Victorino slams Sabathia
POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008
PHILADELPHIA » With one more loss to the Phillies, CC Sabathia and the Milwaukee Brewers will have all winter to rest.
Philadelphia vs. Milwaukee Wednesday
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Brett Myers rankled Sabathia with a pesky at-bat and dominated the rest of the Brewers from the mound, and Philadelphia beat Milwaukee 5-2 last night behind St. Anthony grad Shane Victorino's grand slam for a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five NL playoff series.
“;I don't think starting on three days' rest had anything to do with it,”; Sabathia said. “;I just didn't make pitches when I needed to.”;
Myers allowed two runs and two hits in seven innings, pulling the Phillies within one win of the NL championship series. Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero worked the eighth, and Brad Lidge had a suspense-free ninth for a change.
Pitching on three days' rest for the fourth consecutive start, Sabathia had his worst outing since joining the Brewers in a trade with Cleveland on July 7.
The burly left-hander allowed five runs and six hits - all for extra bases - in 32/3 innings. He walked four, his second-highest total of the season.
“;When you've got a guy like CC on the ropes you've got to take advantage,”; Victorino said.
Now, Sabathia might have to wait six months for his next start. And, that might be in a different uniform. The 28-year-old will be one of the most sought-after free agents at the end of the season.
The Phillies are closing in on their first trip to the NLCS in 15 years. Game 3 is tomorrow in Milwaukee, with 45-year-old Jamie Moyer (16-7) pitching for the NL East champions against Dave Bush (9-10).
Sabathia was 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts for Milwaukee, almost single-handedly leading the wild-card Brewers to their first postseason berth since 1982.
But he struggled in the playoffs - again. He's lost his last three postseason starts, including two against Boston in last year's ALCS. Overall, Sabathia is 2-3 with a 7.92 ERA in the playoffs.
“;I just didn't finish at-bats, finish innings,”; Sabathia said.
Sabathia had all his pitches working in the first. Victorino doubled with one out and stole third, but Sabathia struck out Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to end the threat. Utley couldn't touch Sabathia's off-speed stuff and Howard had no chance against a 96 mph fastball.
Sabathia was uncharacteristically erratic in the second and the Phillies took advantage. Jayson Werth lined a one-out double to left-center and Pedro Feliz followed with an RBI double down the left-field line to tie it at 1.
After Carlos Ruiz grounded out, Myers kept the inning going by working a walk. Digging in, choking up and crouching, Myers drew cheers for fouling off a 1-2 pitch after wildly missing the first two pitches.
He fouled off two more during the at-bat and earned a standing ovation from an appreciative crowd that understood the importance of making Sabathia throw more pitches.
“;I know I'm a terrible hitter,”; Myers said. “;It was one of those freakish things where I was able to lay off his good pitches.”;
Sabathia then walked Jimmy Rollins on four pitches to load the bases. That brought up Victorino, who had a career-high 14 homers this season. Victorino fell behind 1-2 before driving a hanging cutter into the seats in left to give the Phillies a 5-1 lead. The Flyin' Hawaiian raised his arm in the air as he circled the bases with his father watching in the stands.
“;I started running, looked up and saw (Ryan) Braun stopped and thought, 'Did that really happen?”;' Victorino said.
The sellout crowd of 46,208 - the largest in the five-year history of Citizens Bank Park - went wild, waving their “;Fightin' Phils”; rally towels and bringing Victorino out of the dugout for a curtain call.
It was that good a night for the Phillies and their championship-starved fans, who haven't celebrated a title since the NBA's 76ers won it all in 1983.
Phillies 5, Brewers 2
| Milwaukee | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| MCameron cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Durham 2b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .250 |
| Braun lf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .375 |
| Fielder 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| Hardy ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .167 |
| Hart rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .143 |
| Counsell 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .167 |
| Kendall c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Sabathia p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Stetter p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| - |
|||||||
| a-Gwynn ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| McClung p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| - |
|||||||
| Gagne p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| - |
|||||||
| c-Weeks ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Torres p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| - |
|||||||
| Totals | 30 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4
|
| Philadelphia | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Rollins ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .375 |
| Victorino cf | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | .500 |
| Utley 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .125 |
| Howard 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 |
| Burrell lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 |
| Madson p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| - |
|||||||
| JRomero p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| - |
|||||||
| Lidge p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| - |
|||||||
| Werth rf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Feliz 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .125 |
| Ruiz c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .167 |
| Myers p | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 |
| b-Dobbs ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Bruntlett lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Totals | 32 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 9
|
| Milwaukee | 100 | 000 | 100 | - | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Philadelphia | 050 | 000 | 00x | - | 5 | 9 | 1
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a-struck out for Stetter in the 5th. b-struck out for Myers in the 7th. c-safe on error for Gagne in the 8th.
E-Rollins (1). LOB-Milwaukee 5, Philadelphia 10. 2B-Braun (2), Hardy (1), Rollins (1), Victorino 2 (2), Werth 2 (2), Feliz (1). HR-Victorino (1), off Sabathia. RBIs-Hardy (1), Counsell (1), Victorino 4 (5), Feliz (1). SB-Rollins (1), Victorino 2 (3), Werth (1). CS-Rollins (1). GIDP-Hart.
Runners left in scoring position-Milwaukee 1 (Fielder); Philadelphia 7 (Rollins 2, Howard 3, Werth, Feliz).
Runners moved up-Hart, Counsell, Werth, Ruiz.
DP-Philadelphia 1 (Myers, Ruiz and Howard).
| Milwaukee | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Sabathia L, 0-1 | 32/3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 98 | 12.27 |
| Stetter | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.00 |
| McClung | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 0.00 |
| Gagne | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 0.00 |
| Torres | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 0.00
|
| Philadelphia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Myers W, 1-0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 94 | 2.57 |
| Madson H, 1 | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0.00 |
| JRomero H, 1 | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Lidge S, 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4.50
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Inherited runners-scored-Stetter 3-0, JRomero 2-0.
IBB-off McClung (Howard) 1, off Sabathia (Victorino) 1, off Myers (Fielder) 1. HBP-by Myers (Hart).
Umpires-Home, Mark Wegner; First, Brian Runge; Second, Fieldin Culbreth; Third, Jim Joyce; Left, Paul Nauert; Right, Dana DeMuth.
T-3:00. A-46,208 (43,647).
