IS STOCKPILING DEFENSEMEN
Phillies lose, 11-6.
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It's getting out of control.
The Nats just took a 10-6 lead in the top of the ninth. Nick Johnson doubled to center field with one out. The ball hit off the wall and bounced perfectly into Shane Victorino's throwing hand. Victorino threw a one-hopper to Jimmy Rollins, who threw home. But Rollins' throw was off target and allowed Lastings Milledge to score. Johnson scored from third on Carlos Ruiz's throwing error to make it 8-6. Two more runs have since scored and Tom Gordon is out of the game. Fans aren't happy.
Rollins' error in the fifth allowed a run to score. A better throw in the ninth could have gotten Milledge at the plate. It's not often Rollins allows two runs with his defense.
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Phillies fans just broked out the "MVP! MVP!" chants for Jimmy Rollins, who just hit a game-tying two-run homer to left-center field to make it 6-6.
Who needs pitching?
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Carlos Ruiz's double to left-center field in the seventh scored Jayson Werth from first to make it 6-4. The Nats have just pulled righthander Joel Hanrahan for lefthander Ray King, who will face pinch-hitter Geoff Jenkins.
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Lastings Milledge hits a two-run homer to left off righthander Ryan Madson in the sixth to make it 6-2. Chase Utley homered in the bottom of the sixth to make it 6-3.
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Brett Myers struggles in the fifth as the Nationals take a 4-2 lead. Myers hit a batter and walked a batter as the Nats took a one-run lead, but the fourth run scored when Jimmy Rollins couldn't handle a routine ground ball hit to him. It would have been the third out.
Myers has been lifted for pinch-hitter So Taguchi in the bottom of the fifth.
Myers certainly didn't have the day he had hoped. In five innings, he allowed five hits, four runs (three earned runs), two walks and two hit batters. He struck out two. He threw 89 pitches, 57 for strikes.
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The Phillies have taken a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Chase Utley hit a bloop single to center, Ryan Howard singled to left-center to put runners at the corners and Pat Burrell singled to left to score Utley. It started to rain during the inning, which sent some fans scrambling. Guess they didn't look out the window this morning.
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Jimmy Rollins hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the first inning and scored on Chase Utley's sacrifice fly to center field to hand the Phillies a 1-0 lead.
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Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter threw out the first pitch and made it a strike to home plate, which officially makes him a much better mayor and human being than Cincinnati's Mike Mallory. But I've got one complaint. Tucking in the jersey? Untucked. Definitely untucked.
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We're just a few minutes away from first pitch and the Phillies just lined up on the field for introductions.
Pat Burrell and Charlie Manuel, a source of frustration for fans in the past, received very nice ovations. Adam Eaton and Wes Helms, a current source for fan frustrations, did not. Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Chris Coste also received nice ovations.
Keep checking back for updates during the game.
Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.
This is Brookover’s second stint writing about the Phillies, having joined the coverage team after seven years as an Eagles beat writer. Brookover was hired by The Inquirer in 2000 as the Phillies beat writer after spending 13 years writing about the team for two suburban newspapers. While on the Eagles beat, Brookover, who had covered just two winning Phillies teams in 15 seasons, saw the Phillies move into a cash-cow new ballpark and begin playing a brand of the game he found unrecognizable. Follow him on Twitter here.
Gelb is in his third season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He has also covered baseball at The Star-Ledger and Cape Cod Times. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.
To submit a question for Matt Gelb's Phillies mailbag, click here.
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