The Phillies (58-48) beat the floundering Florida Marlins tonight by a score of 6-1 as they moved to within two games of the first place Atlanta Braves. Philadelphia was fueled by good nights from Ben Francisco and Carlos Ruiz.
With so many Phillies regulars spending time on the DL, they have needed substantial help from unlikely sources. One source has been Wilson Valdez, who is filling in for Chase Utley, had two hits tonight and drove in a run.
Ben Francisco had a big night as he got the start in right field, with Jayson Werth in center replacing the injured Shane Victorino. Francisco had a three hit night with two RBIs and put the first Phillies run on the board with his fourth home run of the season.
There were some Phillies starters who came to play tonight as catcher Carols Ruiz followed Francisco's solo shot with one of his own in the second inning. Ruiz had a four hit day with two RBIs and his home run in the second was his fourth of the season as he increases his batting average to .294 on the year.
Roy Halladay took the mound hearing a lot about run support going into this game but came out of it with another victory, his third consecutive victory in a row and his first away from Citizens Bank Park since his perfect game in Florida back in May (if you don't count the Toronto series in Philadelphia).Halladay went seven strong innings getting his 13th win of the year while only giving up five hits and struck out nine while allowing the one run. Halladay lowers his ERA to 2.17 and has been the rock-steady presence that the Phillies expected from him when he was acquired in the offseason and now to see what he has added to this rotation has helped Hamels when you compare his preparation this year, to year's past.
The biggest question now regarding the Phillies is, can they hold on until they get Utley and Howard back because those are the guys that have lifted the Phillies in the second half in recent years and so far, so good. the bench has played well in the absence of the numerous Phillies that have missed time this year.
Kyle Kendrick will take the mound tomorrow night as the Phils look for three straight and has pitched better since being sent to the minors after the debacle in St. Louis. In two starts, Kendrick has pitched 13.1 innings and has only given up two earned runs, so he's been better and actually had an ERA of 3.34 in July, so Kyle has progressively gotten better as the season wears on.
Phils/Marlins first pitch is tomorrow night at 7:10 on Comcast Sportsnet.
What's ill Note: Stay tuned for more articles regarding the Phillies and Eagles in coming days, I've been thrown through a loop following the San Diego trip and I'm working on more content for the website. Thank you to the readers who frequent What's ill!
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