Things were much different yesterday. Other than serving back-to-back fifth-inning homers to Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell, Francis was superb. In six innings, he allowed just four hits while striking out eight and walking two.
This is the same guy who had a 15.12 ERA against the Phils in the regular season. I think some of our hitters may have been a little uptight, but that's the fourth time I've seen Francis pitch - and the third time this year - and he definitely was way better than the other times we faced him, Manuel said.
His command and his control were very good. Francis had five of his eight strikeouts against Utley and Howard, both of whom are lefthanded. They're the key hitters in that lineup, most definitely, Francis said.
That's what you want to do, and you want to be able to put them away quickly. You don't want to mess around, and fortunately they were swinging and missing. You have to tip your cap to Francis, Victorino said.
He had everything working. He got ahead with his fastball and then went with the breaking ball. He kept us on edge.
He had his change-up working; he threw his off-speed pitches for strikes, Rollins said. It was a little tough to see early in the game because of the shadows . .
. but you have to give him credit, Howard said. He kept us off-balance.
He mixed it up, changed speeds, and moved it in and out. Utley struck out four times in a game for only the second time in his career. The other time was June 8, in Kansas City.
He threw strikes with all his pitches, and he kept the ball down in the zone, said Utley, who hit .332 this year to finish tied for third in the league. He had us guessing up there.
Obviously, I didn't expect Chase to strike out four times in a game, said Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins, who was Utley's teammate at UCLA. . .
. But Jeff is tough on lefties.
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