In the final game of the series against the Blue Jays who served as the home team in Philly this weekend, the Phillies walked away with an 11-2 win.  The 47-year old pitcher, Jamie Moyer, walked away with his 9th win of year and a few more entries in the baseball record books.

Moyer gave up a 2-run homer in the 2nd inning which propelled him past former Phillie Robin Roberts for the most home runs allowed by any pitcher.  The 506 record breaking home runs were allowed to a total of 322 different batters in 42 different ballparks.  There has been some debate over whether or not Moyer should be proud of such a record.  But this type of record simply means that he has been pitching for a very, very long time.  Not too many other players have been around this long.

Adding to that thought, Moyer broke another record today.  He became only the 40th player in history to have pitched 4,000 innings.  This is another testament to the longevity of Moyer’s career.  And to still be pitching, and being successful, at his age is just amazing.  He went 7 innings against the Jays on Sunday and that 2-run homer mentioned earlier was the only scoring he allowed.

Jimmy Rollins helped jump start the offense with a single in the first at-bat of the game.  Rollins ended with 3 hits, each hit to a different part of the ballpark; one down each baseline and one up the middle.  Rollins plus Ben Francisco and Dane Sardinha each had 2 RBI a piece.  Francsico looked good in left and was 3 for 5 at the plate.  Could this be the end of Raul Ibanez as an everyday player?  If Ibanez does not start hitting, it very well could.

So the bats were popping and some great defensive plays highlighted the win as well.  Both Rollins and Jayson Werth were all over the place snagging balls out of the air:

The Phillies were ahead 7-2 by the 7th inning and that is when the bottom really fell out for the Jays.  The play on the field began to resemble a long series of sight gags that The Three Stooges may have attempted in one of their comedy bits.  Throws by Jays fielders sailed into no-man’s land, balls were mishandled and there was even a passed ball at the plate.  By the end of the 7th, the Jays had committed 3 errors, 4 total for the game, and the Phillies had scored a total of 6 unearned runs in the 11-2 win.

Wilson Valdez, who is officially the Master at hitting into double plays, tried to do so twice in this game only to have his attempts foiled by the Jays sloppy defense.  Darn those errant throws!  Wilson is clearly going for some sort of DP record and they may have ruined his chances. (Please note the sarcasm in the above paragraph)

The series win went to the Phillies with 2 out of 3 games.  To commemorate this unique occasion of playing an American League game in a National league ballpark while giving home field to the AL team (did you follow all that?), I have put together a short “Canadian’s In Philly” montage:

Is it just me, or does the woman hugging both the Blue Jays stuffed toy and the Phanatic stuffed toy seem confused?  Or perhaps a tad conflicted?  We wish her well.

Here is the full Photo Album from the game.

Do not forget to keep VOTING for your Phillies All-Stars!  Here are the team links for the Phillies Phollowers All-Star campaign:

Chase Utley    Ryan Howard    Raul Ibanez    Placido Polanco

Carlos Ruiz    Jayson Werth    Shane Victorino    Jimmy Rollins

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Photos by Jenn Zambri Photography

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