Dog bites man

As is becoming an unfortunate habit when we go to Citizens Bank Park, Christine and I had to sit through a long, cold, wet and delayed mess of a baseball game. It spanned two calendar days, but at least we didn't have to pay twice for parking.

Only in baseball can the same two teams that played a beautifully crisp 13-inning game in little more than four hours on a pleasant 83-degree night come back the next night and take nearly three hours and forty minutes to play nine innings of slop during a cold and wet night that felt much worse than the listed 71 degrees. Oh, and that game time doesn't include the hour and a half rain delay.

Here's our recap of Game Two of the SoxandPhils showdown in which the 2007 champs beat the 2008 champs, 11-6:

Yesterday, I noted that Antonio Bastardo hadn't had a bad start in either of his first two big-league games. He took care of that early yesterday. Jacoby Ellsbury walked, stole second and went to third when Carlos Ruiz's throw went to center. Ellsbury scored on an errant pickoff attempt at first base after Kevin Youkilis walked. Jason Bay homered him in. As the rain began to drive down, Julio Lugo singled to center, but Shane Victorino let it get by him, allowing two more runs to score. 5-0 before the Phillies even batted.

Daisuke Matsuzka pitched a 1-2-3 first inning. I gave up keeping score because the scorecard was getting too wet, even tucked inside a plastic bag. I joked to Christine that tonight would be the night I would see a no-hitter without a scorecard to record it. I couldn't have been more wrong.

As the Phillies warmed up in the top of the 2nd, Christine was confident her Phillies would make a game of it and predicted a long, ugly back-and-forth affair. They would come back, but not after we spent some quality time in the concourse of the ballpark waiting for the rain to end. Our primary amusement was trying to decide which drunken Red Sox fan would fall down first. There were a couple of close calls, but no winners.

When play resumed, new Phillies pitcher Chad Durbin kept the Red Sox in check for three innings as the Phillies took care of Dice-K. They scored a run in the 3rd on back-to-back doubles by Victorino and Chase Utley. In the 4th, when I made a rare run to the concession stand, Raul Ibanez led off with a home run, followed two batters later by a two-run blast by Pedro Feliz. Dice finished the inning, but that was the end of his night – Red Sox 5, Phillies 4. {Actually, by my count, it was 4-0. Because I was entrusted to keep score when Greg got up, I corrected the early scoring and nullified the 1st inning runs.}

Jack Taschner, who is gaining on Chan Ho Park for the title of least-loved member of the Phillies pitching staff, relieved Durbin in the 5th. The Trashman delivered – he faced nine batters, giving up three runs on four singles, a double and a walk. The inning ending on a flyout to center in which Victorino showed some great range. He made an exaggerated gesture to show the crowd he had the ball. Earlier in the inning, he was miffed that the umpires said he trapped a ball when he thought he caught it on the fly.

The Phillies rallied to get one back off Manny Delcarmen, who's starting to exhibit signs of a slump. The Sox rallied for two more in the 7th off of Sergio Escalona. We had no idea he was called up to replace Friday night's goat, Kyle Kendrick. The teams traded a pair of solo home runs (Jayson Werth in the 7th and Jacoby Ellsbury in the 9th) before Jonathan Papelbon mercifully ended this nightmare of a game at 12:25 a.m.

Observations from the stands: Great national anthem by the United States Air Force Heritage Brass quartet. One of the best renditions I've heard at the park in a long time. ... Rob McElhenney of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" threw out the first pitch. ... Among the many rain ponchos we saw, I spotted one with Buffalo Bills logos on it and another with the Pittsburgh Pirates. ... We spotted a dutiful helper dog during the delay wearing a rain slicker and a Phillies bandanna. ... The subject of the night's scoreboard marriage proposal had an infant in her arms. Christine wondered how the guy convinced her to wait out the cold, wet delay with the baby. ... A grown man behind us wore bright white sneakers with Phillies logos on them.

Christine wanted the Phanatic's late-game dance segment to play off how late it was getting. It didn't, but the PA did play "After Midnight" during the first inning break occurring after midnight. ... Speaking of music, we didn't hear Journey's Separate Ways last night, but Werth is now rotating his at-bat songs, including his original Heavy Metal by Sammy Hagar and newly added Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. I know you all love J-Dub and his intro music selections, but we can't keep up anymore.

On-field stars: Dice-K (1st), Durbin (2nd), Hideki Okajima (6th) and Ramon Ramirez (8th) for the few 1-2-3 innings in the game that saw the teams combine for 386 pitches (176 by the Red Sox, 210 by the Phillies). ... Ryan Howard surprised everyone by attempting to steal in the 2nd inning. He slid with an awful thud, but it was for naught because Ibanez fouled off the pitch. Christine wondered if he swung out of panic thinking he missed a hit-and-run sign when the big guy took off. ... Ellsbury showed his range in center field all night. ... Mike Lowell made a tremendous spear of a low liner smoked by Howard in the 3rd. It's one of those plays that looks like nothing in the box score, but could have prevented the Phillies from catching up. ... In a game that featured 17 runs on 26 hits and 11 walks, there were too many offensive stars to name. You can look up individual performances here. Although I didn't realize until just now that the Red Sox gave up only one of those walks.

Etc.: Here's some background info on the love affair between Philadelphia fans and J.D. Drew for the Red Sox fan who asked Christine with two outs in the bottom of the 9th whether Drew gets booed in Philly because he used to play here.

Today: No rest for the weary. Todd Zolecki says the Phillies deserve a short game featuring a long outing by J.A. Happ today. The Red Sox could use one too, but two SoxandPhils fans over here could really use one. We'll catch the finale this afternoon (Josh Beckett vs. Happ), then make a call to The Pen at 8 p.m. on MLB and then we'll try to catch up on some of the sleep lost last night.