Phillies v. Marlins - Sunday, September 24
Originally uploaded by emc303.
The Phillies remain 1/2 game up on LA for the wild card.
Things aren't as they used to be at the ball park in South Philly. In recent weeks, when the Phillies take the field, I expect them to win.
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In Sunday's series finale with the Marlins, Jamie Moyer got into a whole lot of trouble in the first inning allowing the Fish to take a quick 4-0 lead. My fellow fans (Birdman I'm looking at you) quickly wrote this game off as a loss. I felt like the Phillies were extremely capable of coming back from a four run defecit.
Then the 3rd inning went down.
In a matter of minutes, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Chris Coste all hit home runs. Peppered in between the long balls were key plays by other guys: a nice sac bunt by Moyer, Shane's speed causing Hanley Ramirez to make an error, singles by Conine and Burrell, and even Abe Nunez took one for the team and got hit by a pitch. The tides turned when the Phils put up 7 runs in the fourth and the Fish were sent back to Florida with any remote hopes of a post season they had shattered.
The Phillies have been getting big contributions from almost everyone on the roster from the steady and expected J-Roll, Chase, Howard to the unheralded Coste, Ruiz, and Conine. Even Burrell made contact on Sunday, twice!
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It was a great weekend for the Phillies, perhaps the only thing that didn't go their way was the success of LA and SD out on the west coast. The Phillies hold their destiny in their hands. The Dodgers are idle on Monday, so if the Phillies can beat Houston they can put a full game between themselves and LA leaving them both with 6 to play.
The rain really came down during the delay: