Man was today a great day for the Phils! The get their second straight sweep and their second straight deadline deal for an ace.
Let's start with the Oswalt deal. You have to LOVE Ed Wade. Yes, we suffered through him for years just as the Astros have. I actually feel kind of bad for them as he runs them into the ground with bad trades and mediocre veteran signings. We gave up JA Happ, who, in all reality, should have been rookie of the year last year. Happ is cheap and looks to be a legit #3 type pitcher, if not a #2 on a bad team like the Astros. As far as the other two players, Jonathan Villar (19 year old shortstop who doesn't have the glove to stick) and Anthony Gose (Michael Bourn clone), neither of these guys was even one of our top prospects. To get Oswalt for the rest of this year and all of next (and another year if they pick up that ridiculous 16 million dollar option) for a middle of the road starter and none of our elite prospects (Brown, Cosart, Singleton) is just a master stroke by Ruben Amaro who has had his share of mistakes. On the plus side for Ed Wade, he did flip Gose for Brett Wallace, who is a much better prospect. The Phillies will now have a formidable rotation to match up with any others the rest of the way and in the playoffs.
On to the game...Kyle Kendrick pitched an effective, yet ineffiecient game going six and third but only allowing one run. His ERA on the year is only 4.44. Durbin and Madson would get holds while Romero was credited with the blown save. Jose Contreras would come in to earn his 5th win of the year. The pitchers only allowed 7 hits in 11 innings but did manage to walk 6.
At the plate, the walk off hit is becoming second nature for this team. Wilson Valdez had the game winning RBI single and had 3 total hits on the night to bring his batting average to a still woeful .239. I have to say, I wasn't a fan of starting Ibanez and Francisco tonight, not with the way Brown hit in his debut last night. I guess you have to give him credit for throwing both of the veterans a bone.
The Phils will look to make it 9 in a row tomorrow in our nations capital as we get to show off our new shiny toy as Roy Oswalt takes on Craig Stammen at 7:05. The Nationals traded Matt Capps earlier today so they will have a closer for the weekend with no closing experience. The win puts the Phillies only 2.5 games out of first and 1.5 out of the wild card!
Off topic but still hilarious:
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