Game 77 - Friday Night, June 24th in Philadelphia
One Sentence Summary: Offense was at a premium for both teams tonight as Ben Francisco's game-winning hit in the ninth gave the Phils the victory, 1-0.
What It Means: The Phillies improve to 48-29 and they currently have a 4 1/2 game lead over the Braves.
What Went Right: I don't know if you can call just four singles from the Phils "right," but fortunately the A's offense was even more anemic with only two hits. Both starting pitchers took no-hitters into the sixth inning. The A's entered the hit column with two outs in the top of the sixth when old nemesis Hideki Matsui doubled to left off starter Vance Worley. The Phils added their first hit with one out in the bottom of the inning when Placido Polanco broke up Guillermo Moscoso's no-hitter.
Worley labored (again) through his six innings, striking out four and walking four. Michael Stutes (3-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
The Phils put a couple of baserunners on in the ninth against Brian Fuentes (1-8), setting up Francisco's second game-winning RBI this week.
Featured Card: Here's Francisco's card from the Topps Phillies team set, which appears to show him whiffing on a pitch in Atlanta.
Transactions: Reliever Scott Mathieson and catcher Brian Schneider rejoined the team this afternoon, taking the roster spots of the disabled Roy Oswalt and catcher Dane Sardinha.
Programming Note: Posting will be sporadic to non-existent this weekend and throughout the week as I plan to unplug and unwind. That means you'll have to wait until next week for me to post game summaries from the upcoming Phillies sweep of the Red Sox.
Hmm. Going into hiding before the Sox come in? Just as well. Posting about losses can get draining.
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