Cyclamens blooming under the boxwood out front.Jamie Moyer had nothing last night in his second shaky outing of the postseason. Moyer gave up five runs in the 1st, then a solo homer to Rafael Furcal to lead off the 2nd. And that was it for Jamie. He had a sterling season, going 16-7 at age 45, and is a large part of why the Phillies are where they are. But he seems to have run out of gas. Hiroki Kuroda, despite looking hittable, again held the Phillies in thrall, to the tune of 2 runs. The final score: 7-2, Dodgers.
In the 3rd, with 2 outs, nobody on base, and Shane Victorino at the plate, Kuroda threw at Victorino's head. Victorino was not happy and gestured ribs, not head. The retaliation was expected, in response to Brett Myers' coming in tight on Ramirez and Martin in the 1st inning of Game 2. But Kuroda delivered the message in a punk way. And in front of the home crowd, not on the road. When Victorino then grounded out to 1st to end the inning, the two exchanged more pleasantries, the benches emptied, and eventually the bullpens did too.
An animated Manny Ramirez came running in from the outfield. Why? To prove that he's a team guy? Do the fans in la-la land buy that? It was the coaches, though, who really got into it, from Mariano Duncan, who had been yapping since Friday, to Larry Bowa and Davy Lopes. Bowa, the ex-Phillie now a Dodger coach, and Lopes, the ex-Dodger now a Phillie coach, were the most spirited. Still rehashing that infamous play from Black Friday? But in the end it was one of those baseball near-brawls, with lots of milling and posturing. No one, of course, wanted to risk a suspension. Davy Lopes pretty much summed it up later. "Did anything happen? I didn't see anything happen. Nothing happened." J. C. Romero later said that he and Manny were probably going out to dinner together. But when questioned about the incident in his postgame press conference, Victorino cut off the questions and left.
Back to the offense. If it doesn't show up soon. like tonight, the Phillies will finish on a sour note. One tinsel lining in yesterday's game, Ryan Howard had 2 hits. Jimmy Rollins, however, is 1 for 13, with a shocking 6 K's, in the series.
