Phils Stun Mets; Back in First

There was a feeling that the Phils HAD to have this game, given that Santana is pitching tomorrow night and has generally pitched well against the Phillies. Who knew the lengths they had to go to in order to accomplish that feat.

The Phils beat the Mets by a score of 8 - 7 in 13 innings, but had to do it by coming from behind and overcoming a 7 - 0 deficit in order to do so. The win catapaults the team a half game into first place in NL East.

The Mets jumped out to a 6 - 0 lead off of Phils starter Jamie Moyer, who had his shortest outing as a Phil. Moyer gave up 2 homeruns; one to 2B Damion Easley, and a more controversial one to Fernando Tatis. Tatis, a few pitches before he hit the homer, hit a fair ball off of his own man, Carlos Beltran, who was leading off of 3B and was in fair territory. By rule, he should have been out and Tatis awarded first. Instead, Moyer continued to work to Tatis, who eventually took him deep to make the score 6 - 0.

From that point, the Phils bullpen put a stopper on things, giving up just 1 run in 10 innings of work.

Offensively, the Phils finally woke up a bit in the 4th, scratching out a run on a Pedro Feliz sacrifice fly. The 5th inning saw the Phils get a lead off double from pitcher Clay Condrey, followed by a 2-run homerun by Jimmy Rollins. After a Chase Utley walk and a Pat Burrell strikeout, Ryan Howard took Pedro Martinez to the opposite field to pull the Phils within 2 runs and Citizen's Bank Ballpark seemed to coming alive.

After threatening in the 6th inning, the Phils scraped together another run via a Jimmy Rollins single that scored Carlos Ruiz to draw them within a run.

The 9th inning called for desperate measures with 2 outs. Jayson Werth kept the game going with a single up the middle that was off of the end of his bat. The next batter, Eric Bruntlett, was the last position player off of the bench and he responded with a double, scoring Werth and tying the game. Werth appeared to almost run over the plate without actually touching it the first time (fortunately, he had time to double back and touch the plate).

In extra innings, the Phils threatened in both the 10th and 11th inning, but to no avail. The Phils bullpen, led in extra innings by Ryan Madson, JC Romero, and Rudy Seanez held down the fort allowing scant opportunities for the Mets outside of a stray walk or basehit, which was left stranded.

In the 13th inning, the game was over for all practical purposes when Shane Victorino led off, shearing a triple to right field. From that point, the Mets loaded the bases by walking Bruntlett and Werth intentionally in order to trigger a double play. After an "interesting" strikeout by PH Brett Myers, Chris Coste sent a 1-0 Scott Schoeneweis offering over CF Carlos Beltran's head to score Victorino and send the Phils into first place.

The 2-game series ends tonite with Johan Santana possibly facing Kyle Kendrick. I say "possibly", because, in this bizarre game, Kendrick was warming up in the bullpen to possibly enter the game. You wonder if the Phils still intend to pitch Kendrick today.

NOTES:

- Jimmy Rollins' offensive numbers: 5 for 7, a double, a homer, 3 RBI, and 3 SBs. This is the type of performance that earned the MVP and it's what's been missing from the Phils offense for most of this season.

- Bruntlett and Coste, entering the game late, ended up going a combined 6 for 6 with 2 RBI, in hitting the game tying and game winning hits respectively.

- Unforgivable slip by Tom McCarthy in the bottom of the 12th, continually referring to CBP as "Shea". Tom, please just head back up the turnpike and tell Scott Graham to please come back.

- Not sure it was possible for Pat Burrell to have a more feeble night at the plate in striking out 4 times in 7 ABs and leaving 10 men on base.

- The home plate umpire, Mike Everitt, had a tough night. By the 12th inning, I had no idea what a strike was and the way he blew that call in the 3rd inning, where Tatis hit a fair ball off of Carlos Beltran, leading off of 3rd base in fair territory, was unconscionable.

- Carlos Ruiz played 3B last night; the first time he has done so in the Majors.

- Can you imagine trying to keep score of this game?

- Big outfield assist from Jayson Werth in the 11th inning on a hit by David Wright. The ball kicked off the stands just right, Werth was in the right spot to pick up the ball, and gunned out Wright, who appeared to injure his hand on the play. It'll be interesting to see if Wright, who earlier fouled a ball off of his foot, will play tonite.

- Myers' AB in the 13th inning was comical. He did a bunch of posturing, as if he was going to take his hacks, when in reality, it seems he was just sent to stand there and maybe draw a walk with no outs and the bases loaded. The strategy almost worked. Myers went to 3 - 2, before he struck out looking.

Pic from Yahoo.com ((AP Photo/Tom Mihalek))

Dodgers Bash Phils

The Dodgers used a 6-run 3rd inning off of starter Kyle Kendrick to propel them to an 8 - 6 victory over the Phils. The Phils lost no ground in NL East, however, as both the Mets and Marlins lost.

Kyle Kendrick got pounded in the 3rd inning of this game like the AV kid during study hall. When he wasn't walking people or hitting batters (like he did with Jeff Kent), he was giving up gappers to Manny Ramirez and long home runs to Casey Blake. Charlie Manual let Kendrick start the 4th, but Kendrick allowed 3 of the first 4 batters he faced to reach base, upon which time, Manual had no choice but to go get Kendrick. The bullpen, led by Les Walrond and Clay Condrey, did do a nice job of keeping the Dodgers in check the rest of the game.

The Phils did manage to make some noise offensively in the late innings. Jimmy Rollins (2 for 5) hit an RBI triple in the 7th inning and Chase Utley (3 for 5) hit a 2-run single in the 9th inning to close out the scoring for the Phils.

First baseman Ryan Howard reached the 100 RBI plateau on the strength of two groundout RBIs. It marked the 3rd consecutive season he eclipsed the 100 RBI plateau and he is now tied with Houston's Carlos Lee for the NL lead.

The Phils will try to bounce back tonite at 10:10pm with Cole Hamels facing Clayton Kershaw.

NOTES:

- Hey, what do you know? A "Manny being Manny" moment. When the Dodgers came out for the 9th inning, Manny Ramirez was not in his customary LF spot. Whether he was taking a dump or enjoying a post-game adult beverage is unknown, but apparently Manny thought that Dodger manager Joe Torre pulled Ramirez from the game after he ran the bases in the 8th inning. So, when the inning started, the Dodgers had only 8 guys on the field. Fortunately for the Dodgers, they found Ramirez (was that toilet paper on his spikes?) and he did eventually assume his position in the field, smiling sheepishly.

- I hate these West Coast games. Hate them.

(AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

Hamels, Howard Humble Sox

Ryan Howard clouted 2 homers and Cole Hamels pitched 7 strong innings as the Phillies beat the Red Sox last night going away by a score of 8 - 2.

Howard's home runs, both off of Red Sox starter Bartolo Colon, were hit to the opposite field and mark a return of Howard's classic opposite field MVP stroke. Howard also later added an incredibly entertaining triple on what was probably his hardest hit ball of the night to right-center field. RyHo knocked in 4 runs on the night. Jimmy Rollins also enjoyed a big night, with his second lead-off homer of the year, and a big base hit in the 6th inning that drove in two and broke the game open.

As for Cole Hamels, he only had the one bad inning where he gave up back-to-back homers to Dustin Pedroia and JD Drew. Otherwise, he pitched a very good, but not overpowering game, in striking out 5 and walking 2. He even contributed offensively, with an important sacrifice in the 6th inning that led to JRoll's 2-run single and a fluky base hit in the 7th inning.

Chad Durbin held down the fort in the final two innings to preserve the win. Can't help but wonder where Clay Condrey was here, but I guess Charlie Manual didn't consider this a true mop up situation. I would possibly have wanted Durbin for tonite's game in case Moyer gets knocked about, but it's hard to complain when they beat one of the best teams in baseball.

The series continues tonite with Old Man Moyer going up against Jon Lester. The game starts at 7:05pm and will be on CSN-TV.

Did You Notice?

- Terry Francona leave Mike Timlin in FAR too long in the 6th inning? Nice going, Tito. It brought back a lot of memories of how incompetent Francona was when he was the Phillie manager. Still can't believe he owns World Series rings. No, I can't let it go, either.

- The sweet defensive play in the 2nd inning by Hamel off of Jason Varitek? Looked like a Martin Biron glove save.....

- The Pat Burrell triple? What made your heart stop more? Watching Ryan Howard chug into 3rd or watching Burrell lumber the bases? Both of these forays could have led to DL trips as unathletic as those two players looked on those plays.

- Weird stat I heard on a Podcast: According Eric Karabell and Peter Pascarelli on yesterday's ESPN Baseball today podcast, Adam Eaton had more quality starts this year (this was before last night's game) than Cole Hamels. I've tried to find a website that actually keeps the quality start as part of their statistical package, but I can't find one. That Eaton has more "quality starts" than Cole Hamels should tell you all you need to know about that particular statistic.

Photo: (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

The Phils Can't Stop Scoring

Wasn't it just last week that we were all complaining that the Phils' bats were held silent by the Washington Nationals?

In the last two games, opposing pitchers have been just battered by Phils hitters to the tune of 35 runs in two games. In the last game of the Houston series, the Phils tacked up 15 runs on the Astros (4 ER on 0 innings of work on Fernando Nieve alone).

Then last night, the Phils hung a 20-spot on the Colorado Rockies, in the first game of a 10 game homestand. The Phils managed 7 runs off of starter Jorge De La Rosa and another 6 off of reliever Josh Newman. It was more than enough run support for Jamie Moyer, who gave up 4 runs in 7 innings of work before giving way to mop-up guy Clay Condrey.

Chase Utley was the main offensive hero for the Phils last night as he homered in his 2nd straight game, giving him 16 homers on the season. Utley added two more hits, in addition to the homer, in chasing home 6 runs. Pedro Feliz and Chris Coste both chipped in with 4 RBI apiece.

The win keeps the Phils tied with Atlanta for 2nd place. Both Atlanta and Philadelphia are 2.5 games behind the division leading Marlins in NL East.

The series with the Rockies resumes today, as Kyle Kendrick faces Ubaldo Jimenez at 7:05pm (CSN-TV).