My Fellow Phans,
Here is the recap of The Phillies Game 2:
On a chilly night in Philadelphia, the Reds jumped to an early lead in the first four innings over the Phillies in Game 2 of their NLDS matchup. From the fifth inning on, it was all downhill for Cincinnati.
Roy Oswalt was shaky and lasted just five innings overall allowing four runs, three of them earned while striking out five and walking one.
After Roy Halladay’s historical no-hitter in game one of the series, the Reds didn’t need any help scoring. Brandon Phillips hit a leadoff homer on just the fourth pitch of the game to stake the Reds to a very early lead. In the second, sure-handed second baseman Chase Utley had a pair of misthrows to first base which allowed the Reds to plate run number two. In the top of the fourth inning, Jay Bruce hit a monster homer to right field to increase the lead to 3-0. In the fifth, Brandon Phillips lead off with a double, was bunted over to third and then driven in on a long sac fly off of the bat of Joey Votto, 4-0 Reds.
Then the wheels came off for Cincinnati’s wagon. With pinch hitter Dominic Brown on first base, Shane Victorino hit a ground ball right off of Brandon Phillips’ glove that bounced away from the Reds’ second baseman and allowed the speedy Victorino to reach first base. Next up, Placido Polanco hit a routine grounder to third baseman Scott Rolen. Rolen bobbled it and threw offline to first allowing to Polanco to reach first.
The Reds, who were tied for the least amount of errors in the National League this year, made a pair of errors in the game inning. The miscues set the stage; the Phillies had the bases loaded and Utley coming to the plate looking for redemption.
As he did so many times in the past, Utley came through for his club in the clutch. Chase lined a two-run single to right field scoring Brown and Victorino to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. Reds’ starter Bronson Arroyo buckled down after that to strike out Ryan Howard to eliminate any further damage that inning.
The Phillies crawled just a big closer in the bottom of the sixth, after more Reds’ mistakes. Jason Werth led off the inning with a walk from Arroyo; Jimmy Rollins followed with a pop out to the second baseman Phillips and that was it for the Reds’ starter.
Arroyo allowed two unearned runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. The Reds’ right hander, a 17-game winner during the season, used a variety of off-speed pitches to keep the Philadelphia lineup off balance. He walked three and struck out two in the effort throwing 103 pitchers; 66 of those for strikes.
Former Phillie Arthur Rhodes was the first out of the pen for the Reds. Rhodes made short work of his first hitter, striking out Phillies’ left fielder Raul Ibanez rather quickly. He then hit Carlos Ruiz and put Phillie runners on first and second with just one out. With the announcement of Ben Francisco as a pinch hitter, Rhodes’ night was over.
Logan Ondrusek was the second Red out of the bullpen and third in the inning overall. Ondrusek proceeded to hit Francisco loading the bases for Victorino. He then walked the Phillies’ lead off hitter on 5 pitches forcing in the third run for the Phillies and decreasing the Reds lead to just a single run, 4-3. Polanco was then retired on a grounder, this time handled by Rolen, and the Phillies left 3 runners on base. In short, the Phillies scored a run on two walks and two hits batsmen; more gifts from the Reds.
Jose Contreras pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Phillies.
That brought on the bottom of the seventh inning, and the long anticipated appearance of Reds’ rookie Phenom Aroldis Chapman. Chapman hit lead off hitter Utley, although replays show that he may not have been hit. Howard then struck out on three pitches from the Reds’ left hander. The next hitter, Jayson Werth, hit a chopper to third that Rolen took on a short hop and immediately tossed to second base. Utley was ruled safe by second base umpire Ed Rapuano on what replays showed may have been a missed call.
That brought up Rollins. Rollins lined a ball to right field that Bruce appeared to lose in the lights. The ball sailed past the right fielder and rolled to the warning track allowing Utley to score easily. Werth, who hadn’t stopped running since the ball dropped was waved in. Phillips took the relay throw and appeared to have a play at home plate, but he dropped the ball in the transfer and it allowed Werth to score standing giving the Phillies their first lead of the game, 5-4.
After another pair of Reds’ miscues lead to a pair of Phillies runs, Ibanez lined a single to right field off of Chapman pushing Rollins to third. Ruiz followed with a fielder’s choice to short stop which allowed Rollins to score the Phillies sixth run of the evening. After pinch hitter, Mike Sweeny blooped a single to left, Chapman was pulled. The line for the young star: 0.2ip two hits, three unearned runs, and one strikeout.
Nick Masset finally ended the damaged by getting Victorino to ground out to third.
Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless eight inning. Jayson Werth added an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI single.
Brad Lidge came in to close the door on the Reds in the ninth and seal the Phillies’ Game 2 victory.
In the end, the box score was not pretty for the Reds: seven runs, just two of them earned, assisted by four errors, three hits batsmen, and six walks. Despite all this, the key error was the Bruce error in the seventh.
"I feel like I let my team down, “It was in the lights the whole time. I tried to stick with it. It was a pretty helpless feeling." "It's embarrassing," Bruce said. "I take great pride in my defense, but there was nothing I can do about it."
To add insult to injury, the Reds lost starting shortstop Orlando Cabrera in the fifth inning after he aggravated his left side turning a double play
The two-time defending NL champions can close out the series in Game 3 on Sunday night in Cincinnati. Cole Hamels, the 2008 World Series MVP, pitches for the Phillies. Johnny Cueto is on the mound for the Reds.'
Until we meet again Phillies fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!s and Go Phillies!
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