Oct 27 2008
Power surge puts Phillies one win away from World Series title
27 outs. That’s all that stands between the Phillies and the second World Series title in franchise history. After last night’s 10-2 thrashing of the Rays, during which the Phightins slugged four home runs, a championship is finally within reach. With ace Cole Hamels on the mound tonight, a victory seems inevitable. On the other hand, this is Philadelphia, so anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. However, this team has been playing extremely well, catching breaks, and getting production from unlikely sources. The stars appear to be aligned for the team with over 10,000 losses and the city of Philadelphia is ready to explode. But as always with the Phillies, you need to expect the worst and hope for the best.
The Phillies took an early lead when Pat Burrell drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the first, but they blew a chance to really break it open early. If I have one complaint about the way that they’re playing in the World Series, and it’s tough to have any when the team is on the brink of a title, it’s that they still aren’t consistently driving in runs by keeping the ball in the park. Although, Pedro “Peter Happy” Feliz singled home Chase Utley in the third to push the lead to 2-0, that type of at bat has been the exception and not the norm. It also was the first hit with RISP that left the infield in this series.
The Rays cut the lead to 2-1 on Carl Crawford’s second home run of the series in the top of the fourth. Even though “Fat” Joe Blanton was pitching well up to that point, people started to get anxious. However, the anxiety would be short-lived as Ryan Howard crushed an opposite field three-run home run in the bottom of the inning that put the Phils up 5-1. At that moment, you knew that Howard had finally broken out of his slump. It also seemed to be a big blow to the spirit of an already rattled Tampa team.
Tampa had one last gasp in the fifth when Eric Hinske connected on a pinch hit solo homer to dead center that made it 5-2 Phils. In the bottom of the inning, the most unlikely hero completely demolished any fight that the Rays still had in them. Blanton, who was 2-for-31 in his career with two singles and an RBI, belted a solo home run that would have been out of most, if not all, ball parks. Citizens Bank Park erupted. With one swing, Blanton has out-produced both Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, who are a combined 0-for-29 with 15 strikeouts in the World Series. That’s pretty pathetic. After Blanton’s offensive exploits, the Rays’ psyche appeared to be crushed. It was 6-2 Phillies with more yet to come. Speaking of Blanton, he was brilliant on the mound and giving the Phils six strong innings while allowing two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. It was probably a “best case scenario” performance by “Farmer” Joe. I, for one, am grateful that he is a Phillie. At least for one game.
Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, and Ryan Madson combined to keep the Rays off the board in the seventh and eighth innings before the Phillies’ bats came to life in the eighth. Jimmy Rollins laced a one-out double to right and Jayson Werth finally showed up by smashing a two-run bomb to deep left center off of Dan Wheeler. 8-2 Phils with more on the way. Trever Miller came on in relief of Wheeler, but he suffered the same fate. After walking Utley, Howard annihilated Miller’s offering into deep right for the second two-run homer of the inning. In Game 4, the Big Man got his groove back, going three-for-four with 2 HR and 5 RBI. The RynHo is hitting .353 for the series with 3 HR and 6 RBI. He’ll definitely be in the discussion for World Series MVP, assuming the Phillies win, but it’ll be really tough to take it from Hamels if he winds up closing it out tonight. In the ninth, J.C. Romero was called on to seal the win. After struggling slightly, J.C. settled in and struck out Jason Bartlett and Rocco Baldelli to end the game. 10-2 Phillies. 3-1 series advantage for the Phillies.
The World Series title is so close that I can already taste the champagne. The Phillies are 23-6 in their last 29 games. They’ve also been phenomenal at home, winning their last nine games at The Bank. It also doesn’t hurt that a miniature statue of William Penn was placed on top of the Comcast Tower in an effort to reverse the Curse of Billy Penn. For those who don’t know about the curse, no buildings in Philadelphia were supposed/allowed to be taller than the hat on the statue of William Penn atop city hall. From the late 1970s through 1983, Philadelphia sports teams had a ridiculous run of success. Then in 1984, once construction started on One Liberty Place, which was approved to be taller than William Penn’s hat, there were no major sports championships. So far, little Billy Penn on the Comcast Tower seems to be doing its job.
Go Phillies.
