Morning Wood: It's Rising Again
Photo: Phillies.com
The cream continues to rise. It must be September.
Once again, faux-challengers from around the league step up to the plate (quite literally) and, once again, the Phillies put them in their place. For the second year in a row, it was the Braves who walked into CBP in September only to leave humbled and with a red ass. The Phillies spanked them.
Now it’s the Brewers’ turn. We’ve seen this play before, it debuted in 2008 at The Bank. C.C. Sabathia and the Brewers came to Philadelphia with a four-game lead in the Wild Card standings. They left tied with the Phillies and lost to them in the NLDS.
If there’s one team the national media has more of a hard-on for than the Phillies right now, it’s those same (but different) Brewers. They own the best home record in baseball (50-20). Last night – without Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, and Chase Utley – the Phillies beat the best home team in baseball, 7-2. LOL.
Cole Hamels and his previously flowing but now crisp September locks threw a complete game with a lot of twos: two runs on two home runs, two walks, two strikeouts, and a now 2.60 ERA. Hamels has 11 September wins since 2008, the most in the majors. His complete game was the 17th by a Phillies pitcher this year, the most in the majors.
The Phillies now have 92 wins, the most in the majors.
Hamels talked about his outing, via Ryan Lawrence of the Delco Times:
John Finger writes about the uncertainty of Rollins’ future.
The Phillies don’t like the big Darth Vader helmet, despite a now concussed Chase Utley.
