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Role Players Lead Way In Refreshing Win

The Phillies beat the Diamondbacks 11-4 Monday night, and did it without hitting a home run. They did it with Pat Burrell going 0-for-5. They did it without Chase Utley scoring an RBI. How then, you ask?

Eric Bruntlett had three RBI, including a triple. Geoff Jenkins had three hits and drove in a run. Heck, Jamie Moyer had two hits, including an RBI double. Seven of the 11 runs scored by the Phils came with two outs. Sure they left 27 on base, but they plated 11 and had 17 hits in a runaway over the highly touted D-Backs.

Moyer didn’t just do it with his bat – the old man pitched seven innings, giving up two earned and six hits while striking out five. The “Baby Backs” had no answer for the wily veteran. Mop-up work went to Ryan Madson, who closed out the eighth, and Clay Condrey, who gave up two runs in the ninth. Is anyone else ready to rid Clay Condrey and try out Fabio Castro?

That aside, it was a great win for the Phils, who used the spacious outfield of Chase Field to defuse the Backs and beat rookie Max Scherzer. He was only charged for two earned runs as his defense helped him not at all. Most importantly, it was good to see the struggling role players pick up their games and barrage Arizona wire-to-wire.

Associated Press photo

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.