Victorino, Feliz come through for Phillies over Dodgers Posted on August 25th
ON A TEAM that has three players with 30 home runs or more, two National League MVPs, and one of the game’s top lefthanders, the difference between winning and losing has often come from a surprising source this season: an undersized former Rule 5 draft pick who is one of only two players from Maui currently playing in the big leagues.
Last night, Shane Victorino once again showed why he has arguably been the Phillies’ most valuable player since the All-Star break, singling and scoring the game-tying run in the ninth, then stretching a hit to leftfield into a double in the 11th to set the stage for a game-ending three-run home run by Pedro Feliz that lifted the Phillies to a 5-2 win over the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park.
“Everyone’s pitching in right now,” Victorino said. “That’s what this game was all about.”
Feliz was perhaps an even bigger hero, tying the game by singling home Victorino in the ninth and turning a pivotal doubleplay with no outs and the bases loaded in the top of the 10th.
“We hung in there and battled and definitely deserved to win,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Games like this, if that doesn’t inspire you and get you going and give you a lift, I don’t think you like to play.”
The win gave the Phillies three straight over the Dodgers, who swept them in Los Angeles a week and a half ago, and pulled them to within half a game of the Mets in the National League East. It also salvaged a game in which Dodgers righthander Hiroki Kuroda dominated their lineup for the second start in a week and a half.
After scoring 17 runs while opening the series with back-to-back wins - their most productive two-game stretch since July 26-27 - the batting order was unable to solve Kuroda.
The Phillies’ last two MVPs, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, combined to go 0-for-9 with three strikeouts. Pat Burrell had the team’s third hit in the eighth inning, but was left standing on first when Howard grounded out to end the inning.
Rollins went 0-for-3 while leading off an inning, dropping his average in such situations to .198, the second worst among all major leaguers with at least 100 at-bats (He trails only Ryan Howard, who went 0-for-1 as a leadoff man last night and is now hitting .179 in that situation).
Kuroda held the Phillies hitless for four innings, finally giving up a single up the middle to Carlos Ruiz. Two batters later, Chase Utley sent a two-out single through the right side of the infield, scoring Ruiz from second.
As far as offense goes, that was it until the game’s final innings.
Phillies starter Joe Blanton escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first inning with just one run, then settled down to pitch six solid innings. But his 29-pitch first inning likely prevented him from lasting more than six innings, and in the seventh inning, righthander Ryan Madson allowed a single to Jeff Kent that put the Dodgers ahead, 2-1.
Blanton finished with one run on six hits and three walks in six innings, striking out four.
“Sometimes you have it from the start and sometimes you have to get a feel for it,” Blanton said. “I got a guy or two on base and had to find it quick. I tried to work out of a jam and was fortunate to get out of it with limited damage.”
For a game in which the teams combined for 20 hits, there was a fair share of action to keep the crowd of 43,000-plus occupied.
From the Phillies’ end, the highlight was a diving catch by Howard in foul territory that emancipated Blanton from a two-on, two-out jam in the sixth. Blanton was facing Russell Martin with men on first and second and the pitcher’s spot on deck. A hit likely would have pushed the go-ahead run across the plate. A walk would have loaded the bases and almost surely brought up a pinch-hitter for Kuroda.
After falling behind, 3-1, Blanton got a slider across for a strike. Martin, who entered the at-bat hitting .286 on the season, got his bat on the payoff pitch, lofting a foul ball to what looked like the nether land in front of Jayson Werth in rightfield and behind Howard at first base. But Howard took off in a dead sprint from his position, chased down the ball, laid out on the warning track, and made the catch in the heel of his glove while sliding across the maroon dirt.
It was one of several highlight-worthy defensive plays on the night. Kuroda held the Phillies hitless for four innings, thanks in large part to Manny Ramirez’ over-the-shoulder catch of a potential Greg Dobbs double to the gap in left-center in the fourth. Not to be outdone, Victorino chased down a James Loney’s long drive in the sixth, making an over-the-shoulder catch at full speed near the warning track in dead center. *
For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy’s blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.