Phillies 9, Twins 5Game 65 - Friday Night, June 18th in Philadelphia
A few weeks back, in the midst of the Phillies' offensive draught, radio broadcaster Larry Andersen dryly commented, "Somebody is eventually going to pay for this." What he meant was that at some point the Phillies' bats were going to wake up and whoever happened to be on the mound would be the unfortunate recipient of a whoopin'. Well, the bats woke up and Twins' starting pitcher Nick Blackburn took his whoopin'.
For the first time all season, the Phils have scored 6 runs or more in three consecutive games. When it was all over, the boxscore displayed evidence of the explosion. Crooked numbers appear in the line score as the Phils scored 3 times in the 1st and 5 times in the 2nd. Ryan Howard went 4 for 4 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs, falling a single short of the cycle. Chase Utley, who doesn't appear to be bothered by a bum knee, went 2 for 5 with a home run and 4 RBIs.
Utley also contributed several fine defensive plays throughout the game, including a great relay throw to home in order to thwart an inside-the-park home run attempt. In the 5th, Jason Kubel tried to stretch his triple in an attempt to get the Twins on the scoreboard. However, the relay from Shane Victorino to Utley to a waiting Carlos Ruiz nabbed him at the plate.
Other Stuff: Joe Blanton pitched 6 effective innings for his 2nd win of the season. Kubel's triple in the 5th was the first hit allowed by Blanton. Ruiz was struck in the head with a flying piece of Kubel's broken bat in the 8th and had to leave the game. Scott Mathieson got knocked around in the 9th in his first big league appearance since 2006. He faced 5 batters, allowing 3 hits and 2 runs.
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