El Bastardo! Rauuuul! Magnifique!

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Pretty damn impressive Major League debut from the Dominican fireballer Antonio Bastardo last night in San Diego, eh? While most scouting reports put his fastball at 90-91 mph, the 23-year-old was consistently hitting 94-95 on the radar. Not only was he bringing the heat, but he looked composed on the mound and never let a sticky situation blow up. His six innings of four hit ball, giving up the lone Adrian Gonzalez homer while striking out five and walking only one were exactly what old Uncle Cholly and Rich Dubee were looking for. Well done, Bastardo.

The above photo was sent in by reader Kaitlin N. who was one of thousands of Phillies fans in San Diego last night. Late in the game, Petco seemingly turned into South Philly West with "Rauuuul!" and E-A-G-L-E-S chants being clearly audible on the television broadcast. An image of what happens to Philly fans in San Diego after the jump.

 

Entering the game with a big lead is as much as the kid could hope for, and Carlos Ruiz called a great game for him, relying heavily on Bastardo's monster fastball. At times, his control seemed a little erratic, but his composure won out, allowing him to walk only one batter, while hitting another.

Charlie was down right happy with Bastardo's performance.

"[Bastardo's] adrenaline was going," said manager Charlie Manuel,
unable to suppress a grin throughout his postgame news conference. "He
was on a rush, and you couldn't have slowed him down if you had to. But
he did one thing real good: He was aggressive and he wasn't afraid to
throw the ball."

Chan Ho Park came in with a bucket and mop, and he looked more apt to
using them literally rather than figuratively, giving up four ER in an
inning.

San Diego's former Cy Young winner, Jake Peavy, looked more like Chan Ho Park than Antonio Bastardo on this night.

Peavy came down with a quick-onset case of Phillies-induced flu (not to be confused with swine flu, which has possibly been found in the Mets organization). I've never seen a guy get the flu in 20 minutes, but that's how sick this lineup is. One of the best pitchers in the league, in his gigantic home park, got lit up for four runs in the first inning, then went to the nurse's office and got out of the rest of the beating that was set to come his way.

The Phillies got to the Padres pitching early and often and the usual suspect, Raul Ibanez, had quite the night on his 37th birthday with 2 HRs including a blast to dead center.

Phillies look to continue their great play this evening as they go for the sweep in San Diego and welcome back J.C. Romero.

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