Phillies' Bullpen Saved the Night

By Marc Narducci, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Nov. 3--The Phillies' bullpen surely has had its ups and downs this postseason, but last night when starter Cliff Lee actually went above the run total of his previous postseason starts, the bullpen bailed him out.

A night after Brad Lidge suffered the loss with a disastrous three-run ninth inning, in a 7-4 defeat to the New York Yankees in Game 5, the bullpen made things interesting, although it did enough so the Phillies won't have to collect the uniforms just yet.

Entering with an 8-5 lead in the ninth inning, Ryan Madson did allow one run, but nailed down the save in the Phillies' 8-6 Game 5 win that cut the Yankees' World Series lead to three games to two in this best-of-seven series.

Game 6 will be tomorow at Yankee Stadium. Game 7, if necessary, would be Thursday.

Despite having a three-run lead, Madson said he didn't pitch differently.

"I was just trying to get three outs and I had three runs to work with and that is more than we're used to getting," Madson said.

After Alex Rodriguez's two-run double in the eighth inning cut the Phillies' lead to 8-4 with nobody out, Lee was given the rest of the evening off.

Chan Ho Park came in and got Nick Swisher on a groundout to second, with Rodriguez advancing to third.

Robinson Cano then hit a fly ball to centerfielder Ben Francisco, who wasn't very deep but didn't make a good throw. Rodriguez, no gazelle after hip surgery in March, still beat the throw for the fifth run.

Park escaped any further damage, by getting Brett Gardner to pop up to Jimmy Rollins to end the inning.

When the Phillies didn't score in the bottom of the eighth, it was a save situation, but Lidge wasn't the one who came running out of the bullpen door.

Manager Charlie Manuel went with Madson, who hadn't allowed a run in three previous games this World Series, totaling three innings.

Jorge Posada led off the ninth with a double and Hideki Matsui followed with a pinch-hit single, putting runners at the corners with nobody out.

One could hear the nervous sighs throughout Citizens Bank Park.

"I could have pitched those first two batters more aggressively," Madson said. "In that situation, I was thinking that I didn't want to walk anybody with a three-run lead."

That brought up Mr. Clutch, Derek Jeter, who hit into a double play, Rollins, to Chase Utley to Ryan Howard.

"It was a sinker away to Jeter that had good late life," Madson said. "He's a good hitter and likes to hit the other way but fortunately, he hit it to Jimmy and we got the double play."

Posada scored the sixth run, but at that point the Phillies were happy to trade two outs for one run.

One out to go and the Game 4 hero Johnny Damon in the batter's box.

Damon kept the Yankees alive with a single up the middle, bringing the tying run, Mark Teixeira to the plate.

Damon advanced to second (without a throw), but then Madson ended matters by striking out Teixeira swinging on a change-up out of the strike zone, keeping the Phillies' World Series hopes alive.

Contact staff writer Marc Narducci at 856-779-3225 or mnarducci@phillynews.com.

-----

To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/inquirer.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.