The Phillies opened up a weekend block party last night by kicking dirt on John Smoltz and the Braves season. Smoltz helped to dig a hole with a throwing error in the first that let Jimmy Rollins come around from first base to score. He fielded Shane Victorino’s bunt on the third base line, spun and let go a wild throw down the first base line.  In the end, Victorino was on third Utley was at bat, and the crowd was going bananas. Utley then hit a hard grounder that was kicked by Mark Texeira into right center allowing Victorino to score.  With Utley on second, Ryan Howard hit his 44^th homer of the year and it was 4-0 Phils. What a kickoff to the most anticipated weekend in recent Phil’s memory. In the third, Pat Burrell hit a long fly ball to left center that went into the first several rows of the stands to make it 6-0.  That turned out to be the game winner.  Kyle Kendrick went 6.  In the 6^th he allowed back to back homers to Chipper Jones and Texeira to make it a 6-3 game.  He was replaced in the 7^th by Flash, which then went to JC in the 8^th and finally to Brett in the 9^th. Meyers gave up a dinger to make it 6-4 but then recovered to close it out.

Kyle Kendrick should be getting consideration for NL Rookie of the Year.  The Phillies would be dead and buried without his contributions. Consider his stats.

10-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 121 innings pitched. The best move Pat Gillick has made as Phils GM was to bring him up, and that was only due to dire circumstances. 

The long season boils down to one weekend in late Septemer.

“That’s crazy,” shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. “You’d like it to be easier, but it wouldn’t be as fun if was that way. Hopefully, we’re getting started to new territory. A lot of us haven’t been to the top. We’re at zero, and no one wins at zero. We still have work to do. We’ll see.”

Tonight’s starter is Cole Hamels. The rotation has been set up this way to allow Cole to be the starter in game 1 of the NL Division Series, should the team get that far.  Savor the sound of that. 

Hamels commented on a pitch count for his next start.

“I guess they don’t want me to focus on my limitations,” Hamels said. “It’s frustrating when every pitch you’re counting down. You throw six pitches, and it’s like, ‘OK, that’s one less batter I’ll be able to face, or one less inning.’”

Let’s hope it is not wasted strategic effort, because after all, Adam Eaton is the starter on Saturday night. I am sure that it is not set up that way so that he could start game 2 in the NLDS. The fact that the Phils are now in a position to control their own destiny is simply amazing.  The fact that they will hand the ball to Adam Eatin It on the last weekend of the season, in a series of must win games to decide the division is a buzz kill. That puts my feet firmly back on the ground.  Lastly, it is good news that on Sunday, the game is in the hands of Jamie Moyer.  He did not throw a good game last time out, which means he is due for a strong showing.

The potential tie breaker situations are many, but imagine this scenario: a 5 way tie between the Mets, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Padres and

In the West, the 3 teams would have to slug it out for the NL West. By virtue of their head to head advantage, the