MVN - Most Valuable Network

Victorino Delivers As Phils Beat the Cards

Wow. What a tremendous win to end a terrific nine-game season series between the Phillies and Cardinals. I’m not big on game recaps, but this is certainly deserving of one.

Down 2-1 in the eighth inning with one out and a man on first, Chase Utley hit a ground ball to Albert Pujols, who made a fast turn to second (a play he has perfected and that Ryan Howard never seems to make.) Thanks to Utley’s speed, only the lead runner was retired. Howard followed with a single, and Pat Burrell came through with a clutch RBI single to left to tie the game.

Shane Victorino stepped to the plate with two on and two out, and after crushing a 3-0 pitch foul, hit a screaming live drive homer to right field for his tenth of the season and a 5-2 lead. Victorino, who didn’t even start the game, has been on a power surge as of late, hitting eight homers since July 1. But this game was nowhere close to being in the books.

After scoring one run in the eighth, Troy Glaus led the ninth off with a huge blast to left off Brad Lidge. Lidge retired Yadier Molina and quickly got an 0-2 count on the pesky Aaron Miles. (I wonder how many times Miles’ name has been preceded with the word “pesky” or “scrappy.” Probably 750,000 times? Roughly?) Anyway, Miles got the stereotypical “little-guy-single-to the opposite field.”

Rick Ankiel pinch-hit, and thank God, Jesus, Allah, all the wacky false idols people used to show love to, that Ankiel did not hit a game-winning homer. Not simply because it would have resulted in a painful Phillies loss, but because Jon Miller and Joe Morgan would have played the Kirk Gibson storyline to death. I can just picture it:

• Jon: “A LONG DRIVE! DEEP! ANKIEL! (post walk-off celebration) Well Joe, that was Kirk Gibson-esque!”

• Joe: “Yeaaaaaaaah Jon you’re right. Ankiel told me before the game that he likes to hit and even likes to hit game-winning home runs from time to time. He really showed us that right there.”

• Jon: “He sure did. And hobbled by a sore abdomen? The man is barely able to run out there.”

• Joe: “Yeaaaaaah Jon, and to think, we almost missed it because we were talking about a few hitters from 1971 in this crucial spot. That’s why we’re a great team, though. We don’t even have to be talking about the game. Or baseball. Or anything at all. But we’re still looked at as one of the top broadcasting teams in the country.”

• Jon: “Well Joe, maybe it’s because I pronounce names more obnoxiously and different than everyone else and you tell ridiculous stories filled with boring quotes. Have you talked to Rafael FOOOORcal lately, or possibly Jim TOMAY. No?”

Okay, you get the point. I went way off topic, but they’re just so painful to watch.

Ankiel’s grounder to first took a huge hop and bounced off Howard’s glove, allowing Miles to reach third.

So here’s the scene: First and third. One out. Cesar Izturis up. Incorrectly called Maicer Izturis by Jon Miller. Lidge’s blown-save streak (27 this season, 30 total) on the line. Izturis only has 18 strikeouts in 276 at-bats on the year. Down 1-2 in the count, Izturis gets hit in the arm with a fastball. I can’t even imagine how painful a Lidge fastball on the arm must feel. It probably hurts.

Six pitches later, it was like nothing ever happened. Lidge threw six pitches to strike out rookies Nick Stavinoha and Joe Mather, who both looked completely over-matched.

With the win, the Phils improve to 61-50. They hold a two-game lead over the Marlins, who they start a three-gamer with Tuesday, and a 2.5 game lead over the slumping Mets. I’m not hearing how much Jerry Manuel’s “casual style of managing” or “laid back approach to the game” or “fun-instilled clubhouse methods” have resurrected the Mets season lately. Funny how that works, huh?

Side stuff:

• I think it’s safe to say that Ryan Howard KILLS the Cardinals. He’s now hitting .368/.496/.789 in is career against his hometown team, with 12 homers and 32 RBI in 25 games. He looks like a different hitter against the Cards. He takes more pitches, seems to see everything better, has a more relaxed approach. I don’t know what it is, and if I didn’t watch him play I’d call that description BS, but he really does look like a different hitter against St. Louis.
• Brad Lidge is the best closer in baseball this season. Not Frankie Rodriguez, whose 248 saves this year are hard to argue against, but Brad Lidge. If Lidge had as many opportunities as K-Rod, he would have that many saves too. His stuff has just been baffling. It doesn’t matter if he’s not at 100% one night, or if his slider isn’t sliding. It doesn’t matter if he’s having trouble locating his fastball, either. He just always seems to have enough. I’ve yet to see him blow a save as a Phillie yet, which is why this homer-sounding lovefest is being written right now. If he blows two saves next week, I’ll have a different take. But as I stated to Mets writer Jessica Bader the last time the Phils and Mets met, I don’t see any signs of Lidge slowing down. The Phils are now 50-0 when leading after eight innings.

Hmm, what else…..OH! I’m starting a writing internship at ComcastSportsNet.com in two weeks, so definitely check out my stuff there. (Shameless self promotion, before this I was a “plug” virgin.) I’ll still be posting stuff on the regular here, because, let’s face it, this is the best time of year. So many emotions, so many crucial games, so much stuff to talk about.

Jamie Moyer vs. Josh “Generic Name” Johnson on Tuesday night at the Cit. Dan Uggla probably shouldn’t play, because he’s worse against Old Man Moyer than he is in All-Star games. 2-23 against the Ageless Wonder with ten strikeouts.

By the way, Uggla’s middle name is Cooley. I laughed upon seeing that, as should you, because it reminded me of Seth Rogen’s response of “cooly cool” to Steve Carell in the 40 Year Old Virgin when Carell explained his weekend of egg salad sandwich craziness!

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.