Categories: 2008 Phandom 25Posts

The 2008 Phandom 25: The All-World Pinch Hitter

Last year I wrote a series of posts chronicling 2007’s 20 greatest moments in Phillies Phandom. Each game had a special “wow” factor, whether it was an insane comeback, an awesome feat or a trademark moment. And each game was a Phillies win, of course.

For this year, clearly, you know the top moment. But ranking the rest was very difficult. Do I rank the NLCS second just because? Is the NL East clinching victory as important as other postseason moments? I used some heavy discretion, but I believe I came up with a pretty solid list.

Each moment has an attached video link, if you’d like to go back and reminisce.

Like the 100 Greatest Phillies countdown, I’ll be posting one per day. I swear, you won’t get any more countdowns this offseason.

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24. Dobbsie delivers amidst sinking ship
Date: May 20, 2008

As the Phillies offense started to falter, wins became adventures. Hold dearly onto every run, and hope the bullpen can stave off the rallies. On a night Cole Hamels pitched magnificently against the poor-hitting Nationals, he was given no insurance. The score remained 0-0 as the Phils and Nats entered the late innings. In the seventh, Shane Victorino came to the dish with the bases juiced and two outs, but only flied out. It looked impossible.

But in the ninth, Pedro Feliz doubled. Then came Greg Dobbs, all-world pinch hitter, who drove home pinch runner Eric Bruntlett with a game-winning single. A Victorino hit looked like it could score Dobbs, but he was expertly blocked from scoring a second run. No worries, however, as Brad Lidge shut the door — as always — to secure the 1-0 win. Ugly, ugly, ugly. But a win.

It was their first run in 18 innings.

The video: Dobbs beats the Nats.

From the comments:

Geoff: great outing by hamels, 11k’s. is bergmann really that good? no. this lineup needs to be shaken up to shock them into reality. trading shane would shake things up nicely i think. start hitting there with RISP guys.

Mike T: Embarrassing display of offense – but after watching the last three games, yeah, I’ll take it.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.