could be in the offing.

Then Blanton faced eight Reds batters in the fifth inning, with five of them scoring. The Reds increased their WE from 4.7% to 34.3% in the painful inning. With ninety-seven pitches thrown through five, that was it for Blanton. Was he unlucky? Did the Reds figure him out the third time through the lineup? Did the stocky right-hander just run out of steam? Probably, all of the above. But the Phils scored six runs in the next three innings, keyed by Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez, while the Phillies' bullpen kept Cincinnati off the scoreboard. Chan Ho Park appeared out of the bullpen, throwing twenty-five pitches in his consistently wild, two-walk frame. Clay Condrey and Scott Eyre each allowed two baserunners also, but the Phillies managed to get the win, without requiring the services of Chad Durbin, Ryan Madson, or Brad Lidge. Blanton improved to 2-3 on the season, but his ERA rose to 7.11.

With the demotion of Chan Ho Park to the bullpen this week, there has been a lot of talk about how much of a mistake the Park signing had been. Opting for Park over the likes of Derek Lowe, Juan Cruz, Joe Nelson, you know, people good at baseball, was certainly a mistake. But another error by GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. this week, has gone almost unnoticed. In Thursday's lineup against Reds' starter Micah Owings, seven of the eight Phillies' position players had left-handed hitting powers. The sole exception: catcher Carlos Ruiz. If Amaro had been more aggressive in his negotiations with left-handed hitting catcher Gabor Paul Bako II, the Mighty Bako could have been ready for this game. Another lost opportunity...

The Phillies travel to New York this weekend, for a huge three-game series against the Yankees. With the Phils' bats hot, and the Yanks' new stadium permitting homers at a blistering pace, expect at least thirty runs for the Phils this weekend. Also, expect a roster move before Saturday afternoon's game which will, hopefully, bring up leftfielder John Mayberry, Jr., freeing Raul Ibanez to serve as the designated hitter in the final two games. Watching Eric Bruntlett DH is not something any Phillies fan wants to see. Mayberry, Jr. hitting bombs in the new Stadium, just as Mayberry, Sr. did in the old Stadium, now that's something worth watching.

Brett Myers starts for the Phils on Friday, opposed by A.J. Burnett. The Yankees' bullpen threw eight and two-thirds innings Thursday night, in their win over Baltimore. Hopefully, that excessive workload will work in the Phillies' favor.