Phillies 4, Cubs 3: Ryan Howard Powers Phils To Series Win

Roy Oswalt got off to a rough start this afternoon giving up three runs in the top of the first, but he rebounded to shut the Cubs down for the following six innings as the Phillies came from behind to take the four game series from the Cubs.

Ryan Howard did nearly all of the damage on offense going 3-3 with 3 RBI. His go ahead, 2-run single in the bottom of the 7th proved to be the game winner. Chase Utley capped off a great weekend at the plate going 2-3 with a walk and a couple of runs scored.

After giving up giving up four hits and three runs in the first, Roy Oswalt rebounded and gave up just one hit and no runs over the next six innings. Michael Stutes came on and pitched a clean 8th and Ryan Madson took the ninth for his 15th save of the season.

With the win, the Phillies become the first team in the majors to 40 wins. They'll get a day off tomorrow before welcoming the terribly slumping Marlins to town.

Cliff Lee once went a stretch of three games this season in late April/early May where he got literally zero run support. Today, he got it in spades as the Phillies pounded the Cubs bullpen for five runs en route to a 7-1 win. Lee cruised through eight innings of work giving up just one run on four hits and striking out seven.

The Phillies offense was keyed by Chase Utley, who knocked in four runs with a double and his second home run of the year. Shane Victorino had three hits and scored three runs as the Phillies offense has tallied seven runs for the third time this week.

Unlike last night, there were no late inning bullpen collapses to make the game closer than it should have been. Lee pitched 8 innings and Antonio Bastardo set the Cubs down in order in the ninth.

The Phils will wrap up this game set with the Cubs tomorrow afternoon at 1:35 as Roy Oswalt faces Doug Davis.

After a rain delay lasting approximately 30 minutes, the second time a brief postponement has occurred this weekend in Philadelphia, the Phillies’ third game of a four-part series is underway with Cliff Lee on the mound against the Cubs.

Some expressed concern that Lee (5-5, 3.62 ERA) wouldn’t be able to lead the Phillies’ defense on Saturday if the delay lasted too long, but he is, in fact, on the hill to take on Chicago this afternoon. He’s looking to follow up an impressive 10-strikeout performance and keep the series in Philadelphia’s favor; the Phils captured a 7-5 victory on Friday after dropping an extra-innings matchup with the Cubs on Thursday.

(Sports Network) – Philadelphia Phillies co-ace Cliff Lee seems to be back to his old winning ways. Pitching against the Chicago Cubs has always put a smile on his face too, as the Phillies resume a four-game set with the NL Central inhabitants this afternoon from Citizens Bank Park.

Lee recently went through a stretch in which he compiled an 0-3 mark with a 3.66 earned run average in six starts, with the Phillies registering just two wins over that span. Lee has turned it on since then, going 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA in his last four starts, and threw seven shutout innings in his last start on Monday in a 3-1 victory versus the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The left-hander and 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland struck out 10 Dodgers and has fanned 10 or more batters six times this season. Lee is 5-5 with a 3.62 ERA in 13 starts and 4-1 in seven trips to the south Philly mound. He hopes to make it five wins at home when he takes on a Cubs team he is 3-0 against in four career starts to go along with a 1.71 ERA.

Philadelphia’s top ace and innings eater, Roy Halladay, was able to become the majors’ first nine-game winner in last night’s 7-5 victory over the Cubs in the second test of this set. The right-hander struck out nine and allowed six hits in seven shutout innings to push his 2011 mark to 9-3.

“I felt good and felt like I was making my pitches the whole time I was out there,” said Halladay, who notched his first win against the Cubs (1-3). “I was able to avoid trouble for the most part and the guys took care of the rest.”

The Cubs, however, put up a five-spot in the top of the eighth to make it interesting, as Phillies reliever Jose Contreras was reached for four runs in only one-third of an inning and J.C. Romero gave up the other run. Michael Stutes and Antonio Bastardo went the rest of the way to preserve the win, with Bastardo posting his second save.

Domonic Brown hit a two-run homer and Placido Polanco clubbed a grand slam for the Phillies, who have won four of six games since a four-game slide and are 3-2 on a season-long 11-game homestand. The Phillies lead the NL East by two games over surging Atlanta and own a 22-12 record in south Philly this season.

Philadelphia will also host Florida for four games on the homestand.

Meanwhile, the struggling Cubs have lost 11 of their last 14 games and are just two games ahead of last-place Houston in the NL Central. They almost fought back from a 7-0 deficit with a five-run eighth inning, but ran out of gas to fall to 2-6 on a three-city, 10-game road trip.

Aramis Ramirez and Lou Montanez both had two RBI, while Kosuke Fukudome and Starlin Castro finished with two hits apiece for the Cubs, who managed a 10-8 advantage in hits. Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano was shelled for seven runs and seven hits over 6 1/3 innings to absorb the loss (5-3).

“Obviously it was a big start and he took it as a challenge,” said Chicago manager Mike Quade about Zambrano facing Halladay. “He settled down after getting the ball up early. Once he got back into his game and kept the ball down he was much better.”

Zambrano struck out Rollins in the fourth for the 1,500th strikeout of his career, and is 4-4 in 10 games against the Phillies. Carlos Pena went 0-for-4 with a run scored, two K’s and a walk, but has reached base safely in 31 of his last 34 contests.

Taking the mound for Chicago today will be Matt Garza, who is having a rough first year for the North Siders. Garza sports a miserable 2-5 record and a 4.07 earned run average in 10 starts this season and is coming off an 8-2 loss at Cincinnati on Monday.

Garza lasted a season-low four innings and allowed four runs on six hits and three walks. The right-hander, who started the year 0-3 in his first five trips to the mound, is 1-3 in five road starts and defeated Philadelphia the only time he faced them in the regular season back on June 24, 2009 in a 7-1 victory as a member of Tampa Bay. He allowed one run in eight innings that day and also faced the Phillies in Game 3 of the 2008 World Series, tossing six innings of four-run ball in a no-decision on October 25.

Chicago won four of six versus Philadelphia last season, splitting a two-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

Roy Halladay dominated the Cubs over seven scoreless innings while the Phillies offense rocked Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano to the tune of seven runs… however, thanks to a disastrous five run 8th, mostly due to Jose Contreras, the Phils ended up holding on for a 7-5 win.

It was Halladay’s major league leading 9th win of the season. Doc was masterful striking out nine over his seven innings of shutout ball. Charlie Manuel opted to end his night as the Phils headed into the 8th with a commanding 7-0 lead. Halladay had just reached 100 pitches and It seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do at the time. However, Jose Contreras would give up four runs on two hits and a pair of walks while only recording one out. J.C. Ramirez then came in and proceeded to give up a pair of hits and a walk leading to another Cubs run. Finally, Michael Stutes was brought in to get the final two outs. Stutes also got two in the 9th and Antonio Bastardo came in to strike out Carlos Pena for the final out.

The Phillies offense looked a lot more like its old self as they did their damage with the long ball. Domonic Brown hit a two run shot in the bottom of the second and Placido Polanco hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.

Carlos Zambrano was making his first start since issuing an apology to his team for saying they looked like a AAA squad while in the midst of an 8 game slide. This evening, Zambrano lived up to his own evaluation. He went six innings giving up seven runs on seven hits with seven walks. So much for lucky sevens… for him at least.

Cliff Lee faces Matt Garza tomorrow afternoon at 4 in the third of the four game series.

The Phillies dropped a game last night in extra innings to a AAA squad, at least according to tonight’s starter for the Cubs, Carlos Zambrano. Last week, frustrated by the teams’ eight game losing streak, Zambrano lashed out.

“We should know better than this. We’re playing like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing for the team, embarrassing for the owners, embarrassing for the fans,” he said.

Afterward, Zambrano apologized to the team for the insult. Of course, this is not the first time “Big Z” has blown up and been forced to apologize. It’s gotten to be a fairly common occurrence in Chicago, but then again, it appears that his “post apology” performances are common too. After five separate incidents that he was forced to apologize for, Zambrano is undefeated in his following start. WGN has the pretty funny history of Zambrano blowups and apologies.

In eight starts against the Phils, Zambrano is 4-3 with a 3.60 ERA. He will oppose Roy Halladay, who will be looking for his MLB leading ninth victory. However, he’s struggled in three career starts against the Cubbies going 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA. The Cubs are one of just three teams that Halladay has never beaten in the regular season, with the Giants and Phillies being the others.

The Phillies dropped the first of a four-game series Thursday night, falling to the Cubs in the 11th inning at Citizens Bank Park following a blown save by a previously flawless Ryan Madson.

Despite getting an early lead on a three-run home run by shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who made his return to the lineup after a several-day absence, the Phillies’ offense continued to display its inconsistency, failing to dent the Cubs’ bullpen pitching efforts for the remainder of the contest. A rain delay put a sudden halt to Philadelphia’s chance to knock in some more runs, but the team wasn’t able to get anything going after the postponement (just two hits were recorded after a fourth-inning single by Placido Polanco), and the defense ultimately was not able to able to hold the Phils’ slim lead.

Madson came into the game with a spotless record as the team’s fill-in closer, but couldn’t contain Chicago in the late goings after another relief pitcher struggled to wrap up the game; Jose Contreras gave up back-to-back doubles with two outs in the eighth. Polanco’s costly throwing error in extra innings also didn’t help the cause, as the Cubs’ Tyler Colvin was able to score the go-ahead run from second base.

Phillies starting pitcher Kyle Kendrick began the game on the mound and threw three scoreless innings, but wasn’t able to continue after weather delayed the game for almost two hours. Meanwhile, Raul Ibanez was one of the few offensive standouts other than Rollins, notching a pair of hits and scoring one of the team’s three runs on the night.

As previously mentioned, shortstop Jimmy Rollins was welcomed back to the Phillies’ lineup this evening after missing several games in a row due to a knee injury, and the veteran certainly rewarded Philadelphia early in the club’s series opener vs. the Cubs. In the second inning, Rollins smashed a three-run homer, and heading into the third at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies now lead Chicago by a score of three to zero.

Rollins’ homer is his fourth of the year, while the trio of RBIs he recorded with the hit have boosted his season total to 21.

The Phillies have announced their lineup for tonight’s game against the Cubs and leading and playoff shortstop is none other than Jimmy Rollins. This comes just two days after Ruben Amaro Jr hinting that he could possibly go on the DL and Jimmy refuting that report.

Rollins has been out of the lineup since fouling a ball off his knee in the first inning of last Saturday night’s game against the Pirates.

Chase Utley also returns to the Phils lineup after being given a day off yesterday. He had played five straight days before that. This makes just the second time this season that the full projected starting lineup will be together for the Phils. The first time all year was on Saturday when Rollins was hurt in the first at bat of the game… So we’ll be hoping for better luck now that the whole gang is back together this time.

[Update by JasonB, 06/09/11 6:51 PM EDT ] Scratch that, Dane Sardinha is starting at catcher tonight. Carlos Ruiz has apparently been given the night off. So, while he is available, I guess the whole gang is technically not back together just yet.