Phillies Recap: August 23, 2009

Philadelphia Phillies 9, New York Mets 7

The Phillies jumped all over Oliver Perez (3-4) and knocked him out before he finished the first inning. Pedro Martinez wasn't much sharper but he got the outs he needed to, as he went six innings and picked up his second win with the Phillies. The game was an offense show, as neither side pitched especially well. But when all the scoring was finished, the Phillies snuck out with a 9-7 win over the Mets, capped off with an unassisted triple play by Eric Bruntlett.

Pedro Martinez (2-0) seemed to battle some emotions in the game and gave up a number of hard-hit balls. Angel Pagan of the Mets hit two home runs, including a ball that Shane Victorino played into an inside-the-park home run. Pedro ended up going six innings, giving up four earned runs. He allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out five. The bullpen wasn't as sharp but Brad Lidge earned his 25th save of the season, on a walk-off unassisted triple play by Eric Bruntlett (I have always wanted to use the term 'walk-off triple play' in my vocabulary).

In the first inning of the game, Jayson Werth and Carlos Ruiz each hit three-run homers to knock Oliver Perez out of the game. Perez went .2 innings and allowed six earned runs. The Phillies tacked on a few more runs, but again did not deliver the knock-out blow, though they did have chances. Eric Bruntlett had a nice day at the plate with three hits and the Phillies put together 10 hits and six walks on the day. However, the Mets bullpen did a good job limiting the damage after Perez had departed.

Obviously, this was a much closer game than it needed to be. When Brad Lidge entered in the ninth inning, it shouldn't have even been a save situation. However, the Phillies and Lidge were bailed out by Bruntlett's unassisted triple play, the 14th such play in Major League history. It was a good win for the Phillies, who are now a season-high 21 games over .500 at 71-50 and will have a 6.5 game lead in the East after play today.