Whatever It Takes
Posted By: J Stump
Posted: 8/25/2008 1:55:33 PM
Having the Sunday season tix plan for Phillies, I was in attendance at last night's 5-2 overtime victory against the Dodgers. It was a great win for the Phillies, a win that the team was able to pull out even though they didn't have a great offensive performance, and a win I think they really needed in terms of how they were able to win.
Their first hit didn't come until the 5th inning, and when it did, it was delivered by near-Mendoza line hitting Carlos Ruiz. Thankfully, Chase Utley got their second hit of the game in that same inning to drive Ruiz in and tie the game up at 1. The beginning of the game looked like it was going to be disastrous for the Phils, but Joe Blanton fought his way out of a 28 pitch inning with the bases loaded, and only gave up the one run. After that, Blanton was steady, certainly not dominant, but good enough to keep his team within that one run until they decided to hit the ball. I would say Blanton is exactly what we thought we were getting, a guy who's going to give you 6 strong innings a game and keep the score tight. It's not CC or Harden dominant, but as I've stated before, the Phillies didn't realistically have the resources to get either of those guys. I think overall we should be very happy to have Blanton...after all, if not him, Eaton could still be here, and he never would've gotten out of a bases loaded first inning with only giving up 1 run. (I also think that if the Phillies make it to the WS, Blanton's AL experience could be a huge contribution...case in point, he struck out ex-Boston Slugger, and current NL pitching feaster Manny Ramirez twice last night which kept the Dodgers from getting any kind of sustained rally going)
The real story of last nights game was the 9th inning and extra frames though. In the bottom of the 9th, down 2-1, Shane Victorino led off the inning with a nice single. Lets see a show of hands from the faithful who thought that A) Shane would have the highest batting average of any regular Phillies player and B) that he would be batting 5th this season in the midst of a pennant race? Nobody? It's honestly pretty amazing what he's done this second half, and hopefully he gets rewarded both monetarily and with the respect he deserves for showing he can be an everyday player, and an impactful one at that. Pedro Feliz, who was a late innings replacement for Dobbs came up later in the inning and drove Victorino home to tie the game. Throughout that entire inning, I'm pretty sure that CBP was the loudest I've heard it all year in person. It was an electric atmosphere with the fans standing and cheering on every pitch. Up to that point in the game, the Phillies had something like 4 hits, and hadn't done much to inspire a come from behind victory, and yet everyone really seemed to believe they had it in them. Perhaps part of that belief stemmed from having a reliable guy come up as a lead off, as opposed to you know who. (Who ended the rally after Feliz's hit by the way.) I was really impressed by the crowd's excitement and you can tell that this town hasn't lost it's hunger for postseason playoffs...hopefully we get enough results like yesterdays to make that a reality.
It seemed a lot of people left after the 9th inning, probably due to having to get up early for work on Monday and not wanting to get stuck in traffic at the ballpark and get home at 1 am, but the remainder of the people did a decent job in keeping the stadium loud in support of the home team. It wasn't quite as electric as the 9th, but it was a crowd that was into the game at least. In the 12th inning, Shane led off again, and this time stretched a single into a double, coming out of his head first slide with fists pumping. I've read it suggested that maybe Shane is the leader this team needs more than WMH or even Utley, and while I disagree with that based on some of the immaturity that Victorino will still show here and then, it's nice to see a guy who you know wants to win and has the fire inside to show his competitiveness. Jason has talked about the "fire" in Howards eye finally showing up lately while Rollins still just seems like a body going through the motions, and that's really evident last night. Howard didn't do anything at the plate (though he did make contact for the most part, at least he didn't have one of his 4 K games), but he made a superb catch in foul territory that I never would've guessed he could make. It has to make you wonder what's wrong with Jimmy, as he just doesn't look like he's got anything in him. Anyway, back to the 12th, now with 2 men on and 2 outs, Feliz came up again and really played hero by knocking in a 3-run walk off HR.
I started this rambling post off by saying it was a good victory for the Phils, and a victory that they needed, and I really believe that. So much of their offense is reliant on the long ball, and so much of their victories are reliant on their offense. Even though he ended it with a HR, the Phils pitching kept the dodgers to only 2 runs, and they were able to come up with enough small ball to tie it, even though they struggled. With the inconsistencies of the entire team being magnified lately, it has to feel good for them to gut out that victory. We know by now that they're not going to obliterate all their competition with double digits scores, so they need to get used to fighting and clawing and coming up with clutch hits throughout the entirety of the game. Let this be the beginning of stretch where they go out and do what they have to in order to get the W.
| Chase Utley |
| Jamie Moyer |
| Jimmy Rollins |
| Joe Blanton |
| MLB |
| Philadelphia |
| Phillies |
| Shane Victorino |
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