Article:Whew! Phillies Fans Can Breathe Easier...

Despite a not-so-great pitching performance from Jamie Moyer, the Phillies sneaked away with an 8-7 extra-inning win over the mighty Washington Nationals.

Winning on the 'strength' of three walks doesn't have the pizzazz of a walk-off homer, but at least the win had the highlight of good baserunning from reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins.

Okay, now that the Phillies (1-2) have a win under their belt, maybe they can calm things down. The hitting is heating up a bit and Tom Gordon's ERA is down to 33.75 from a Sputnik-like 135.

I was starting to think that the Nationals (3-1) were going to run away with the NL East. I could just see the ESPN baseball savants Kurkjian, Olney, Stark and Gammons drinking an extra cup of coffee as they wrack their brains coming up with the explanation as to how they knew the Nats would win the East all along....

And then, as I was writing this, I watched the end of the Pirates/Braves game. Atlanta loses 4-3 in extra innings. How nice - now the Phils aren't even in last place in the NL East anymore, as the Braves (1-3) have snatched that 'honor' from them. Awesomely, the Pirates are 2-1! Who saw that coming?? Nice going, Buccos - keep it up!

Back to the NL East, it's been shaky thus far, but the Phillies are at least playing as good as the Mets, Braves and Marlins thus far. I am expecting the Nationals to come back to Earth any minute now.

Now the Phils head to Cincinnati (2-1) for a 4-game weekend series and then off to battle the strongly disliked New York Mets - the following week.

Seven games in seven days. This would be a good time for the Phillies to make a positive statement. Phillies fans - are you psyched? You should be - this is exactly what they need.



SJ's Mets Rambings: Pedro Martinez is out for 4-6 weeks. This is a blow to the Mets, but not a really really significant one. Unless you're the team's accountant. Other than the financial aspect of this news, I imagine the Mets will get through this setback just fine. They still have Johan Santana and John Maine.

And I think it's pretty safe to say that anyone using objective thought didn't expect more than 10 or 12 wins from Martinez anyway. They'll get him back in the May-June timeframe, so there will stll be plenty of season for him to see what's left in the tank.



SJ's Braves Rambings: Mike Hampton was scratched from a start against the Pirates. This is of little interest to me, as I have never been a fan of Hampton...and the guy hasn't thrown a meaningful pitch since, like, 1975. Okay, it was 2005. I hope he just farts around for this season, closes out his contract and retires. It's the only decent thing to do.

Originally Posted on  southjersey-stillers-phillies.blogspot.com on April 3rd.