Roy Oswalt pitched a lot better in his second time around as a Phillie, going six innings and giving up two earned runs on his way to a no-decision.
But, that’s not the story of the game that cinched a series sweep for the Phillies over the Marlins.
After the Phillies gave up a four-run seventh inning, all looked lost heading into the ninth down by two runs. But, after a few clutch knocks by the red-hot Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth, the game was tied heading into extras.
And once in extras, it didn’t take long for the Phils to break the tie.
Carlos Ruiz led off the inning by belting a home run over the left field wall on a 3-2 count to put the Phils up by one. They put runners in scoring position with no one out, but the Marlins did a good job of limiting the damage and the Phils’ defense took the field with a one-run lead in the bottom of the tenth.
Brad Lidge came out, took care of business, earned the save, and the Phils completed their sweep of the Marlins.
However, to the delight of Phillies fans and horror of Marlins fans, the outcome should have been much different.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Marlins had Hanley Ramirez on second, one out, and Gaby Sanchez at the plate. Sanchez ripped a Ryan Madson pitch down the third-base line, but the ball was ruled foul and Sanchez would later strike out.
But upon further review, it’s clear the wrong call was made.
On the replay, you can very clearly see the ball ride the line, hop over the bag, and actually land in fair territory before bouncing in the corner in left field. The ball even kicks up a little cloud of dirt where it lands, so there’s no doubt it should have been a fair ball.
The third-base ump saw things differently, the Marlins were robbed of a walk-off hit, and the Phillies would go on to extend their record to 60-48 and stay two games behind the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves.
It’s definitely good to see things starting to bounce the Phillies’ way at this point in the season, but it’s got to be a bit alarming that another obvious call is blown.
The Jim Joyce call got extra attention because it robbed Armando Galarraga of a perfect game, but this call was just as bad or, if you’re a Marlins fan, coach, or player, possibly worse.
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