Roy Oswalt, Chase Utley, and Hunter Pence led the way to the Phillies’ franchise tying 101st win this year. The only other 2 times they won 101 games was back in 1976 and 1977, but they fell in the NLCS to the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers in those years. In addition, Charlie Manuel won his 645th game as a Phillies manager which puts him with Gene Mauch (1960-1968) for the all time wins as a Phillies manager. The top 3 (Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Hunter Pence) in the batting order contributed for 2/3rd of the Phillies hits as they were 6-12 on the day. In Houston, the Cardinals were down 5-0, but the “4 run factor” theory was true. The Cards had enough time to come back from that deficit by scoring 5 in the 4th, 4 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to win it 13-6. With the Cardinals win and the Braves loss, they are both in a tie in the Wild Card race. If both teams win or lose on Wednesday, they will have a 1 game playoff in Saint Louis on Thursday at 8:07 PM to determine the Wild Card winner.
The Phillies got started in the 1st inning when Chase Utley homered off Derek Lowe in the 1st inning. 2 innings later, Carlos Ruiz led off with a double then advanced to third when Oswalt reached on a bunt. Jimmy Rollins singled in Ruiz then Utley flew out. Hunter Pence hit a sac fly which brought in Oswalt and put the Phillies up 3-0. In the next frame, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez led off with singles (Victorino went from first to third which is one thing the Phillies have been lacking recently). Placido Polanco brought in Victorino with a sac fly. Rollins chased Lowe from the game in the next inning when he singled to lead off. Lowe only pitched 4+ innings and allowed 5 runs on 6 hits, no walks and struck out 2. Arodys Vizcaino came took over and gave up a homer to Pence which put the Phillies up 6-0 and Rollins added another solo homer in the 7th.
Despite Roy Oswalt not pitching well against the Braves in his career, he was wonderful in his final start this season. He pitched 6 shutout innings and allowed only 3 hits while only walking 1. The only momentum the Braves had came in the 3rd inning when Michael Bourn singled with 1 out then Martin Prado reached on a Jimmy Rollins fielding error. Oswalt got out of the jam when he got Chipper Jones to hit into an inning ending double play. After Brian McCann’s 2 out double in the 4th inning, Oswalt retired the final 7 Braves he faced.
Antonio Bastardo who has been dominant for most of the season, began to lose his groove for most of September and his ERA rose to over 2. However he found his nastiness again when he dealt a 12 pitch 1-2-3 8th inning while he struck out 1. The only run the Braves got was a Prado solo home run off Kyle Kendrick in the 9th.
On Wednesday, Tim Hudson will start for the Braves. Remember, he started the Wild Card clincher for the Braves last year when Cole Hamels started for the Phillies and Joe Blanton pitched in relief. This year Blanton will start while Hamels will pitch in relief. Last year, the Braves and Padres were tied for the Wild Card lead going into the final game, and this year the Braves and Cardinals are tied. Will there be a repeat of last year again this year? Stay tuned!
On the AL side of things, the Rays and Red Sox both won so they both enter the final day of the season tied for first in the AL Wild Card race.
Caught: 53-28 (81) (6-9 since September 4)
Missed: 48-32 (80)<- (28-11 since July 15)
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