Ok Joe Blanton!

May 27th, 2009 | by joeb03 |

Phillies 5, Marlins 3

WP: Joe Blanton (3-3) LP: Andrew Miller (1-2) S: Brad Lidge (9)

Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton almost lowered his ERA a full point (7.11 to 6.14) in his best perfomance in a Phillies uniform Tuesday night. Blanton tossed seven shutout innings with five hits, two walks, and a career-high 11 strikeouts. He did it with pinpoint control, an effective slider, and a general assault on the bottom half of the strike zone.

Blanton came into the the game giving up 15 earned runs in his last three outings and needed a good start to get back on track. He recently talked about fixing a flaw in his mechanics, and it sure looked like any problem was solved on a chilly May evening. The 11 strikeouts seem to be a bit of an aberation for Blanton, who has a career K/9 rate of 5.31, but then again he was pitching to the swing-happy Marlins.

The bullpen made it interesting in the ninth, however; when they gave up two earned runs while issuing three walks and one hit. After Chad Durbin and Scott Eyre couldn’t get the job done, Charlie Manuel sent struggling closer Brad Lidge to the mound with a 5-2 lead and one out with runners on first and second. Lidge allowed one run to score and gave up a walk, but recorded the last two outs and sealed a key division victory.

Shane Victorino extended his hitting streak to nine games while going 4 for 5, with an RBI and a run scored. Third baseman Pedro Feliz had two RBI hits, and bumped his batting average up to .308. A quietly solid year from Feliz, who is in the last year of a two-year contract.

Rubber game Wednesday night features Marlins righty Burke Badenhop against the Phillies Brett Myers, 7:05 P.M. start time.