Phillies Baseball

Game 4 of the 2008 National League Championship Series became an instant classic with two swings of the bat.

With the Phillies trailing the Dodgers 5-3 in the eighth inning, in risk of falling into a 2-2 series tie, the unsung heroes of this team stepped up to the challenge and delivered.

Shane Victorino, the center of a bench clearing fracas on Sunday, hit a game tying two run homerun off of Cory Wade to knot the game at 5.

Then, veteran slugger Matt Stairs hit a two run go ahead and eventual game winning pinch hit homerun to make it a 7-5 game in favor of the Phillies.

It was Stairs’ first postseason homerun and the most important in Phillies franchise history.

Joe Blanton lasted five innings, allowing only 3 runs, and left the game trailing 3-2.

The Phillies put 2 runs on the board in the first inning off of Derek Lowe, who was pitching on three days’ rest.

Ryan Madson got the Phillies out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh and J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge combined to shut down the Dodgers for their final two at-bats.

The Phillies now lead the series 3 games to 1 and can punch their ticket to the World Series on Wednesday night when Cole Hamels takes on Chad Billingsley.

The game is at 8:22pm and will be held in Los Angeles.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS