Liberty Ball

The Phillies waited until the bottom of the 9th inning to score any runs tonight, and beat the Houston Astros.  They rallied to score 4 runs and win the game on a walkoff double by Pedro Feliz, winning 4-3.  Geoff Jenkins scored on the play from 1st.  He reached after striking out but getting to first when the strike 3 pitch got past catcher Brad Ausmus.

“Senor Out”, as Feliz is so kindly nicknamed, went 3-4 on the day with that game winning RBI double.  I think this game will earn him some much needed respect from phans.  Not only has his D been stellar at 3rd, but it seems like he is going to start producing like he was expected to when he was signed.

Shawn Chacon pitched an amazing game for the Astros.  He pitched 8 scoreless innings, giving up only 4 hits, and two walks while striking out 5.  The Astros then turned the game over to closer Jose Valverde, who started the inning by giving up a pinch hit to newly called up Chris Snelling.  He hit Chase Utley before striking out Ryan Howard.  Pat Burrell came up next and crushed an opposite field homerun to tie the game at 3.  After blowing the save, Valverde struck out Geoff Jenkins.  However; Jenkins was able to make it to first after the strikeout pitch got past catcher Brad Ausmus and bounced off the backstop and towards first base.  Pedro Feliz then came up and rifled a double down the third base line.  Jenkins was off on the hit and knew that he had a chance to score.  The Astros had a good relay from Carlos Lee to Miguel Tejada, but Jenkins was able to get in under the tag of Ausmus to end the game.

Adam Eaton pitched well, but got the No Decision.  He pitched 6 innings, gave up 7 hits and three runs.  Eaton also fanned 3 batters.  Chad Durbin added 2 scoreless innings, and Rudy Seanez pitched a scary, but scoreless, 9th inning and got the win.

Tomorrow the Phillies take on the Astros at 7:05 at home.  Kyle Kendrick (1-1, 6.14) takes the mound against Houston ace Roy Oswalt (0-3, 9.00).  Oswalt is usually one of the most dominant right-handed pitchers in the NL, but he has had a rough start in 2008.  He has started 3 games but has only pitched 16 innings.  In those 16 innings, he has given up 16 runs on a whopping 30 hits.  5 of the hits that he has given up are homeruns.  Left-handed batters are batting an astonishing .467 against Oswalt.  Hopefully our powerful lefties in the lineup can continue to help Oswalt struggle.

Meanwhile, Kendrick has only gone 7 1/3 innings in his two starts.  He has yet to show the control that he had last season and is looking to rebound quickly before things get out of hand for him.

Jimmy Rollins wore number 42 tonight in honor of the late great Jackie Robinson.  Jimmy pinch hit for the pitcher in the 8th inning and grounded out to third.  He said that he is up to full speed but moving to his left to get groundballs still hurts some.  He said that he expects to be in the lineup in the next few days, probably Thursday.

Once again, I kept a scorecard at home.  Here are the offensive numbers I got for the Phillies:

Jayson Werth CF:

1-4

Carlos Ruiz C:

0-3

–Chris Snelling PH:

1-1 (solo HR)

Chase Utley 2B:

0-3 (HBP, R)

Ryan Howard 1B:

0-3 (2 K, 1 BB)

Pat Burrell LF:

1-4 (HR, 2 RBI, 2 K)

Geoff Jenkins RF:

0-4 (R, 2 K)

Pedro Feliz 3B:

3-4 (2B, RBI)

Eric Bruntlett SS:

1-2 (BB, SB)

Adam Eaton P:

0-1

–Greg Dobbs PH:

0-1 (K)

–Jimmy Rollins PH:

0-1