One Win Away

After sending Phillies fan everywhere into panic mode with some really bad baseball, the Phillies finally got their act together last night. 
They beat the Astros 7-4 behind the pitching of rookie JA Happ and a Grand Slam from Pedro Feliz.

Happ won his 12th game of the year, which leads all rookie pitchers.  He had a lot of base runners, but worked out of jams by remaining calm and throwing strikes.  In 5 2/3 innings, Happ allowed 3 earned runs on 9 hits and 1 walk.  An interference error by Paul Bako behind the plate gave the Astros one additional run, which was unearned.  But once again, it was a Happ-Y day for the rookie.

Jamie Moyer pitched 1 1/3 after Happ left the game and did a great job.  But on the last pitch of the inning, he strained a groin muscle and the extent of the injury is still unknown.  Everyone is crossing their fingers that Moyer will recover quickly.

Ryan Madson pitched a 2-inning save and it looks like we have a new closer.  And the offense finally came to life with 11 hits, the biggest of those being the slam by Feliz in the 4th inning.  It was the Phillies 11th Grand Slam of the year.  Jayson Werth also helped out with a 2-run shot in the 5th to break the game open for the Phils.

Add this win to a loss by the Braves and the Phillies need only one more win or one more Braves loss to clinch their 3rd consecutive NL East title.  Bring a camera if you are headed to the game tonight because today may be the day!  Pedro Martinez will pitch and, if he is healthy, it should be a good game.  Go Phillies!