Rightfielder Pat Burrell, mired in a 3-for-27 slump and given the game off to clear his head by manager Charlie Manuel, broke up a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning with a pinch homer in his first pinch at bat of the season. 2nd baseman  Chase Utley added an RBI single and then reliever Tom Gordon and closer  Brad Lidge made short work of the hot-hitting Astros as the Phillies came out on top by a 7-5 score.

With the win, the Phillies remain tied with the Atlanta Braves for 2nd place in the NL East, both teams are 1 1/2 games behind the division leading Florida Marlins.  The Braves completed a 4 game sweep of the Mets again and Florida swept their 3 games with Arizona shutting them out in the final game.

Starter Roy Oswalt retired the first 3 Phillies hitters he faced while the Astros notched a first inning run off Kyle Kendrick on 1st baseman Lance Berkman’s 2 out RBI single.  Although Berkman went 3 for 5 for the game, he was not in center of further Astros scoring.

The Phils tied the game in the second inning loading the bases for catcher  Carlos Ruiz who singled in a run with 1 out as the sacks remained loaded.  But Kendrick grounded into a fielder’s choice with the runner nailed at home for the second out.  Shortstop Jimmy Rollins grounded out to end the threat.

The Astros took a brief 2-1 lead in the second when, with runners on 1st and 3rd, catcher Brad Ausmus sacrificed in a run with a fly out to rightfield.

In the third inning, the Phils solved Oswalt tacking 3 runs on the board to take a 4-2 lead.  With none out and runners on 1st and 2nd, 1st baseman Ryan Howard doubled to leftfield scoring a run.  3rd baseman Pedro Feliz followed with an RBI single to center.  Rightfielder Geoff Jenkins followed with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score the 4th Phillies run.

Meanwhile Kendrick wiggled out of a 1 out runner at 3rd base situation as Asmus and Oswalt both grounded out to enbd the threat. 

In the fifth, Howard led off the inning by going yard on Oswalt to leftfield for a 5-2 Phillies lead.  For Howard, who went 3 for 5 for the 2nd straight game and raised his average to .207, it was his 13th homer, his 3rd in 2 games and his 4th homer in 6 games.

But after Kendrick retired Houston easily in the fifth inning, he followed in the sixth with a single to leftfield but was wiped out in a double play.  While the Phils registered 2 hits in the sixth, they didn’t mount a threat.

The Astros tied the score on Kendrick and the Phillies in the sixth inning.  With first 2 Astro hitters reaching to open the inning, AP sports writer Chris Duncan recaps the inning for Yahoo sports;

[Ty] Wigginton drove a two-run double down the left-field line… and Phillies manager Charlie Manuel replaced Kendrick with  Ryan Madson.

Ausmus bunted Wigginton to third and when Geoff Blum came out to pinch-hit for Oswalt, Manuel brought in left-hander J.C. Romero. Blum singled to score Wigginton and tie it at 5.

Both the Philiies and Astros went down easily in the seventh although Berkman pounded a one out double to rightfield off of winning pitcher reliever Chad Durbin, but was stranded.

Oswalt, who gave up 5 runs on 11 hits in six innings, was replaced by lefthanded reliever Wesley Wright who set the Phils down in order in the seventh.

The stage was set for the Phillies’lead run when Burrell was sent to pinch hit for Greg Dobbs who started in leftfield in his stead.  Wright, still in the game and later charged with the loss, ran the count full before Pat “the bat” made a deposit in the leftfield bleachers to give the Phillies the lead.  With two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, Chase Utley singled to rightfield to drive in the 7th and insurance run as Wright was hung with the loss.

Then Tom Gordon and Brad Lidge sang “Good Night Irene” to the Astros. Gordon went 3 up, 3 down on 10 pitches while Lidge gave up a 2 out single to shortstop Miguel Tejada and then got Berkman on a fly to centerfield to end the game.  Lidge, facing his old team for the first time, notched his 12th save in 12 attempts. 

MLB.com’s Jim Carley gives background on Lidge’s Houston debut in a Phillies uniform;

The most dramatic matchup of the night was Lidge vs. the league’s hottest hitter, Lance Berkman, in the ninth. Lidge, who had never faced his former team, said before the game he’d just as soon avoid such a matchup with the game on the line.

Afterwards, however, he admitted it was a dream scenario when it happened.

“It was a lot of fun for me,” said Lidge, who now has converted 12 of 12 save opportunities. “I had a lot of adrenaline going. It doesn’t get much better than that, a situation like that. It was power vs. power. I threw him a fastball away. I was just trying to do whatever he thought I wouldn’t do.”

Lidge coaxed Berkman into popping up to left field to end the game.

“Fastball,” Berkman said. “It was probably about one ball too high. It’s not like you have a whole lot of time to make up your mind. There’s a reason why he’s given up 10 hits in 22 innings. It’s very difficult to square the ball up against him.

“I actually hit it as good as I could, but straight up in the air, so it didn’t do us a whole lot of good.”

For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Thursday’s games, click here.

On Friday, Adam Eaton, vintage 2007 who has only seen the sixth inning once in his last six starts and who has been pounded in two of his last three, faces  Brandon Backe.  On Saturday, Brett Myers, still trying for a solid outing, opposes Brian Moehler, reliever turned starter who has gone five innings in each of his last 3 starts and has been effective.  Sunday’s final bills ace lefthander Cole Hamels and his 19 consecutive scoreless innings opposing  Chris Sampson.

After the Houston series, the Phils return home to play Colorado and Florida.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s and Saturday’s games,  click here and here.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 8:15 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc, 2008 Phillies Highlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.