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First Jayson Werth singled, then Greg Dobbs, then Shane Victorino. A fielder's choice and a great hustle play by Victorino to beat out the first leg of a potential doubleplay ball came next. A run came home and the Phillies were in business.
"I was cheering in here just like everybody else in here was," said Manuel, ejected prior to the start of the fourth inning for arguing the ejection of Thompson.
What they witnessed was perhaps the Phillies' greatest escape yet, a six-run, ninth-inning explosion that saw a three-run deficit turn into a three-run lead, and, ultimately, an 8-6 win over a stunned Mets team.
So Taguchi, in the middle of one of the most frustrating seasons of his professional career, provided the biggest blast, followed closely by Jimmy Rollins. Taguchi, who was hitless in his first 16 pinch-hit at-bats of the season, hit a two-run double with the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth as the Phillies tied a game they at one point had trailed, 5-1. Rollins followed with a two-run double to give the Phillies the lead and then scored a pivotal insurance run on a groundout by Ryan Howard.
In less than half an hour, all the energy and momentum that had been building like a thundercloud on a muggy night in Queens dissipated, and the Phillies somehow found themselves off the ropes and alone in first place.
Say what you will about their lack of dominant pitching, and their lack of consistency at the plate - and until the final frame last night, there was plenty to be said about both - the one accusation you can't make about this Phillies team is that it accepts defeat with open arms.
Last night, it looked like it would be death by Santana, as the Mets' Johan stifled them for eight innings, allowing an RBI single to Werth in the first inning and a solo home run to Victorino in the seventh. The Phillies finished with eight hits against him, but never seemed in danger of overcoming the five runs allowed by righthander Joe Blanton in his first start in a Phillies uniform.
Blanton, acquired last Friday to replace an ineffective Adam Eaton, didn't have the most enviable circumstances in which to make a debut. The Mets entered the game having won 11 of their previous 13, and had their ace lefthander on the hill. The Phillies, meanwhile, were coming off two straight losses to the Marlins that had dropped them into a tie with New York for first place in the National League East.
Carlos Delgado hit a two-run home run off Blanton in the third inning, though he might have received a second life when third- base umpire Marty Foster ruled that he checked his swing on an 0-2 pitch in the dirt. Thompson was ejected during the frame, and Manuel followed him into the clubhouse when he vehemently protested to Foster prior to the fourth.
"When I questioned him, he said something to me, asked me why I was out there," Manuel said. "I said, 'I came out here to ask you why you threw [Milt] out of the game. He was hollering at you because he thinks you missed a call.' And that's when he threw me out of the game."
Blanton finished with 109 pitches in six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and walking three while striking out one. Santana was more efficient and more effective, but Mets manager Jerry Manuel elected to pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the eighth, a move that would prove fateful. Santana had thrown 105 pitches, but New York closer Billy Wagner was unavailable due to muscle spasms in his shoulder (he is officially day-to-day).
"After seeing that, you can't help feeling that you want to be out there," Wagner said. "A lot of different things might have happened if I was out there. I'd rather be the guy standing here taking the blame instead of letting my teammates suck on this one."
Instead of Wagner, Duaner Sanchez took the mound in the ninth and allowed three straight base hits to Werth, Dobbs, and Victorino. With the bases loaded and no outs, Victorino made a tremendous hustle play, busting down the basepath on a ground ball by Carlos Ruiz and sliding into second before Mets shortstop Jose Reyes could put his foot on the bag. Werth scored, Victorino slid in safely, and the bases were still loaded with no outs.
Phillies bench coach Jimy Williams then opted to hit Taguchi instead of Eric Bruntlett, who had been more reliable in that role. Taguchi fell behind 1-2, took a ball, then fouled off three straight pitches before sending a long fly ball over the head of Endy Chavez in rightfield.
"I saw a lot of pitches," Taguchi said. "My goal was get a big hit."
Manuel was sitting in his office watching the inning on television. A few feet away, various Phillies, including Blanton, were also watching on TV. They cheered when Rollins gave them the go-ahead runs with a double down the leftfield line, and they cheered when Brad Lidge closed it out for his 22nd save of the season.
"We were getting real excited in there," Blanton said. "There were a couple of us in there and we were getting real excited."
Instead of falling out of first place for the first time since late May, the Phillies regained sole possession of it. Afterward, Manuel was all smiles.
"We didn't go," he said. "Did we?" *
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