Photos: 2008 Phillies
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Things can change quickly in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, and last night that change came in the way of Ramirez' grand slam, which came off Chad Durbin in the eighth inning and propelled the Cubs to a 6-4 win.
For seven innings, all signs pointed toward a Phillies victory, and a tie with the Mets atop the division, and for that reason, the way it ended left the Phillies clubhouse in silence.
The Phillies are now 73-61 and a game behind the Mets in the NL East.
On a night when Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels was dominant, and the lineup managed four runs off a pitcher who entered with a 2.85 ERA, losing seemed particularly devastating.
"To think about how well Cole threw the ball, and how well our lineup did against [Ryan] Dempster," said Durbin, who entered the night with 1.95 ERA, "that's a tough one."
Thanks to a three-run fifth inning and some timely hitting by Jayson Werth and Chase Utley, the Phillies entered the eighth with a 4-1 lead.
Hamels allowed one run on five hits in seven innings. But he threw 108 pitches on a muggy night, and Charlie Manuel said that after conferring with pitching coach Rich Dubee, it was determined that Hamels had all but exhausted himself.
"He was absolutely spent," the Phillies manager said.
But after Manuel pulled Hamels and sent Ryan Madson out to start the inning, things quickly unraveled.
Madson left the game three batters later without recording an out, giving up a solo home run to pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot, a double to Alfonso Soriano, and a single to Ryan Theriot.
"It was one of those days where it wasn't going where I wanted it to go," Madson said.
With men on first and third and no out, Durbin (5-3) threw five of his first six pitches for balls, walking Derek Lee before leaving a sinker over the plate for Ramirez.
That pitch exited Wrigley quickly, thanks to a powerful swing from Ramirez, who hit his 24th home run of the season and tallied his 96th, 97th, 98th and 99th RBI of the year.
The blast left Manuel sitting in the dugout expressionless, and left the sellout crowd euphoric.
"We got in a situation where we couldn't get people out," Manuel said.
It's a situation that has now cost the Phillies two straight losses, after nearly 5 months of dominance from a bullpen that entered the night with the lowest ERA in the National League.
It was the eighth time this season the Phillies lost a game in which Hamels allowed fewer than four runs in an outing. But it was hard to fault the lineup, which had decent success against Dempster, who entered the night with 15 victories.
Utley and Werth combined for five hits and reached base seven times.
Victorino hit a two-out single to drive in a run in the first, while Werth's leadoff double jump-started a three-run fifth inning that featured RBI from Carlos Ruiz, Jimmy Rollins and Utley.
The Phillies have now scored 42 runs in their last seven games after scoring only 44 in the previous 14.
The Phillies tried to rally in the ninth, getting a leadoff single from Rollins, but Cubs closer Kerry Wood retired Utley, Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard. The game ended, and the Phillies remained in second.
The loss was only the Phillies' third in the last 12 games, but in all three, a reliever has recorded the decision.
"We shouldn't be going through this," Madson said.
"This is our time to be holding these leads." *
For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.
|
|
|
|
|
|
REGIONAL SCOREBOARD
Latest Sports Blogs
TOP STORIES
Green
email this
print this
reprint or license this
Buy tickets online
