MLB: Even With Walking Wounded, Phillies String Together Win Streak

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

It seems as if injuries are the storyline of the season for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Chase Utley is still a few weeks from returning from the disabled list with his surgically repaired thumb, Jimmy Rollins was benched yesterday with a foot injury, and to top it all off, outfielder Shane Victorino was pulled in the seventh inning with a strained muscle in his left side.

Weeks ago, I preached to the Phillies collective that the describing word for the Phillies was inconsistency, and it still may be, but in this recent six game winning streak, the buzz word must be resilience.

The resilience of a roster that has not been whole in months. The resilience that had one of the best pitchers in the league, Ubaldo Jimenez, running for the showers. The team did this on the back of a pitcher just who was demoted to the minors just days before. J.A. Happ, who hadn't pitched in the majors since April, scrounged for a victory on Sunday just days after replacing Jamie Moyer in the starting rotation.

Phillies look to rebound with four get set in St. Louis.

(St. Louis, MI) - The Phillies entered the All-Star Break on a high note.

The swept the then NL Central leading Reds and were looking like the men of steel. The break came and went and a wake up call commenced over the weekend as the team went 1-3 in a four game set against the Chicago Cubs. The same Cubs that are currently 10 games back in the same NL Central.

The Phillies have suffered from the bug of inconsistency as of late. Sloppy play in the field, issues manufacturing runs and struggles from the starting pitchers have been keys but overall the team is suffering from a lost sense of identity.

Sometimes it takes a long road trip to fix mistakes but if the Cubs series was an indication things may get tougher this week in St. Louis. The Cardinals are not only on a hot streak, completing a four game sweep of the Dodgers over the weekend, but they are statistically one of the strongest teams in the league at home.

The Bats Are Back: Utley and Howard go yard in Phillies 9-5 win over Twins.

Philadelphia, PA - Ryan Howard went 4-4 with two home runs and Chase Utley belted his 11th homer of the year as the Phillies topped the Minnesota Twins 9-5 in game one of their three-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park.

Joe Blanton (2-5) went a solid six innings, despite allowing three runs on seven hits, to clinch only his second win of the season.

Blanton showed control and composure in the win as he pitched four straight hit-less innings, and only walked three batters.

The Phillies, who have a  tendency to start out slow in interleague play, began the game guns-a-blazing scoring eight runs in the first two innings. 

Shane Victorino lead of the first with a walk and immediately stole second to get into scoring position. He was plated one out later on a Chase Utley single to right field to give the Phillies and early 1-0 lead.

Phils struggle again, Fall to Sox 10-2

 This is an Examiner.com piece, 

to read the original CLICK HERE

(Boston, MA) For the second consecutive night the Philadelphia Phillies took a nine inning drudging from the Boston Red Sox as they fell 10-2 in game two of their three game set at Fenway Park.

Joe Blanton allowed nine runs in four innings of work and allowed a season worst 13 hits. Blanton's ERA rose to 7.28 in the effort and is now 1-5 this season.

The lead story for the day was Daniel Nava who, in his first major league game, went 2-4 including a grand slam in the bottom of the second to cap off a five run inning for the Red Sox.

Nava is only the second Red Sox ever to hit a grand slam in his first major league at bat and did it on his first major league pitch.

Blanton gets a bonus- Victorino in arbitration

This is an Examiner.com piece, to read the original Click Here

Before we get a chance to get excited about baseball again (25 days till pithcers and catchers report) The Phillies had to get down to some dollars and cents. In the first of three arbitration hearing this week the Phillies agreed to a contract extension with starting pitcher Joe Blanton.

The Phillies and Blanton agreed to a three year $24 million dollar deal that will keep Joe in Philly till 2012. This was a huge compramise for the Phillies as Blanton and his agent sent out an initial arbitration number of around $10.3 million per year.

Blanton was set to become a free agent at the completion of the season but Phillies general manager Reuben Amaro Jr. wanted to sign Blanton to give the Phillies rotation stability.

"If you see the clubs that have sustained success, it's about having stability in your rotation," stated Amaro at the press conference.

Last season Blanton had a record of 12-8 with a 4.05 era in 31 games.

The 28 year old Blanton has a career 4.21 era and was a major contributor to the Phillies 2008 World Championship after coming over from Oakland in a midseason trade.

Next up in the arbitration negotiations for the Phillies are catcher Carlos Ruiz and outfielder Shane Victorino, both are expected to sign long term extensions.

-b.chan