Five home runs allowed by their pitching. Six runs allowed by their starter, followed by five runs by the bullpen. Deficits of 6-2 and 11-7. A 3% WE in the eighth inning. The Phillies continued to scoff and sneer at The Laws of Probability, in their 13-11 win against the Nationals on Monday. The Phillies' improbable come-from-behind victory, their ninth of that nature this season, improved their record to a season-best 10-8.
Joe Blanton entered Monday's outing, riding the relative high of two "quality" starts in a row. Blanton hoped for a quotation-mark-free quality start, and to extend the Phillies' streak of games-without-a-home-run-allowed to a season-best two games. After Blanton struck out the side, in order, in the first inning, all things seemed possible. Until the second inning, that is. The Nats bunched three singles, a walk, and a sacrifice fly, in taking a 2-0 lead. Blanton got off to a strong start, but faded at about the time Smiley, the Dollar Dog Pig, visited the Phillies' broadcast booth. It is is unclear whether Blanton was disrupted by the sight of a giant pig throwing hot dogs into the crowd, or if he was merely undone by his own mediocrity.
The Phillies came right back in the bottom of the second, tying the game, and returning the WE to 50%. Blanton was able to hold the lead until the Nats started batting again, at which point he allowed titanic home runs to Ryan Zimmerman and Elijah Dukes. Phillies' announcer Tom McCarthy took advantage of the blasts to prepare clips for his audition to join the 2010 Washington Nationals broadcast team. (I think Nats' fans will enjoy his enthusiasm, as well as his ability to transition between even the most disparate topics in a single sentence.) Blanton reduced the Phillies' WE to 10.7% in the fifth, permitting another long homer to Zimmerman, and left the game three batters later, with a 6-2 deficit.
With a four-run deficit, the Phillies needed five batters to tie the game up. Consecutive singles loaded the bases for Ryan Howard, who tied the game with a grand slam off Nats' starter Shairon Martis. The slam improved the Phils' WE from 22.6% to 53.7%. The teams exchanged single runs in the seventh, and entered the eighth tied at seven.
Scott Eyre came on to start the eighth, in a rare non-LOOGY situation. With Brad Lidge unavailable, due to knee pain (as discovered after the game), the plan was for Eyre to set-up for Ryan Madson. Eyre had retired all ten batters he had faced in 2009. By the time he was done for the night, he had retired ten of fifteen batters in 2009. Eyre's performance went walk-homer-walk-homer-walk, at which point he was removed in favor of J.A. Happ. Eyre threw twenty-five pitches (nine for strikes), increased his ERA from 0.00 to 10.80, and reduced the Phillies WE to under 4%. After tonight, Eyre should expect to be re-LOOGified for the immediate future.
The Phils had the Nats right where they wanted them. Catcher Lou Marson started the bottom of the eighth with a strikeout, reducing the Phillies' WE to only 3.0%. Six batters later there were two outs, but the score was now 11-9, and the bases were loaded for Raul Ibanez. With the Nats RH closer Joel Hanrahan in the game, Ibanez hoped to extend the inning, as LH slugger Matt Stairs was on deck. Ibanez did successfully extend the inning, hitting a grand slam to right field. The slam gave the Phillies a 13-11 lead, and increased their WE to 92.6%. (Construction of the Ibanez statue, to be placed in Ashburn Alley, will begin Wednesday morning. ) Ibanez' homer inspired a "Rauuulll" chant, a "We're not worthy chant", and a curtain call by the "Spanish Jim Thome", as he was dubbed by future Nats' announcer Tom McCarthy. Ryan Madson finished up in the ninth, picking up the save with the aid of his 97 MPH heater.
Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge is listed as day-to-day with knee discomfort, so Ryan Madson should handle closing duties for the immediate future. Catcher Carlos Ruiz was scratched from a rehab start for the Iron (no relation to Smiley) Pigs, so he'll likely stay on the DL a bit longer. Lou Marson will get the opportunity to increase his MLB service time, and steal more ABs from Chris Coste. By the time Ruiz is ready, Marson may not be the catcher who is chosen to go back to AAA.
The Phillies send ace Cole Hamels to the mound against Washington Tuesday night. Hopefully, this will allow them to rest the bullpen a bit, and they won't require another statistically improbable comeback. A second wire-to-wire win would be preferable. They just can't keep coming back from miniscule Win Expectancies to win every night, can they?
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