Tuesday, September 8, 2009

2009 O-Pee-Chee #79 Raul Ibañez

Phillies 5, Nationals 3

See? I knew it would all work today.

I had a tough time deciding tonight between a Raul Ibañez card or a Ryan Madson card. In the end, I decided to go with the Raul card, to celebrate his first three-hit game since early June. All five runs scored tonight by the Phils came courtesy of solo home runs - 2 from Raul (29 and 30), and one each from Jayson Werth (32), Carlos Ruiz (9) and Chase Utley (30). The Phillies now have four different players with 30 home runs for the first time in the franchise's history and just the 12th time in Major League history. (Worthy of a Chachi highlight card? Still deciding . . . )

Pedro Martinez provided a quality start, pitching into the 7th inning and allowing just the 3 Nationals runs. Brett Myers finished the 7th, pitched a quick 8th and gave way to Brad Lidge in the 9th. Charlie Manuel had issued a shaky vote of confidence for Lidge prior to the game, stating, "I think that he's our closer."

So the man the manager thinks is the closer pressed the issue by allowing a single, inducing a ground out, hitting a guy, throwing a wild pitch, and finally walking a guy to load the bases. Exit Lidge, enter Ryan Madson. Madson worked out of the jam to record his 5th save of the year and the Phils won the ballgame. But where do they go from here? Who's the closer tomorrow night? Can the Phils score without relying on a home run? Stay tuned.

2 comments:

Pop-Pop said...

5 runs...5 home runs...they need to score in other ways

Closer problems...playoffs a "given", not worried, concerned

Jim said...

Charlie and Brad both said all the right things after the game. Brad's got to realize that we've got to win games, and he's not able to help right now.

Magic number is 20.