Scott Franzke nailed it. Last night's game with the Nationals was indeed a 'shootout', marked by some terrible pitching (Joe, what were you thinking?) and a lot of moonshots. The Phillies mounted not one, not two, not three, but four comebacks. They were down, variously, 2-0, 6-2, 7-6, then 11-7 until a six-run 8th put them up for good.
The Nats scored eight of their 11 runs on five homers, all of them mammoth shots which hit the batting eye, bounced onto the concourse, or ended up in the second deck. Unseasonably hot and humid, it's suddenly 'hittin' weather' here on the East Coast, but as Larry Andersen said on radio, "Those balls would have gone out in a blizzard."
The Phillies took a more economical approach, with just two home runs, both grand slams. Ryan Howard's GS to dead center in the 5th briefly tied the game at six and Raul Ibanez' laser line drive to right in the 8th put the Phillies up 13-11. Rau-uuuu-ll! Ryan Madson came in for the save in the 9th and threw heat.
The moment it ended, I called Mrs. October, who had called mid-game to ask me to call when it was over. "What a game," was how she answered the phone. "What a game."
So why was Ryan Madson closing? Because Brad Lidge is nursing a swollen knee, the same knee that he had surgically repaired a couple of years ago. An MRI has revealed no structural damage but uh-oh. Carlos Ruiz, meanwhile, was scratched from his third rehab appearance with Lehigh Valley because of discomfort experienced during batting practice. It does not sound as if he will be making an immediate return to Philadelphia. Again, uh-oh.
The IronPigs meanwhile were locked in a pitching duel between Clay Bucholz and Drew Carpenter. The PawSox scored an early unearned run, then Johnny Jr. mashed a solo homer to tie it up. In the 12th, the 'Pigs finally pushed a run across to beat the Sox 2-1. Again, what a game.
