Posted by Danielle Wilson
Deja vu, Travid Wood vs. Roy Halladay. Remember that matchup from last season? Travis Wood threw eight perfect innings against the Phillies in July last sesason, Carlos Ruiz broke it up in the ninth with a double to deep center field. The Phillies ended up winning that game in the eleventh inning thanks to Jimmy Rollins who singled to score Ruiz. And Roy Halladay's last outing against the Reds was also his first playoff appearence, which was his no-hitter, the second in postseason history. Please note that the previous paragraph was written around 7:30 P.M., but the screen shot of Wilson Valdez was taken at 1:10 A.M.
Interesting move before the game, Charlie Manuel put Ben Francisco second in the lineup, sitting Brown and Utley. No complaints here, Ben Francisco sent a baseball over the left field wall in the first inning to score Jimmy Rollins and give the Phils an early 2-0 lead.
John Mayberry Jr. singled and scored Carlos Ruiz in the bottom of the second, 3-0 Phillies.
In the bottom of the fifth, Joey Votto singled and scored Drew Stubbs putting the Reds on the board, 3-1 Phils.
The Reds were doing what the Phillies usually do on a night when everybody hits; they were singling the opposing pitcher to death. Jay Bruce singled in the seventh with the bases loaded to score two and tie up the game. After that seventh inning, Doc Halladay was done with 123 pitches. He allowed three runs off of 11 hits (all singles), intentionally walking one and striking out six. Michael Stutes came in for the third straight game in the eighth inning. He allowed a single, but struck out three batters. This kid is here to stay.
Ryan Madson came in for the ninth inning in a tied game, a repeat of last night's nightmare, but thankfully, he retired the side striking out one. To the bottom of the ninth we go.
The Phillies loaded up the bases with Mayberry on third, Chase Utley on second, and Jimmy Rollins on first. Chase and Jimmy were both intentionally walked. Dom Brown popped up, and Placido Polanco grounded out to send the game into extras with Antonio Bastardo coming in.
Young, filthy Bastardo allowed a solo home run to Jay Bruce (who else?) which gave the Reds a 4-3 lead. He retired the next two batters but was replaced by Kyle Kendrick after giving up a double to Renteria.
Francisco Cordero came in for the bottom of the tenth, and seconds later, Ryan Howard launched a solo home run to the bullpen stairs to tie it up. The side was retired after that bomb, and the game went on to the eleventh inning.
The eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth innings were all lifeless. After the thirteenth, the Phillies just had Danys Baez in the 'pen, who pitched a 1-2-3 fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth inning. At 12:28 A.M., this game headed to the seventeenth inning for the first time since 2003 against Baltimore, and Danys Baez threw another 1-2-3 inning. 12:42 A.M., and the Phillies and Reds are headed to the eighteenth inning. Longest game for the Phillies since July 7, 1993, which was a 20 inning game against Los Angeles. Another 1-2-3 for Baez (if you're keeping count, that's five scoreless innings) and his pitch count was up to 73 in the eighteenth.
Going into the nineteenth, a position player had to pitch, and it would either be Martinez, Valdez, or Brown. Well, it ended up being Valdez, moving Chooch to third base, and Polly to second base, and what a sight it was. Valdez retired Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Carlos Fisher, all on pop-ups. Valdez was never a pitcher in the majors or minors. Amazing.
In the bottom of the nineteenth, the bases were loaded for Raul Ibanez who drove one to center to score Jimmy Rollins from third. The Phillies won 5-4 it in NINETEEN innings, Wilson Valdez got the win, the player of the game honor, and a pie in the face. Ballgame lasted six hours and 12 minutes, the longest game of the season in the majors, and the longest game ever played at Citizens Bank Park.
