"Five is a little ridiculous." -- Jim Riggleman, Sept. 8, 2009
BOX SCORE AND RECAP
THE RESULT: The Philadelphia Phillies hit five solo home runs, sending the Washington Nationals to their ninth defeat in ten games. The final of 5-3 was witnessed by 153 Nats fans and 17,000 Phillies Phaithful.
Raul Ibanez once again did in the Nats. He had two of the five homers, has as many homers at Nationals Park (6) as Josh Willingham, and has hit eight of his 30 overall against the Nats.
Chase Utley, Jayson Werth and Carlos Ruiz were the other homer-hitters Tuesday night.
Nats starter John Lannan (L, 8-11, 4.14) surrendered four of the five bombs. He went six and two-thirds innings, giving up just two non-home run hits and two walks, and struck out one.
Willie Harris hit his seventh home run for the home team, and Cristian Guzman and Wil Nieves knocked in runs as well.
The Nats had two opportunities to tie in the ninth inning, as the Phils' struggling closer Brad Lidge loaded the bases in front of Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn with one out. But Phillies manager Charlie Manual asked Ryan Madson to relieve Lidge, and he retired Zim on a breaking ball six inches off the plate and low, and Dunn grounded weakly to second base.
Pedro Martinez (W, 4-0, 3.64) went six and two-thirds for the win.
TEH TAKEAWAY: The Phillies have won eight straight against the Nationals and lead the season series 11-2. Ibanez finished 3-for-4 and is batting .463 with eight homers and 20 RBI this season against the Nationals. He is 7-for-10 in his career against Lannan.
Maybe the Nats just want to walk him all four trips tonight.
THE GOOD: Harris, Guzman and Nieves. All had two hits apiece.
THE BAD: 3-4-5 hitters: 1-for-13 with four strikeouts and 14 combined left on base.
THE UGLY: I stayed home from this one and watched on TV. First: Bob and Rob REALLY rode Alberto Gonzalez last night. Meet the new whipping boy! Rob thinks they should try Morse at second, a position he played all of 19 games at this season in the minors this season.
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Second: Did they bring buses down from Philly last night for the mid-week series? Or are there really that many ex-South Jersey folks in the D.C. area?
NEXT GAME: Tonight at 7:05 pm. Garrett Mock (3-7, 5.63) against Cliff Lee (12-11, 3.06). Good luck with that.
Well I guess the good news is they were all solo Home Runs.