Dodgers Beat Lidge, End Phillies Win Streak
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The Phillies reached Los Angeles lefthander Eric Milton and staked 46 year old veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer to a 3-0 fourth inning lead. Moyer left the game after seven innings holding a 3-2 lead. But after lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero completed a clean eighth inning and after closer Brad Lidge retired the 1st 2 Dodgers in the ninth, the roof fell in as the Dodgers beat Lidge, who blew another save, and ended the Phillies victory streak with a 4-3 win on Friday.
As a result of the loss, the Phillies lead over the Mets dropped to 3 games. The Mets gained by narrowly beating the Washington Nationals in 10 innings by a 3-1 score.
The Phils scored their 1st run off of Milton in the third inning as singles by centerfielder Jayson Werth and 1st baseman Ryan Howard put runners at the corners with 1 out. Werth then scored on a ground out by leftfieder Raul Ibanez. 2nd baseman Chase Utley drove in the Phillies’ 2nd and 3rd runs with a 2 out double to rightfield and the Phils had a 3-0 lead.
Moyer, who retired 8 of the first 9 Dodgers he faced with the 9th rubbed out on a first inning pop-out/doubleplay, gave up 1 fourth inning run as he opened by hitting leftfielder Juan Pierre with a pitch. Pierre stole 2nd base, his second such steal of the game. He took 3rd on a groundout and scored on a second groundout.
Milton was pulled in the fifth inning after Howard opened with a double to right centerfield and advanced to 3rd base on a groundout to 2nd base by Ibanez. Reliever Guillermo Mota retired 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz and rightfielder Eric Bruntlett on liners to 2nd base and leftfield to nip the scoring threat. Milton threw 69 pitches in 4 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs on 8 hits while wlking 1 and striking out 3.
Once the Dodger bullpen took over, the only Phillies offensive threat took place in the eighth inning as Ibanez and Feliz opened with singles and moved to 2nd and 3rd as Bruntlett laid down a sacrifice bunt to 3rd base. After Greg Dobbs flied out pinch-hitting for catcher Chris Coste (no run scoring on the play), Matt Stairs walked to load the bases pinch-hitting for Moyer. But leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins, who has done nothing in who knows when, managed a full-count on reliever Ramon Troncoso flying out to leftfield to end the threat and the inning.
Moyer was touched for a 2nd run in the seventh as shortstop Rafael Furcal opened with a double to leftfield and scored 2 outs later on a single to right centerfield by 1st baseman James Loney. Moyer was impressive over seven innings although he ended up with a no-decision for his trouble despite leaving with a lead. He threw 98 pitches allowing 2 runs on but 4 hits while striking out 3 and walking none.
After closer Jonathan Broxton, who notched his 6th win without a loss to go along with his 13 saves, struck out the Phillies side in the ninth, Lidge was sent in to close the game for the Phils. He took Furcal to a full-count before striking him out and then got Orlando Hudson to ground out to the pitcher. It looked “in the bag”, but then disaster struck which has occured often in recent Lidge save attempts. The AP recap for Yahoo sports summarizes what happened next:
Casey Blake started the two-out rally with a single, James Loney walked and Russell Martin reached when third baseman Pedro Feliz botched his routine grounder. [Andre] Ethier then jumped on Lidge’s next pitch and gave the Dodgers their fifth walkoff win of the season.
However Phillies Nation’s Tim Malcolm writes that blame may not be soo cut-and-dry in this one:
* With two outs (easy outs, mind you), Lidge left a slider just above the bottom of the zone that Casey Blake was able to fight into center field. A pretty good pitch, though on a 1-2 count you may not want to pitch a slider so much in the strike zone. Still, you bank on a low slider like that not to get hit into the outfield. It did.
* Then James Loney walked on a full count. But Lidge didn’t get two pitches on the outside that looked like strikes. Just before this, against Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson, Lidge got strikes off two pitches in the exact same place. Now, last night’s home plate umpire Todd Tichenor wasn’t normally calling pitches on the outside part of the plate all game — his strike zone seemed to shift wildly from mid-plate to way inside. But Lidge got strike calls in that place before. He probably should’ve gotten it a third time.
* Then came the boot. Yes, Pedro Feliz should’ve scooped up Russell Martin’s ground ball and thrown it over for the win. That was the first instance I can remember of Feliz costing the Phillies a game defensively. In 1.3 seasons with the Phils, that’s pretty good. Mea culpa.
* Lidge did toss a fastball down the middle to Andre Ethier, who was ready to hit anything. Remember, the chances of hitting into an out with the bases loaded and two outs is high, so throwing strikes is recommended (and up one, absolutely necessary). But yes, maybe Lidge did throw something too down the middle.
You see, baseball is too complex to just pin blame. Feliz should’ve made the play. But should Lidge have been more selective against Blake? With two outs? Maybe, maybe not…. Should the Phillies have won despite not scoring all those times they had giftwrapped opportunities? Maybe, maybe not.
Phillies regular centerfielder Shane Victorino, still troubled by his left hip strain sat again on Friday.
For all of the scores of Friday’s games, click here.
On Saturday, Joe Blanton is opposed by Hiroki Kuroda as the Phils hope to go up in the series by 2-1.
For all of Saturday’s games, click here.
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