The Phillies will have to survive without Ryan Howard for the next six to eight weeks.
So far, so good.
Just hours after the announcement that their slugger would be on the shelf with a torn meniscus in his left knee, the Phillies got a strong showing by John Lannan to beat his former team, the Washington Nationals, 3-2.
Lannan tortured his former mates, getting them to beat ground ball after ground ball. The left-hander shut out the Nats over eight innings, allowing just four hits. Jonathan Papelbon surived a shaky ninth inning in which he coughed up two runs and allowed the tying run to reach third, before finally closing the door and sealing the win.
Two of the three Phillies runs were scored by leadoff man Ben Revere, who is quickly making people forget the guy who struggled mightily early in the year. Revere is never going to hit for power, but he fulfills the primary goal fo the guy at the top of the lineup - getting on base. Revere quietly has hiked his batting average to .300 after going three for five last night.
The Big Piece might be missing from the Phillies lineup. But a lot of the little pieces are starting to come together. In case you were lulled into a summer slumber by our recent heat wave, the Phils are heating up themselves. They have now taken a series against the team with the best record in baseball - the Pirates, and followed that up by taking two of three against the NL East-leading Braves. Now they have put up another W in the opener of a three-game set vs. the team directly above them in the NL East, the Nats.
Here's how Jack McCaffery viewed last night's game.
This business of being buyers vs. sellers isn't getting any easier, eh Ruben?
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