Phillies Blow Lead in Ninth, Padres Beat Lidge
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Brett Myers had his best outing of the season on Saturday going 6 2/3 innings although still giving up a homer, a third inning 2 run shot to 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez. But with the Phillies up 5-4 after eight innings, closer Brad Lidge blew his 1st save since late in the 2007 season by giving up 4 ninth inning runs, including a 3 run homer by 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff as the San Diego Padres rallied over the Phils by an 8-5 score.
Leftfielder Raul Ibanez, who has been the Phils’ most consistent hitter in the early going and doing some nifty base-running as well, got the home team on the board against Shawn Hill with a 1 out solo homer in the second inning.
But Gonzalez put the Padres up by 2-1 with his 2 out jolt to centerfield off of Myers in the third inning. Rightfielder Brian Giles made the score 3-1 in the fifth with an RBI double to center. Giles was out trying to stretch the double into a triple as centerfielder Shane Victorino’s relay nailed him.
Myers tried to help his own cause with a leadoff double to rightfield.
He moved to 3rd base on shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ fly out to centerfield and scored on Victorino’s sacrifice fly to center. 3-2 Padres.
Hill went five innings throwing 91 pitches and giving up 2 runs on 3 hits while walking 1 and striking out 3.
Rookie reliever Luke Gregerson pitched the sixth inning and gave up 1st baseman Ryan Howard’s game-tying leadoff homer to leftfield.
Myers left with 2 out in the seventh inning having thrown 108 pitches, given up gicing up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 4 and striking out 7. Lefthanded reliever Scott Eyre struck out Brian Giles to end the inning.
Ryan Madson took over in the eighth and gave up a run on 2 hits and a walk as the Padres took a 4-3 lead. Between the 2 hits and the walk, Madson struck out the side.
Duaner Sanchez took over in the eighth as 2nd baseman Chase Utley greeted him with a leadoff homer to rightfield to tie the game. After Howard grounded out, the Phils took the lead as Ibanez and rightfielder Jayson Werth each singled and with Ibanez taking 3rd base on Werth’s centerfield single. Pedro Feliz drove in Ibanez with the lead run on a sacrifice fly to rightfield.
Enter Brad Lidge once again in the closer role. The AP recap describes the Padres ninth inning for Yahoo sports:
Jody Gerut led off with a double and scored from third to tie it at 5-5 on Brian Giles’ grounder to first base, and first baseman Ryan Howard playing back.
Manager Charlie Manuel said that he played the infield back with one out and a runner on third because the heart of the Padres’ order was coming up.
With two outs, Lidge walked Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley before Kouzmanoff hit one out to left field.
Heath Bell, a full-time closer for the first time in his career, retired the Phillies in the ninth inning for his league-leading seventh save, running the Padres’ winning streak and the Phillies’ losing streak to three.
Not only was Lidge charged with his first blown save since 2007, he was also charged with the loss.
Reliever Cla Meredith recorded the last 2 Phillies outs in the eighth to record his 3rd win of the season, his 2nd in 2 games.
For all of the results of Saturday’s games, click here.
On Sunday, Chan Ho Park goes for the Phillies hoping to improve on his 10.18 ERA and to break a 3 game Phillies losing string. He opposes soon-to-be 26 year old rookie Josh Geer.
For all of Sunday’s games, click here.
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