Foul Ball: Fightin' Phils Strike Back

Foul Ball is your daily baseball recap

12 Phillies 11 Braves: The Phillies know how to make one hell of a comeback. Down 10-3 in the seventh inning, the Phillies capped off an comeback by scoring eight runs. Four Phillies were walked with the bases loaded. Ryan Howard hit a slow grounder to first to knock in Jimmy Rollins giving the Phillies the 11-10 lead. Pinch-hitter Eric Bruntlett's sacrifice fly gave the Phillies an extra run, which would prove to be crucial. Brad Lidge allowed a Matt Diaz home run which brought the Braves within one run. But Lidge retired the side to give the Phillies the comeback win. Oh yeah, they also received their world series rings.

6 Marlins 4 Nationals: The Marlins powered their way to a sweep of the horrible Nationals. Dan Uggla hit a tie-breaking three-run double against Nationals in the fifth inning. The Marlins completed the sweep over the Nationals, with Chris Volstad picking up the win for the mammals. And there was even a full crowd in the house.

7 Orioles 5 Yanees: Koji Uehara made his major league debut with Baltimore by pitching 5 innings and only allowing one run. So much for that powerful Yankees lineup. The Yankees left eight men on base. And even more importantly the Yankees left six runners on base in scoring position, making the O's look very good at the start of the season. At least the New York back pages haven't notice.

6 Twins 5 Mariners: Justin Morneau hit a home run and drove in three runs in the Twins win. Jason Kubel hit the go-ahead RBI double in the fifth inning. Kevin Slowley pitched six innings allowing five runs, but he still picked up the win for the Twins. Joe Nathan picked up his first save of the season with the Twins.

Worst of the Night
- The Washington Nationals gave up 26 runs, 31 hits, and six homers to the Marlins as they were swept out of South Florida.

- Florida Marlin and Arizona Diamondback fans. Neither fans have showed up so far to their teams home games. Both teams only saw about 37% of their stands full.

- Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Doug Davis allowed four runs, four hits, in five innings to Colorado.

- Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Litsch gave up three home runs, two to Miguel Cabrera and five runs for the night. His ERA shot up to 7.50 after this game.

- Chien-Ming Wang gave up 9 hits and 7 runs in 3 2-3 innings in his first start with the Yankees since last June.

- While Mark Teixeira will get all the attention for his slow start with the Yankees, it's Hideki Matsui who has been struggling. Matsui didn't get one hit during his 5 at-bats and he left four runners on base. He is barely hitting .100 right now.

- Red Sox hitters didn't have the best night. They combined to strikeout eight times, while only getting eight hits. And they also left 16 men on base.

- The Reds hitters might have scored seven runs but they left 20 men on base in their loss to the Mets.

- That was the Giants offense I expected. The Giants left 19 men on base, striked out 9 times, and only collected 6 hits for the night.

- Angels bullpen stunk up the place. They gave up six runs in the final three innings to blow the game against the A's.

- San Diego Padre Kevin Kouzmanoff had 4 plate appearances, 2 strikeouts, and left 3 men on base.

- St. Louis Cardinals SS Khalil Green stranded 4 men on base.

Quote of the Night
"Just an ugly game," Arizona manager Bob Melvin

It sure was, Arizona only had two hits for the night.