Phillies Down Pads 12-7 for Fifth Straight Win

SAN DIEGO -- The math is pretty simple. One hundred, sixty-two minus 19 equals 143 -- that's how many games are left for the Phillies in the 2001 season. Suffice it to say, that's a lot of baseball in which a lot of crazy things can happen.

But here are some more numbers: the first-place Phillies, through 19 games, are 13-6 and hold a four and one-half games lead on the second place Montreal Expos. Tuesday night's, 12-7, win over the San Diego Padres in the stadium formerly known as Jack Murphy, pushed the team's win streak to five consecutive games.

Meanwhile, the 12 runs and 17 hits scored against the Padres are the highest total of those categories this season for the Phils. Plus there were some milestones to throw into all of the digits flying around the stadium. Future Hall-of-Famer Rickey Henderson drew his 2,062-career walk in the sixth to tie him with Babe Ruth as the all-time leader in the category.

For the Phils, starter Randy Wolf (1-3, 6.87) picked-up his first win by pitching 5 1/3 innings of shaky baseball. Wayne Gomes got his first major league hit (he's had six at bats since breaking in in 1997) while rookie Jimmy Rollins pushed his hitting streak to 10 games.

Now if you really want to work on some tougher math problems, get out the scratch paper and see if you can figure out the Phils' "Magic Number."

Hey, they count everything in baseball.

What they could have had trouble counting Tuesday night were the crooked numbers that kept getting hung on the scoreboard. The Phillies scored five runs and batted around in the first, added one in the second, fifth and ninth and hung a four-spot up there in the seventh.

But despite jumping out to a 5-0 lead, the Phils found themselves tied with the Padres at 6 after four innings. With one out in the fourth, Mike Colangelo lashed what seemed to be a routine single to right that would have merely loaded the bases. But somehow the ball took a crazy hop on right fielder Bobby Abreu and rolled all the way into the Phillies bullpen. As Abreu was flagging the ball down, two runs had scored and Colangelo was looking to make it three but was gunned down at the plate.

To make amends for his fielding gaffes (Abreu also dropped a fly ball hit by Colangelo in the first), the right fielder led off the fifth with his fourth home run of the season to give the Phils a lead they would never relinquish and chase Padres starter Woody Williams (1-3, 6.59).

But they still weren't finished.

In the seventh, the Phillies ended any ideas of a Padres comeback on back-to-back, no out doubles by Scott Rolen and Abreu off reliever Rodney Myers. An out later, Travis Lee singled home Abreu which set the table for Marlon Anderson's first homer of the season.

The Phils added one more in the ninth when Gomes singled in Travis Lee for his first career hit and RBI off flame-throwing reliever Tom Davey.

Despite spotting starter Wolf six runs in the first two innings, it wasn't enough for the struggling lefty. But as has been the case all season, the bullpen -- this time it was Chris Brock and Gomes -- kept the Padres at bay until the bats could provide a little distance.

But on a positive note, Wolf struck out a team and season-high nine batters as he reached the sixth inning for the first time this season.

"It was kind of ugly," Wolf said. "One batter I wouldn't miss, but then I'd give up a hit or walk a guy. It's an ongoing battle."

Wolf allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits. He walked two, and fared much better than his counterpart. Williams allowed seven runs, six earned, on 11 hits in four innings. He has given up at least 11 hits in three of five starts.

At this point of the season last year, Wolf was a complete 180. He pitched into the sixth inning in 26 of his 31 starts a year ago. In his first 19 starts in 2000, Wolf pitched into the seventh in 18 of them. He hasn't seen the seventh yet this year.

But for manager Larry Bowa, it's the bottomline that matters most.

"Any win is a good win. We swung the bat well, and whether you win 1-0 or 12-0, it is a `W,'" Bowa said. "When you finish in last place and lose 97 games, any positve things that happen to your team are good. A lot of our young guys have gone through tough times and it is important for them to grab onto our successes and build on them and get used to winning."

The Phils and Padres continue the four-game series tomorrow with another 10:05 p.m. start. Omar Daal (1-0, 4.03) faces Brian Tollberg (1-1, 3.32). The series ends Thursday with a 5:05 tilt before the Phils head to Los Angeles for three games with the Dodgers.

Until then, the math shows a "Magic Number" of 140.

Notes: All of the Phillies regulars got at least one hit. ... Next for the 42-year-old Henderson is Ty Cobb's all-time runs record. He needs 67 runs to break the record of 2,245. He also needs just 84 hits to become the 25th player in baseball history to reach 3,000. About tying the Babe, Henderson was focused on the game at hand.

"You're down one run and I'm not really thinking about it," Henderson said. "I'm basically trying to get on base, trying to put the bat on the ball and make good contact.

"It's a great record," Henderson added. "Being in a class with Babe Ruth is an outstanding achievement. I'm the type of guy that individual stats don't mean much if you're not winning ballgames, and in this situation we're not winning."

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com