Posted on Sat, Oct. 11, 2008
If you like the game within the game, last night's ninth inning was right in your power alley.
Brad Lidge sealed the Phillies' 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series with his 45th straight save in a Phils uniform.
Lidge walked two batters in the inning - he was understandably cautious pitching to Manny Ramirez leading off the frame - as the Dodgers brought the potential tying run to the plate with one out.
Matt Kemp had the first chance to dent the Phillies' closer. Lidge struck him out on a 1-2 slider.
That brought up former two-time American League batting champ Nomar Garciaparra.
Lidge went back to his signature pitch - the slider - and struck out Garciaparra on three of them, each a little harder and nastier than the previous one. The final two sliders corkscrewed into the dirt, and catcher Carlos Ruiz blocked both as the Phils took a two-games-to-none lead in the series.
"No way [Garciaparra] was getting a fastball," Ruiz said after the game. "You have to go with your best pitch."
What a relief
The Phils' bullpen pitched four scoreless innings. Ryan Madson got four big outs, including one that made you hold your breath in the seventh.
He came on to face Garciaparra with two outs and a man on in the seventh. Garciaparra singled on a first-pitch change-up. Up came Casey Blake, the potential tying run.
Madson threw two fastballs. Blake hit the second one, a 96-m.p.h. dart, to the wall in center. Shane Victorino made a leaping catch and seemed to smile as he did.
Whew.
Myers' interesting night
Brett Myers was the winning pitcher. He benefited from eight runs. He drove in three of them.
High and tight
It's never a bad thing for a pitcher to get the opposing team to think he's, oh, just a little crazy. Hitting a baseball that has been thrown by a major-leaguer is not easy, and it becomes even more difficult when the hitter is uncomfortable. One way to create discomfort is to throw fastballs in close proximity to the hitter's nerve endings. By plan or by accident, Myers made the Dodgers think he was a little loco in the first inning.
Myers threw a 1-2 pitch up and in on No. 2 hitter Russell Martin, then struck him out on a curveball.
Myers then went inside on the next hitter, Ramirez. And if that wasn't good enough, Myers threw the next pitch behind Ramirez's back. Was Myers trying to shake Ramirez? No, he said afterward. The Phillies pitcher, saturated in adrenaline, was overthrowing. The pitch however, might have made Ramirez a little uncomfortable and it might have paid a temporary dividend for Myers, who ended up striking out Ramirez on a cutter away.
More Myers vs. Manny
Myers continued to throw Ramirez cutters in the third. With a runner on first and the count 0-1, Ramirez lurched at a hanging cutter and popped it to second. Myers got away with one there, but not the next time he faced Ramirez.
With two outs in the fourth, two men on, and the Phils up by 8-2, Myers tried to sneak a 1-1 fastball on the inner half of the plate by the Dodgers slugger. Ramirez swatted the pitch into the left-field seats for a three-run homer.
The blast came two batters after Rafael Furcal reached on a third-strike wild pitch that would have ended the frame.
Quick bat
The Dodgers pushed across a run on a groundout in the top of the second. Would the early run give them momentum? No. The Phillies came back with four two-out runs in the bottom of the inning.
It started with a base hit by Greg Dobbs. That brought up Ruiz. For the last few weeks, manager Charlie Manuel has been talking about how Ruiz's bat has quickened. It was certainly quick in his first at-bat against Chad Billingsley. Ruiz turned around a 93-m.p.h. fastball and sent it deep to left-center, scoring Dobbs from first.
Myers then dumped a first-pitch single into right field to score Ruiz.
Contact staff writer Jim Salisbury at 215-854-4983 or jsalisbury@phillynews.com.
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