Phils Find Bats, Beat Braves

The Phillies, seemingly unable to get out of their own way during interleague play, returned to divisional play last night and defeated the Atlanta Braves by a score of 8 - 3.

The Phillies came out hitting in the second and third inning, which we should have predicted, since Kyle Kendrick was on the mound last night. Already leading 1 - 0 on a Pat Burrell solo home run, the Phillies strung together 6 straight hits in the 3rd inning off of Braves starter Charlie Morton, including a 2-run Shane Victorino homer, to open up a 5 - 0 lead.

Meanwhile, Kendrick seemed to have runners on base in just about every inning, but was able to wiggle his way out of trouble. His luck ran out in the 7th inning, however, as Braves PH Greg Norton doubled home 2 runs, prompting the hook for Kendrick.

That was as close as the Braves would ultimately come to catching the Phils, as the Phils went on to tack on 3 more runs in the top of the ninth to salt away the win.

The series continues in Atlanta tonite, with Adam Eaton facing Jason Campillo.

Notes and Observations

- Brad Lidge pitching in a non-save situation? Guess he needed the work.

- Great defensive play by the Phils when, in the third inning, Chase Utley tracked a ball down after Ryan Howard dove to his left to field it and still managed to throw out the runner as the alert Kyle Kendrick covered first.

- Another great defensive play involving Utley in the 2nd inning, when he went up the middle to rob Jeff Francoeur.

- You wonder if Brett Myers acquiescing to a minor league assignment provided any sort of emotional lift for the Phils, who probably don't get any more joy out of watching Myers struggle than we do.

- The Phils called up left-handed reliever RJ Swindle from Lehigh Valley to replace Myers.

- The Phils also announced that they signed 1st round draft pick Anthony Hewitt.

Photo: Yahoo.com....(AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

Hamels Dominates; JRoll Benched

Cole Hamels pitched a complete game shutout as the Phils took this game (and the series) from the Reds by a score of 5 - 0. Hamels gave up 3 hits, walked 3, and struck out 4. This outing comes on the heels of two outings where he got pounded, so it was reassuring to see Hamels right the ship in such an emphatic way.

Other than Hamels, the big story of the game involved last year's MVP, Jimmy Rollins. Rollins, who had been struggling at the plate recently, appeared to have popped out in the 3rd inning, but instead the ball was dropped by Reds' SS Paul Janish. While the ball was in the air, Rollins did not appear to be running the play out as is the custom. Therefore, when the ball was dropped, instead of being on second base as he probably should have been, he was on first. Essentially, Rollins violated one of baseball's longest held maxims to always run out a play, even when it appears you are going to be out.

As a result of the play, Manager Charlie Manual, showing quite a bit of chutzpah, pulled the MVP of the NL from the game and replaced him with Eric Bruntlett (who turned in a great defensive play in the 8th inning). For his part, Rollins did not pout (at least not publicly) and showed real good character in accepting the consequences for his actions:

"He has two rules -- be on time and hustle; and I broke one of them today. I know better. Sometimes the manager gets you. I just have to go out there and make sure I don't do it again. It's something you learn from." - from Ken Mandel's MLB.com story

As a fan, I am already over this incident. Rollins did it, Manual punished him for it, and Rollins recognized that it was wrong. As far as I'm concerned, as a fan, this incident is over. It's not too difficult to see that Rollins is currently frustrated at the plate. His BA has dipped below .300, into the .280s, and it just looks a little bit like he's fighting things at the plate. As the weather heats up, and the stakes become bigger, I have no doubt that Rollins will pick it up.

From here, the Phils go on a road trip that starts in Atlanta and takes them to Miami to face the Marlins and then to St. Louis. Jamie Moyer is scheduled to go against the Braves tonite against Atlanta's Tim Hudson. The game starts at 7:30pm and will be on CSN-TV.

Phils Draft HS Infielder

The MLB amateur player draft was conducted yesterday and the Phils, picking at 24, selected Connecticut high schooler Anthony Hewitt. According to the article on Phillies.com, he is supposed to be a 5-tool player targeted for an infield position, but the way things go with prospects drafted out of high school, who knows when we'll actually see this kid at CBP. He has a commitment to go to Vanderbilt, but sounds open to starting his pro career sooner rather than later:

"I don't want to drag out the process too long," Hewitt said. "I'm pretty sure [the talks] will go pretty well. I really want to go ahead and pursue my professional career as soon as possible. I'm eager to start."

The Phils also drafted a high school outfielder (Zack Collier) with a compensatory first round pick and a slew of pitchers in the rounds following round 1.