Phils Beat Rockies for First Back-to-Back Wins in Nearly a Month

In some odd way, the Phillies' slow start to the season coupled with the untimely demise of both the 76ers and the Flyers might actually be a good thing for the local nine.

Huh, you might scoff. How can three teams falling way short of expectations be a good thing? (I knew you'd ask). Well, here's the explanation:

	Marlon Anderson is hitting a solid .306 after his 2-for-4, 4 RBI game, Saturday. (AP)

Since the Phillies have fallen way behind the pack in the NL East after a bad first month of the season, they must win now. There is no more "we'll get 'em tomorrow" or "it's just one of 162" to trot out there. Those days ended when the team got swept in Pittsburgh during the third weekend of the season and again in Colorado a week later.

These Phils have to make ground and in a hurry. That means some desperate play is in short order.

"We need wins right now," said one of Saturday night's heroes, Marlon Anderson.

Here's where the Flyers and Sixers spending the summer playing golf also helps the Phils: If the team goes on one of those 1993-win-when-you're-not-supposed-to stretches or plays gritty, gutsy ball like it did last season, there is no other team around to steal the spotlight from the Boys of Summer. This season, there is no Allen Iverson stepping over Tyron Lue after dropping a trey in his mug or Keith Primeau clanging in a quadruple-overtime goal just a bit before dawn the capture the city's sports consciousness.

Like it or not, the Phillies are the only game in town... at least until camp opens at Lehigh.

Now take Saturday night's 6-5 win over the Colorado Rockies at the Vet for instance. This win was a prime example of how the Phillies (11-19, 7GB) can spike the sports jones around here until two-a-days start. The team found itself in a quick, 4-0 hole, rallied back before the middle innings and took the lead for good before the seventh-inning stretch. Along the way, there were clutch hits, spotty starting pitching and lights out relief pitching. For good measure, there was some stunning athleticism on display as a pair of middle infielders established some personal records and the team won back-to-back games for the first time since beating the Atlanta Braves on April 9 and 10.

Hey, it ain't the playoffs but it's all we got.

In Saturday's game, Anderson and Jimmy Rollins provided the offense with Anderson driving home a career-high four runs, including two on a home run in the second inning, while Rollins pounded out a career-high tying four hits and two triples. He came a home run short of the cycle and hit one off the left field fence for a double in the eighth.

Most importantly, the five-headed bullpen monster of Jose Santiago, Hector Mercado (winner, 1-0), Rheal Cormier, Carlos Silva and Jose Mesa (save No. 8) pitched 4 2/3 of scoreless relief, yielding just three hits after Randy Wolf left with one out in the fifth.

The bullpen work allowed the comeback to stand and made the clutch hits that much more, well... clutch.

"The bullpen pitched great, all of them," manager Larry Bowa said. "We had to go a little deeper tonight, but we have to win now. We can't worry about tomorrow."

Rockies' manager Clint Hurdle, who has been on the job all of eight games, marveled at the pitching after an early power surge.

"Our bullpen pitched real well, gave up one run," said Hurdle, whose record fell to 6-2 since taking over for Buddy Bell. "Their bullpen pitched better. They gave up no runs. That's basically what it came down to."

It almost came down to Wolf's schizophrenic pitching that was one second Jeckyl and the next, Hyde. The southpaw came out strong with his first six pitches going for strikes and retiring the first two hitters of the game. However, he gave up a two-out double to Larry Walker, a triple to Todd Helton and then a two-run bomb to Todd Zeile.

Just like that it was 3-0.

In the second, he allowed a one-out RBI double to pitcher Jason Jennings before settling down and retiring 10 of the next 12 without a hit. But in the fifth, Walker singled, moved to second on a walk to Helton and scored on a single by Zeile. That's when Bowa came to get him.

"It's killing me. It's hard because physically I felt great. My pitches felt comfortable," Wolf said. "It's just a matter of getting ahead of guys and making better quality pitches. I didn't do that today and it's tough.

"They really picked my up today. I didn't do my job today, and the hitters and the bullpen did an amazing job again," he added. "It's frustrating for me because I didn't help out but the rest of the team did great."

His teammates came through, big time. Despite falling behind quickly, Wolf led going into the fifth and conceivably could have notched his second win. That's because Rollins set 'em up and Anderson knocked 'em down.

Batting seventh a day after hitting eighth and two days after hitting sixth for three games, Anderson came through with the homer into the bullpen in right to make it 4-2 in the second. An inning later, Rollins led off with a triple and then scored when Doug Glanville singled. That same inning, Anderson stroked a two-run single to left (after severely pulling three pitches foul) to give the Phils the lead.

For some players, bouncing around in the order like Anderson becomes confusing. They don't know if they have to go for the big hit while hitting sixth or try to turn the lineup over while hitting eighth. For Anderson, he's hit in every spot in the order this season except for fourth and ninth and his 2-for-4 against the Rockies has him at .306.

Obviously, Anderson could care less where he hits in the order. It's just grip and rip for the left-handed hitting second baseman.

"It really doesn't matter to me," Anderson said. "As long as we're successful. I just look up at the lineup and go out and try to do my job."

That's an approach that Bowa likes. After all, when Bowa was a player he hit in the No. 1 and 2 holes as well as the No. 7 and 8.

	Jimmy Rollins stands on third after his first of two triples. (AP)

"He's a very aggressive hitter and he doesn't care where he's batting," Bowa said. "He just gets locked in up there."

Anderson just cares about the bottom line.

"We're trying to do whatever we can to win games and it's working out for us the last two games," he said. "Right now we need some wins and it's big to get one here."

Meanwhile, the Phils are trying to mimic Anderson's attitude. Two games into a nine-game home stand that brings the Astros and World Champion Diamondbacks to town, Bowa admits that he is starting to feel good about his team. In fact, the two wins in a row means that the skipper can "get a good night's sleep for a change."

"We need some streaks," Wolf said. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

The Phils and Rockies finish the season series on Sunday when Vicente Padilla (3-2, 2.41) faces Mike Hampton (1-3, 6.96). A win by the Phils means each team swept the other in its home park.

For the Phils, Padilla looks to duplicate a his eight-inning, three-hit gem against the Giants last Tuesday. In the 8-2 win, Padilla retired the 15 batters he faced and 17 of the first 18. He also didn't walk a batter and allowed just six fair balls out of the infield.

Hampton was brilliant his last outing, too. In a 10-0 win against the Pirates, the veteran lefty allowed three hits in seven innings and struck out three.

After the Rockies, the team takes Monday off and gets ready for three against the Astros.

Notes: Anderson's previous RBI high was three, done eight times. ... Rollins now has five four-hit games and is the third Phillie to do it this year. He is also the first Phillie to get two triples in a game since he did it against the Marlins last June 24. ... Todd Pratt has hit in six straight games. ... Juan Uribe singled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games. ... Jennings lasted only 3 2-3 innings but tied his career high with eight strikeouts. He allowed seven hits and five runs.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com