Phillies Beat Dodgers in 11 on Feliz’s Walk-off
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When 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz, recently reactivated from the DL, was sent in to replace Greg Dobbs defensively with 2 outs in the seventh inning of a 1-1 deadlock, it set the stage for two clutch 2 out hits; the game-tying single in the ninth and a 3 run walk-off homer in the eleventh inning as the Phillies won their 3rd of of the 4 game series with the Dodgers by a 5-2 score.
With Sunday’s 3rd Phillies win over the Dodgers, they moved to within 1/2 game of the NL East division-leading Mets who were also beaten in extra innings by the Houston Astros. The Florida Marlins gained a game with their win over Arizona and are now 5 back. The 4th place Braves lost to the St. Louis Cardinals and are 15 games back.
But to get to Feliz’s big blow, the Phillies, trailing by 2-1 with 2 outs in the ninth, they needed Feliz’s tying single, reliever Chad Durbin to elude a none-out tenth inning bases loaded jam, alert defense by Feliz and the first of 2 blunders by leftfielder Manny Ramirez. MLB.com’s Ken Mandel describes the scene;
Feliz flew to right to end a 1-2-3 seventh. Two innings later, he came to the plate as the final hope in what loomed as a missed opportunity to slice a game off the Mets’ lead.
He watched Jayson Werth strike out on 99-mph heat from closer Jonathan Broxton. [Newly acquired utlity infielder] Andy Tracy walked and was replaced by pinch-runner Kyle Kendrick. With Shane Victorino dancing off second base, Broxton fell behind, 2-0, then fired in a fastball at 98 mph that Feliz turned into the closer’s seventh blown save.
Jimmy Rollins’ inability to end it in the ninth loomed larger when Chad Durbin loaded the bases with no outs to start the 10th, but Feliz snatched a grounder from Casey Blake. Seeing that Manny Ramirez wasn’t booking down the line, Feliz stepped on third, then threw home to Chris Coste, who tagged out Ramirez.
“As soon as I saw the ball, you have to know who’s on third,” Feliz said. “He didn’t take off for home right away, so I knew I could tag the bag and throw home. If he took off right away, I would throw home.”
While that still might have produced a double play, it would’ve put runners on second and third, where a wild pitch or passed ball might score a run and a hit would score. Instead, the Dodgers had runners on first and second, keeping a force play in order.
Durbin escaped the inning and worked a scoreless 11th, allowing Feliz to shine again. His second career walk-off homer — came on the first pitch from reliever Jason Johnson.
Starters Joe Blanton and Hiroki Kuroda dueled in a 1-1 deadlock for six innings with Kuroda getting slightly the better of the going. Kuroda’s 1 run 2 hits performance was a virtual replay of his previous outing against the Phils. Blanton was also solid for the Phillies keeping them in the game giving up 1 run on 6 hits. After 91 and 102 pitches respectively, both bullpens took over in the seventh inning.
1st baseman James Loney singled to leftfield driving in a first inning run off of Blanton after the Dodgers loaded the bases with none out.
2nd baseman Chase Utley a 2 out RBI single to centerfield off of Kuroda tied the score at 1-1 in the fifth.
Lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero took over for Blanton to begin the seventh. After being touched for a single and then foiling an attempted steal, Romero struck out the next hitter before walking Andre Ethier. Romero was replaced by Ryan Madson who promptly threw a wild pitch before 2nd baseman Jeff Kent gave the Dodgers the 2-1 lead with single to leftfield.
After Feliz’s 2 out single tied the score in the ninth and after he helped Durbin elude a possible tenth inning balagan, the 3rd baseman put it away for the Phillies in the eleventh, thanks to Manny Ramirez’ defensive blunder to go along with his base-running blunder of the tenth inning. AP sportswriter Rob Maaddi describes the Phils’ inning for Yahoo sports;
Shane Victorino led off Philadelphia’s 11th with a double to left field off Joe Beimel (4-1). Victorino didn’t run too hard out of the box, so left fielder Manny Ramirez played it like a routine single. But Victorino turned it on rounding first base and Ramirez had no chance to get him after lobbing a throw to the infield.
“That definitely put pressure on them and changed the inning,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of Victorino’s hustle.
Jason Johnson entered and walked Chris Coste. Jayson Werth advanced the runners with a groundout, but pitcher Cole Hamels, batting as a pinch hitter, popped out to second base.
Feliz hit the next pitch into the seats in left-center for his second career game-winning homer. His other one was on July 25, 2003, for San Francisco against San Diego.
Philadelphia has won seven of nine, including three in a row over the Dodgers since losing four straight in Los Angeles less than two weeks ago.
By the way, take note that the final score of the game where Feliz hit his other career walk-off was also 5-2 although it went the regulation nine innings. Durbin pitched the tenth and eleventh innings to gain his 5th win against 2 losses. Beimel, who gave up Victorino’s lead- off double in the eleventh, was charged with the loss. Feliz wenbt 2 for 3 with 4 RBIs for the game.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Sunday’s games, click here.
In Monday’s final, Brett Myers goes against Chad Billingsley as the Mets follow the Dodgers into Philly for a brief, but important 2 games.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Monday’s games, click here.
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