Ever since I blogged about Vance Worley being a mirage last week, he has turned up his game to a whole new level. Hey, keep reading the blog, Vance, we’ll say nice things about you now.
No, I really don’t believe he reads TTB but I do believe that he is starting to improve. And I feel any time a player like this makes me eat crow, it’s a good thing.
Worley went the distance for the first time in his career, holding the reigning World Champion Giants to three hits and two runs as the Phillies won 7-2.
The Phillies gave Worley four home runs, one the hard way, and the offense took advantage of the Giants’ late switch.
Barry Zito, who was originally slated as Wednesday’s starter against Cole Hamels, was the late decision to start. Tim Lincecum was scratched from his start with the flu. A sick Lincecum probably could have fared better than Zito, who allowed six runs on six hits (three of them homers) and two walks while striking out four. He pitched seven innings, which he had to, in order for the Giants to not exhaust their bull pen in the first game of an important series.
Four different Phillies totaled their seven hits and each of them hit a home run. Ryan Howard hit an RBI double in the 1st to tie the game up at 1-1 before Raul Ibanez crushed a first-pitch fastball for a three-run homer off Zito to make it a 4-1 game.
The Phillies made it 5-1 in the bottom of the 4th thanks to a solo home run by John Mayberry. In the 6th, Chase Utley ripped a ball off the top of the corner wall in left-center, rolling away from CF Andres Torres into no man’s land. Utley motored around the bases before sliding into home head first under Eli Whiteside’s tag to make it a 6-1 game.
Howard added a solo shot in the 8th to make it 7-2, capping the night’s power surge. It was Howard’s 20th homer on the year.
2B: Howard (20), Mayberry (12). HR: Ibanez (14), Mayberry (6), Utley (7), Howards (20).
WP: Worley (7-1). LP: Zito (3-3).
TTB 