Spend An Afternoon With The Phillies

Summer is but a few days away, and the Phillies are three games up in the division. While the naysayers say the bullpen can’t possibly remain healthy the entire season — and they are no doubt right — we can hope the Phillies can stay on their healthy kick and continue to lead the division the entire summer.

The Phillies play the Red Sox this afternoon at 1 in the rubber match of the three-game series. The Sox shut out the Phillies, 3-0, last night and the Celtics won the NBA title. Ugh.

Kyle Kendrick goes for the Phillies today against Justin Masterson, 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA. Right, of course this guy has a sub-3.00 ERA: He plays for Boston. Greg Dobbs is in the lineup for the Phils. I’ll liveblog the Fightins after the jump once it gets started.

12:55 — Hey, we’re a few minutes away from gametime. Let’s settle in.

1:08 — Jacoby Ellsbury singles in front of Geoff Jenkins to lead off the game; Harry Kalas notes the Sox rookie leads the AL in steals with 34. In recent years the view of stealing has declined; the percentage of steals a team needs to convert to make it worthwhile is somewhere around 82. The Phillies don’t have much speed, but they use it wisely, making it on 86 percent of their steals this year. Anyway: Ellsbury didn’t steal a base, but got to second on a single. There’s no real evidence as to how much base runners make pitchers worse; pitchers probably shouldn’t be that worried about them.

1:15 — More valuable than stealing: The three-run homer. That’s what J.D. Drew (Boo!) just hit.

1:17 — And now it’s 4-0, thanks to Mike Lowell. Who cares about base stealing.

1:21 — Hey, Kendrick gets three easy outs after that. Phew.

1:23 — Red Sox starter Justin Masterson also beat the Phillies’ AAA affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, this year. Naturally, he beat them.

1:30 — Ryan Howard somehow beats the shift on the right side and gets a run back for the Phillies. It’s 4-1 after one inning.

1:34 — Robin Roberts threw out the first pitch today in honor of the 60th anniversary of his debut. He, naturally, lost his first game. Now he’s in the booth telling stories — including a mention of his first manager, Ben Chapman! Chapman is famous, of course, for ordering his team to shout racist chants at Jackie Robinson (the year before Roberts came up).

1:40 — Roberts is actually a tremendously interesting guest, probably the only interesting guest they’ve had all year. He’s actually pretty funny. After a highlight of him striking out Willie Mays: “Show that one again, Larry.” Oh, yes, and he’s also calling Harry Kalas “Larry.” That’s pretty funny, too.

1:48 — Two men on, and Kyle Kendrick pops up a bunt — leading to a double play and the end of the inning. Robin Roberts never would have done something like that!

1:59 — WIth men on first and second with 1 out, Sean Casey hit a soft liner to Chase Utley, who caught it… and immediately put it on the ground, in an attempt to get a double play. The umps called the infield fly rule (or just ruled Utley had caught it) and the lineout stood.

2:05 — After a walk, it’s now 6-1 Red Sox. Clay Condrey is up in the bullpen. But some Boston fan dropped a foul ball that came up to him in the club level. Video forthcoming!

2:25 — Clay Condrey is pitching. It’s now 7-1. Gary Matthews just called a catch by Ryan Howard “Willie Mays-like.”

2:38 — The announcers have now spent roughly five minutes comparing a child who caught a foul ball in the stands to Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The first one, they keep insisting.

2:43 — This is probably true.

2:55 — The Phillies get one back, but Chase Utley is robbed of a base hit (and 2 RBI) and it’s still 7-2. The Phillies aren’t dead just yet, but they’re pretty close.

3:25 — Okay, barring a miracle comeback, that’s enough. Still 7-2, etc., etc. Now laugh at this Boston fan: