Sunday: Phillies 7, Rockies 5
Turning Point
The Rockies got stopped cold by the Phillies bullpen. With a 5-2 lead, two men on and one out in the fourth, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel yanked starter Chan Ho Park. Chad Durbin came in to get Garrett Atkins on a pop up, and struck out Ian Stewart, ending that inning, and putting the Rockies offense into a slump. The Rockies managed only two hits — both singles — in the final 5 2/3 innings.
At the Plate
Dexter Fowler, who led off Wednesday’s game in Arizona with his first big-league home run, hitting right-handed, made his third start on Sunday, and in the second inning hit his first home run from the left side. He also sinlge int he sixth. … Phillies 3-4-5 hitters Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth were a combined 7-for-11 with four RBI and four runs scored.
On the Mound
The Rockies went into the eighth inning with a 5-3 lead, and their bullpen lined up perfectly with Manny Corpas in the eighth and Huston Street in the ninth. So much for that idea. Two batters into Corpas’ appearance the score was tied. Shane Victorino led off with a single, and Chase Utley homered. Then, in the ninth, with the score tied 5-5, Pedro Feliz greeted Street with a bloop doouble just inside the left field line, and after Chris Coste sacrificed Feliz to third, pinch-hitter Matt Stairs homered. It was Stairs’ 15th career pinch-hit homer.
Numbers Game
53 consecutive saves, including one in this series and seven in the post-season last October, for Phillies closer Brad Lidge, who last blew a save Sept. 23, 2007
He Said It
“I was trying to go down and in. I didn’t get it in. You miss your spot in the big legues, they do that to you.”
Huston Street on the 1-1 fastball pinch-hitter Matt Stairs hit for a two-run homer.
Matt Stairs, the wannabe hockey player, is a tough out. He is a good pinch-hitter.
Turning Point?, with all respect Jack, with a 5-2 lead, how can that be a turning point? The turning point(s) came in the 8th and 9th.
Anon-
A turning point can come at any point in the game. It’s when the momentum shifts, which in this case happened the second CHP. By the time the 8th inning started the Phils were Rollin (pun intended).
Anonymous, couldn’t agree with you less. Rarely is the final chapter of the book the turning point. It’s the conclusion.
The eighth and ninth inning was where the tying and winning runs were scored, but that wasn’t where the game turned.
Where the game turned was when the Phillies bullpen came in and shut down the Rockies. They were primed to break the game open. they had two men on with one out and the middle of the order coming up,and Durbin came in and easily handled Atkins and Stewart. That deflated the Rockies. They disappeared offensively at that point.
This was a tough loss, to be up 5-1 and have your two best relievers give up the game was a bummer. But i agree, you see it so much that a team gets up early and doesn’t keep the same approach offensively and the next thing you know, the game is tied or your behind. I was very happy with the at-bat by stewart in the ninth though. To be down 0-2 against Lidge, and to lay off those pitchs to work a walk was a good sign. I personally can’t wait for the day that stewarts name is on the line-up card everyday.
Tracy,
Had those 4 runs not been scored in the 8th & 9th, would that have still been the turning point of the game?
I agree with both of you guys to be honest. I’m going to exagerate the situation here just to make a point. Say the rox were up 10-0 and had the bases loaded with no out in the 4th inning. The Phils get out of it with no more runs, then they come back and still lose 10-9. The turning point of that game was in the 4th inning. So I agree with Tracy in that if the rox add on to their lead early, the game would’ve been over. But when you have a golden oppurtunity to add to a lead, and then don’t do it, the other team gains momentum. Philly clearly gained momentum at that point. I know gut feelings don’t mean a darn thing, but I didn’t have a good feeling in my gut when the Phils were just hanging around, although the rox clearly outplayed them the first 4 innings or so.
Depends on how the game would have ended. Obviously if the Rockies had scored 10 more runs that would not have been the turning point, but that’s the point. The reason those runs scored and mattered was because a Rockies offense that was ready to blow the game open instead got blown away.
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