Game 142 - Saturday Night, September 10th in Milwaukee
One Sentence Summary: The Phils pulled off an extra-inning win, taking advantage of a sloppy play by the Brewers in the 10th, to win 3-2.
What It Means: The magic number to clinch the division dropped to seven, as the Braves lost in St. Louis. The Phillies now have a 12-game lead in the East and a record of 94-48.
What Went Right: Hunter Pence started the scoring with a solo home run in the first and Placido Polanco added his own home run in the fifth. Cliff Lee pitched well, but the Brewers took advantage of a bad play (a Michael Martinez error in the second resulting from a botched double play) and a bloop double from Prince Fielder (to deep short - Wilson Valdez seemed fooled by the ball) to score their two runs. Lee departed after seven innings after allowing just two runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out seven.
Raul Ibanez doubled to start the tenth. He came around to score when Carlos Ruiz bunted a ball that was fielded awkwardly by Brewers pitcher LaTroy Hawkins and then thrown into the stands. Ryan Madson came on to pitch a scorless tenth and record his 30th save.
Featured Card: Madson became the ninth Phillie to record 30 saves in a season, joining Steve Bedrosian (1987), Mitch Williams (1991 and 1993), Heathcliff Slocumb (1995), Ricky Bottalico (1996 and 1997), Jose Mesa (2001 and 2002), Billy Wagner (2005), Tom Gordon (2006) and Brad Lidge (2008 and 2009). This is his card from the 2011 Topps set - a nice horizontal card featuring him with battery-mate Ruiz after one of his 2010 saves.
I'll be back on Monday. God Bless America.
2 comments:
Ahhh, the magic number is boring at this point. ;)
The Phillies need to win the next 2 games to get to .667, and 2 two after that to reach FIFTY games over .500. Pedal to the metal, Charlie!
What's going on in Houston? Looks as if the Phils forgot to show up the last two nights.
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