Phils Hang On To Defeat Red-hot Cards

If someone flips a coin 10 times in a row and that coin lands on the "heads" side all 10 times, it would seem reasonable that sooner or later it would land on the "tails" side. Statisticians call this the law of averages. Baseball players call it ending a hot streak.

Friday night in Veterans Stadium, the St. Louis Cardinals showed up having landed sunny-side up 10 straight times, which moved them from the middle of the pack to the best record in the National League. But the thing about statistical theories is that they usually end up proving themselves to be correct. At least in the instance of the Cardinals on Friday night it did.

What went up finally came down as the Phillies stopped the Cards’ 10-game winning streak with a 5-4 win.

Of course, theories are one thing but good pitching and timely hitting override just about anything, especially when the pitcher says the game was "the best game I ever threw."

The timely hitting came just in the nick of time (which is why it was so timely) as the Phils exploded for five runs and five hits as they batted-around in the eighth inning.

All told, it was a tale of two games. One a pitcher’s duel, the other a slugfest. In one, the first six innings were played in a crisp, 80-minutes. In the other, 18 batters went to the plate in a full inning.

In the speedy version, just one runner made it to third base through the first six innings. In the other, nine runs were scored and six runners were in scoring position.

Marlon Anderson ripped a pinch-hit, two-run home run that pelted Jim Bunning’s retired No. 14 disc in right field off Mike Timlin (1-2, 3.63) in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie. After Doug Glanville singled to right to push his hitting streak to 14 games, rookie Jimmy Rollins blasted a two-run bomb into a Super Box in deep left off Steve Kline to break it wide open. One out later, Scott Rolen doubled and came around to score on a single to right by Brian Hunter to cap off the scoring.

But according to Phils manager Larry Bowa, Anderson almost didn’t get a chance to hit the homer. With Kevin Jordan on first and no outs, Bowa had been giving Anderson the bunt signal. But either by fate or a premonition, he took the bunt sign off and Anderson went deep.

"(The bunt sign) was on that first pitch, then I took it off," Bowa said. "I just went with my gut."

The red-hot Red Birds didn’t go quickly or quietly, however.

In the ninth, Bobby Bonilla nubbed a two-out, seeing eye, ground-rule double down the third base line with the bases loaded off closer Jose Mesa to bring home two. Edgar Renteria followed Bobby Bo with a single to right to clear the bases and make it 5-4.

After the irascible J.D. Drew walked, Mesa got pinch-hitter Ray Lankford to ground out to notch his 11th save. But there were a lot of quickened pulse rates in the Phils dugout.

"We’re a team that pushes late, which shows a lot of character," said Hunter, who ended up driving in the game’s most important run. "You never stop trying for runs. You have to keep going and keep pushing until the very last out."

Rollins, whose eighth inning bomb was equal to three hits by his manager, according to the skipper, said the game’s outcome was especially important because the team hasn’t really been hitting lately.

"It was big," the shortstop said. "It was especially big because they found a few holes at the end. It was pretty important that we held on like that."

But while the hitting flashed and was gone like Old Faithful, the pitching was there all night. Omar Daal tossed a masterful game to improve his record to 5-0 as he cruised through the Cardinals' lineup. In eight innings of work, he was as efficient as a straight line. The lefty gave up just two hits, no runs, walked one and struck out six. He threw just 83 pitches –- 62 for strikes –- and kept the Red Birds guessing with a lethal combination of fastballs, breaking pitches and change-ups.

"I was trying to locate the ball in and out and it worked," Daal said. "Everything worked today. That was the best game I ever threw."

Daal retired the first nine he faced and threw only 24 pitches in the first three innings. Fernando Vina led off the fourth with a single but was quickly erased on an inning ending, 4-6-3 double play a batter later. In eight innings, Daal retired 23 of the 26 batters he faced and got 10 of his outs through grounders.

Meanwhile, Daal is doing a very good job at making people forget about his horrible 4-19 season from last year. Although it’s only the middle of May, the lefty has surpassed last year’s win total and has cut his ERA nearly in half to a solid 3.70. But that’s not the half of it.

In 56 innings of work this season, Daal has walked only 13 batters while striking out 33. He has also only allowed 48 hits, all of which he says is because of his improved mechanics.

"Last year is over so I really don’t think about it too much," Daal said. "But my mechanics are straight this year and they had to be today. Those guys have a good lineup so I had to get ahead in every count."

Mission accomplished.

Lost in the backwash of Friday’s game was a sterling outing by emergency starter Mike Matthews. Normally a reliever, Matthews went five innings and gave up only one hit, while whiffing three. The five innings were the most Matthews has ever pitched in a game.

Saturday, the Phils go for three in a row as they face the Cards in the middle game of a three-game set. Robert Person (3-4, 3.68), who is appealing a six-game suspension levied by the League’s officials for hitting Arizona’s Reggie Sanders last Sunday, will pitch against Andy Benes (3-2, 6.93).

At 24-16, both the Phils and Cards are tied for the best record in the National League. The Phils now lead the NL East by five games and their "magic number" is 117.

Notes: Doug Glanville extended his hitting streak to 14 games. ... Before giving up four runs in the ninth, the Phillies were riding a streak of 14 straight scoreless innings. ... Rollins swiped his team-leading 11th base in the first inning. He has stolen six straight without getting caught. ... Anderson’s pinch homer was the third pinch-hit homer for the Phillies this season. It is also the second of Anderson’s career. The first one came in his first Major League plate appearance on Aug. 9, 1998. ... Bowa benched Pat Burrell who is struggling to drive in runs despite hitting .265. In 39 games, Burrell has hit only three homers and driven in 14 runs. Because Burrell sat, only Rolen and Bobby Abreu have played in all 40 of the Phillies’ games. Rolen has started all of them.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com