Jim Thome took John Smoltz deep for only his second home run of the year. Thome hit a 3-run shot in the first inning to put the Phillies ahead 4-0 in the first inning and they wouldn't look back. Prior to Thome's HR, Abreu singled in Jimmy Rollins.
Cory Lidle threw another great outing going 6.2 giving up 6 hits, 1 earned run and 7 Ks. Lidle has to be the biggest Phillies' surprise for me this year. I really didn't expect him to be pitching as well as he has been over the last few weeks.
Thome getting on track and performing as the Thome of old is vital to the success of the Phillies for the remainder of the season.
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Polanco got the start in Left, a move which is a little odd but didn't really hurt the Phils. He actually went 2-4 and contributed one of the Phillies runs in the first. This was a nice win for the Phillies and it puts them in position to finish no worse than .500 in their 4 series against top notch teams (St. Louis, Baltimore, Florida, Atlanta).
Next up is Jon Lieber (5-4, 4.20) against Horacio Ramirez (3-3, 4.75) on Saturday.