Philadelphia Phillies

Father’s Day is always tough for me because I have to honor my husband in a way that doesn’t directly benefit me.

But this holiday was easy.  He made two requests:

No. 1 - Spend more time with family.

Time once again for an update on the National League all-star race.

As expected Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez have held on to the top spots for the second base and outfield positions. Utley did give up the overall lead for votes to St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols however.

Today is the 45th anniversary of Jim Bunning's perfect game with the Philadelphia Phillies. It was the second no-hitter of his career.

He is one of five pitchers to throw a no-hitter in both leagues; he threw his first with the Detroit Tigers in 1958.

His perfect game was the the first no-hitter in the National League in 84 years, and was the seventh perfect game in baseball history and the third in National League history. (Seventeen pitchers have thrown a perfect game.)

Both of his no-hitters came in the first game of a double header.

There’s one thing the Phillies loss did last night, it made it easy to find my car.

When Jack Taschner replaced Antonio Bastardo after seven innings of five-hit, four-run baseball, it didn’t take long for the reliever to clear the stands.

This isn't going to be a game recap because I wasn't there tonight. This is going to be a venting period.

Im tired of watching this team go through the motions every other game. I get the feeling that this team, the defending world champions of baseball, are showing up at the ballpark in Philadelphia expecting the other team to just lay down. I've seen it before.

I play the game, and have for over 15 years, I can tell when a team just expects to win and is not work hard at doing it.

This season the Phillies have recorded two series wins at home. Both have come against the Washington Nationals. This weekend they hope to pick their third home series win, and perhaps get their home schedule turned around, when they welcome the Baltimore Orioles to Citizens Bank Park.

First, let’s look on the bright side.

Just because the Phillies were off yesterday doesn’t mean I have to stop writing about them. I’m a babe and I’m Irish. That means I can’t stop my obsession with boys and I can’t stop talking—but not necessarily in that order. 

But when my husband asked if I could abstain from baseball for just one day, I was speechless.

The Phillies mostly had one goal going into todays afternoon finale, do not get swept. Well, Philadelphia did its job. The Phillies beat Josh Beckett and the Red Sox 11-6 at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies broke away from the Sox with a massive six-run seventh that snapped a 5-5 tie. Slumping shortstop Jimmy Rollins hit a tie-breaking home run in the seventh, the blast snapped his 0-for-16 hit-less streak.

Pitching.

It’s a simple word with a simple concept: throw the ball into the zone.