Wow. What a exciting couple of games last night. First, my Philadelphia Phillies come from behind and beat the Cincinnati Reds in a error riddled game and then the Atlanta Braves come from behind and beat the San Francisco Giants in extra innings. Now for the recap.
Well.....ok......I knew Roy Oswalt wasn't going to come out and throw a no-hitter of his own. But I thought he would of pitched better than he did. He went just 5 innings giving up 4 runs, 2 of which were homeruns, on 5 hits, while walking 1, and striking out 5. That was not the same guy that helped us get to this point. Was it nerves? I wouldn't think so cuz he has been in the playoffs before. He has pitched in the big games. So hopefully it was just a bad game. A bad game in Oswalt's standards anyways. Let's move to the bottom 5th inning. Down 4-0 the Phillies loaded the bases on a couple of costly errors by Cincinnati. Chase Utley came to the plate and hit a 2 run RBI single to start the rally. Then the Phillies loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth and got another run back then when Victorino walked. Then came the bottom of the 7th. A inning the Reds and really Jay Bruce would like to forget. The Reds brought in their hard throwing rookie, Aroldis Chapman, and facing Chase Utley it seemed at first that he hit Utley. On closer review I really don't think that was the case but, Chase was awarded first base. Then 2 batters later Werth hit a sharply hit ball to third, Rolen threw over to second for the force out but, Utley was called safe. I saw that replay and yeah he was safe. Then came the play that changed the game. Jimmy Rollins comes up and hits a fairly low fly ball to right field. Jay Bruce comes over to make the play but, somehow loses the ball in the lights. Goes right by him. Utley scores, Werth is starting to come around third and would of stayed but, the relay throw was dropped by Cincinnati's Phillips and Werth went all the way home without a play at the plate. Wow!! It's almost like there wasn't anything that Philadelphia could do to lose this game. They were desitined to win the game. Then later in the game both Carlos Ruiz (on the kneecap) and Ben Francisco (in the head) were plunked by baseballs. Now I'm sure they were accidents. There would be no reason to hit them. None what so ever. Just a little concerned with Ruiz's knee. And after I think back to that game, Cincinnati had a tight grip on that game. Bronson Arroyo was pitching prett good. His stats don't do him justice. He went 5 and a thrid, gave up 4 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, and struckout 2. He isn't really a strikeout specialist. He gets a lot of flyballs. He was in control of that game and Philadelphia had hard time trying to get anything going while he was in there. But it was becuase the Reds committed 4 errors that Philaedlphia was able to come back. And it also came down to the bullpens. And Philadelphia showed why they are 2 time defending NL champions. And they now have a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. Next up for Cincinnati.....Cole Hamels.
Then came the late game. The Giants and the Braves. It took 11 innings to decide this one. And in the top of the 11th Rick Ankiel crushed a ball into McCovey cove to take the lead and eventually win the game to tie up the series at a game a piece. I didn't get to see most of this game so I can't really divulge what happened in each inning. I turned it on late. The Giants Matt Cain seemed to have a pretty good outing. He went 6 and 2 thirds innings, giving up 7 hits, 1 run, and 2 walks with 6 strikeouts. The Giants bullpen just couldn't seal the deal. The Braves bullpen did just enough to get the win. They gave up some hits but the Giants just couldn't turn any of those into runs. And one bad pitch from San Francisco's Ramon Ramirez to former St.Louis Cardinal pitcher Rick Ankiel was the difference. Now the series shifts to Atlanta. It should be a pretty exciting game 3 with Atlanta having the momentum on their side. All the excitment happens on Sunday. Stay tuned at your WGT forums for more coverage.