Phillies Rally in 9th to Down Cubs, 6-3

On a cold afternoon at Wrigley Field, the Phillies' bats finally heated up -- and just in time. The Phils batted around in a four-run ninth inning and Jose Mesa worked out of a bases-loaded jam for his fifth save in a 6-3 victory.

	Pat Burrell doubles home Travis Lee and Scott Rolen in the ninth.

Vicente Padilla (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for his first win of the season. The Phillies benefitted from 11 walks but waited until the final inning to take advantage.

Down 3-2 entering the ninth, the Phils were facing closer Jeff Fassero, who had converted all six of his save opportunities and had yet to walk a batter in 7 1/3 innings this season. Fassero proceeded to walk the bases loaded with one out, and Pat Burrell brought his .667 career average with the bases full to the plate. After two big cuts, the count was even at 2-2. Burrell then lined Fassero's next pitch over the head of a frozen Sammy Sosa in right, driving home Travis Lee and Scott Rolen to give the Phils a 4-3 lead. Burrell improved to 9-for-13 career with the bases loaded.

"I didn't know if it was going to go over his head or not. I was happy that we were going to at least tie it with a sacrifrice fly," Burrell said. "I was very comfortable in the at-bat because I knew I was going to get a hit."

"I was playing shallow, so I could make a play at the plate. He just hit it over my head. The ball took off," Sosa said. "No excuses."

The game-time temperature was 43 degrees, and the windchill was 16.

"We didn't come here to play for four hours and freeze our [butts] off and not win a ball game," Scott Rolen said.

"I thought it was as cold as it's ever been in a game I've managed," Cubs manager Don Baylor said. "The wind was just awful."

"We were all cold. There was no question about it, but you can't use that as an excuse," Fassero said. "I felt really strong. I was wild. I was missing the place, not by that much but just enough. When I got behind I couldn't throw my breaking ball so they pretty much knew what was coming."

Marlon Anderson chased Fassero with an RBI single to right, and Jimmy Rollins greeted Manny Aybar with his third hit of the game, driving in Burrell.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs loaded the bases with one out against Mesa, who walked Eric Young, allowed a one-out single to Roosevelt Brown and a broken-bat infield single to Sosa. Mesa recovered, blowing an outside fastball by Todd Hundley and striking out Ricky Gutierrez for the final out.

"They put me through a meat grinder in the last inning," Larry Bowa said. "I went out to the mound and told Mesa 'Let's go Jose, you got a three-run lead.'"

The Phillies scored their first run when Bobby Abreu doubled home Doug Glanville with two down in the first inning. Chicago took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a sac-fly by Gutierrez and an infield single (on an 0-2 pitch) by Cubs starter Julian Tavarez.

In the sixth, Rollins singled home Abreu to tie the game, but the Phils lost a chance to take the lead when Marlon Anderson was thrown out at third to end the inning.

The Phillies missed a golden opportunity in the seventh. Rob Ducey, in his first game since coming off the DL, led off by grounding a double down the right-field line. After he took third on an errant pick-off attempt by Todd Van Poppel, Glanville struck out. Rolen and Lee then walked to load the bases, but Van Poppel recovered by striking out Abreu and getting to Mike Lieberthal to fly out.

Hundley gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead with an RBI single in their half of the seventh.

Starter Amaury Telemaco lasted only 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits while walking three and striking out one. The bullpen continued to do the job, surrendering just one run in 5 1/3 innings as it registered its league-leading sixth victory of the season.

On Wednesday, the Phillies and Cubs make up Monday's snowed out game with a doubleheader. The first game can been seen on Comcast SportsNet at 1:05, and the second game will be televised on CN8.

Andy Schwartz
ComcastSportsNet.com