Sunday, May 19, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013

Phillies show glimmers of 2008 champs in Game 1 win

19 comments

Phillies show glimmers of 2008 champs in Game 1 win

POSTED: Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 5:37 PM

The Phillies vowed that once the postseason came, they would change into the smart, patient, pitch-absorbing offense that won it all in 2008.

Beginning with the fifth inning of today’s 5-1 victory, they were.

Jayson Werth, whose name in some language must translate into ``quality at-bat’’ led off with an eight-pitch walk.

With Werth jumping off first, Raul Ibanez ripped a 3-1 double into the rightfield corner. Werth scored the game’s first run standing up.

Pedro Feliz pushed Ibanez to third with a ground ball to second. Carlos Ruiz fell behind 1-2, fought his way back to 3-2 with two foul balls, then ripped a single into right-center, scoring Ibanez.

Jimenez had cruised through the first four innings on 45 pitches. When he left two innings later, Jimenez had thrown 92 pitches.

Within three outs, the Phillies saw 47 more pitches.

The Phillies added three runs in the sixth inning. Ryan Howard’s RBI double off the leftfield wall was followed by a towering blast by Werth that ricocheted off the deep wall in center. Raul Ibanez knocked him in with a single to right.

From the flagpoles it seemed as if the wind was blowing strongly from left to right. The wrappers on the ground, and the repeated scrambling forward of outfielders after breaking out, suggested the wind was catching the walls and swirling back in.

Lee worked out of minor jams in the first two innings. After Jayson Werth threw out Yorvit Torrealba trying to tag from second and third to end the second inning, It was a bad call.

There were a few others, most notably when Clint Barnes bobbled Jimmy Rollins’ two-out ground ball in the sixth. Running hard all the way, Rollins appeared safe. It would have plated Raul Ibanez with the Phillies sixth run.

After Werth’s play, Lee did not allow a baserunner for the next four innings. Counting the last two outs of the second inning, he retired 16 straight batters before Garrett Atkins doubled down the rightfield line with two outs in the seventh.

Lee then retired Torrealba, who hit .488 with runners in scoring position this season, on a broken-bat ground ball to second.

The Rockies went down in order on 10 pitches in the eighth inning. Lee entered the ninth inning having thrown 95 pitches. He got the first out on one pitch, but surrendered a single to Carlos Gonzalez and a double to cleanup hitter Troy Tulowitzki before striking out Garrett Atkins on four pitches.

When he had finished his masterpiece -- in his first postseason start -- his pitching line read as follows: One run, six hits, no walks, five strikeouts, 113 pitches, 79 for strikes.

Colorado tested Lee in the first inning – and so did the Phillies. After Werth circled under Lee’s first pitch for the game’s first out, Carlos Gonzalez ripped a 1-2 pitch into leftfield for a single. Todd Helton then grounded sharply to Ryan Howard at first, but after stutter-stepping to record the out at first, the big man sailed his throw into centerfield.

Gonzalez slid, and thus did not advance. That was big, because Tulowitzki squibbed an infield single to the second base side that would have scored him. Lee then escaped trouble when Garrett Atkins launched a fly to short center.

After opening the second with a leadoff double, Yorvit Torrealba was thrown out by Jayson Werth trying to advance to third on a one-out fly ball. Replays showed he was clearly safe, but here’s the thing: Ubaldo Jimenez, the Rockies pitcher, was due up next. Instead of finishing the inning, Jimenez led off the third with a four-pitch strikeout.

Werth’s throw was incredible, Torrealba was still safe, and here’s how it made sense: The ball could have wound up in the stands, and then Torrealba – with the pitcher up next – would have manufactured a run.

But still, he’s a catcher…

In the third, Lee singled with two out, then stole second when no one paid attention to him. It was the first stolen base in Phillies postseason history. Lee then appeared to be the first Phillies pitcher to be picked off in postseason history, but second-base umpire Jerry Meals ruled that Tulowitzki’s tag had missed the first leg in. This time the replay seemed inconclusive, but it was all moot when Jimmy Rollins struck out one pitch later.

All in all, a helluva day for the pitcher obtained instead of Roy Halladay at the trade deadline. And a great omen should the team need him for a Game 5 back here Tuesday.

19 comments
Comments  (19)
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:44 PM, 10/07/2009
    You must change the name this blog. Sammy say so? Really?
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:48 PM, 10/07/2009
    Awesome game. Thank god car sales stink right now because I got to watch it in the service waiting room at work. Great Game. Go Phils!
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:51 PM, 10/07/2009
    5-1 Sam, not 5-0.
    tokar
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:59 PM, 10/07/2009
    too bad Sam didnt actually watch the game, 5-0 victory yesterday ? Try 5-1 victory today! happy hour start early sam ?
    Will.i.Am
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:02 PM, 10/07/2009
    Cliff Lee, you ARE THE MAN
    phills93
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:09 PM, 10/07/2009
    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    Bex
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:11 PM, 10/07/2009
    When they win the series I will be excited. ROckies were about 13 games out in June...they can come back.
    LGbalsac
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:15 PM, 10/07/2009
    Um, first stolen base BY A PITCHER in Phils postseason history.
    Echo
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:18 PM, 10/07/2009
    5-1*, and today, not yesterday.
    Will.i.Am
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:24 PM, 10/07/2009
    The Magic Number is down to 20. Any combination of Phillie wins, and opponent defeats totalling 20, and the Big Red Machine has company. A tremendous organizational win. That's assuming Cliff followed the scouting report. It's the kind of win early on that made us believe the Phils could do it again. So I guess he's 3-4 in his last 8 starts now, with an ERA of 5ish and should be dropped from the rotation. He has hopefully started the kind of streak that carried him to 22-3 last year, and 5-0 in his Phil's start. JWerth looked invigorated, every starter had a hit, terrific balance, and not a homer to be had. Typically terrific Phillie defense. I loved Hamels body language in the dugout, his remarks pre game. I believe he will do great tomorrow. Ironically, since the Phils bullpen is what it is, I was thinking of the Dodgers and Cards today, and sarted thinking LA might win because of a superior pen. Then I asked myself do I really care.
    KBland
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:46 PM, 10/07/2009
    LA sucks...cards we play well against...and we couldve swept the yanks if not for lidges blown save..all gravy if you ask me deep playoff run at the least !
    Will.i.Am
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:54 PM, 10/07/2009
    He said "yesterday" because it's probably going to be printed in the papers tomorrow.
    ejbphila
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:02 PM, 10/07/2009
    donellon...has it come to this? a moronically shallow blog about nothing? ahahahaha...your career is lower than your iq. another death blow to the newspaper industry.
    thingfish
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:03 PM, 10/07/2009
    hamels goes 8 tomorrow phils explode against cook
    soliteryman


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About this blog
Donnellon's career began in Biddeford, Me., in 1981, and has included stops in Wilkes-Barre, Norfolk, and New York, where he worked as a national writer for the short-lived but highly acclaimed National Sports Daily. He has received state and national awards at each stop and since joining the Daily News in 1992 has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania and the Keystone Awards. He and his wife of 26 years have raised three fine children, none of whom are even the least bit impressed with the above. E-mail Sam at donnels@phillynews.com
Reach Sam at donnels@phillynews.com.

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