The big story on Friday afternoon was Ruben Amaro Jr. and the Phillies about-face on whether or not to bring up Dom Brown from Lehigh Valley as Shane Victorino headed to the DL. Part of the reason the team finally decided to make the move to bring Brown up to the big club was the total lack of production from the team as whole on offense and very lackluster play from the outfield specifically.
The big story Friday night was the bats of the two guys Brown's presence on the roster could affect the most. Ben Francisco and Raul Ibanez provided all the offense tonight, as Francisco hit a two run shot in the second and Ibanez sent a solo blast into the ivy in center in the fourth. Phils' skipper Charlie Manuel likes what he's seen from Raul since breaking out of his Oh-for-what-seemed-like-eternity slump earlier in the season.
"He's been swinging the bat pretty good," Manuel said of Ibanez. "He got two hits last night. Got a home run tonight. His swings been getting better."
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While Raul has been hitting pretty well as of late, Ben Francisco hadn't hit an extra-base hit since the Paul Reiser Show went off the air (April 27th). When asked about Dom Brown's arrival today and what it could mean to him, Francisco said he can only focus on his own game.
"I gotta go out there and play. When I get to play, I've got to play well," Francisco said. "Doesn't matter what anyone else does, it's on me."
The team didn't exactly light their bats on fire this evening, however, only notching two singles in addition to their two long balls. Francisco says all it takes is for one guy to get going and the whole offense will follow.
"Hitting is contagious. For us, we're not making pitchers work," Francisco said. "When they get in a groove, it's kind of tough for anybody to get hits because they start going through the lineup easily and it's tough to string hits together. All it takes is for one guy to get hot and I think everybody else will follow."
Howard's Slump
One guy who could certainly take any sort of help he can get at the plate is Ryan Howard, who was 0-3 on the night, pushing his ugly hitless streak to 0-23. Charlie Manuel was asked what he's been seeing out of Howard at the dish.
"When he hits the ball into the shift, it seems like he's hitting the ball right at the guy," Manuel said. "Of course he's striking out. I don't think he's seeing the ball real good right now. He's late sometimes when he's hitting."
Halladay Delivers
Roy Halladay was typically great. Despite some infuriating calls from the home plate ump, making both teams brains hurt, Roy kept his composure and kept making his pitches. Charlie Manuel said Doc's superior command allows him to adjust accordingly.
"Roy's command is what really sets him apart," Manuel said. "He can make adjustments to bring the ball a little closer to the plate. When he gets a lot of balls on what Icall the big part of the plate, that's when he gets hurt. Most of the time he makes good adjustments, up or down, whatever. If the guys giving him the low ball he'll stay down."
While Chuck says Doc is capable of making the necessary adjustments, Halladay says the shaky strikzone doesn't change his approach at all.
"None," Halladay said as to what kind of adjustments he made. "Really just tried to stay the same. I think after the second or third inning, he was pretty consistent. You just stay there. You can't really do a whole lot. If they're close, you just consistently be there. I think sometimes the more you hit that spot, hopefully you'll get the pitches later. They were definitely close pitches. I thought that they were strikes, but you just stay there, you don't change."
Doc threw 116 pitches and maintained a one run lead heading into the ninth. Ryan Madson shut the door on the Rangers for the save and once again showed some excitement after the win. Hopefully that becomes a new Phillies tradition.