Blanton Leads Phils To Win Over Marlins

Going into tonight's game Joe Blanton was having trouble staying out of the big inning. Tonight, Joe had no problem avoiding the big inning. Over seven innings of work Blanton gave up five hits, zero earned runs, and a career high 11 strikeouts. He finally got the pitching performance he was looking for all season. Blanton's record improves to 3-3 with a 6.14 era. In the first inning, the Phillies helped Joe Blanton out by taken advantage of errors by the Marlins fielders and walks by pitcher Andrew Miller. Ryan Howard walked in the first to force in a run. Then, Raul Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Shane Victorino. Shane Victorino made up for his baserunning error last night by hitting two doubles, and going 4-5 with two runs batted in.
Going into the ninth inning the Phillies were up 5-0 and Chad Durbin came in to finish the game. Durbin got the Dan Uggla (the first batter of the ninth inning) to ground out. After that, Durbin really struggled with his command. He walked two hitters and a gave up a single. Charlie brought in Scott Eyre with the bases loaded. Ross Gload hit a groundball to Ryan Howard, but Howard could not make the play. He made a bad throw to Jimmy Rollins that allowed two runs to score. Brad Lidge came in and redeemed himself with recording the two final outs of the game.
UP NEXT
The Phillies and Marlins will play the rubber game of this three game series. Brett Myers will pitch for the Phillies. Myers has finally found a groove and has pitched three good outings in a row. Last Friday, he pitched eight innings against the Yankees potent lineup. He surrendered three runs, all coming on solo homeruns. Myers is hoping for an outing where he doesn't give up any runs. The Marlins will counter with Burke Badenhop. Badenhop is making his first start of the season. He has been back and forth from the majors and Triple-A. The sinkerballer is not scheduled to throw 100 pitches because it is his first start of the season. If Badenhop runs into trouble expect reliever Hayden Penn to come in.