August 31, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

A Sports Report on the Phillies
by Daniel Marion,
grade 5 at Plymouth Meeting Friends School, age 10

The Phillies were a game away from the wildcard last year and came into 2006 with Jimmy Rollins having a 36 game hitting streak. The first three game series was against the St. Louis Cardinals. Everyone was on his or her feet for the game. It was a disappointment for all those people when the Phillies got pounded 13-5. The other two games weren’t much better for Jimmy Rollins’ hitting streak ended at 38 and they lost both games to make the Phillies 0-3. Soon when the Phillies were 1-6, they had a three game win streak. That made the Phils 4-6. It wasn’t long before the Phils were 9-14. After that slump, the Phils got hot with a nine game win streak to make the Phils 18-15. After a nice four game win streak, the Phils fell down to Milwaukee losing the series 3-0 to make the Phils 22-18.

During the Phillies four game win streak, the Phils’ center-fielder Aaron Rowand (who batted and averaged 283 with 13 homeruns and six RBI’s and won the World Series with the Chicago White Sox) made an unbelievable catch, for he ran into a chainlink wall and broke his nose.

Soon the Phillies fell behind the even mark and now are 51-55 (second in their division behind the NY Mets). They do have first baseman Ryan Howard, Rookie of the Year 2005. They also have Chase Utley who has a 328 baseman average and leads the National League with 141 hits. Also Utley has a 34 game hitting streak. Before the Phillies trading deadline, they traded rightfielder Bobby Abreu, relief pitcher Rheal Cormier and third baseman David Bell. Well, the Phillies have had good times and bad times, but one thing is for sure, Phils fans will never stop being fans.