Xmas in July: Phillies 14, Cardinals 6

by dajafi on Jul 25, 2009 7:57 PM EDT Comment 18 comments

Jimmy Rollins continued his July tear with a grand slam and a career-high five RBI Saturday against St. Louis. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

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Five months before the presents of December, Phillies fans are still hoping that GM Ruben Amaro Jr. can deliver the shiny new Halladay gift on everybody's list. In the meantime, the guys on the current roster showered another Citizens Bank Park sellout crowd with a slew of runs as they buried the visiting Cardinals 14-6.

The last part of the game was as satisfying as the first few innings were frustrating. The Phils jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but St. Louis right fielder Ryan Ludwick made the first of a series of excellent defensive plays by the visitors to rob Carlos Ruiz of a likely double that would have plated two more. Ludwick then homered to lead off the second, and the Cardinals added single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings against Rodrigo Lopez to go ahead 4-3. The fourth run came on a solo home run by Rick Ankiel, who earlier had made two great catches to save three more likely runs--including an over-the-wall grab on a Jayson Werth blast to dead center field.

But it all came apart for Tony LaRussa's club in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Werth walked and Pedro Feliz singled. After Ruiz flew out to deep right, Charlie Manuel sent Greg Dobbs up to pinch-hit for Lopez against Cards reliever Jason Motte. Dobbs fell behind 1-2 against Motte's high-90s heat, but hung in to draw the walk and load the bases. Jimmy Rollins followed with his second career grand slam inside the right field foul pole, and was barely out for his curtain call before Shane Victorino made it back to back homers. After the Cardinals got one run back in the top of the seventh, the Phils salted it away with six more, highlighted by a Rollins RBI double, a Victorino single that scored two, and a Ryan Howard two-run double.

Joe Blanton takes the mound for the rubber game Sunday at 1:35, opposed by Cardinals righty Todd Wellemeyer.

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Great game.

I was actually at the game today. Hot weather but well worth the $15 standing room tickets. I ended up right behind the dugout after the 6th inning. The laser fiasco began around then. I ended up on TV actually, which was cool.

"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds." - Wilt Chamberlain

by soman319 on Jul 25, 2009 10:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Two-out success

I don’t know if this was commented on earlier, since I missed the end of the game, but I can’t recall a game where a team scored 13 runs with two-out hits. That helps explain how you can win a game by eight runs when you are outhit 15-14 and outslugged, 9 extra base hits to 5.

by phillyinportland on Jul 26, 2009 2:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No it doesn't

Two-out hits don’t help you score more runs than hits with fewer than two outs, unless there happen to be more bases occupied with two outs.

by phatj on Jul 26, 2009 7:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree.

When there’s two outs in the inning, it means at least two people have come up to bat, and therefore it is more likely that somebody has reached base. A normal OBP is what…0.340? If there’s two outs…that means at least two betters, or a likelihood that somebody has reached base.

I realize there are exceptions to this (homeruns with two outs or leadoff guy getting on) but I believe if you analyze stastical data, you’ll find that 2 out hits result in more RBIs than 0 out hits

by Bilzo on Jul 26, 2009 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think that’s what I had in mind with my “helps explain” comment – the whole two-out RBI concept is one I hadn’t thought about much over the years, but now that it shows up in box scores I notice it. I don’t really have any idea at this point how it correlates to winning the game, but it does seem that in close games it can be important both on the scoreboard and psychologically. How many times have we watched a game and gotten to a situation where “one more out” will do it for us, only to see someone deliver a key two-out hit (or two or more) that turns a game around. And even though yesterday’s game didn’t turn out to be close I think that amount of two-out runs was impressive. And think how frustrating it must have been to Tony LaRussa, especially the inning where he pulls the one guy who’d gotten the Phillies out all day for a situational switch by his book. Enjoyable.

by phillyinportland on Jul 26, 2009 1:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That was my point.

Rather than use 2-out hitting as a proxy for hitting with runners on base, why not just use… um… hitting with runners on base?

by phatj on Jul 26, 2009 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Xmas Plea to Ruben Amaro!

I made this video for Ruben Amaro!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGNW_OY4Hr8

CarlaKnows

by carlaknows on Jul 26, 2009 9:29 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

what

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 26, 2009 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I admire your enthusiasms

by phatj on Jul 26, 2009 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

both of them?

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 26, 2009 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yup

by phatj on Jul 26, 2009 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Great video

Especially the Naughty List with Adam Eaton.
Poor Adam, gone, but not forgotten.

by phillyinportland on Jul 26, 2009 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks a bunch!!

THANK YOU!!

CarlaKnows

by carlaknows on Jul 26, 2009 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

YouTube video

I was laughing at the point about making sure potential playoff opponents don’t trade for him, as I said the same thing to my wife last night, almost word for word…

Attractive woman in skimpy attire talking knowledgeably about baseball… yeah, that’s an internet winner.

by dajafi on Jul 26, 2009 11:48 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs