John Mayberry Jr. and Carlos Ruiz each homered in the Phillies' 7-3 win over the Padres. (Photo courtesy of SI.com)
One game after Charlie Manuel felt the need to address his team, consider the message received. All fronts of the game had a great night. Granted this is against the National League's worst team so don't get too excited.
But the idea is to start stringing together good plays all around. The Phillies had their moments tonight, but one player finally broke out his previously silent bat and another kept his hot as the Phillies snapped their losing streak.
Much like in the Mets' series, the Phillies scored first, as John Mayberry Jr. belted a laser into the left-field seats for a two-run shot in the second.
But the good didn't come without a bit of the bad. Jimmy Rollins picked up a one-out single in the third, followed by a double from Placido Polanco. Polanco, who went 2-for-4 tonight, is now just two hits away from 2,000 for his career, a feat he could hit tomorrow night with another multi-hit game.
However, with the two runners in scoring position with one out, Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence failed to score them.
That opened the door for the Padres. Back-to-back singles by Yonder Alonso and Jesus Guzman tied the game. With the Padres threatening for more, Vance Worley induced one of his three double plays to end the inning.
Worley would allow a fifth-inning home run to Alonso, the first of his career, but limited the Padres to those three runs over six innings, allowing six hits while walking two and striking out nine.
When Worley left, the Phillies had a lead courtesy of a two-run home run in the fourth by Carlos Ruiz and a two-out RBI double in the sixth by Freddy Galvis.
Some of the material from the starters is contagious. The bullpen had the stuff it was lacking in the past few weeks tonight using Worley's formula. Antonio Bastardo pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth innings, ending the seventh with a double play and striking out the side in the eighth.
Meanwhile, the Phillies gave the pen some late run support on back-to-back RBI singles by Ruiz and Mayberry to seal the deal, as Chad Qualls finished off the victory with a scoreless ninth to snap the Phillies' three-game losing streak with a 7-3 win.
That was much better, wasn't it. The offense provided a combination of power and clutch hitting, two areas lacking in previous games. Vance Worley continued to have a solid season with another quality start. The bullpen shook off their recent struggles in a big way with three scoreless innings.
At the end of the night, there was finally joy in Mudville. But how long will it last? The answer is simple. It was last as long as the Phillies allow it to last.
With fundamentals on display tonight, the Phillies need to make that a regular thing. The offense has actually provided that consistency a little more lately but it's easy to forget these things with a shaky bullpen.
Tonight, you can forget all of the past weeks. The Phillies won a game tonight and they get to go for another win tomorrow. And that's all that should matter anymore.
The Phillies are back in action tomorrow night when they host the Padres once again. Roy Halladay gets the start against Edinson Volquez.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Philliedelphia. You can follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
