Ledee Hits Walk-Off Homer as Phils Win Fifth Straight

It should have been easy. All Jose Mesa needed were three outs and he would have had his fifth save in as many games and the Phillies would have beaten the Houston Astros for their fifth win in a row.

Three outs. No problem, right?

Wrong.

Instead, Ricky Ledee blasted a two-run, two-out, pinch-hit walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth off Nelson Cruz to give the Phils the 5-3 win, which extended the winning streak and push the team's record to 14-19 — just four games behind the front-running Mets and Marlins in the NL East.

	Ricky Ledee gets mobbed by his teammates after his game-winning home run, Wednesday night. (AP)

"Sometimes when you give up a lead in the ninth, guys get down a bit," manager Larry Bowa said. "These guys got up and fought."

Ledee's blast into the seats above the Phils' bullpen in right field is the team's third walk-off piece this season (Pat Burrell hit the other two) and its first pinch homer. However, Bowa says the Phils have a long way to go.

"Last season we had seven against us so we have four more to go," the Phils skipper said.

Surely those winning homers do wonders for a team's morale but it's Ledee's morale that truly needs the boosting. A hero for the Yankees during the 1998 World Series, Ledee bounced to two teams after falling out of favor in New York. Hitting just 4-for-34 (.117) before the homer, Ledee thinks his heroics can carry him for a while.

"I just have to come through more often to get my confidence back and the manager's confidence back," Ledee said. "I know that I might get a few more situations like this — hopefully in the near future — and I need to let him know that I'm ready to go."

Plus, it's difficult adjusting to a new role. Primarily a starter for both the Rangers and Indians after leaving the Yankees, Ledee is the fourth outfielder and primary late-inning pinch-hitter.

"I just have to realize I'm not going to play every day,'' said Ledee, who signed as a free agent in December. "It's tough to swallow, but that's the way it is. I just have to go out and do my job whenever I'm called."

Still, Bowa is exhibiting patience with Ledee. The manager knows how difficult coming off the bench is.

"These guys are in a no-win situation," Bowa said. "It's hard enough to hit when you play every day, let alone when you sit for eight innings."

Ledee wouldn't have been called upon Wednesday night had Mesa gotten some help from his right fielder.

Luckily for the Phils, Bobby Abreu's costly, ninth-inning error on a single by Richard Hidalgo with a runner on second didn't prove to be devastating. However, it did underscore a very difficult evening for the slugger in the field. The gaffe came on a hard-hit ball following a leadoff double by Orlando Merced. Had Abreu fielded the ball cleanly, the runner stops at third and the game could potentially end without Ledee's blast. Instead, the run scored, Mesa lost his save and the bullpen's streak of scoreless innings was snapped at 18 1/3.

And starter Brandon Duckworth did get his win.

Duckworth bordered on brilliant during his six-plus innings stint against the Astros, where he struck out a career-high 12 and allowed two runs and five hits. Interestingly, neither Bowa nor Duckworth consider the young right-hander — pitching in just his first full season — to be a "strikeout pitcher."

"On a given night, when all three of his pitches are working, he can get a lot of strikeouts," Bowa said. "He's not a strikeout pitcher but he has strikeout pitches."

His statistics may beg to differ.

During one stretch, Wednesday night, Duckworth notched five Ks in a row from the end of the fourth inning to the sixth. In another, he whiffed seven of eight and 10 of 13 while yielding just one hit.

Using a cutter to set up his curve, Duckworth retired 14 of 15 before being removed during the seventh after throwing 118 pitches.

"He had good command of the outer half of the plate and his cutter was as good as I've seen it,'' Bowa said.

But for a guy who isn't a strikeout pitcher, Duckworth has had some big games this season. In the home opener on April 5 he had a 10-strikeout game against the Marlins and followed it with nine more against the Braves on April 10. All of those games were trumped by a then career-high 11 strikeouts against the Marlins on April 16.

Add up those cool breezes and Duckworth's 54 whiffs is third-best in the National League and his 12.79 strikeouts per nine innings is second to Curt Schilling's 13.2 in the league.

Not a strikeout pitcher?

"I really can't fathom stuff like that," Duckworth said. "I would give up all those strikeouts to be out there for nine innings. Strikeouts are flashy, I guess, but I'd rather throw fewer pitches. I threw way too many pitches [Wednesday]."

But it's not as if it was a stroll through the ballpark for Duckworth against the Astros. He had to wiggle out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the second and allowed a one-out double to Orlando Merced in the sixth. When he gave up back-to-back singles to start the seventh, Bowa came to get him.

"I didn't want him to get a loss," Bowa said. "Worse-case scenario, he gets a no decision. A young kid could go home on a game like [Wednesday's] and say, 'Man, I pitched my butt off and still lost.' With a young kid you have to be careful."

Reliever's Carlos Silva, Rheal Cormier and Ricky Bottalico worked scoreless seventh and eighth innings to set it up for Mesa with a 3-2 lead provided early in the game by Scott Rolen and an Astros miscue. Rolen hit a line drive, two-run homer to left-center in the first off Tim Redding and Marlon Anderson scored on a wild pitch an inning later.

Banging out just three hits against Redding (six innings, three runs) in the first two innings, the Phils didn't get another until Abreu doubled in the eighth.

Both pitchers really went at each other,'' Astros manager Jimy Williams said.

They may have gotten some help from home plate umpire Larry Vanover too. Six of the game's 22 strikeouts were on called strike threes, which didn't sit well with a few of the Astros. Craig Biggio got in a heated discussion with Vanover when he was punched out in the seventh and slugger Lance Berkman was given the heave-ho for arguing his strikeout an inning later.

He said it was his first ejection at any level.

"I didn't curse. I don't use curse words,'' said Berkman, who tosses his helmet toward second base after Vanover gave him the thumb.

"I think both pitchers benefited from his strike zone," Bowa said. "The umpire established a strike zone early and was consistent with it. He called the same pitches strikes in the eighth inning as he did in the first inning. That's all you ask for -- consistency. Hitters have to make adjustments. I give the pitchers credit for staying on the outer half of the plate."

The Phils and Astros finish the three-game series on Thursday with Randy Wolf (1-1, 7.09) facing Dave Mlicki (3-3, 3.38). Wolf has struggled during the early part of the season, especially during his first innings. In four of his five starts, the southpaw has allowed a first-inning run while 11 of the 21 runs he's allowed this season have come in the opening stanza.

Meanwhile, Mlicki saw his three-game winning streak end last Saturday against the Mets. During the loss, Mlicki allowed six runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3. He owns a 2-4 record and 3.14 ERA in seven career games against the Phillies, but has not faced them since pitching for the Dodgers in 1998.

Notes: Rolen's homer was his 68th at the Vet, which moves him past Darren Daulton into fourth all-time. ... Merced left the game during the top of the ninth with a strained left hamstring suffered when he was legging out a leadoff double. ... Duckworth's 12 strikeouts were the most by a Phillies pitcher since Curt Schilling fanned 13 against the Chicago Cubs on July 4, 1999.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com