It was hoagie time before the game yesterday afternoon.Game time temperature was 96F but that isn't why I left after the seventh-inning stretch. Yes, the Phillies had a comfortable lead but that's not why either. It was the sky and the distant flickering of lightning. If I had been really smart, though, I would not have left the parking lot. Instead, I was just turning onto the I-76 ramp when the storm broke and visibility dropped almost to zero. Winds were rocking the car, hail was bouncing off it, and rain lashing it. I could barely make see the car in front of me. All this unfolded to a colorful description of the equally dramatic scene taking place in the ballpark. Eventually it all went away and after a rain delay that lasted an hour and 37 minutes, the show went on. By then I was just about making it out of Philadelphia and onto the turnpike.
It was some storm but happily it all ended with a 12-3 rout of the Indians. Joe Blanton sailed through his outing. When I left in the seventh, he had thrown just 80 pitches and his strike/walk ratio was ridiculous. The Phillies had scored 12 runs, almost all on singles and Indian ineptitude. Placido Polanco had four hits, including a double. Call-up Dane Sardinha, who caught the game, hit the first homer of his career, a solo shot deep into left. Otherwise it was all singles.
The Indians scored two on a homer by former-Phillie farmhand Jason Donald, who had three hits. When play resumed, with two outs in the top of the eighth, Nelson Figueroa was on the mound. Figgy was called up to take the place of Chad Durbin, now on the DL.
