Sunday, September 13, 2009

2009 Topps Heritage #185 Kyle Kendrick

Phillies 5, Mets 4 (Game 1)

And a nice, cleansing deep breath . . . Ahhhh. Not one to make things easy for himself (or this Phillies fan watching from home with the TV on mute), Brad Lidge closed out the game today as the Phils downed the Mets, 5-4. Lidge picked up his 29th save the day after Ryan Madson imploded against the Mets, but he first yielded two runs in the inning. An RBI-single in the 8th from pinch-hitter Andy Tracy proved to be a huge insurance run.

Kyle Kendrick was the story today. In his first big league start since September 2008, Kyle pitched into the 8th inning, before turning the game over to the bullpen. He did a fantastic job locating his change-up and as a result, his sinker was all the more effective. Stellar defense from the infield, especially Jimmy Rollins, aided Kyle in his first win of the season.

Ben Francisco and Shane Victorino each homered in the victory. With the win, and with the Marlins' loss this afternoon, the magic number to clinch the division is now 15.

1 comment:

Dan said...

I love me some successful sinkerballer pitchers.