Crazy 8th inning leads Phillies past Cardinals

Entering the 8th inning of Tuesday's game, the Phillies trailed 2-1 and looked like they were headed towards another depressing, offense-less loss. A ridiculous 14 batters and 9 runs later, the Phils coasted to a 10-2 win over the Cardinals.

There were a number of oddities in their 9 run outburst, including the fact that the Phillies only had 5 hits and they were all singles. The Phils mostly took advantage of a Cardinals bullpen implosion, as all 5 of the pitchers Tony LaRussa sent to the mound had difficulty finding the strike zone and walked 4 batters and hit 2 others in the inning. Yeah, that's right, crazy ol' La Russa used 5 pitchers in the inning after removing his starting pitcher who was mowing the Phillies down left and right. Imagine the roasting he would get from the Philly media if he was the manager here.

The only possible negative from the inning could be a possible injury to Placido Polanco, who got nailed on the hand by a pitch and left the game. He hasn't been hitting well lately but the Phillies would rather not have to use Wilson Valdez for a long stretch of games.

Here's the rundown of the inning in all it's glory:


(AP PHOTO)