Jonathan Sanchez looked good in the first inning. He showed a lot of guts, and I think Bochey and Sanchez have the home plate umpire on their side. Sanchez also showed a lot of guts getting out of the first inning how he did.
Cody Ross won his first battle after his two early home runs last game. He wheeled out of the way of a pitch that could have got him up and in then worked out a walk.
Oswalt is shutting the door early on the Giants and looks in control. This is not the Oswalt the Giants saw on opening day in Houston…yet.
Pat Burrell transforms into a Gazelle while tracking down the ball mid flight to end the second inning.
Jonathan Sanchez made that look easy.
Bruce Bochy is really doing a great job managing this club. His attention to detail and relationship with the umpires is tops. He’s really got his players back on every play. It will be interesting seeing Bochy compete against Dom Mattingly the next few years who is taking over for Joe Torre in Los Angeles for The Dodgers.
Andres Torres was given the check sing on a call between the home base umpire and the third base umpire who confirmed it. The umpire yelled, “No!” on the call and then checked with the third base umpire to see if he saw it differently. This is a sign of a good umpiring crew.
Ryan Howard‘s adjustment on the slider led to a loud double. That’s what makes Howard such a beautiful hitter. He’s got this left handed loop reminiscent of Ken Griffey Jr.’s with the Alpha Dog Build of a Hank Aaron.
Jonathan Sanchez pops up Jimmy Rollins on the first pitch, and Fontenot muffs the play. Better communication is needed there from Aubrey Huff who is the leader of this offense at first base. Like Tony Vinciquerra says, “Communicate Communicate Communicate.” Gotta love the Philly Crowd however who got on Cody Ross in an attempt to distract him from a routine fly ball. 😉
One out in the fourth and Ruiz smashes a pitch foul on a 3-1 count. Sanchez makes a nice play taking away an infield hit as Ruiz sacrifices Jimmy Rollins to second.
Ruiz looks solid behind the plate running a ball down by the Phillies’ dugout. Now Oswalt has Cody Ross ducking out of the way. Ross was just using opossum energy, playing dead for one pitch and going deep on the next.
The book on Cody Ross is becoming a legend! What a show! And it’s great to see Fontenot work out a walk on the next at bat bringing up Renteria. Renteria is a solid playoff performer. It’s because he’s aggresive. Roy Oswalt is aggressive too, pounding Renteria inside fouled off at the hands. Rollins leaps in the air with the catch and pump fakes back to first.
Product Suggestion: The Bigs III should allow you to make a play in that situation where Derek Jeter can leap in the air at short, catch the ball and in mid air be able to double the guy off of first.
Aubrey Huff is the man calling Utley’s bunt a bluff. Utley still gets the job done with a line drive to right. Philadelphia gets the next run with two deep fly balls in a row. Charlie Manuel’s move to switch Utley to No. 2 in the lineup and Polanco to three pays off. Charlie Manual knows exactly what he’s doing.
Edgar Renteira’s new nickname is Panther. He tracked down his kill in the outfield and conquered his pray with powerful claws, trapping it against his body. I hope to see him back next year.
Sanchez is just mowing down people.
Cody Ross has power but dead nectar center field power over a high wall? That’s asking a bit much.
It would be nice to see Aaron Rowand get a start with the way Torres is playing.
More thoughts later… Jonathan Sanchez is coming out.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com