What happened? The Phillies mounted a comeback from a seven run deficit to beat the Braves, 12-11.

Who did what?

This might take a while

Phillies starter Joe Blanton struck the first two batters out, then proceeded to get lit up like a roman candle. He went four innings, giving up seven earned on nine hits while striking out 6.

Raul Ibanez is officially a member of the Phils after last night’s assist from BF (That’s “Burrell-Field” to honor The Midnight Mayor of Center City), and his first homer today in the cream-unis. He finished 2-3 on the day with 3 rib-eyes and a pair of walks.

Ryan Howard continues to dominate the not-so-hot corner with some big defensive plays today. He went 1-4 with 1 RBI and 0 Ks.

Pedro Feliz appears to be fully recovered from back surgery, going 2-4 with an RBI and a walk.

The Phillies’ bullpen gave up their first ER of the season when J.A. Happ gave up a homer to Braves rookie Jordan Schafer.

Ryan Madson tossed a perfect 8th inning, setting up Brad Lidge for his first save of the season, despite giving up a solo shot to Matt Diaz. (I maintain that Brad didn’t think a two-run lead was fair to the Braves.)

The Braves’ bullpen imploded faster than a neutrino (or something) in blowing an eight run lead in the seventh inning. They allowed nine earned runs on six hits and six walks, four of which allowed a run to score.

What does all this mean? Quite simply, it means that the Phillies are on the right track. If you recall, they had a big comeback to get their first win of the season in 2008, so they are only following suit. In reality, the Phils know how to win games, and if you let them off the mat, they are going to make you pay. Their starting pitching isn’t as bad as the first series of the year made it out to be, and it was only a matter of time before the bats got moving. This might sound cliche, but the Phillies play all 27 outs. No team will ever get a cheap victory against the Phils.

What’s next for our heroes? A day off on Thursday, followed by a trip to Colorado to face those pesky Rockies. Cole Hamels will make his 2009 debut on Friday when he squares off against Jason Marquis.

Bonus Baseball!

In case you missed it, Pat Burrell returned to the Bank today for the ring ceremony, and he was received with a huge ovation from 40,000 plus in attendance. Burrell was clearly touched by that outpouring of applause, and it even made this guy a little misty.

Head on over to Fangraphs and take a look at the live graph from today’s game. Basically, it gives a visual representation of the odds that the Phillies win the game. It bottomed out in the 6th, but roller coastered up in the bottom of the 7th.

If you didn’t catch the earlier post from our fearless leader, you can now follow me on Twitter @DashTreyhorn.

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