Skip to main content

Phillies Clinch Fifth Consecutive Division Title

Behind 7 dominant innings from starting pitcher Roy Oswalt, the Phillies defeated the Cardinals, by a score of 9-2 on Saturday, to clinch their fifth National League East division championship in five years. In front of 45,470 fans at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, the righty veteran Oswalt earned his 8th win of the season and looked dominant, while allowing no runs and striking out 7 batters.

Thanks to the strong effort from Oswalt, the Phillies took a 3-0 lead into the 8th inning. Mike Stutes came on in relief and, after getting the first two outs of the inning on 7 pitches, gave up hits to four straight batters, allowing the Cardinals to cut the Phils' lead down to one run, before Brad Lidge came on to squash the visitors' rally.

The Phillies, determined to lock down the division crown in the franchise-best 150th game of the season, put an exclamation point on the clincher. Batting around, the Phillies plated 6 runners, including a grand slam by Raul Ibanez to complete the scoring.

After Ryan Madson threw a scoreless 9th inning the celebration commenced. As the team did last year, when they waited for Roy Halladay, Brian Schneider and Mike Sweeney -three veterans who had never won a division title- to open the first bottles of champagne, this time the Phillies made sure Hunter Pence got to pop things off.


The next step, of course, is the postseason. In the 12 games until then, the Phillies will likely rest many players and utilize some of their talented youngsters that have filled in throughout the year and/or have joined the team after a solid run in the minor league playoffs with the Triple-A IronPigs.

The capacity crowd marked the 198th consecutive sellout at CBP.

________________________________________________

Images- AP

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE

Comments

Anonymous said…
hi to all misterballz.blogspot.comers this is my first post and thought i would say a big hello to yous -
thanks speak soon
gazza

Popular posts from this blog

Eric B Needs to be Cut (and My Name is Rakim)

While the Phillies are on a hot streak this month, one player on the team is not. Eric Bruntlett is 1-for-12 in July. Since the start of May, Bruntlett's apex in batting average has been .167 on June 14th. Bruntlett's ineptitude can be tolerated no longer. Get rid of this guy NOW! Eric B. is the 2009 Endy Chavez. Remember Endy...the guy who in 2005 managed just 2 hits in his final 42 games played as a Phillie? That is about the sort of output the Phillies are getting from Bruntlett, and it's time to fix this void. Julio Lugo was designated for assignment last week by the Red Sox and is expected to become a free agent. The Metropolitans are rumored to be interested. Why wouldn't the Phillies be interested in a guy who could surely outhit Bruntlett? Lugo was hitting .284 through 37 games played this season with Boston. Suspended Lehigh Valley IronPig Pablo Ozuna is eligible to return next Wednesday. Ozuna is batting .294 through 51 games at triple A. Miguel Cairo is also...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...

5th spot, Wall, Old timers, Links

The race for the Phillies' fifth starter spot is still on. While it's not fully fair to compare Grapefruit League stats, when some of the pitchers have had "B game" and scrimmage outings mixed in, Kyle Kendrick and Carlos Carrasco look to be falling behind Chan Ho Park and "Jay" Happ. Happ added to his solid Grapefruit League stats (2.45 ERA, 1.09 WHIP in 4 games) today against the Rays. Pitching coach Rich Dubee had been displeased with Kendrick even before he surrendered 8 earned runs in 3 innings of work yesterday against the Braves. Park has been working on improving his change up, with (Coach) Jamie Moyer. Park noticed Moyer's location control on his change, so he sought out Moyer to teach him the grip and positioning of the ball. Moyer, of course, feels good about helping anyone on the Phils' staff. Park has been coached by greats like Nolan Ryan with the Rangers and Sandy Koufax with the Dodgers, so Moyer is in great company. Park is working h...