Philadelphia Phillies Hit Early and Often, Routing Brewers 11-4

The first two weeks of games have given the fans of Philadelphia a rude awakening: 2008 is over and unless the Phillies turn it around, 2009 is going to be a nightmare for them. Last night was the first time the Milwaukee Brewers faced the Philadelphia Phillies since beating them four games to one in last year's play offs. While this would seem to be a guaranteed win for the boys in the red pinstripes, Jamie Moyer was the only pitcher to be beaten by the Brewers. Would Moyer lose or lead the Phillies to the victory that they needed to bring them back to .500 baseball?

Moyer, like the other Phillie starters, has not had a successful season so far. Having going 1-1 with an ERA over 6.00 prior to the game, some fans began to wonder if the grandfather of the rotation was beginning to show his age. However, by pitching six innings, giving up four runs, and having two thirds of his 99 pitches thrown being for strikes, Moyer turned in a serviceable start. During a post game interview, Moyer even agreed with his start being serviceable. "Had a few more ground balls. We played well defensively and we scored a lot of runs, which helps." With those ground balls, and the runs scored, Moyer was able to turn in his second victory of the season.

Prior to last night's game, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino, the top two men in the line up, were hitting a combined .185. However, after last night's slug fest, with the Philadelphia Phillies picking up thirteen hits, the two spark plugs in the line up helped increase their averages. By going 2 for 6, Rollins' batting average increased to .173. With hitting 2 for 4, Victorino increased his batting average to .245 from a measly .222. Not only did these two get some hits in the game, everyone except for one person in the line up was able to pick up at least one base hit. Ryan Howard, the heavy hitting first baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, did not pick up a hit. However, a wild pitch and a throwing error during one of his at-bats allowed two runs to score, giving Howard an indirect way of participating in the scoring buffet the team was having. However, the scoring was not all at the part of the Phillies. The Milwaukee Brewers also had a hand in giving the victory to the Phillies.

Manny Para, the starter for Milwaukee last night, did not have a good night on the mound. Although he only gave up three walks, Para also surrendered seven base hits, including a home run to Pedro Feliz. This deadly combination ended up in five runs being given to the Philadelphia Phillies. However, the poor pitching did not stop with Para. Each Brewers pitcher gave up at least one walk, and Jorge Julio, who followed Para, gave up two base hits, three walks, and five runs.

As Ryan Braun, the only star in the game for Milwaukee by going 5 for 5, said about the team's game play in a post game interview, as published on philadelphiaphillies.com: "The pitching has obviously been pretty bad, but the offense has been pretty bad. The defense has been pretty bad. I don't think we've really done anything well the first 13 games of the season. We just have to find a way to turn it around. Saying, 'It's early,' or, 'No need to panic,' none of that really matters. We just need to come out and play better." Unfortunately, last night was not the night for them to play better.

Due to these three items, the Philadelphia Phillies were able to bring their record back to even, 6-6. With rolling over the Brewers, the Phillies and their fans hope that they will be able to keep this streak going. In an interview earlier yesterday, the manager of the Phillies, Charlie Manuel, said that the team needs to play daily to develop consistency. With eight straight games ahead of them, hopefully this will help them get the consistency to keep rolling over their opposition and lead them back to the number one spot in their division.

Sources for box score and post game interviews: philadelphiaphillies.com and milwaukeebrewers.com.