Phillies Sweep Pirates to Jump to 10 Over .500

For the Phillies, looking at the 2001 version of the Pittsburgh Pirates is like hopping in a time machine and setting the dial for Philadelphia, 2000. It's as if this season's Pirates are the spitting image of last year's Phillies.

Without the pitching, of course. However, they definitely have a nice, new ballpark for fans to watch the team drop 90-plus in.

But perhaps after Wednesday night's twin bill in the Vet, it doesn't seem the Pirates have the hitting either. After getting shutout, 4-0, by Randy Wolf in the first game, the lowly Pirates (15-29), who have last-place in the NL Central all to themselves, were well on their way to being blanked by Omar Daal in the nightcap.

Luckily for Pittsburgh, though, .071 hitter Keith Osik roped a home run to left to end a 15 inning scoreless stretch by the Phillies pitchers and give the Pirates a crooked number as the Phillies swept the doubleheader with a 5-2 win in the nightcap.

	Scott Rolen avoids Keith Osik's tag for the third run in the fourth inning of the nightcap.

For the Phillies (27-17), the win gives them five wins in their last six games and extends their lead in the NL East to six games over both the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins, who were rained-out in Miami Wednesday night.

The stranglehold on the division not withstanding, the Phillies treated the Pirates like they were the Washington Generals in the sweep. At times it seemed as if the Phillies were pulling the old ball-on-a-string trick as they benefited from friendly hops, pop-ups that hung up for just the right amount of time and some seeing-eye hits that seemed to have aversion to the Bucs' gloves.

The only thing missing was the bucket of confetti.

In the fourth inning, the Phillies got all the runs they needed as they batted around and picked-up a four-spot highlighted by Scott Rolen's RBI single that seemed to miss the Pirates infielders gloves by inches and a long, two-run double by Travis Lee that drove in Jimmy Rollins and a hook-sliding Rolen.

A batter later, Lee came around to make it 4-0 on a single by Pat Burrell and the Phils added a fifth run an inning later when Bobby Abreu stroked a long double to deep center and came around on a single by Rolen.

Daal (6-0, 3.57), meanwhile, became the first Phillie lefthander to start the season 6-0 since Al Holland did it in 1983. He's the first starter to do it since Mike Grace started the season 6-0 in 1996.

Not too shabby for a guy who lost 19 games a year ago.

"He throws it up and down, in and out. He uses both sides of the plate and he's working ahead in the count," manager Larry Bowa said. "I know it sounds like a broken record, but that's what he's doing this year."

The lefty worked seven innings, Wednesday night, striking out four and walking none. He scattered nine hits and let in both runs, but was very effective and efficient. In his seven-plus innings, Daal threw 77 pitches of which 58 were strikes.

"Every time I go out there I feel better and better," Daal said. "I feel that I have better command.

"Everything feels different this year," he added.

Daal says his success this season has come primarily from a more aggressive style. He's using his fastball more often unlike last year when he relied heavily on his breaking pitches. Because he's using the fastball more, he's getting ahead in the count earlier and walking fewer batters. In 10 starts this year, Daal hasn't walked more than three batters in any of them. In 63 innings pitched this season, he's only issued 13 free passes.

It's kind of hard to lose 19 games when nobody is getting on base.

"When I throw the fastball and use both sides of the plate, it makes my other pitches look better," the southpaw explained.

When Daal went out, the bullpen picked him up without skipping a beat. Wayne Gomes finished the eighth, giving up a hit and notching a strikeout and Jose Mesa pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 12th save.

"We got two really good pitched games tonight and with the kind of timely hitting were getting, it really helps," Bowa said.

For the Pirates in the night cap, starter Omar Olivares gave the bullpen a break by going the distance. His record drops to 2-5 in the loss.

In the Phils Game 1, 4-0 win, the team wasted no time giving Wolf all he needed. Jimmy Rollins, the Phils second batter, stroked a two-run homer off the fair screen in right. They added another run when Bobby Abreu singled, stole second and came around on Pat Burrell's two-out single to right as the Phillies batted around.

In the fifth, pitcher Wolf singled home the fourth run with one out and runners on second and third. It was nearly 5-0 but Marlon Anderson was nailed at the plate thanks to a strong throw by centerfielder Emil Brown.

The first inning runs from Rollins were all that starting pitcher Wolf needed as he nearly matched Pittsburgh's hit total. The lefty went 7 1/3 innings struck out 10 and gave up just two hits to better his record to 4-4. He used his breaking pitches to set-up his pedestrian, 88 m.p.h. high fastball to keep the Pirates guessing and it worked as just one Pirate made it as far as second base during Wolf's stint.

"I was just being aggressive," Wolf said. "Strikeouts are fluky, I'm not a strikeout guy. But when you get ahead of the hitters, it opens up so many things I want to do."

All told, Wolf retired nine of his first 11 and the final 11 of 13. He threw a total of four 1-2-3 innings and only saw the Pirates threaten just once, which came in the eighth when Enrique Wilson led off with a double and Craig Wilson walked with one out.

Reliever Ricky Bottalico came in and put out the fire by getting Brown to fly out to the track in right and the masked man Jason Kendall to ground out to short.

For the Phillies, Burrell went 2-for-3 with two singles, an RBI and a walk. Rollins went 3-for-5 with two RBIs to go with his fourth homer.

The Phillies will go for the series sweep of the Pirates Thursday night as Robert Person (4-4, 3.43), still on reprieve, faces the Pirates' Jimmy Anderson (3-3, 3.51). Friday, the Phils host the Montreal Expos in a weekend series that finishes off the team's longest homestand of the year, having played 12 games in 13 days.

Saturday, Bowa will send Paul Byrd to the mound in his first game since last July. Byrd is recovering from shoulder surgery and completed a solid rehab stint in the minors where he started nine games at Single-A Clearwater and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for a combined 1-6 and 3.56 ERA in 60 2/3 innings.

Notes: Osik's homer stopped Daal's 14 inning scoreless streak. ... The doubleheader sweep was the first for the Phillies since July 24, 1998 when they swept the Marlins. The last time they swept the Pirates was July 26, 1995. ... At 27-17, the first-place Phillies are 10 games over .500 for the first time since August 3, 1999. They were 58-48 after beating the Marlins behind Amaury Telemaco. ... In the second game, Jason Kendall played the outfield for the first time in his career. It also is the first time he's played a position other than catcher. ... Abreu busted out of an 0-for-10 with two hits in the twin bill. ... Burrell's steal in the fifth inning of the first game was the first of his Major League career. ... Rollins has hit two home runs from each side of the plate. ... Wolf has struck out 10 or more batters in three of his last four games. He has pitched into the seventh inning in four straight and into the sixth in six straight. ... Bottalico stranded two inherited runners and has stranded 12 of the 16 he has inherited this season. ... Mesa pitched his first 1-2-3 inning in 19 appearances this year.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com