Yeah, the Phillies lead 3-1. Not looking good for the Rays. They lost the first game at home at Tropicana Field 3-2 but rallied on the second night to win 4-2.
The Phillies dominated the weekend. Actually the whole city of Philadelphia dominated the weekend: Saturday: The Flyers (hockey) won 3-2. Sunday: Philadelphia Eagles (football) won 27-14. And the Phillies had back-to-back series wins, technically on the same day since Game 3 had a rain delay causing the game to finish at 1:47 a.m. I’m not really sure anyone in Philly actually slept or saw their houses all weekend! I thought Tampa Bay was taking over the world, but apparently I was mistaken!
After the rain delay on Saturday, the Phillies jumped out to an early lead with runs by Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley but the Rays rallied and they went into the 9th inning tied.
The two key things about the game:
The second oldest active player in World Series history: Phillies’ pitcher Jamie Moyer. He stole the show. Most guys give up…retire…in their late 30s. But not Moyer. He is 45-almost 46-years old, and going on about 22! Actually he really is since he has been playing pro ball for 22 years! And he is still on fire. It was like one of those supercute baseball movies with the old guy that has one last chance for a comeback or an amazing last inning win! Ok, so he has been steady his whole career so you can’t call it a comeback and he didn’t pitch the last inning, but he made it to the 7th inning! It was his first World Series appearance, something he’s been waiting his whole career to achieve. And it was with the team he grew up rooting for. It was a Lifetime Movie moment–or at least Hallmark!
The weirdest defensive move in Wold Series baseball history: Bottom of the ninth. Score tied. Phillies need one run to win the game. Phillies have a runner at third. And then, the Rays went a little insane. They intentionally walked Shane Victorino and pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs to, get this, intentionally have the bases loaded. It gets weirder. Remember how we said there are 3 outfielders and 4 infielders? Well, the Rays decided to bring out of the outfielders, well, in. Leaving part of the open field exposed. All I can say is it was really late and they were probably sleepy and not thinking so good. It’s rare to see that in a regular season game and almost unheard of in the post-season. And funnily enough, even though they brought more people in, they were unable to anticipate the bunt by Carlos Ruiz that skirted up the third base line. Evan Longoria was unable to connect the throw with the catcher and the Phillies went on to score and win.
The win was a walk-off win meaning that once that run was scored, everyone walked off the field and stopped playing even though there were still runners on and another out to give. Since it was the bottom of the ninth, the Rays wouldn’t have another at-bat and the Phillies won with that homerun, no need to keep hammering the point into the broken spirtits of the Rays. It’s an nice thing to do!
Skipping ahead 18 hours…
I’d love to say the Rays came back but Sunday was actually worse for them. At least they fought hard on Saturday. On Sunday, the Phillies bitch smacked them all the way through the game. There was just no chance for Tampa Bay in Philadelphia Sunday night with a city high on itself from all the wins!
The key to the game:
Phillies Pitcher Joe Blanton: It might not be as baseball-moive worthy as Jamie Moyer’s game the night before but Blanton was definitely the MVP of this game. He pitched 6 amazing innings, but even better, he cranked out a homerun in the fifth inning! Pitchers are notoriously poor hitters (which is why the American League has the DH-designated hitter-to sub in for theirs). This was Blanton’s first home run EVER! And what a time to do it. He is the first pitcher to hit an HR in the World Series since 1974! Okay so maybe it is movie worthy.
The Rays were already struggling up to that point and after that, it’s like they totally gave up. The pitching by the Rays was iffy at best all night and the Phillies took full advantage all game, especially with 3 runs scored in the 4th and 4 runs scored in the 8th, securing their win. The top-of-the-order did exactly what they get paid the big bucks to do: score. Jimmy Rollins had 3 runs and the next three in the linup, Jason Werth, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each had 2 runs. The Rays lost, embarassingly, 10-2.
Check back tomorrow. They Rays have one last chance to rally. If they win tonight they bring the series back to St. Pete (yay!) or else, the Phillies will win the World Series.
About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!
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