Posted by Danielle Wilson
As Chris Wheeler would say, the first inning for the Phillies was a "doozy". It only took eight pitches for Padres starter Tim Stauffer to retire the side, and I wish I could say the same for Joe Blanton. Big Joe allowed his obligatory first run to score on an RBI triple hit by Jason Bartlett.
The Phillies came back in the third inning, first with Wilson Valdez' single and stolen base, then Ben Francisco's RBI triple, which Cameron Maybin dove for, but missed by about five feet. Tied game.
In the fifth inning, Nick Hundley doubled and scored Cam Maybin giving the Padres a 2-1 lead. In the sixth, Jimmy Rollins singled and scored Pete Orr (doubled) to tie the game at two. Now Jimmy has just as many RBI as Joe Blanton…two.
At 91 pitches, Joe Blanton's night was done after pitching seven innings and allowing eight hits, two runs/earned runs, two walks, and he struck out three. Solid.
Danys Baez pitched a perfect eighth inning. That is all.
Heath Bell struck out Ryan Howard (fourth strikeout of the night, alas, the golden sombrero returns!) and Ben Francisco. That's eight strikeouts in this series now for Howard.
Young Antonio Bastardo came in for the ninth and struck out the side (!!!!) all swinging, on mainly his fastball, curveball, and slider. Filthy. Into extra innings we go.
In the tenth, the Phillies were retired in order by Chad Qualls, and the Padres were retired in order by Kyle Kendrick. No, that was not a typo.
Placido Polanco pinch-hit a single in the eleventh, and Padres Manager Bud Black made a really ho-hum move by getting Chad Qualls to intentionally walk Jimmy Rollins with Ryan Howard due up. Lefty reliever Cory Luebke came in and allowed a two-run double to Howard, giving the Phillies a 4-2 lead. Take that, Black.
Ryan Madson closed it out in the eleventh inning, protecting the 4-2 lead. He saved his second consecutive game. Kyle Kendrick took the win.
Roy Halladay will take the mound tomorrow against Wade LeBlanc @ 4.
