Person Goes the Distance as Phils Beat Cards, 3-2

Phils right-hander Robert Person went to the mound Saturday night with the proverbial and a figurative dark cloud hanging above his head. Pitching in the Vet against the St. Louis Cardinals with a reprieve of sorts, Person knew his outing would garner a little extra attention.

That's because Person is appealing a six-game suspension handed down from the Major League hierarchy when the righty plunked Arizona's Reggie Sanders during his last start. Since he was already going to be a SportsCenter highlight (maybe even one on SportsNITE too), Person figured he might as well give the people something to look at.

"They're already going to have their eyes on me because apparently I have a rep," Person said. "I've heard there have been some complaints because I've hit a few batters."

	Robert Person threw his second complete game to improve his record to 4-4.

In the process, that stormy cloud passed and a sunshiny aura encapsulated the pitcher as he led the Phils with a complete game and paced the way to another win against the Red Birds, 3-2.

There's something to look at.

"When he went out there in the ninth, it was his game," manager Larry Bowa said, who never considered lifting his starter. "He had himself together and made his pitches."

But the fact is Person was flat-out dealing.

Person went the whole way, giving up just four hits and striking out five with just one walk. During the early innings he was ahead of nearly every hitter, throwing first ball strikes to 14 of the first 19 hitters he faced.

"I've always lived for playing against good teams. There's something about facing a good team with a great lineup. I'm pumped up for every game, but there's a little extra against a team like St. Louis." Person said. "Especially when I had a 3-2 count on Drew and everybody is standing up, there's so much adrenaline. You can't help but get pumped extra on that.

"And me being from St. Louis makes it extra special. All my friends and relatives are watching at home."

When the Person clan tuned in, they saw their hero mixing splitters and fastballs with an occasional curve. Later in the game, catcher Johnny Estrada said he wanted the pitcher to stay away from the curve, for fear of hanging one, and hit spots with his hard ones.

"He started hanging some in the later innings so we just stuck to his strengths," Estrada said. "We didn't want to chance a hanger."

Had he hung one in the ninth, it could have been disastrous for the Phillies.

But if walking the tight-rope of trying avoid the dreaded hanger and clinging to a one-run lead wasn't challenging enough, Person had to get past the Cardinals' fearsome, 3-4-5 hitters — Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols and J.D. Drew — in the last inning. All that is is a combined 37 home runs.

No problem

Person struck out Edmonds, got Pujols to pop-up weakly to first and then blew a 94 m.p.h. fastball by Drew to the thunderous applause from what was left of the 24,499 that showed up.

"I think that was his hardest pitch all night," Drew said.

Meanwhile, Person had to convince pitching coach Vern Ruhle that he had enough gas left in the tank (oh those proverbial phrases).

"Vern told me to look him in the eye and tell him how I felt and I said I felt good," Person said. "He said, 'Look me in the eye and tell me how you feel.' So I looked him in the eye and told him I felt great."

He walked the talk.

Offensively, Doug Glanville got things started quickly with a first-inning, leadoff home run off the auxiliary scoreboard in the Cardinals bullpen in left. It stayed 1-0 until the sixth when the Phillies lashed out three straight two-out doubles. Scott Rolen started it all with a tracer to the corner in left. Travis Lee drove him home with a shot to the gap in right-center before Pat Burrell drove on off the wall in the power alley in left.

For Burrell, the double was his second of the game and helped him to get his stroke back on track. The slugging left fielder had been benched for two games because of a lack of run production, which the slugger chalks up to poor mechanics. But Saturday night, his mechanics looked picture-perfect. During his at bat in the sixth, Burrell just missed a homer by inches and took another nasty cut at a pitch from Benes before stroking the 0-2 double.

"Burrell swung the bat good," Bowa said. "We need that."

Although he was tearing through the Cardinals — retiring 18 of the first 20 he faced on two hits — Person ran into a little trouble in the seventh. After getting ahead of Edmonds 0-2, Person walked him setting the stage for fan-favorite Drew. The scorner of everything that is the Philadelphia Phillies destroyed a hanger by the pitcher into section 501 of the upper deck to make it 3-2.

"It was a hanging split," Estrada said.

"I didn't know where it landed, I don't like to watch them," Drew said. "I'm just happy I got a hold of one because he was making his pitches all night."

That homer seemed to settle Person as he eight of the last nine to end the game.

"I've been seeing the ball well, but those guys have hit their spots," Drew said about the Phils pitching during the series. "Good pitching is going to beat good offense and they've made the good pitches."

For the Cardinals, starter Andy Benes (3-3, 6.60) went six innings, giving up seven hits and three runs with five strikeouts. Mike James and Gene Stetchschulte pitched the final two innings, allowing just one hit.

Now the Phils go for the sweep of the Cardinals, a team that came into the series riding a 10-game winning streak. Person thinks taking the first two games against the Cards and grasping the best record in the National League with a 25-16 record is doing wonders for the team's focus.

"Playing some division leaders and teams with good records the way we have been is going to make us start believing," Person said. "We're starting to believe that we have a good team."

Sounds like he's moonlighting for the marketing department.

Bowa, on the other hand, is convinced of nothing after beating the red-hot Red Birds.

"All it means is that we have another game tomorrow," Bowa said.

And perhaps, with Person's aura shining brightly around the ballpark, rubbing off on his teammates and giving the huckleberries something to gape at, tomorrow will bring another sun-soaked day for the Phillies.

Notes: Glanville belted his second leadoff home run of the season and fifth of his Phillies career. He now ranks seventh on the Phils all-time list. The homer also extended his hitting streak to 15 games. ... Jimmy Rollins swiped his 12th base of the season and his seventh in a row without getting caught. He is tied with Florida's Luis Castillo for the National League lead. ... Rolen has hit a double in four straight games. ... Drew's blast to the upper deck in right field was the 17th ever to land there. The last hitter to park one in the right field upper deck was the Cards' Jim Edmonds who did it May 16, 2000. ... Person has both of the Phillies' complete games this year.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com