Phillies celebrate after winning the NLDS on Monday, October 12, 2009 at Coors Field ( Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer )
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- Phillies' bullpen rises and falls
- Head-scratching moves work out
- Take away the asterisks
- Phillies Notebook: Howard didn't miss it
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Inside the Game: Phillies pull win out of thin air
DENVER - The Phillies were supposed to be the team with the shaky closer in the National League division series.
But Colorado Rockies closer Huston Street was the guy who had problems, while Phillies closer Brad Lidge prospered.
Street converted 35 of 37 save chances during the regular season, but blew two in the series. His latest came last night when he let a two-run lead get away in the ninth as the Phillies rallied for three runs and a 5-4 win in the decisive fifth game of the series.
Lidge, who led the majors with 11 blown saves during a personally miserable regular season, struck out dangerous Troy Tulowitzki with two men on base for the save. "That's what this time of year is all about," Lidge said. "You never know what this time of year will bring. For myself, this is the way I knew I could pitch. And for Huston Street, there's no reason he should hang his head. He had a great year."
The Phils had 43 comeback wins during the regular season, third most in the majors. This was their sweetest.
"And we've got more in us if we need them," Jimmy Rollins said.
For the second year in a row, the Phils will meet the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series, which begins at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.
Cole Hamels, who won three Game 1s in the postseason last year, is ready for the start.
Here's a look at some of the key moments of last night's NLDS clincher:
Start me up
They say Jimmy Rollins makes the Phillies go. He ignited the ninth-inning rally, battling back from an 0-2 count, with a one-out single against Street. Shane Victorino reached on a fielder's choice and Chase Utley walked before Ryan Howard knocked in two with a game-tying, two-out double. Jayson Werth drove home the tie-breaking run with a single.
Almost got away
Rollins and Utley are one of the best double-play tandems in the majors, but they had a costly meltdown in the bottom of the eighth. The Phils were up by 2-1 with one out. Dexter Fowler was on first base after walking. Todd Helton hit a ground ball to Utley, who appeared briefly distracted as Fowler approached him in the baseline. Fowler basically hurdled Utley as the Phils' second baseman fielded the ball.
At this point, Utley could have thrown to first and taken the second out. Instead, he chose to flip backhanded to Rollins at second and try to get the double play. As Fowler approached second, his body blocked Rollins' view of the ball. Rollins missed it. Error. "There was no distance between the runner, the ball and what I needed to see," Rollins said. "Crazy play."
Ryan Madson replaced starter Cliff Lee and got the second out on a nice catch by leftfielder Ben Francisco, but pinch-hitter Jason Giambi singled home the tying run on soft liner to left. Yorvit Torrealba then followed with a two-run double.
Late in the game, the Phillies needed outs. Had Utley chosen to go to first and gotten the second out on Helton's grounder, the Phils might have avoided a lot of problems in the inning.
But then you wouldn't have had all that ninth-inning fun, right?
Missed chances
The Phils had the bases loaded with one out in the third and eighth innings and got nothing. Most egregious: Pedro Feliz swung at reliever Rafael Betancourt's first pitch and popped up for the second out in the inning. The night before, Feliz swung at a bad pitch with the bases loaded and grounded into a 1-2-3 double play.
