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The umps strike again

Howard's ejection in the 14th made it two nights in a row that a disputed call changed the nature of a game.

Greg Gibson and his fellow umpires were caught in controversy for the second straight night. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
Greg Gibson and his fellow umpires were caught in controversy for the second straight night. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)Read more
    by By Bob Brookover, Inquirer Staff Writer
    Published 

By the end of the longest and most peculiar night of this Phillies season, Roy Oswalt was playing left field, Raul Ibanez was at first base, and Brian Schneider was catching.

Mostly a lack of offense was to blame - the Phillies had two runs and 10 hits in 16 innings of a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros on Tuesday night - but third-base umpire Scott Barry also played a role in the last of manager Charlie Manuel's moves on his mangled lineup card.

With runners at first and second and two outs in the bottom of the 14th inning, Ryan Howard thought he had checked his swing on a two-strike pitch from Astros righthander Mark Melancon. Asked for an appeal of the call from home-plate umpire Greg Gibson, Barry ruled that Howard had swung, and the Phillies' first baseman threw his bat in disagreement.

Barry immediately ejected Howard, who reacted by going after the third-base umpire. Howard, restrained by teammate Placido Polanco, never got to the ump, but by the time all the heated discussions had ended, Ross Gload also had been ejected by Gibson.

Gload, of course, was never in the game because he is on the disabled list.

With Howard ejected and the game in the top of the 15th, Manuel did not have any position players or even relief pitchers left to replace Howard. The manager put former Astros staff ace Roy Oswalt in left field and, naturally, the first ball put in play in the 15th inning went right at the pitcher. Oswalt handled the routine fly ball off the bat of Humberto Quintero for the first out of the inning.

By the end of the game, the Phillies and Astros had used 43 of 50 available players. The Astros used 21, including seven pitchers, and the Phillies used 22, including eight pitchers.

That does not include Oswalt, whose appearance became significant in the bottom of the 16th. After Polanco drew a two-out walk, Astros manager Brad Mills ordered an intentional walk to Chase Utley with Oswalt standing on deck.

Houston reliever Jeff Fulchino got Oswalt to ground out to third base for the game's final out after 5 hours, 20 minutes.