We were at the park today as the Phillies played a sloppy first inning and fell behind the Twins 3-0."This is going to be an ugly one, huh?" I asked Christine.
"These aren't the Phillies of last week," Christine said confidently.
Turns out, we were both right. Hitting season continued in earnest, and the Phils knocked out Twins starter Kevin Slowey in the 2nd inning with seven runs and two of the five home runs they would hit today. Cole Hamels overcame his rocky start to set down 13 in a row from the 1st to 5th inning.
It was a beautiful day at the park, and everything was perfect until Jim Thome came up with one man on in the 9th inning against Jose Contreras, who was trying to protect the 9-4 lead. Stupid Phillies fans cheered Thome before and even after he hit a two-run homer, giving the Twinkies life. That was bad karma that caused the Phils to cough up a five-run lead in the 9th inning for the first time since July 16, 2000. Brad Lidge also participated in the fun. Both teams volleyed until the 11th when Danys Baez, officially Christine's least favorite Phillie, gave up three runs. Twins 13, Phillies 10. {I am really not happy about this game. It seems just as bad as, if not worse than, last week's debacles against the Red Sox.}
At least the Red Sox, who blew a lead in the 7th inning, came back to win in the bottom of the 9th against the Dodgers.
We'll do a full recap of today's game in SoxandPhils style tomorrow. Warning: There will be a lot of discussion about Twins fans. I never knew there were so many. {And that they could be so annoying.}
1 comment:
I was watching this game with my wife. At the start of the 9th inning with a 5 run lead, she says the Phils can't blow that big of a lead. I told her, "oh yes they can, the bullpens in".
We watched in disbelief as the lead evaporated. When the Phils had two on with one out in the bottom of the 9th, I told her that if they don't win it here, they will lose in extra innings. But I also told her that Howard and Werth would strike out, as they always do, in pressure situations. And of course, they did.
If you hadn't noticed, Phils pitchers ALWAYS allow base runners in the 9th. ALWAYS> doesn't matter the score or the situation. Whether it's a starter or reliever, they simply can't get the first three batters out in the 9th. They always allows runners in the 9th and often, runs.
I wish today's managers could get past the pitch count thing. Pitchers in the old days didn't have them. It makes no sense to take the starter out who is shutting the other team down, and bring in a reliever just because the starter has thrown a certain number of pitches. This pitch count thing is way over rated.
Post a Comment