Pitchers Scare, Chooch Saves in Phillies Win
By: Mike Reisman
Ah, natural order restored. Once again, the Phillies are winning by overpowering opponents. Not only that but the Marlins are bad again, as today the Phillies completed their 3-game sweep of the fish. Of course, what would Phillies baseball be without some late inning heroics and some bullpen scares?
Today marked the second start for Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt, who was looking to avenge for his poor first start against Washington. He was very successful through the first five innings allowing only two hits and striking out four. The Phillies broke open the scoring in the 6th with Carlos Ruiz' second double of the night (he was thrown out at third on his first AB) scoring Dominic Brown and Raul Ibanez.
Of course with the Phillies a two run lead can not last. Oswalt was able to hold the lead for another inning until the bottom of the 7th. The inning started poorly with a single and walk from Roy. One batter later he was pulled. That wouldn't help. The first batter J.C Romero faced hit a two run double which was charged to Roy Oswalt. Looks like he will have to wait for his first win. The Marlins went on to score two more runs to go up 4-2.
Of course with the Phillies it's never over until... well the third out. The team took advantage of an error by Hanley Ramirez and got runners on first and second with no outs. The next play, Ibanez doubled, scoring Polanco and moving Ross Gload to third. Jayson Werth would tie the game with a single the next at bat. So the Phillies have runners on the corners with no outs. More runs right? Nope. Three, that's right, three straight base-running errors would get the Marlins out of the jam and into the bottom of the 9th.
The Marlins would have a huge chance to score after Hanley got onto second base, the Marlins hit what should have been the walk off single, however the call was botched by the third base umpire. Oh well. The Phillies would take advantage of the missed call in the top of the 10th. Since the last out was base-running, Carlos Ruiz was still up. Lucky them. Ruiz would hit a lead-off homer which would decide the game. Of course Lidge would put the game tying run on second before getting the save, but let's not dwell on that.
This sweep was critical for the Phillies, especially since the Braves will not lose. The team is still only two games out of first for the NL East, and is only 1.5 games out of the wild card. The Phillies start a three game home series with the struggling Mets tomorrow, where the hope to virtually eliminate the Mets from contention and hopefully gain some ground in the playoff race.