|
Surging Phillies rally to swat Nats 7-6
2007-09-20
Jimmy Rollins and the Philadelphia Phillies have been playing catch-up all season, so it made sense they would overcome one more big deficit. Rollins hit a go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning after Jayson Werth's pinch-hit homer helped erase a four-run hole, and the Phillies rallied to beat the Washington Nationals 7-6 on Thursday night, keeping the heat on the New York Mets in the NL East. It was the Phillies' seventh victory in eight games, a streak that pushed them within 2 1/2 games of the division-leading Mets entering the day. And Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel sounded an optimistic note before the opener of a four-game series at Washington that will mark the end of baseball at RFK Stadium. The Nationals, who took of three from the Mets this week, move to a new park in 2008. "We're still looking at the division. Things can happen. We could win three in a row, they could lose three in a row," Manuel said, knowing his team has managed to be in the playoff chase despite never having spent a day in first place. "We're still in it, and we've still got a chance." Philadelphia looked on its way to blowing an opportunity against the lowly Nationals, though, thanks in part to a poor outing by starter Kyle Lohse. When he left after only 37 pitches, the Phillies trailed 6-2. His line: two innings, six runs, six hits, two walks, no strikeouts, one hit batter. But Werth's second homer of 2007 as a pinch-hitter was a three-run shot into the upper deck in left, making it 6-5 in the seventh. After Rollins doubled and scored the tying run later that inning, he came through again in the eighth. Jonathan Albaladejo (1-1), Washington's fourth pitcher, walked Carlos Ruiz, who stole second. With two outs, Rollins lined a shot just inside the first-base bag to drive in the tiebreaking run and draw chants of "M-V-P!" from a loud group of Phillies fans in the crowd of 19,966. That made a winner of J.C. Romero (1-2), who got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh by getting pinch-hitter Tony Batista to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. Romero hopped off the mound, and first baseman Ryan Howard pumped a fist. Tom Gordon came in to get two outs with a man on second in the eighth, and closer Brett Myers worked around a one-out single in the ninth for his 18th save. This game ended as well as it began for the Phillies: Chase Utley's two-out triple was followed by Howard's 41st homer to make it 2-0 in the first inning. Howard stopped to admire his shot to right, which came on a 91 mph first-pitch offering. But Nationals starter Jason Bergmann settled into a nice groove after that, and didn't allow another run. The right-hander went six innings, and it was when he left that the problems began for Washington. Luis Ayala came on to begin the seventh and allowed the only two batters he faced to reach base. He was replaced by lefty Arnie Munoz, brought in to face lefty pinch-hitter Pete Laforest -- but Manuel countered with another pinch-hitter, Werth. And he put Munoz's fourth pitch into the upper deck in left. Philadelphia wasn't done against Munoz, because Rollins doubled to left. He was sacrificed to third and scored on Utley's fielder's choice groundout when second baseman Ronnie Belliard's off-balance throw home had no chance to get the speedy Rollins. Munoz then hit Howard on the right forearm and was gone, too, replaced by Albaladejo. The rookie right-hander struck out Pat Burrell and got Aaron Rowand to ground out to end that inning -- but he couldn't stop the Phillies in the eighth. Notes:@ Nationals 3B Ryan Zimmerman stretched to reach over a railing and catch a foul pop in the fourth. ... Phillies OF Shane Victorino was back in the lineup for the first time since Sept. 10, only his fifth start since injuring his right calf July 30.
Big Unit ties Clemens for strikeouts, D'backs lose (2008-05-30)Padres, Rockies win on late homers (2007-09-20)Surging Phillies rally to swat Nats 7-6 (2007-09-20)Braves rally to stun Phillies 9-8 (2007-09-05)Phillies narrow gap on Mets after series sweep (2007-08-31)
| 
