Joe Blanton had his best (of the three) outing as a Phillie, including his first win. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

With J.A. Happ on the Phillies active roster, critics of Phillies starting pitching were looking for a spot for the youngster; including Joe Blanton’s. Tonight however those critics were silenced by a great performance by ‘Big Joe’.  Blanton got his first win as a Phillie after going seven innings strong while allowing one run on four hits and striking out five.

There were already some calling for Blanton’s head after two poor starts. He went six innings and two innings against the Mets and Braves respecively. Although he lucked out, and the Phils won both games, they were won by the bullpen. If he can continue to pitch like he did tonight, perhaps the trade the Phillies made to acquire him will be a helping hand to a post-season run.

The top of the order for the Phillies was red hot coming into this game, but was only one for 12 in game two of the series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies runs came courtesy of a pair of long balls. Both coming in the fourth inning, Greg Dobbs nailed his fourth and Ryan Howard had some home cooking for his 31st. Both were off Braden Looper the closer turned starter for the Cards.

Blanton’s outing was undoubtedly his best since joining Philadelphia. The Phillies knew he would eat up innings, and tonight he did so in commanding fashion. All five of his strikeouts left batters looking. He used a variety of pitches and got great movement on them. The Phillies needed a great start a day after having a second consecutive bad outing by staff ace Cole Hamels yesterday.

The Phillies didn’t make a move at the deadline, so they’ll have to make do with what they have, for now anyway. The non-waiver trade deadline has passed, but in baseball that’s only a technacality. Although the Phils really wanted to address pitching at the deadline, it seems as though their bats may need to be what keep them alive in the NL East race.  Going into tonight’s contest the Fightin’s had a slim one-game lead on the Mets. The Mets had a two-run lead going into the ninth and low and behold, Billy Wagner blew his SEVENTH save of the season.