Phils Top Rays 5-4, Lead Series 2 Games To 1
Sunday, October 26th, 2008 | MLB, Sports
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in World Series Game 3 to take a 2-1 advantage and maintain home field advantage. If the Phillies can win the next 2 games at Citizens Bank Ballpark, the Phillies will bring the 1st World Series Championship to Philadelphia in 25 years. After blowing an early 4-1 lead, the needed some quirky plays in the 9th inning to secure the 5-4 win. In the 9th inning, Eric Bruntlett led off with a walk. Bruntlett went to 3rd base when Rays reliever Grant Balfour threw a wild pitch that caromed back to Catcher Dioner Navarro. Navarro’s throw to 2nd base sailed into center field, and Bruntlett was able to take 3rd base on the error. The Rays then walked Shane Victorino and Greg Dobbs, bringing up Carlos Ruiz who was hoping to make up for his throwing error in the 8th inning that allowed the Rays to tie the game. Ruiz hit a slow dribbler up the 3rd base line that Evan Longoria tried to flip to home plate to force Bruntlett out, but his throw was not in time, and the Ruiz ended the game with his “perfectly placed” single.
After the Phillies took a 1st inning lead on an RBI groundout by Chase Utley, the Rays tied the game in the top of the 2nd inning with a sacrifice fly by Gabe Gross. Carlos Ruiz gave the Phils a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run to deep left. The Phils extended the lead to 4-1 in the 6th inning with back-to-back home runs by Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. The Rays didn’t go down without a fight however, scoring on RBI ground outs by Gabe Gross and Jason Bartlett in the 7th inning to cut the lead to 4-3. In the 8th inning, B.J. Upton led off with a single and stole second base with 1 out. Upton then stole second base and was able to score the tying run on Ruiz’s throwing error to 3rd base. Then came the 9th inning craziness.
Both starting pitchers kept their teams in the game that was delayed at the start by 90 minutes because of rain. The Rays Matt Garza pitched 6 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 6 hits, while striking out 7. The Phils Jamie Moyer pitched into the 7th inning giving up only 3 earned runs on 5 hits, while striking out 5. Each team’s bull pen gave up 1 run.
It was an exciting game if you were a disinterested baseball fan. Each team played well and each team had chances to register big innings. But the pitchers really buckled down all game long to keep within striking distance of the other team. The Phillies are in a great position right now. If the Phillies can win Game 4 on Sunday night, they will have Cole Hamels pitching on 4 days rest in Game 5 of the World Series, looking to bring that elusive World Series Championship home to the city of brotherly love.
