Single, single, walk, grand slam. Yeah, that's a pretty good way to start a game. Bobby Abreu awoke from his home run slumber to stake the Phils to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, and Todd Pratt and Chase Utley added solo shots in a 6-4 win. The Cubs sandwiched two two-run innings around Pratt's fifth inning homer, but never got closer than a 1-run deficit. Brett Myers won his 10th game, and the Swingin' Bullpen Trio was outstanding again, giving up only a single in two and two thirds innings. Daddy Wags picked up save number 25, which, if nothing else, will help him extract more cash from Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner around winter meetings time.
The Astros lost to the sub-.500 but still playoff-hopeful D'Backs, but the Nats and Marlins (oh, and the Braves) also won. The Phils' are now 2.5 back in the wild card and still six back for, oh never mind. The Big Blue Brew Crew stops by for three starting tonight, followed by a six-game trip to Chavez Ravine and Petco Park. Jeez, I sound like Jeannie Zelasko. Anyway, tonight's matchup pits the Brewers big stud, Ben Sheets, against our, uh, decidedly un-stud Corey Lidle. Sheets is on my Strat team, so I've been following him closely. After a Cy Young-quality season last year, he went down early in the season with an inner ear infection, took a while to recover, and has been superb of late. His last outing was a complete-game six-hitter against the Giants. It gets easier the final two games with Chris Capuano on Saturday and the immortal Tomo Ohka on Sunday afternoon, but tonight's game may be simply a chance to watch one of the best pitchers in the majors be his dominant self. Having written that, I now expect a final score of about 14-12.
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