Joe Blanton

Joe Blanton cruised thru the first four inning and hit the wall in the fifth. He gave up 5 runs in the fifth, but only cut the deficit to one run. The Phillies offense cruised, scoring atleast

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Where do I begin. Its very hard to gauge a team based on their performance against the Nats.  The Phillies could have blown that game WIDE open. On the night, the Phillies had twenty, yes TWENTY, runners in scoring position and only managed to get 8 home. Blanton struggled with command again walking 6 over five innings. Which further proves my point that the umpires have a league wide squeeze on the strike zone this year. I really can't put that much blame on Lidge for blowing the save Friday nights debacle of a game. The first hit barely made it passed the pitchers mound and the one Dunn hit, Feliz did the right thing at getting the lead runner. Yeah Utley through a slider to Ruiz and could have had Dunn out to end the ball game, but oh well. I was actually really looking forward to seeing Happ pitch Saturday night, but it obviously wasn't meant to be. I really do feel for Manny Acta. Does he have anyone in the pen with an ERA under 4? It seems like either the pitching or the defense or a combination of both let him down all weekend long.

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Since not much is expected the team this season, Joe Blanton will surely be traded before the deadline, and if Harden and Crosby can stay healthy and produce this season, they would also make very tempting trade bait (especially Harden for a contender in need of pitching) and could potentially bring a decent haul of prospects. Given their track records, that remains a pretty big if.

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