Cubs 1 - Phillies 4

News from last night's impressive 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs...

• Jamie Moyer scouting report per Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia: fastball at 83-87 MPH…not so sure Jamie throws that hard anymore (or ever)…luckily, he doesn’t have to
• Apparently today is former Phillies organist Paul Richardson’s birthday…“he could probably play ‘Happy Birthday’ on his organ all by himself” – Larry Andersen…I’m assuming LA meant to say something nice/funny (HK forced a chuckle), but for some reason it came across just kind of sad to me…a retired old man playing “Happy Birthday” on his organ all by his lonesome…obviously not true, but a vivid mental image nonetheless…
• The last time the Phillies faced Chicago starter Wade Miller (Reading, PA native) was when he was an Astro in May of 2003…Jim Thome hit a liner up the middle that knocked Miller right on out of the game…good times…
• Shane Victorino needs to take a seat, that busted wrist is making his swing look goofy…I’ll be very interested in finding out the official diagnosis, something I bet we won’t know for sure until after the season is over…
• Shortstop Jimmy Rollins is now 36 for 40 when attempting to steal a base…the only player in baseball with more steals and less times caught stealing is Ichiro (39 SB, 2 CS)…the only player with more than 30 steals at a better percentage than Rollins is Derek Jeter (32 SB, 3 CS)…
• The first inning was full of important at bats…or at least important at bats in my eyes…here’s the rundown:
• Big at bat for Chase Utley…man on second, one out, Ryan Howard waiting on deck…got ahead 2-0, then grounded out sharply to first base…
• Bigger at bat for David Dellucci…men on first and third, two outs…hit by a 1-1 pitch (87^th time a Phillie has gotten plunked this year)…
• Biggest at bat for Pat Burrell…bases loaded…swing and miss on breaking ball…takes a close breaking ball low…takes a fastball (88 MPH) up and away…fouls away another breaking ball…takes a fastball very high (90 MPH)…3-2 breaking ball freezes him…he was clearly looking for a fastball, which is okay…what’s not okay is just standing there frozen watching a so-so Wade Miller breaking ball go by…that ball absolutely needs to be fouled off, that’s what a good hitter would do…on the plus side, the guy is seeing a ton of pitches and still getting on base at a very good clip (.377 OBP)…
• Matt Murton hit a homerun for the Cubs tonight…I like Matt Murton, he’ll be a quality big leaguer for a long time…I also like his brother, Luke Murton, who will begin his sophomore season playing for the Georgia Tech baseball team in a couple months…Luke is a giant (listed at 6’4”, 226, but way bigger than that from what I saw of him) and a heck of a young hitter…when I saw him play his freshman year the sound of the aluminum ping when ball hit bat was louder than anybody else’s…keep him in mind when the 2008 draft rolls around, alright?
• Wade Miller’s delivery is very odd, he throws the ball from a much higher plane than normal (almost from up by his ear)…it looks like he uses his arm and only his arm to get the ball to the plate…in any event, he did a heck of a job in the third inning when he struck out the side (Victorino, Utley, and Howard no less)…Miller’s strong night included six strikeouts through three innings and five in a row at one point (after he struck out David Dellucci to begin the fourth)…stash this performance in mind come winter when the Phillies are looking for an arm or two to round out their staff…
• Great play by Chase Utley in the fourth inning to save a run on a Matt Murton grounder up the middle…Utley made a full speed, backhanded stab of a 10-hopper that would have scored the runner from second…Ryan Howard also deserves credit for making yet another nice play at first…Wheels commented on Howard’s great hands, but also mentioned how he needs practice refining his footwork…this to me was a very good, very succinct analysis of Howard’s defense…
• You learn a lot during the course of a Phillies broadcast…the first thing a young Chris Wheeler did whenever he got a new baseball was…you got it, he’d smell it. It’s an odd comment, for sure, but I am in no position to judge…I’ve smelled a few new baseballs in my day…try it, they smell wonderful…or maybe I’m just a freak (and Wheels too!)…
• Chris Wheeler also alluded to his “army days” at one point…anybody know what this means? I’ve either never heard any army stories out of him before or I have, but have chosen to block them all out…
• Third baseman Abraham Nunez had himself a great at bat to draw a walk in the fourth inning…the Cubs weren’t pitching to him, he knew it, he wasn’t chasing any of the junk they were giving him, and he turned the lineup over…and then, wouldn’t you know it, Jamie Moyer is walked and the Phillies not only turn the lineup over, they get a chance to score some runs (see why they didn’t below…)
• Jimmy Rollins with a big at bat in the fourth… this at bat led Scott Graham and Wheeler to discuss the “age-old question” of what to do with the first pitch in an at bat with a pitcher who has had trouble finding the plate? Should the hitter swing at it since the pitcher is so desperate to get one over that he’ll serve up a meatball right over the plate? Or should the hitter take all the way until he sees a strike because the pitcher has been extremely wild of late and figures to keep it up for the foreseeable future? The situation played out pretty well as Rollins was clearly taking the first pitch which just so happened to be a breaking ball on the outer half that was a strike, but a pitch he could have done nothing with (except maybe pop up)…anyway, with the bases loaded and two outs, Jimmy struck out on a 2-2 curveball…the score remained 0-0 after four innings…
• “I can’t believe I went to bed after eight innings” – Wheels on the Dodgers-Padres game…I almost made the same mistake Wheels, but luckily I’m a night person…
  
• “One of the greatest sporting events of all time” – Wheels must have really been upset to have missed the end if he is going out and putting this title on the game last night…
• Great play by Shane Victorino on a line drive to the gap in left-center – he cut it off before it got to the wall and held Wade Miller to a single in the fifth inning…Victorino covers a lot of ground out in center, he’s a marvel out there…
• Howard’s single in the fifth was on a hanging curve that he waited on and rocketed into left field for an opposite field hit…
• Finally some offense - David Dellucci with a beautiful swing on a high fastball to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning was a sight to behold…Wade Miller had been using just his fastball to set up his curve all night long (rarely throwing the heater for strikes), but this particular fastball was left up over the outer edge of the plate and Dellucci smoked it in to left-center for a double. There was no doubt in my mind that Howard would score from first knowing Juan Pierre would be involved in the relay…this didn’t make his earth rattling headfirst “belly whomper” (Wheels) into homeplate any less sweet…
• Burrell with a nice at bat after the Dellucci RBI…he took a close 3-1 fastball (it was low) from Roberto Novoa to put two men on with two out…good situation for the Phillies to be in…
• Big at bat for Chris Coste…men on first and second, two outs…he hit a ground ball up the middle off the end of the bat that was spinning like a top…Ronny Cedeno tried to make a play, but it literally spun right off the heel of his glove…everybody safe, error on Cedeno…bases now loaded, still two outs (fifth inning)…
• Bigger at bat for Abraham Nunez…and he went first ball swinging…Nunez with a little flair to short right-center for a two run single…Abe Nunez looks like Chase Utley and Chase Utley looks like Abe Nunez…well, until Utley heats up anyway (that process may have already begun…)
• Jamie Moyer runs very well for a 43-year old pitcher…this is something I noticed a few starts earlier, but at the time thought nothing of it…tonight it was more of a factor as he almost beat out an infield hit to knock in a run…he’s a very smooth fielder too, fantastic all-around athlete…
• Sheldon Brown and Kurt Busch took batting practice with the team before the game…I don’t care about NASCAR, but I think Sheldon ought to spend less time taking BP and more time lobbying his coaching staff to add another defensive back to the fold…just a hunch, but I think a Troy Vincent return is on the horizon…
• I just can’t stop writing about Abe Nunez…the guy made a super defensive play on a Ryan Theriot grounder to third…Nunez was playing in on the grass and still had the reaction time to make a dive to his left, pop up, and get the runner…well done, Abe…
• Will Ohman vs. Ryan Howard…advantage, Ohman…six pitches in this matchup over the past two nights…six low and away sliders…six swings and misses…thankfully the Phillies only see the Cubbies one more time this year, no more Ohman after that…
• The Paul Owens Award winners (top minor league hitter and pitcher) are both in the house tonight…Carlos Carrasco and Michael Bourn received their awards pre-game…that Mike Bourn can really run…I’m happy to have seen the first stolen base of his career (seventh inning)…
• Chris Coste with a blast in the bottom of the seventh, run down by Juan Pierre 400+ feet from home…Coste is beginning to look a little worn down to me, but he had a nice night at the plate so maybe I’m wrong…or maybe he is getting a second wind…
• David Aardsma looked really good tonight, I didn’t realize he threw so hard (he hit 97 MPH on the gun at least once)…
• Nice bit of insurance came in the bottom of the eighth when Jimmy Rollins jacked his 22^ndth (his 38^th of the year) was a very welcomed sight…it was a lined shot to dead center field that just missed sneaking over the wall for a homer…when Utley is going good, he shows the ability to hit the ball right back up the box with consistency…hopefully this is a sign of good to come… homerun of the season…Utley’s 2-out double in the 8
• Big at bat for Chris Roberson in the eighth…men on first and second, two outs…Phillies up 4-1…Scott Eyre on the mound…foul pop out to Aramis Ramirez…more insurance would have been nice, but what can you do?
• Insurance wasn’t needed as Tom Gordon came on in the ninth to shut the door on the Cubs…Geoff Geary pitched well in the eighth, Aaron Fultz made an nondescript cameo (one batter faced, one hit allowed), and, the player of the game, Jamie Moyer pitched 7 sterling innings to get the win…
• One last note…the newest hot little rumor floating around Citizens Bank Park is news concerning Cubs potential free agent third baseman Aramis Ramirez…there have been rumblings in recent days that the Phillies are the far and away frontrunners for his services IF he decides to opt out of his current deal with the Cubs…even if he didn’t, there would still be the chance the Phils and Cubs could work out a trade (with Ramirez getting a rewritten contract as part of the deal)…anyway…there is still the not so small matter of whether Ramirez is actually willing to leave Chicago…it is his choice after all…Will Carroll from Baseball Prospectus (and resident Cubs expert) was asked this question in a recent chat:

Aunt Jemima (Atlanta): If Aramis Ramirez leaves the Cubs as a free agent, any chance the Cubs would be smart enough to pick up Edwin Encarnacion, a player that the Reds seem to unappreciate? Which guy would they be better off with?

Will Carroll: I don't think Ramirez will leave. In fact, I think the deal's essentially done to keep him. Encarnacion? Sure, Krivsky traded Lopez and Kearns but that doesn't mean that every GM can pillage his roster, does it?

Much respect for Aunt Jemima getting a question across in the chat, not an easy task for a fictional character…