Whatever transpires during the final week of the regular season this much we can hold as self-evident: having won nine of their last ten games the Phillies have dramatically improved their chances of extending their season beyond next Sunday.
Anyone looking for signs of the Phillies resillience need look no further than their blowout loss the other night in the opener of a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins. Each team came into the contest riding a substantial winning streak. Each team had a chance to go to the post-season. The Marlins had taken two of three from the Phils at Citizens Bank Park ten days earlier. After that series Dan Uggla minced few words in expressing his delight at playing the role of spoilers if his team didn't make the post-season.
The Phils sent red hot Brett Myers to the mound in the opening game. Along with C.C. Sabathia, Myers arguably had been the best pitcher in the league since the All Star break. He was awful, giving up ten earned runs all by his lonesome. By the end of that night the Marlins had abruptly halted the Phils' seven-game winning streak with a few exclamation points!!! The Phils put that game behind them, however, went out the next night and won a tight, dramatic game 3-2. The next afternoon they added their own exclamation points to a 5-1 road trip through the South by winning 5-2.
The Phils were the beneficiaries of some extraordinary good fortune in those victories, especially Sunday afternoon when Greg Dobbs went down with spasms after making a diving stop that saved a run and was replaced by Pedro Feliz, who made a very good play to stop a Marlins' rally and followed with a two run homer the next inning that provided the Phils with all the cushion they needed.
The truth is, good teams make their own good fortune and Feliz' home run came on a series of good instincts and better decisions. The first was Charlie Manuel's decision, faced with a double switch, to insert Feliz in Dobbs spot in the order rather than in the pitcher's spot. Maneul explained later he had several pinch hitters available on the bench and didn't need to use Feliz in the ninth spot in the order. With the Phils clinging to a 3-2 lead, Shane Victorino led off the top of the eighth with a single. Feliz followed and showed bunt on the first pitch. With the Marlins expecting him to try again to move the runner to second, Manuel took the bunt sign off. When the next pitch was the anticipated fastball down the middle, Feliz got all of it.
Sunday's game also added another chapter to Jamie Moyer's extraordinary season. Not only did Moyer win his fifteenth game of the season and 245th of his career, he ran all over the field doing what doesn't come naturally to guys half his age. Of all the extraordinary moments in yesterday's game none was bigger than when Ryan Howard dropped a hard line drive behind first base. The ball caromed off his glove and hit him in the face. When he recovered, who was at first base covering? Jamie Moyer. Most pitchers wouldn't have run to cover on a hard line drive. Fortunately, Moyer isn't most pitchers. But there we go again. That play wasn't good fortune; it was Moyer playing the game the way it is supposed to be played.
No comments:
Post a Comment