Did you miss last night’s game? Are you really bored at work? Would you like to immortalize the each of the Phillies’ home wins since they’re so few and far between? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then have we got the post for you. Since I sat in front of a computer for the last three hours watching the Phillies game, I figured I might as well keep track of what was going on as the Phils try to deny Frank Robinson his 1,000 win as a manager. Below is a pretty comprehensive recap of Wednesday night’s game with a bit of analysis and commentary scattered throughout. So curl up by the fire or kick your shoes off under your desk and relive the Phillies second home win of the season.
Bottom 1st – Phils go down 1-2-3 on three ground outs
Top 2nd – Ryan Church hits a solo home run. This guy is on fire, 5 for his last 9, with 4 homers and 9 RBIs. Nations 1-0
Bottom 2nd – Ryan Howard hits his 3rd homer of the year, first with a man on base…David Bell is booed after he grounds out (also coming off a two GIDP night)…Sal Fasano just missed a home run by about a foot but settles for a double only to be LOB. Phillies 2-1
Top 3rd – Livan Hernandez hits a home run to tie the game. Phillies burned once again by opposing pitchers at the plate. The ball is flying around the park, it’s like they’re playing on the moon…Aaron Rowand makes a nice catch on a forward dive…Broken bat ground out to end the inning; a lot of bats have been broken since the Nats came to town. Score tied 2-2
Top 4th – Gavin Floyd’s curveball in the dirt strikes out Royce Clayton but allows Ryan Church (who walked) to steal second, who is subsequently LOB
Bottom 4th – I love Chase Utley’s hustle to first. He was thrown out on a close play here, but last time up he beat out a bunt. Why is it that the fast runners (Utley, Rollins) always hustle to first while the slow guys (Howard, Burrell) – who actually need the extra step – move the slowest down the line?…David Bell makes a deposit over the right field wall to give the Phils the 3-2 lead. The insanely annoying announcers of MASN believe the ghost of Richie Asburn is blowing fly balls over the fence.
Top 5th – The opposing pitcher gets another hit. Bell misplays a Livian Hernandez grounder and a fan snags the ball for a ground rule double…Bell makes up for it by snaring a Soriano laser…Fasano drops a wind blown foul popup at the screen and Vidro drives in Hernandez on the very next pitch, score 3-3. That was the Phillies 12th error of the year…Vidro scores on a sac fly, Nats take the lead, 4-3…Abreu slides for a foul ball but doesn’t come up with it. A mix of boos and cheers are heard…
Bottom 5th – Gavin Floyd strikes out to lead off, after 80+ pitches should he have been pinch hit for? We’ll soon find out…
…nothing interesting happens for a while…
Top 7th – Livian Hernandez smashes another double. This is getting ridiculous…Floyd out, Fultz in…Vidro drives in 2 runs…BOOOOO….Gullien ropes a double to right…Zimmerman gets the IBB to load the bases… Nationals up 6-3
Bottom 7th – David Bell grounds out to a symphony of Booos…Fasano is called out looking…the MASN announcers get more annoying by the pitch; and I don’t just hate all opposition announcers. I watch a lot of MLB.tv and there are hardly ever Comcast broadcasts, so I’ve been around the block. These guys make me miss Chris Wheeler, heck, they make me miss Andy Musser…Zimmerman makes a spectacular diving catch to end the inning.
…There’s a reoccurring commercial for the Nationals where they play cheesy music and the announcer says every fan is entitled to express his opinion or something to that extent. They show a 10-year old boy drawing, then holding up a poster at RFK. Once unveiled, it reads "Phillies Bite." Shut up, kid, you’re lucky I don’t live in DC anymore…
Top 8th – Livian Hernandez is showing bunt, but swinging away – wildly. He could really injure Bell or Howard who are in at the corners. With a 3 run lead and a 3 for 3 night, just swing away and avoid unnecessarily injuring the defense. He strikes out for his vain effort. Bronx cheers for the K…Utley makes a nice diving stop and flips to JRoll covering second to end the inning.
Bottom 8th – Hernandez is still in, no walks, 7 Ks. The Nats bullpen is so bored they’ve written "NATIONALS" on the bullpen wall with the rosin bag…Rowand doubles and the bullpen gets off their asses…Better warm up fast because Bobby Abreu just hit a 2 run shot to right! Now it’s 6-5 Nats. All 5 Phillies runs have been off homers – no surprise there. Fans are throwing trash onto left field for some unknown reason…Burrell walks, Victorino comes into run for him…Eichen relieves Hernandez to face Chase Utley and promptly walks him…Nats catcher Brian Schneider is making some nice stops to prevent wild pitches, Howard almost swings at one, but walks to load the bases…Dellucci, in for Bell, ground out, but the Nats don’t try for the double play and Victorino scores, 6-6…Alex S. Gonzalez pinching hitting, smacks a broken bat grounder up the middle but is thrown out to end the inning. If it was Chase Utley running to first, he would have been safe.
Top 9th – Gordon in, and strikes out side!
Bottom 9th – Lieberthal leads off with a broken bat ground out…Another broken bat…Rollins flies out, he’s 0-5 on the night…Rowand strikes out…We’re going to extra innings!
…The Nats have their entire bench available. The Phillies are tapped out. Questionable managerial decisions there in the 8th using 3 bench guys? Perhaps, but I appreciate Manuel trying to win the game.
Top 10th – Franklin pitching…Double play to end inning. 4 scoreless innings from Fultz, Santana, Gordon, and Franklin…though Fultz could have stranded his 2 inherited runners. Here’s where the new Fed chair’s revised ERA would come into play.
Bottom 10th – Abreu walks to lead off…Victorino breaks a bat on a foul ball, then strikes out looking. He probably should have bunted Abreu over. Oh wait, the Phillies don’t do small ball…Utley walks (Nats have given up all 5 walks in the 8th and 10th innings)…Howard batting, could be the hero. He is!! Single into right, Abreu scores from second! The Phillies win!
The Phils win their second home game this year and the Nats learn walks kill. Thankfully this game ended when it did. The Phillies were running out of players and it’s pushing 3:30 am here in London. All in all, an entertaining and exciting game, but again showed the Phils precariously rely on the long ball. Tomorrow, Ryan Madson will face minor league call-up, Bill Bray, in the rubber match of the series.
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