Crown 'Em: Phillies 10, Astros 3
by dajafi on Sep 30, 2009 10:31 PM EDT
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PrintShades of last October fed hopes for this October, as the Phillies rode the energy of a fired-up Citizens Bank Park crowd past an early deficit on an offensive surge of the sort mostly missing the last month-plus, a tremendous relief performance from Kyle Kendrick, and an emotional ninth inning closed out by Brad Lidge to their third straight NL East title with a convincing 10-3 win over the Houston Astros.
It looked iffy early on, as Pedro Martinez walked in one first-inning run and surrendered two solo homers to J.R. Towles in the second and fourth. But a four-run fourth-inning off Houston starter Brian Moehler, highlighted by Ryan Howard's RBI single and Pedro Feliz's RBI double, gave the Phils a 5-3 lead they wouldn't relinquish. An inning later, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino electrified the crowd with back-to-back triples, Victorino scoring on a Raul Ibanez sacrifice fly. Ibanez finished the scoring two innings later with a mammoth two-run homer to right, his 34th of the season.
Kendrick came on for a gassed Martinez in the fifth and turned in three excellent innings, striking out four while holding the Astros off the board. Chad Durbin pitched a scoreless eighth, Scott Eyre notched the first two outs of the ninth, and Lidge came in to get former teammate Lance Berkman on a grounder to Howard at first. Seconds before, the Braves lost their game in Atlanta by a 5-4 score, giving the Phils the division title--but that didn't make the accomplishment of a third straight division title, earned with a win, any less sweet.
Congratulations to the 2009 Phillies--National League East champions. Again.
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one would expect brett myers to shotgun a beer
by CoburnsCuddleBuddy on Sep 30, 2009 10:53 PM EDT up reply actions
For Who? My teammates.
For What? To Win.
How Much? Where do I sign?
by jonk on Sep 30, 2009 10:54 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
still my favorite baseball moment ever
http://www.thegoodphight.com
by WholeCamels on Sep 30, 2009 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions
So wait -who got their prediction right?
Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned
by jemagee on Sep 30, 2009 11:50 PM EDT reply actions
don’t even remember what i said but i think i said during this series but not sure where
Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned
by jemagee on Oct 1, 2009 12:00 AM EDT up reply actions
Dem Phightins
Let’s not attribute too much to the “Lidge Pitch” but for real, what does our pen look like in the postseason? Can Kendrick fill in for Moyer or will he revert to late 2008? Should Pedro be allowed to throw a single post season pitch after his horrible night tonight? So many questions yet so much promise. Answers please.
Great crowd
When they show Citizens Bank Park jammed with every seat filled you just have to wonder if there’s a better baseball town right now than Philadelphia. Night after night the crowds were there and after a slow start the home record is now almost as good as the road record.
You can’t take loyal fans for granted, and the winning clubs seems to realize that you need a good product on the field to bring out the fans. It’s sad to see the attendance numbers at some of the old standbys, even ones with a great field, like the Orioles in Camden Yards (49.2% capacity attendance), the Reds in the Great American Ball Park (52.0%) and the Pirates at PNC Park (50.8%). I won’t even discuss the pathetic attendance in Atlanta and Miami.
So take a look at ESPN’s figures at the page I listed below. The Phillies had the highest percentage attendance of all 30 clubs, with only the Red Sox close to them, followed by the Cubs and the Mets. I think it’s something to be proud of. I also think it could be very important to get home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Taking the field in Philly for Game 1 next Wednesday would be a great moment.
by phillyinportland on Oct 1, 2009 2:35 AM EDT reply actions
Well, it’s easy to draw when you win. I’m prouder of the fact the Phillies always put up respectable attendance figures even when they were in the Vet and sucking.
If you ever surf the Mets blogs, there has been a lot of grousing this year about how Philadelphians only really care about football and how all the folks who are wearing Phillies paraphernalia these days just jumped on the bandwagon last season, like Braves fans in ‘91 or Rays fans in ’08. It’s all b.s. of course. Football has been #1 recently, but I think our roots are as a baseball town and we never really stopped being one, not even in the lean years.
With the signing of Vick (i was for this) it seemed like football slipped below baseball, with my Flyers in 3rd overall
It’s a good time for Philly Sports
by CoburnsCuddleBuddy on Oct 1, 2009 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions
I think we’re agreed that Philly is a great baseball town. You know, five of the top seven average attendance teams are in three of the four two-team towns: LA, NY and Chicago. It’s been a long time now, but I wonder how it was in the mid-50’s and early ’60’s for those Philadelphia A’s fans who’d grown up loving Connie Mack and the glory days of the world champion A’s. Did they eventually become fans of the Phillies? Had they always sort of been fans of the Phillies (that seems pretty unlikely given how fans usually divide in other two-team towns)? Did they remain fans of the A’s in Kansas City? For what it’s worth, having only one baseball team in town makes a championship something the entire area can celebrate, unlike the situation in, say, Chicago a few years ago, when Cubs fans were not that excited by the White Sox’ success.
by phillyinportland on Oct 3, 2009 4:04 AM EDT up reply actions
Dodgers lost last night
Only 1/2 a game back for best record in the NL. 2 games up on St. Louis as well, so it looks like home field in at least the divisional round is looking pretty good
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