Rubber Match In Chi-Town

As an avid baseball fan, to me there is nothing better than a day game at Wrigley Field. Having been to the historic stadium before, I know that a day game in Wrigley is one of the best traditions in all of baseball. And tomorrow afternoon, the Phils will take on the Cubs in what should be a very exciting finish to this series.

The Phils dropped the first game of the series as Roy Halladay had a rare bad outing. The mid-summer Chicago heat was clearly too much for Doc to handle as he left the game after just 4 innings with heat exhaustion. Roy gave up 3 runs and was replaced by Andrew Carpenter in the 5th. The lone run the Phils scored came from a Jimmy Rollins homerun in the 4th inning. The Phils managed a total of just 5 hits and eventually lost by a final of 6-1.

In Tuesday night's game, it looked as if the Phils offensive struggles were going to continue. Cubs' starter Matt Garza had the Phils off balance all night and the Phils were scoreless through the first 7 innings. On the mound Cliff Lee looked shaky in his first start since the All-Star break. Lee gave up 2 runs in the first but then managed to settle down afterwards going 6 innings. While the Phils couldn't solve Garza they did manage to handle Cubs' reliever Sean Marshall. In the 8th Chase Utley hit a 2 run double to tie the game at 2. The Phils then managed to take the lead in the 9th when Michael Martinez hit a 2 run double down the right field line. The ball ended up in the Phils bullpen and Ben Francisco and Jimmy Rollins both scored. Antonio Bastardo got the save and the Phils won the game 4-2 forcing a rubber match tomorrow afternoon.

Although Halladay and Lee didn't do awful in their starts, you have to wonder if the extra days rest did more harm than good. In my opinion I think that while the rest may not have benefited the two aces in this series, it will benefit the Phils down the road. Tomorrow should be a great rubber match as Vance Worley will get the start against Ryan Dempster. The Phils will go for their 8th consecutive series victory and look to end this road trip on a high note.