There are two things manager Charlie Manuel loves: hittin’ season and home runs.
It was just like the glory days last night at Citizens Bank Park as the Phillies pummeled the Mets, 7-3, taking their first series of the season. All seven of the Phillies' runs were courtesy of the long ball. Chase Utley slammed a two-run homer. Domonic Brown blasted a three-run shot into the upper deck in right field giving the Phillies a 5-0 lead after one inning.
“[Mets starter Jeremy Hefner] threw me a changeup in and I reacted and got a good pitch to hit,” Brown said. “It was right there for me.”
Brown forgot about the monster shot as soon as he touched the plate.
“Then I was just thinking about my next at bat,” Brown said. “ I have to stay focused. I know what I’m capable of and I know what we’re capable of doing as a team. We got guys that can hit the ball hard and hit it out of the park.”
Laynce Nix also hit a two-run bomb, which was all the offense the Phillies needed.
Kyle Kendrick, who gave up eight hits and two runs, battled for six innings. Kendrick pitched out of trouble for much of the night.
“He got out of some jams,” Manuel said. “He took us where we needed to go.”
Michael Young, who went 2-for-3, continues to swing a hot bat. Young is hitting .562 with four extra-base hits in his last four games.
“I feel fine,” Young said. “Hitting is contagious. I’ve started to get hot and I think it’s starting to spread around. I’m not surprised that we’re starting to put up good offensive numbers. We have a lot of talent on this team. Look at this lineup. We’ve been hitting and we’ve also been getting good pitching. The pitching was fine tonight.”
Kendrick, who is 1-1, wasn’t in sync during the first two innings.
“I was trying to find a tempo, a quick rhythm,” Kendrick said. “I threw a lot of pitches early and then had some quick innings. I felt as the game went on, I got stronger. I did whatever it took to get outs. It was nice to get out of jams. I did what I needed to do to avoid big innings. So now we’re heading down to Miami [to face the Marlins] feeling good since we won the series.”
