Blurred vision anyone?It was the Phillies longest game since 2006, played before 45,494 fans, who filled the stadium to a season high 104.2% capacity, resulting in the Phils losing 4-2 to the Houston Astros from Tuesday night to the early hours of Wednesday morning.
"I'm not sure what I think about the whole thing just yet," Jayson Werth said. "I'll take a quick nap here and come back tomorrow refreshed and act like that didn't happen."
In the 16th inning, shortstop Jimmy Rollins brilliantly stopped a ball and threw to Second Base, where Chase Utley tagged and faithfully delivered the relay throw to First, but First Baseman Raul Ibanez (filling in for an ejected Ryan Howard) couldn't finish it, allowing the winning run to score. Somehow, Ibanez managed to instill less confidence playing First than Roy Oswalt did playing Left Field against his former team in a capacity they could have never imagined. Oswalt became the 1st Phillies' pitcher to play a non-pitching field position since Bill Wilson in 1971.
Ibanez, meanwhile, had played 135 games at First Base in his big-league career, although none since the 4 he played in 2005. "That was definitely strange," Ibanez said after the game.In one of the weirdest games in recent Phillies' history, the Phils tied it with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th on Jimmy Rollins' dramatic home run, then lost it, a virtual game later, in the 16th. It was baseball in all its wackiness. After Howard's ejection in the 14th, Ross Gload, who is currently on the disabled list, was also ejected for arguing the misjudged strikeout call on Howard.
Watch Howard get tossed & Roy Oswalt play Left Field
Now, if the Phils are to maintain their streak of not losing a single series in August, they have to win the final 2 at home against the pesky Astros, who've beaten them 2 straight. Wednesday, which was ushered in by the Phils' late night loss, will see Roy Halladay pitted against last year's Rookie of the Year runner-up, J.A. Happ, the castoff former Phillie. Houston's ex-Phillie brigade of Jason Michaels, Michael Bourn and Brett Myers (who has out-pitched former teammates Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt this season), already took game 1 of this series.
The Phils had their chances to win Tuesday-Wednesday's 5 hour and 20 minute game-- or did they?
Just as the sight of Roy Oswalt and Shane Victorino talking over defensive strategies in left center field with the bases loaded in the 16th appeared from the "Twilight Zone," the Phillies seem to be playing, lately, in a parallel universe, one where 2 major league teams are inexplicably linked at the hip.
The Phils mirror opposition has been the Atlanta Braves. In 2 (there's that number again) weeks, the past 14 days, exactly, the Phillies and Braves have played 13 games, respectively. And since Aug. 10th, each team's game has ended with either them or the opponent the victor EVERY SINGLE time identical to their division rival.In other words, the Braves win on a given night and so do the Phillies. The Phillies lose a game, so do the Braves. EVERY night for 14 days!
The result? The Phillies remain 2 1/2 games back, as they did on Aug. 10th.
Toggling between the Phillies and Braves "W" (wins) and "L" (losses) columns under each teams schedule results is enough to cause anyone to double-take:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/schedule/_/name/phi/philadelphia-phillies
http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/schedule/_/name/atl/atlanta-braves
One thing is certain: even if they keep this up, night after night, losing and winning on the exact same nights for the rest of the season, there will be a division champion. How can we be sure?
The Phillies will host the Braves on Sept. 20, 21 & 22, while the Braves-- who boast baseball's absolute best home record: 44-17-- will host the Phils to end the season on Oct. 1-3. Of course, there's always a chance they'll split the 6 games at 3 wins apiece...
