Phillies Rally to Edge Mets in 13 Innings
|
|
|
|
|
45 year lefthander Jamie Moyer gave up 6 runs on 9 hits in three innings in his shortest outing in three years. But shortstop Jimmy Rollins, 5 for 7 with a homer, a double, 3 stolen bases and 3 RBIs, led the Phillies comeback against oft-injured 37 year old Pedro Martinez and the porous Mets bullpen. After the Phils tied the score in the ninth, catcher Chris Coste, who pinch-hit and replaced Carlos Ruiz, smacked a bases-loaded 1 out walk-off single to centerfield to win by an 8-7 score.
By winning, the Phils took over the NL East division lead over the Mets by 1/2 game. The 3rd place Florida Marlins suffered a heartbreaking 10-9 loss to the 4th place Braves after holding 6-3, 8-4 and 9-6 leads. The Marlins are 6 games back and the Braves are 15 games behind.
One of the best Phillies blogs going, Phillies Nation’s Tim Malcolm succinctly describes the Phils’ comeback;
As they’ve done all season, the Phillies bullpen shut down an offense, this time for nine scoreless frames. And it was the whole bullpen — Clay Condrey for 2.1, Scott Eyre for 1.2, Chad Durbin for one, Brad Lidge for one, Ryan Madson for two, JC Romero for one, Rudy Seanez for one. The full line: 10 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 5 K. Sparkling.
The bullpen allowed a Phillies comeback. They started off Pedro Martinez, who pitched well, but is no longer reliable to win games. Pedro Feliz knocked home Shane Victorino with a sacrifice fly. An inning later, unlikely hero Clay Condrey led off with a double, and Jimmy Rollins smoked a two-run home run into right field. 7-3. Then Chase Utley walked, and two batters later, Ryan Howard launched a left-field homer. 7-5. We had a game.
Brian Stokes held the Phillies during the middle innings, but the Phils met a few of their best friends starting in the eighth. First: Duaner Sanchez. A Carlos Ruiz single and change to lefties took him out for Pedro Feliciano. Lefty Greg Dobbs promptly singled, leading to a Rollins single to make it 7-6. Rollins had five straight hits to open the game…
The Phillies were erased in the eighth (thanks Pat Burrell, 0-for-7), and it was Luis Ayala’s turn to stop the Phils and end the game. It seemed certain with two quick outs, but Jayson Werth kept it alive with a single. In came Eric Bruntlett, the most unlikely candidate to bring home a run from first base. But he did — double in the gap, scoring Werth (with thanks to a bad reception by Brian Schneider). 7-7.
The Phils came up big when the Mets threatened. In the eleventh, Werth gunned David Wright, who was trying to stretch a single into a double with two outs. In the twelfth, Howard robbed Ryan Church of a hit.
All of it set up the 13th, led off by the burgeoning leader, [Shane] Victorino. His hustle triple forced the Mets to load the bases with no outs. Brett Myers, the eager pinch hitter, played dummy and almost won the game by walking [Myers went down on a called 3rd strike] in a genius call by Charlie Manuel. With one down, up stepped Coste, and the game finally ended.
AP sports writer Rob Maaddi amplifies on Myers’ 13th inning at bat for Yahoo sports;
Myers did his best in the batter’s box to distract Schoeneweis, digging in, bailing out and looking pitches all the way into the catcher’s mitt.
“I think the whole ballpark knew he wasn’t going to swing, but he put on a good show,” Coste said. “It was intimidating in the on-deck circle.”
To get an idea of how clutch these guys were offensively, check out the box score and play-by-play.
Here though are some glimpses;
Jimmy Rollins : 5 for 7 — a homer, a double, 3 stolen bases, 3 RBIs
Ryan Howard : 1 for 6 — a homer, 2 RBIs
Jayson Werth : 3 for 5
Eric Bruntlett : 2 for 2 — a double, 1 RBI
Clay Condrey : 1 at bat — 1 broken-bat double
Chris Coste : 4 for 4 — a double, the winning RBI
AP’s Rob Maaddi provides this Phillies’ trivia;
Rollins’ last five-hit game was June 16, 2005 at Seattle. He’s done it four times. … Philadelphia had a season-high six steals, including three by Rollins.
Needless to say, neither starter was a factor in the final win/loss decision. Rudy Seanez who retired the Mets in order in the thirteenth inning was credited with his 5th win vs 3 losses. Scott Schoeneweis, whose 2nd pitch to Coste with the sacks jammed was rifled into centerfield to win the game, was charged with the loss.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Tuesday’s games, click here.
On Wednesday, young Kyle Kendrick is opposed by Johan Santana. The Phillies swept the Mets in 4 games at home last August 27-30.
The Phils then hit the road for perhaps the most important 10 games of the season; 4 against the Central division leading Chicago Cubs to finish off August, followed by 3 vs the Washington Nationals and 3 in New York against the Mets. Can lightning strike twice in the upcoming 2nd game at home with the Mets and in the 4 game series in New York in early September?
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Wednesday’s games, click here.
del.icio.us |
digg |
Furl |
Reddit |
YahooMyWeb |