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Right before Feliz's RBI bingle with RISP last night, I threw my hat at the screen and cursed the luck. It looked like we were going to keep adding to that 2 for 33 stranded runners statistic. I then quickly retrieved my hat and sat back down, chagrined.
Look, the Phillies are clearly the better team. Even with all the missed opportunities and blown calls, the Phils have contained the Rays. You can talk all day long about Longoria and Pena, but I give you back all the stranded Phillies runners, as well as Rollins going 0-10 in the first two games and Burrell and Howard being largely ineffective (until last night, obviously). Plus, you say the umps blew ONE call against the Rays...how about all the blown calls against the Phillies? Can we have a column about that? When Moyer made that incredibly athletic play in Game three to shovel that squibbler to Howard (who bare-handed it), the runner was clearly out but the ump blew the call. This led to a two-run inning that cut any hopes of Moyer getting the win. How about when they doubled Werth off first but replays clearly showed that Pena wasn't on the bag? And there were more.
The Phillies just did last night what they do all year: they pile on runs, a lot of them. Top to bottom, this lineup hurts opposing teams. And because it was business as usual for the Phillies doesn't mean that the Rays choked or that the blown call in the first inning that led to one measly run contributed to the Rays bad luck. It meant that the Phillies were merely continuing their season.
By the way, I love how Blanton jokingly remarked how he always closes his eyes when he swings at the ball, and now every report of his home run states that he had his eyes closed. Morons.
