Nationals 4, Phillies 3 (11 Innings)Game 27 - Friday Night, May 4th in Washington
Record - 13-14, 4th Place, 4 1/2 games behind the Nationals
One Sentence Summary: The Phillies fell in extras again, victims of poor umpiring and a shaky bullpen.
What It Means: The Phils missed a chance to defeat Stephen Strasburg, the ace of the Nationals talented pitching staff. Home runs from Hunter Pence and Carlos Ruiz, and dazzling defense from Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino were all for naught as the bullpen allowed the second walk-off, extra inning win this week.
What Went Wrong: I'll pin this loss on poor officiating and Chad Qualls. Qualls allowed a single, double and intentionally walked two during the eighth inning, allowing the Nationals to tie it up. Reliever Michael Schwimer was entering his third inning of work in the 11th when, with two outs, he loaded the bases by allowing a single and two walks. Wilson Ramos singled to center and the first place Nationals increased their lead over the Phils and the rest of the East.
The Phillies should have added a fourth run to their tally, but a potential double from Carlos Ruiz was ruled foul even though replays showed the ball clearly crossing the third base bag. Earlier in Ruiz' at-bat, Victorino was called out stealing third even though replays showed him to be safe.
Featured Card: Sometimes you just need to scream at the umpires a little. Charlie Manuel was quickly ejected from this game in the first inning when he argued a missed checked swing call. (I also could have gone with Lenny Dykstra's 1995 Score card, if I hadn't already featured it back on May 3, 2010.)
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