In case you went to sleep before the end of the Phillies game late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, you missed a whole bunch of strange things in the Phillies 16 inning 4-2 loss to the Astros:-Ryan Howard was ejected for throwing his bat after getting called out on strikes in the 14th inning. With Howard tossed, the Phillies were out of position players.
-With no one left on the bench, Raul Ibanez moved to first base and Roy Oswalt played left field. Yep, Oswalt played LEFT FIELD. He had a catch and even had an at-bat with the game on the line; unfortunately he grounded out. Oswalt was the first Phillies pitcher to play a position in the field in 39 years.
-Ross Gload was tossed from the game as well. Gload is on the DL.
-The game lasted 5 hours and 20 minutes
-The Phillies used every pitcher in their bullpen, right down to David Herndon, who had to pitch 3 innings of relief. Should the game have gone much longer, Kyle Kendrick was likely going to be used.
-While the umpires will be blamed for both of the Phillies losses to the Astros, the bats just haven't been there as they have scored only 4 runs in 25 innings against Houston. That's just not going to cut it.
Just about the only thing that wasn't strange about the game was that Cole Hamels had another solid outing, striking out 8 and giving up 2 runs, but once again got very little run support and got another no-decision. Hamels is now 7-10 on the season but has been one of the best pitchers in the National League.
What a bizarrely epic baseball game. You truly do see something new every time.
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