There has been so much talk of energy among these Phillies, you sometimes wonder if the subject is baseball or government policy.
But know this: There was a palpable buzz at Citizens Bank Park last night. And whether the source was the rookie in rightfield or the veteran on the mound, its effect was much different than the one you might have experienced a month ago.
Weeklong winning streaks can do that. So can complete game near-shutouts and dynamic debuts.
The Phillies enjoyed all of the above in a 7-1 victory over the Diamondbacks that pushed their season-high winning streak to seven games and kept them 3 1/2 games behind the Braves in the National League East.
The night was dominated by two players, who, a year ago, thought they might be trading places. When the Phillies attempted to trade for Roy Halladay last July before ultimately landing Cliff Lee, Domonic Brown's name was frequently reported in rumors about the deal. But the club was intent on holding onto their top prospect, and over the offseason landed Halladay for a package fronted by top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek.
Rated as one of the top prospects in the game - and the most promising in the Phillies organization since Ryan Howard - Brown wasted little time in living up to those accolades. He ripped the third pitch he saw, a 1-1 slider from Edwin Jackson, off the wall in rightfield for an RBI double that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead. In the sixth inning, he laced a line drive single to right, eventually scoring on a two-run double by Carlos Ruiz. And in the seventh, his sacrifice fly to right scored Raul Ibanez.
"I think they have a bobblehead coming out tomorrow," manager Charlie Manuel said.
The final line: 2-for-3, with two RBI and two runs scored.
It was more than enough for Halladay, who allowed one run in nine innings to improve to 12-8 while lowering his ERA to 2.21.
"I'm glad they didn't trade him," Halladay said with a small smile.
The only hiccup came with two outs in the ninth inning, when Brown tried to make what would have been a spectacular game-ending catch of a sinking line drive by Miguel Montero. The ball bounced past him and rolled to the wall, allowing Kelly Johnson to score from first for the D-backs' only run.
"It flew by," said Brown, who only got the news of his promotion from Triple A manager Dave Huppert yesterday morning. "It felt like I just had Hupp telling me I got called up. I almost passed out. I'm just trying to take it to the next day and keep moving forward."
