(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)The Phillies survived the cold, some rather questionable umpiring and a save situation with Brad Lidge to overcome the Rockies in a 6-5 marathon game that ended at 2:14 AM. The win puts the Phillies in the drivers seat for the series as they are one win away from moving on with Cliff Lee taking the hill tomorrow (today!) for Game 4.
The Phillies had no individual hero in the game, rather a collective effort from nearly everyone who played. Starting pitcher J.A. Happ didn't last long, going only 3 innings before the Phillies turned to their bullpen to keep them in it. The Phils ended up using 5 pitchers out of the 'pen, and, for the most part, they all did their jobs. Ryan Madson was the biggest savior, entering the game in a sticky situation and only giving up one run after Scott Eyre injured himself allowing two runners on base with no outs.
Having Lidge close out the game, no matter how dicey it got, was also huge for the Phillies. If Lidge can be even a shadow of what he was in 2008, the Phillies have a real shot at going the distance again.
Kudos to everyone that stayed up to watch the Phillies pull out a nail-biter in Colorado. With Game 4 just about 15 hours after Game 3, let's hope the Phils take some momentum from this win into the next one and finish out Colorado. Maybe once the Phillies are in the NLCS we will actually be able to watch these games at a reasonable hour.
I don't want to sound like a martyr, but the scheduling has been decidedly "the biggest market plays primetime... every time".
ReplyDeleteEasy for the LA-BOS series; both are top 10 markets. They should be primetime, every time.
But where you have only 1 top 10 market in each of the other series (NY, LA, PHI), it's a little gross to give the crappy start times to only one matchup for the whole series. Give each series one 2:27 start, and let's call it a day.
Evidenced in the ESPN.com release about the re-scheduling of Game 3: If both AL series were sweeps, the Phils could play at the same time as normal games. If either one is still going, Phils get a twilight game. If both, Phils get a day game... KNOWING that it would be after a late night game.
I don't care about the fact they were last year's champs, I don't think that should factor in. But a little equality would be nice.
Sorry for the rant.