If Hank, the guy who hands out programs at the Reading ballpark, had been at last night's Phillies game, his smile would have split his face.With the game tied 1-1, Pedro Feliz, still shaking off the rust from a DL stint, came in to pinch hit in the 7th and popped out on the first pitch. In the 9th, down 2-1 and with two outs, Feliz singled Victorino in to tie the game. Then in the bottom of the 11th, with two on and two outs, Feliz sent the first pitch he saw into the seats in left center. Game over, Phillies win 5-2. It took over four hours, lots of clutch pitching (Blanton, Romero, and Durbin in particular), timely hitting (Ruiz, Utley, Victorino, and Feliz), and some spectacular defensive plays (Rollins, Howard, and Victorino). The 10-minute face-off between Romero and dangerous hitter Matt Kemp, with Juan Pierre agitating on 1st, was awesome. Also key: sacrifice bunts by Blanton and Bruntlett and a walk in the 11th by the recalled Andy Tracy to bring Feliz to the plate. All in all, wow!
Meanwhile, in the Lehigh Valley, Carlos Carrasco had another solid outing, going 6.1-innings and giving up two unearned runs on five hits. He also struck out eight. But again his outing was tainted by shoddy defense behind him. In truth, the defense in all five of his starts has been brutal. Carrasco left the game with a 4-0 lead. What happened after that was just deplorable.
