Go Foul!

Padilla Misses No-Hitter by Inches as Phils Push Streak to Seven

Four outs. Just four stinkin' outs and we're celebrating a new Philadelphia hero. His would be a name we'd never forget like Jim Bunning, Rick Wise, Terry Mulholland and Tommy Greene. Just four measly outs and Vicente Padilla gets carried off the NeXturf at the Vet on the shoulders of his teammates, Friday night.

Worse, Chris Donnels' slicing, soft liner missed being foul by scant millimeters. Had the ball stayed airborne enough to drift to the left of the leftfield foul line, this would be a story about Padilla's masterful no-hitter against the World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks — the very same team that traded him away for Curt Schilling.

	Vicente Padilla improved to 5-2 and came within four outs from a no-hitter, Friday night against the Diamondbacks. (AP)

Instead, Padilla gets an electrifying two-hitter and the Phils get a 4-0 victory — their seventh in a row.

"That's a pretty good team he beat," manager Larry Bowa said. "They have a great lineup, lots of left-handed hitters and he dominated them."

With two outs in the eighth inning, pinch-hitter Donnels slapped an opposite field liner toward the line in left. Just when it looked as if the ball had a chance to stay in the air and slice foul, it landed inside the chalk and ricocheted over the fence in foul territory for a ground-rule double.

Bye-bye no-no.

"I said, 'Hey you can't worry about that. This game is too close. Don't let that hit bother you,'" Bowa said of the Spanish-speaking pitcher. "I don't even know if he understood me. He nodded his head."

That domination is a reflection of the pitcher's demeanor on the mound. He's not as intimidating as someone like Bob Gibson, Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson, but Bowa says Padilla doesn't think any team should score against him. That confidence, coupled with poise that transcends his 24 years, makes him one of the toughest pitchers out there.

If you don't believe it, just ask anyone who has had to face him.

"A lot of guys I have a lot of respect for — guys like ARod, Barry Larkin and (Nomar) Garciaparra — told me during spring training that he was something else," Bowa said. "I know they aren't going to BS me either. They all say he has great stuff."

And Padilla knows it too.

Two starts ago, Padilla was perfect through five innings against the Giants in San Francisco and ended up with three-hitter for eight innings. After the game he said all he needed to do was pick up the intensity through the middle innings and a no-hitter would be a piece of cake.

It seemed he had the baseball gods on his side this time around. Twice, hard hit balls stayed in the air long enough for an outfielder to catch up to them. In the seventh, Steve Finley's wicked liner down the first-base liner hit the dirt cut-out and took a wild hop in the direction of right field. Somehow, Travis Lee snagged the ball and coolly jogged to first for the putout.

"When Travis made that play, I thought he was going to get it," said catcher Mike Lieberthal, who admitted to being a little nervous as the game wore on.

Padilla ended up allowing a seeing-eye single in the ninth to Danny Bautista against a relaxed infield but that was the only time there was any relaxing during the 24-year-old Nicaraguan's outing. For his first big league complete game, Padilla walked three, struck out seven and threw 110 pitches. From the fourth inning until Donnels' ground-rule double, he retired 14 in a row and 18 of 20 to close the game.

He notched seven strikeouts, 13 groundouts, six fly outs and a pop up with a tailing, 94-miles per hour fastball and a hard and heavy sinking curve. More impressively, 21 of the 32 hitters he faced had two strikes on them, which just added to the Diamondbacks' helplessness. But then again, he kind of expected it.

"Maybe next time out I'll get one," he said with a laugh.

In another subplot, Padilla was no-hitting the team that dealt him, along with Lee, Omar Daal and Nelson Figueroa for Curt Schilling. Was revenge on Padilla's mind?

"His stuff is always nasty but I think he had a bit of an edge [Friday]," Lieberthal said.

Padilla looked at it differently.

"I didn't see it as I was pitching against the team that traded me, I was looking at it like I was pitching against the World Champs," Padilla said.

Meanwhile, Padilla's gem wasn't the only excitement happening Friday night. Bobby Abreu hit an opposite-field home run into the bullpen in left with two outs in the fifth off starter Rick Helling for the first run and then Doug Glanville legged out an inside-the-parker two innings later to make it 2-0.

Glanville lined a fast-sinking shot to right that Bautista tried the snare on a short hop, but failed to get his body in front of it. The ball skidded beneath his glove and rolled all the way to the far corner in right where it was retrieved by center fielder Finley. By the time Finley made a throw back to the infield, Glanville was coming around third. The relay throw was rushed and Glanville slid in with time to spare.

"I didn't see it too well because I lost it in the lights, but once I saw it got by, I thought I had a chance," Glanville said. "All I was waiting for was Vuke (third base coach John Vukovich) to give me the sign."

An inning later, Glanville drove home another run, but not in a way he would have liked. With two outs an the bases loaded, Glanville was plunked on the elbow by reliever Jose Parra to force in Lieberthal, who started the inning with a double. Abreu followed with a walk to force in another run.

Quirks aside, the night belonged to Padilla.

"He's so poised I was thought he was going to get it," Glanville said. "He had a great chance with two outs in the eighth and a pinch-hitter coming up... "

Bowa thinks this outing could be Padilla's coming out party.

"When people read Padilla's name, they said, 'Who's Padilla?"' Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "Now they're starting to find out who Padilla is."

While the Phillies will miss former ace and World Series co-MVP, Schilling, during the three-game set against the Diamondbacks, they won't get a walk in the park. Saturday night, four-time Cy Young Award winner and the other World Series MVP, Randy Johnson (6-1, 1.53), faces David Coggin (0-1, 6.48).

The Big Unit is coming off a hard-luck loss to the Pirates, where an error in the seventh inning cost him a perfect record. However, Johnson ranks second in the National League in ERA, second in strikeouts (69) and first in complete games (2). Opponents are hitting just .187 against him and his 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings is third in the league.

"We'll show up," Bowa said.

Coggin will make his third start after five appearances in relief. Filling in for the injured Robert Person, Coggin came out of spring training as the team's fifth starter but was sent to the 'pen when Randy Wolf was activated from the disabled list. In his last start (April 11 vs. Atlanta), the right-hander allowed five runs, five hits and four walks in five innings in a 6-2 loss.

Notes: D'Backs' starter Rick Helling pitched seven innings, allowing two runs and eight hits. He struck out four and walked one. ... Abreu will get Saturday off against the left-handed Johnson. ... Glanville's inside the parker was the first by a Phillie since Abreu hit one last June 24 against the Marlins. The Mets' Timo Perez hit the last one in Veterans Stadium on Sept. 27, 2000. ... Abreu's homer was his 52nd at the Vet, which ties him with Juan Samuel for sixth all-time at the Vet. ... The last time the Phillies won seven in a row was exactly seven years ago. ... Pat Burrell went 3-for-4 with three singles a day after Bowa sat him out.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com