Jaime Moyer Pitches and Runs Phillies to Victory

We'll skip the game ending interference call against Marlon Anderson and just leave it as a good call... and it was. If the runner is that far from second base, there is no question of his intentions. Phils win on the call.

But I'd like to comment on Jaime Moyer.

In the beginning of the year he was Mr. Reliable. He'd trot out there every 5th day and give us a solid outing. But the baseball season is long, and Jaime Moyer is old. Moyer's solid outings happened less frequently and Old Man Moyer suffered a slump. Despite this, the loss of Hamels, Victorino, Utley, Bourne, Gordon, Lieber, Garcia... the list goes on... the Phillies are still in it. And now, more than ever, we need Mr. Reliable. And we got him.

We needed some solid outings from our pitchers to deal with the Mets and we've been getting that. Adam Eaton surprised us last night... and Moyer returned to form tonight. Both when we needed them most.

Moyer's line of 6 inn., 8 h, 2 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB, is a more than solid effort. Moyer most surprised me however when he scored from 3rd base on Pat Burrell's Sacrifice Fly. Burrell's ball was hit pretty deep, but Moyer still had to hustle to make it there. There was not play at the plate, but I'm not sure that too many 44 year olds would be sent in that situation. Surely, Moises Alou in left field is no schlep, but he too is up there in years. I wonder if there is a record for oldest combination of outfield assist + man being thrown out. If it had happened tonight, with Moyer at 44 and Alou at 41 would be a pretty tough one to beat.

That SAC Fly by Pat Burrell was an excellent at bat. After nearly hitting a grandslam and having 40,000 plus on their feet, you'd think it would be very difficult to regain your composure and put together a solid at bat. Burrell did that. He waved at the next pitch down the middle, but then took two balls off the plate and launched the 3-2 pitch high and deep to left field to send Moyer to the races.

Which brings me to the second point I'd like to make tonight, and that is the impressive play of Pat Burrell in the second half. Though I'm still not sold that this is the real Pat Burrell, his stellar second half is a big reason why the Phillies are still in this hunt. He's been hitting at close to a .360 clip since the all star break with 11 homeruns and 36 RBIs. His numbers to date this season are 22 HRs and 72 RBIs, which are very, very respectable considering where he was earlier. I'm still not a Pat Burrell fan, but I'm pulling for him to continue this hot streak right through September and into the playoffs. Rowand, Rollins and Utley have performed all year. Burrell is now helping out more and we're winning more games. And now we're just 3 back of the Mets. A sweep tomorrow would be a huge confidence booster going on the road where, we're going to need to play much more than .500 ball.

Sweep the Mets. Sweep the Mets. Come on out and Sweep the Mets.

PS - I'm still holding out hope that the Phillies keep Rowand. He'll demand a lot, but I think he's worth it.