Utley & Howard Homer Again, Phillies Come Up Short

    The Phillies fell behind early this afternoon to the Boston Red Sox, before charging back to tie the game.  The Phillies and Red Sox entered the ninth inning tied at 6 apiece, but Boston plated a run in the top of the inning, and took the game by a final score of 7-6.  Despite the loss, there were some positive signs from the Phillies on the day.

    Chase Utley continues to heat up as Spring Training nears its end.  For the second day in a row, Utley hit a home run, his third in two days.  Utley who started the spring very slowly at the plate, has come around as of late, and collected a 3 for 4 day today, with 4 RBI's.  After an extremely sluggish start to Grapefruit League play, Utley is now hitting .291 and looks ready for Opening Day.
    Bringing back fond memories of seasons past (and of yesterday's game), Ryan Howard followed up Utley's home run with a shot of his own.  It was the second day in a row the duo has gone back to back with home runs, and shows the potential this middle of the lineup can have when healthy.  It was Howard's seventh home run of the spring, and he has hit .329 in Grapefruit League play.
    Lead off man Ben Revere continued his strong spring, going 2 for 3 on the day, while scoring 2 run and collecting an RBI.  Revere has given Charlie Manuel plenty of reasons to think twice about hitting Jimmy Rollins first this season, as he has hit .324 this spring.
    On the mound, Cliff Lee got the start for the Phillies, and had a bit of a rough outing.  Lee surrendered 6 runs, 4 earned, in 5 1/3 innings pitched.  While Lee did get hit around a little bit, he did strikeout 7 hitters on the day, and was also hurt by some shaky fielding from the Phillies, who committed 3 errors in the game.
    Jonathan Papelbon finished off the sixth inning for Lee, throwing 2/3 inning of scoreless ball before handing it over to Michael Stutes in the seventh.  Stutes pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the Phillies in the game.  Jeremy Horst was next for the Phillies, pitching the final 1 2/3 innings of the game.  Horst surrendered the go ahead run in the ninth as the Phillies fell 7-6 to the Red Sox.
    So after a close defeat, the Phillies can take some positives out of today's loss, mainly the continued power the heart of the lineup is now showing.  The Phillies will be back in action tomorrow against the Blue Jays.