Phillies Figure Out Another New Way to Win

MONTREAL — For former Expos manager Felipe Alou, there was no way he could win. Not only could he win against the tough competition in the NL East, he could never persuade his players — born and bred in his system — to stay with the club once their contract expired. His own son, Moises, thought it better to leave town and find someplace where the ownership would appreciate his efforts than to play baseball for his own dad.

But the standings and the players are only the half of it. Alou routinely spurned suitor after suitor who wanted him to come to their ballclub so he could spend their money and play in front of more than 4,000 fans to develop a winner. Last winter, Alou told the Dodgers "No" so he could stay in Montreal and hopefully get a new stadium built so he could save baseball in Quebec. If anyone could do it, it would have to be Felipe, who Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said: "If all 30 teams have equal talent, Felipe wins."

Look where it got him.

Just a few hours prior before the streaking, first-place Phillies were to meet the Expos in Olympic Stadium, the Expos brass showed Alou a little mercy and, no, they didn't lock-up Vladimir Guerrero to a long-term contract nor did they make a trade for a pitcher to plunk at the top of the rotation. For Alou, who would never abandon the ship, what they did was better.

They fired him.

	Travis Lee, Bobby Abreu and Scott Rolen are congratulated by Rob Ducey after scoring on bases-clearing error by Lee Stevens in the ninth.

With that news hanging around the stadium like a haze that somehow crept into the dilapidated stadium built for the 1976 Olympics, journeyman-manager Jeff Torborg took the reigns and led his team to another loss.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

The Phillies beat the Expos, 5-2, to push them 14 games out of first place on the last day of May. Essentially, the season is over in Montreal. But in Philadelphia, a city that knows how long a summer can be when the baseball team is struggling, things are just starting to spark up.

In Thursday night's game, the Phillies found a new, crazy way to win one in the late innings that has people shaking their heads. The craziness also capped off the team's third best May in the 113 years of the franchise, going 20-8.

The Phillies scored three runs in the top of the ninth on a bases loaded, two-base error by Lee Stevens on a ball scalded by Marlon Anderson. The error came just when it looked like the Expos had dodged yet another bullet in a game riddled with buckshot fired by the Phillies.

With no outs and the bases loaded, Mr. Bases Loaded, a.k.a. Pat Burrell, strode to the plate carrying a 9-for-14 lifetime mark with the sacks juiced to go with 24 RBIs in such situations. But, inexplicably, reliever Scott Strickland struck out the slugger for the first out. Gary Bennett followed and also went down, in his case it took four pitches.

That brought up Anderson — who belted a clutch, two-out, two run single in the eighth Wednesday to provide the winning runs in a sweep of the Mets — who ripped one right through the Stevens' wickets to clear the bases.

"That ball was crushed, it was smoked," manager Larry Bowa said. "That turf is so fast I thought it could have been a hit. I'm sure he'll tell you he should have had it. It wasn't an easy play, put it that way."

But for most of the night the Phillies came up empty. Four times they came up with either the bases loaded or runners on first and third with less than one out and came up empty. With runners in scoring position, the club went 3-for-18 and left a total of 13 runners on base.

And they still won.

"We never give up. We always stay in the game and whatever it takes we're trying to get the runners over and get them in," Abreu said. "We're not really thinking about how far ahead [of the rest of the division] we are, we're just trying to win some games. And that's been important because we can come into games relaxed and ready to play."

At the outset, it looked like the game had the potential to be one of those breakout games for the Phils. Doug Glanville ripped the second pitch of the game off the maple leaf laden foul pole in left to get things started off Hideki Irabu. Two batters later, Bobby Abreu singled and stole second to get into scoring position with just one out.

But Irabu, making his first start since last July, caught Scott Rolen looking and after a walk to Travis Lee, blew one past Mr. Bases Loaded. The Japanese righty thwarted the Phils until the fifth when Abreu lifted to sacrifice fly to center to bring home Glanville and tie it at 2.

Still, the Phils didn't make it easy for themselves. Luckily, starter Amaury Telemaco was sharp.

All night, Telemaco battled to keep the team in position. The big right-hander went seven, solid innings allowing just four hits and two runs with six strikeouts. In his seven innings, Telemaco threw 103 pitches — 68 for strikes — and walked just one. His efficiency was the cornerstone of his stellar effort. Of the 27 batters he faced, 19 were greeted with first pitch strikes.

But while the Expos were back on their heels, they did get a couple of big hits. In the third, Vladimir Guerrero ripped a two out double down the left field line to score Curtis Pride, who also doubled to tie it at 1. The Expos took the lead an inning later on a solo homer by Michael Barrett. But that's all they would get.

Telemaco faced the minimum over his last three innings, allowing just one runner and no hits. When he turned it over to the bullpen in the eighth, it was more of the same.

"We took advantage of our opportunities," Telemaco said. "It was a great game. We battled the whole time and I gave the team a chance to come back and it was awesome."

Rheal Cormier (3-0, 3.18) pitched a perfect eighth to notch the win and closer Jose Mesa faced four batters to get his league-leading 16th save.

The wins are starting to pile up for the Phillies. Thursday night, the club scored their fourth in a row, ninth of their last 10 and 12th in their last 14. With the Atlanta Braves idle Thursday, the team's lead in the NL East is now eight whole games and the "magic number" is 104. At 34-18, the team is 2 ½ games ahead of the Chicago Cubs for the best record in the league.

Needless to say, the Phils are hot.

But now, the Phillies will have to come up with another interesting way to win Friday night as the series continues in Montreal. Bowa announced on Wednesday that Bruce Chen (1-3, 4.91) would start on Friday against the Expos instead of Paul Byrd (0-1, 9.00), who are battling for the spot in the rotation. Both had unimpressive starts during a doubleheader last Sunday, but the Phillies will stick with the younger Chen and put Byrd in the bullpen.

"Either way, it's a legitimate choice," said Byrd, who has made just one appearance this year because of shoulder surgery last season. "Bruce hasn't really pitched that bad and I've been up here before and been to the All-Star Game."

The young lefty will face Britt Reames (2-7, 5.27) in an encore of his last start.

Notes: Glanville has homered leading off a game seven times, six with the Phillies. His 10 home runs lead the team. ... Burrell pushed his hitting streak to 12 games. Rolen extended his to 10 and has a hit in 15 of his last 16 games. ... Abreu went 3-for-3 with two stolen bases and an RBI. He has 12 stolen bases this year.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com