What was that? The Phillies played a game last night. I must have blacked out and forgot. Who knew tasering had that effect.
Joe Blanton pitched surprisingly well in his first outing of the season last night for the Phils. Unfortunately for Joe the Lumber and Phillies fans everywhere, the Phillies opted to go with Nelson Figueroa in a tie ball game. That didn't turn out so well.
While the end result of the game was less than desirable, there were a few positives to take away from this one. For one, Brad Lidge had some good stuff with the velocity on his fastball reaching 93 on the regular.
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After the game he talked about being ready to close again. If Lidge can be as effective as he was last night on a regular basis, and more importantly in bigger spots, that will give the Phils bullpen a huge boost.
Here's Lidge on his outing:
The Cardinals showed that they're a top notch ball club and one the Phillies could likely see in the postseason if they want to make it three straight trips to the World Series.
Also of interest was the play in which Joe Blanton bunted and got called out at first base for interference. Charlie Manuel argued his face off and was eventually tossed. Personally, I'd have to side with Cholly on this one. The throw from third brought Pujols Schumaker far enough away from the bag that I felt that Joe was fine in his action of reacting.
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Here's Charlie talking about the play: