Monday, October 13, 2008
Comeback!
It didn’t look good for the guys in red after seven innings tonight. They trailed the Dodgers 5-3, with explosive southpaw Hong-Chih Kuo on the hill as the Phils batted in the top of the 8th.
Slugger Ryan Howard singled up the middle to lead off the inning, prompting LA manager Joe Torre to replace Kuo with righthander Cory Wade. After Wade induced a popup from Pat Burrell, switchhitting Shane Victorino smacked a homer into the right field bullpen to deadlock the game! My friend Linkmeister, the Dodger diehard in Honololu, must have been particularly apoplectic that “The Flyin’ Hawaiian” did the deed.
But that wasn’t all for the Phightin’ Phils in that inning. Following the second out, catcher Carlos Ruiz grounded a single past shortstop Rafael Furcal. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel sent up Matt Stairs, looking like a refugee from a softball beer league, to hit for pitcher Ryan Madson. Torre countered with Jonathan Broxton, his ace reliever.
In this chess match, Manuel and my Phillies won the gambit—Stairs crushed a huge homerun deep into the pavilion in Dodger Stadium’s right field, giving the Phils a 7-5 lead! A four-run inning for the good guys!
Still, the Phils needed to record six more outs to seal the deal. Lefty J.C. Romero was on the mound in the bottom of the eighth. He gave up a walk, but that baserunner was quickly erased by a double play. At this point, Manuel brought in closer Brad Lidge, who hadn’t blown a save all season (but had never pitched more than one inning), to face red-hot Manny Ramirez. Manny continued his stupendous postseason, ripping a double to center. Lidge fanned Russell Martin, but Ruiz couldn’t handle the third strike and Martin made it safely to first base, with Ramirez moving to third. Oy vey! However, Lidge retired James Loney to end the inning.
After an uneventful top of the ninth, Lidge returned to the mound. Remember that he’d never pitched more than one inning all season. How would he handle this extra work?
The answer, happily, is that Lidge did a bang-up job! Pinchhitter Nomar Garciaparra hit a routine fly to Victorino in center, Casey Blake quickly whiffed, and Jeff Kent (hitting for Broxton) lined out to thirdbaseman Pedro Feliz to end the contest and give the Phillies a 3-1 lead in the NLCS.
Lidge threw 24 pitches, but with a day off tomorrow he should be ready to roll in Game 5. If he’s needed, that is—the Phils will send out ace starter Cole Hamels on Wednesday to try to clinch the series and move on to the World Series. Hamels pitched seven splendid innings in the opener last Thursday, allowing two runs and striking out eight Dodgers.
As a lifelong phan, I refuse to be an optimist here. The Phillies have been known to dash my hopes ... I vividly remember the Phold, which happened 44 years ago. But I’ll certainly be cheering for them!
