This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies going from worst to first and winning the National League pennant. All season long we will take a look back at each game of the 1993 season.

Last Game: Phillies 6, Astros 3 (10 innings)

Cubs 11
Phillies 7

WP: Chuck McElroy
LP: Ben Rivera
SV: Randy Myers (1)

The Phillies returned home following a three-game road sweep of the Houston Astros to start the 1993 season for their home opener at Veterans Stadium against the Chicago Cubs. Over 60,000 were on hand to see the Phillies hope to keep the hot streak going and for a brief amount of time it looked as though the roll would continue for this cast of misfits. But a quick lead quickly turned in to a deficit as the Cubs spoiled the home opener and handed the Phillies their first loss of the 1993 season, resulting in the one day of the entire season the Phillies would not occupy first place in the National League East.

With Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay, not to mention the bullpen, really struggling out of the gate this season you would expect a good general manager to always be keeping an eye on potential options for down the road this season. Could former Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt be a name worth keeping an eye on? If the Phillies happen to give him a call, he might be open to at least listening to what the team has to offer.

Just a update , I haven't felt this good since 2010 ,

— Roy Oswalt's Website (@royoswalt44net) April 9, 2013

I would love to come back to Philly , loved my time there , amazing fans

— Roy Oswalt's Website (@royoswalt44net) April 9, 2013

Oswalt apparently ended a nearly nearly 250 day Twitter drought Monday night to say he feels as good as he has in a few years and would love to come back to play for the Phillies. If you are skeptical about the validity of the tweets, you are not alone. The clumsy punctuation and the timing of the tweets is somewhat suspicious even for a verified Twitter account. Oswalt had not tweeted anything since last August and prior to last night just about all of Oswalt's tweets were press releases and links to stories about his latest pitching performance with the Texas Rangers. Personal tweets never seemed like it would be Oswalt's style, and to see the tweets pop up conveniently as Halladay was struggling for the second time this season leave some wondering just how honest these tweets may or may not be.

Roy Halladay was booed off the field Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, perhaps for the first time since coming to Philadelphia three years ago. The starter once again struggled with command and was unable to get past the fifth inning as the the New York Mets rung him up for seven earned runs in a 7-2 victory in the series opener. Mets catcher John Buck hit a three-run home run in the second inning, after the Phillies were unable to take a lead despite having Ben Revere draw a lead-off walk in the first inning (stranded at third base).

Halladay got little support from the bats as Mets pitcher Matt Harvey allowed just one run on three hits over seven innings. Harvey struck out nine Phillies batters and walked just one batter after walking Revere in the top of the first inning. After the game Halladay addressed his biggest problem in the early going of the season.

"Definitely command," Halladay said. "For a starting pitcher, it's important to get ahead and attack. I had a lot of 2-0 counts, a lot of high pitch counts. There are a couple pitches I made that I felt were good pitches that got hit, but for the most part, I got behind and made pitches I didn't want to make. And that's where I was giving up the hits. That's the biggest thing. And that's the hardest thing to force. When you're really trying to force the ball to a spot instead of just letting it go there, the more you force it, the more it goes away from there."

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies going from worst to first and winning the National League pennant. All season long we will take a look back at each game of the 1993 season.

Last Game: Phillies 5, Astros 3

Phillies 6
Astros 3

WP: Jose DeLeon
LP: Eric Bell
SV: Mitch Williams (2)

In order to pick up a hard-fought three-game sweep on the road to open the season, the Phillies would have to dig deep against the Houston Astros. There would also be no early departure back home to Philadelphia, as the Phillies and Astros would go in to an extra inning of baseball before determining a winner. As he would be a number of times as the season progressed, Milt Thompson came through in the clutch, one of this team's overshadowed keys to a successful season.

Macho Row Phlashback is a series that takes a look back at some of the great moments in Philadelphia Phillies history. This particular series looks back at the 1980 World Series between the Phillies and Kansas City Royals.

How They Got Here

To this day the 1980 National League Championship Series is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, playoff series in baseball history. The Phillies and Houston Astros colliding in a series filled with future Hall of Fame players with all but one game being decided in the winning team's final at-bat. Philadelphia advanced to their first World Series since 1950 after edging the Astros in five games.

The Kansas City Royals made history by becoming the first American League expansion team to reach the World Series. They did so by sweeping one of the most historic franchises in baseball history, the New York Yankees, in three games in the American League Championship Series. The Yankees had defeated the Royals in the ALCS in 1976, 1977 and 1978, so getting past them in 1980 was a tough mountain to climb against the Bronx Bombers.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies going from worst to first and winning the National League pennant. All season long we will take a look back at each game of the 1993 season.

Last Game: Phillies 3, Astros 1

Phillies 5
Astros 3

WP: Curt Schilling
LP: Greg Swindell
SV: Mitch Williams

The second game of the season saw the Phillies offense waste little time in getting thigns going. Lenny Dykstra started the night with a triple to left-center field off a 2-2 pitch from Astros starter Greg Swindell, and he scored on the very next pitch to Mariano Duncan. Swindell's wild pitch to Duncan allowed Dykstra to give the Phillies a quick 1-0 lead as some fans may have still been settling in to their seats, but the Phillies were not done just yet. Dave Hollins notched an RBI single to score John Kruk from second base to give Phillies starter a nice little 2-0 lead before having to take the mound.

Macho Row Phlashback is a series that takes  a look back at some of the great moments in Philadelphia Phillies history. This particular series looks back at the 1980 World Series between the Phillies and Kansas City Royals.

How They Got Here

To this day the 1980 National League Championship Series is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, playoff series in baseball history. The Phillies and Houston Astros colliding in a series filled with future Hall of Fame players with all but one game being decided in the winning team's final at-bat. Philadelphia advanced to their first World Series since 1950 after edging the Astros in five games.

The Kansas City Royals made history by becoming the first American League expansion team to reach the World Series. They did so by sweeping one of the most historic franchises in baseball history, the New York Yankees, in three games in the American League Championship Series. The Yankees had defeated the Royals in the ALCS in 1976, 1977 and 1978, so getting past them in 1980 was a tough mountain to climb against the Bronx Bombers.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies going from worst to first and winning the National League pennant. All season long we will take a look back at each game of the 1993 season.

Phillies 3
Astros 1

WP: Terry Mulholland
LP: Doug Drabek

Terry Mulholland opened the 1993 season with a gem in the Astrodome before 44,560 fans. The Phillies opening day starter pitched a complete game, throwing 104 pitches and allowing just one unearned run in the first inning as the Phillies picked up a 3-1 victory against the Houston Astros.

The Astros took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Historical Phillies killer Craig Biggio led off with a single through the hole between third base and short stop and Jeff Bagwell drew a one-out walk. Biggio advanced to third base on a fly out to deep right center to get in to scoring position. Ken Caminiti then picked up the two-out RBI after reaching first base on an error from Phillies Opening Day shortstop Juan Bell to keep the inning alive.

The Phillies had some quiet bats the first time through the lineup against Astros starer Doug Drabek, but tings clicked in the fourth inning. John Kruk started it off with a one-out walk (his second walk of the game). Kruk advanced to third base on a single by third baseman Dave Hollins and would come around to score when catcher Darren Daulton doubled to center field. Hollins would be a victim of a fielder's choice at home when Milt Thompson chopped one back to the mound, but Daulton would come around to score from third base when Jim Eiseinreich singled to left field with two outs.

Cliff Lee had to wait until July 4, 2012 to pick up his first elusive victory of the 2012 season. This year Lee had to wait under three hours. The Phillies starter was impressive in his first outing of the 2013 season and made sure the team left Atlanta on a positive note after dropping the first two games of the season. Lee pitched eight shutout innings and Jonathan Papelbon picked up the save as the Phillies avoided a three-game sweep with a 2-0 victory.

The Phillies even gave Lee an early lead to work with by scoring both of their runs in the second inning. Atlanta had not lost a game started by Kris Medlen in 26 games dating back to last season, but the Phillies offense made Medlen work in the second inning. The bottom of the line-up fueled the charge with Laynce Nix and Erik Kratz each reaching base and Lee drawing a walk to load the bases. Ben Revere grounded in to what should have been a double play but Braves second baseman Dan Uggla was unable to make a throw to first base with Lee sliding in to second. Nix scored on the play and Kratz would score on a sacrifice fly by Chase Utley for the 2-0 lead.

Game over for Atlanta.

One of the key members of the 1993 Phillies, Mitch Williams, is on Twitter. Give him a follow.

Big Donkey @ryanhoward I'm on twitter now. Shout back at me because I don't know what I'm doing.

— Mitch Williams (@WildThingMLBN) April 4, 2013

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