The Philadelphia Phillies, the losingest franchise in all of pro sports, are just one win away from the World Series title after a 10-2 beatdown of the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 last night.
Once again, the formula for this year's World Series is score first, you win. The Phillies again scored first as Pat Burrell drew a bases loaded walk in the first and went up 2-0 on a Pedro Feliz RBI single in the third. Carl Crawford put Tampa on the board with a solo shot off Joe Blanton in the fourth but the Phillies salted this one away in the fifth as Ryan Howard clubbed a three-run, opposite field shot off Andy Sonnanstine, who turned out to be a much better hitter than pitcher in this one. He did get a single in his only at-bat so if nothing else, he can always say he batted a thousand in the World Series.
Former Jay Eric Hinske, who replaced the sore shouldered Cliff Floyd on the Rays playoffs roster, belted a pinch-hit solo homer in the fifth to make it a 5-2 game but the Phils really put the exclamation point on this one when Joe Blanton went deep in the sixth - the first time a pitcher has gone deep in the Fall Classic since 1974. Howard's second homer of the game as well and former Jay Jayson Werth's two-run shots in the eighth were just overkill. Former Jay reliever Trever Miller gave up Howard's second bomb while another former Jays lefty, Scott Eyre, retired the only batter he faced in the seventh.
Tampa's offence has gone dormant in this Series and you can look no further than the three and four hitters in the lineup as Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria still have batting averages of .000. How different would things be today had Longoria's rain-making deep fly went over the fence instead of winding up in Pat Burrell's glove in left Saturday night? I think Joe Maddon should get this man on a plane to Philly to give them a motivational speech.
Things look really good right now for the fightin' Phils! They've overcome the ghosts of the 1993 World Series by winning Games 3 and 4 as they made sure they didn't blow a huge lead in Game 4 this time around. Now they hope Cole Hamels can do his best Curt Schilling Game 5 impersonation with a dominanting performance on the hill. Scott Kazmir goes to the hill for Tampa as they try to send the series back to Game 6 Wednesday night. First pitch should be around 8:30 or so.
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