Phils vs. Reds: 8-11-6

Alright. After last night's 14 inning game, I thought I should write down a couple of key points that I found to be interesting.

First, how about Ryan Howard getting the Barry Bonds treatment? He got 3 intentional walks in extra innings, including one in the 14th where there were men on first and second and nobody out. To be fair, the next batter in each situation was the pitcher. In addition to that, Howard did beat the Reds in extra innings back in May. But still, with 2 men on and noone out, you would think that they might not want to load the bases just to avoid Howard.

Next, how could the Reds not have enough men in the bullpen to go into extra innings without using two of their starters? To be fair to the Reds, the bullpen moves they made before the 10th can't be held against them. If Guardado holds the lead, then it really doesn't matter. Yet, after Kent Mercker pitched 2 innings they were forced to use Aaron Harang and Elizardo Ramirez. Both of these pitchers struggled coming in for relief, with Ramirez ultimately losing the game. What I don't understand is that this is the same Reds team that made about 1,000 trades at the deadline to strengthen their bullpen. The Phils had Castro and Sanches still in their bullpen, while the Reds only had Cormier (who was busy working on using a highlighter to color a baseball for most of the game). Just doesn't make much sense to me.

Finally, the dramatic plays that kept the game alive for both teams need their own mention. In the 8th, Ken Griffey's misplay of a fly to right-center by Pat Burrell led to Burrell's second triple since 2003. Later in the 9th, a failed pickoff play to second allowed Chris Roberson to advance to third and later score on a Shane Victorino sacrifice fly. The Phillies were not the only beneficiaries of dramatic plays, though, as the Reds' Todd Hollandsworth stopped a game winning line drive in the 13th inning with a desperation dive. In addition to all of these plays, both Eddie Guardado and Tom Gordon blew saves for their teams.

This is only one game, but it speaks well of what I mentioned yesterday. If the Phillies can keep this level of play up, they will be in good position in September.

1-0, 48 games to go