2011 Chachi #37 Wilson Valdez HL

Phillies 5, Reds 4 (19 Innings)
Game 49 - Wednesday Night, May 25th in Philadelphia

One Sentence Summary:  Raul Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 19th to score Jimmy Rollins and secure the win for infielder Wilson Valdez in a very long, strange game.

What It Means:  It means I was very tired at work today.  For some odd reason, I decided to stay up and watch the entire game even though I was fairly tired when the game began.  The victory raised the team's record to 30-19 as they maintained a one game lead over the Marlins in the division.

2011 Phillies Team
Issue #55

What Went Right/Wrong:  This game had so many twists and turns, I've opted to forego paragraphs and just go the bulleted list route.

• Way back in the first inning, Ben Francisco got the Phillies on the board with a 2-run home run.
• Roy Halladay pitched seven innings, giving up 11 hits and three runs.  The Reds scored twice off Halladay in the seventh to tie it up, 3-3.
• Jay Bruce hit a solo home run off Antonio Bastardo in the 10th as the Reds took a 4-3 lead.
• Ryan Howard countered with a monster home run off Francisco Cordero in the bottom of the 10th to tie it up again, 4-4.
• Kyle Kendrick and J.C. Romero somehow combined to hit a batter and walk three Reds in the 11th, yet the Reds failed to score.  Romero picked Brandon Phillips off second for the second out of the inning.  Phillips appeared to be joking around with Rollins right before the pick-off.
• David Herndon pitched out of the 11th inning jam and went on to pitch scoreless frames in the 12th and 13th.
• The unsung hero of the game was Danys Baez. Baez threw five shutout innings, allowing just one hit. 
• "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" played during the 14th-inning stretch.
• With the bullpen empty and Baez having thrown 73 pitches, Valdez (1-0) came in to pitch the 19th.
• Carlos Ruiz, after catching 18 innings, moved to third.
• Valdez induced the heart of the Reds order to fly out, pop up and pop up and he hit Scott Rolen with a pitch just for good measure.
• Valdez became the first position player to earn the win in a game in which he started in the field since Babe Ruth did it in 1921.  (Read that sentence again.  Pretty cool, isn't it?)
• The line for Herndon, Baez and Valdez - 8 1/3 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs.
• The game ended at 1:19am.  I was still up, completely wired, well after 2am.

Featured Card:  As I was trying to fall asleep last night, I decided Valdez' feat deserved its own Chachi highlight card. 

Other Stuff:  Over at The Writer's Journey, JT agreed the game resulted in some "crazy stuff."