Utley, Howard, Oswalt Team Up for Phillies Victory

The real catalyst in Sunday’s game was none other than Utley. He finished 2-for-3, upping his average to .261. In the ninth, with the Cubs threatening, he used his glove to seal it up, making a ridiculously tough over-the-shoulder grab to end the game and give Madson his 15th save of the season.

Oswalt’s final line was solid, but missing again was his velocity. He topped out at just 92, really sticking around the 89-90 area for most of the day. Prior to the back injury, he was topping out at 94, staying usually in the 92 range with his fastball. Hopefully Oswalt is continuing to build back strength, which could be the reason why his fastball speed is down.

Regardless of the dip in speed, Oswalt gutted out his first win in quite sometime. Wins are wins, so it’s hard to complain too much as a total team effort helped them pull this one out. On the other hand, the Cubs are an awful team and the Phillies very well could have swept them out of Philly.

Excellent come-from-behind win, but hey, it wouldn’t hurt to clean up some of these concerns.

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