You know the greatest thing about baseball is? Its never over in till its over. That one inning can change the whole difference of a ball game. Well that's what happened last night in South Philadelphia as the Magic of the Phightin Phils came alive yet again.
So Game 4 of the NLCS all started off with a bang as Ryan Howard who has been doing it through out this whole postseason hit a 2 run home run to make a early 2-0 lead. Ryan Howard tied Lou Gehrig's major league record with 8 RBI's in the postseason. Former pitcher Randy Wolf who pitched really well against the Phillies, went 5 1/3 innings giving up 4 hit and 3 runs. In the top of the 4th the Dodger bats would come alive against Joe Blanton who had 3 scoreless innings and looked really good, got knocked around. With two men on James Loney came through with an RBI knock to make it a 2-1 Phillies lead. Later in the 4th Russell Martin hit an RBI single to tie the game 2-2 coming with 2 outs. In the 5th with 2 outs Matt Kemp would hit a solo home run to give the Dodgers the lead 3-2. So just when you though that early 2-0 lead would mean good things to come got washed away pretty fast. In the 6th the Dodgers would get another run scored off the bat of Casey Blake to give the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the 6th inning Shane Victorino hit a 1 out triple and Chase Utley would bring him in with an RBI single to make it a 4-3 Dodgers lead.
Here we are in the bottom of the 9th inning where everything just unfolds in a blink of an eye. The Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton would stay in the game after just pitching the 8th and try to finish this game and tie the series up 2-2. He would get the first out on a Raul Ibanez ground ball. But coming into the game to pinch hit for third baseman Pedro Feliz the guy who loves to hit the fast ball Matt Stairs. For those of you who don't remember last year in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS Stairs came into the ball game to pinch hit, hit a moon shot home run off of Jonathan Broxton that would live on in Phillies postseason history forever would give the Phillies the lead and they would never look back from there. So would Stairs be able to do the same here in Game 4 of the 2009 NLCS to tie the game? Instead they would walk Stairs and look for the double play ball to end the ball game. Coming into run for Matt Stairs would be Eric Bruntlett who has a lot more speed on the bags. So now stepping up to the plate would be Carlos Ruiz and Broxton would get wild and hit him and put the go ahead runner on base. So now runners on 1st and 2nd 1 out and pinch-hitting for pitcher Brad Lidge would be Greg Dobbs. Dobbs would hit a little blooper over to third for the second out. Now it would be up to Jimmy Rollins with 2 outs. Rollins hasn't done much in the postseason but would he become the hero this time? Rollins had 1 ball and 1 strike on him. The next pitch came in fastball at 98 mph and Jimmy swung his bat and in a flash he hit the ball right over Broxton's head and would split the outfielder and head for gap. Coming in to score and tie the game would be Brunlett and could it be... could it be that Carlos Ruiz would come all the way around from 1st to home to score the winning run and the Phillies would win the ball game 5-4!?! Well it did and it happened so fast that you would never believed it if you wouldn't have seen it!
Yes Jimmy Rollins would win it in Philly Style shocking the whole city of Philadelphia. This Monday night will never be forgotten as if it looked like the Dodgers would tie the series up and there would be a game 6. The crazy thing about this whole story is, it all happened with 2 outs, the same pitcher who blew Game 4 of the NLCS last year all happened again. Jimmy Rollins a guy who is never scared to come up big proved everyone right. So when everything seemed to be in the Dodgers bags, Rollins made sure it would end in the Phillies bags with a walk off game winning, big knock double. The thing with the Phillies are that they play all 27 outs and if you make a mistake they make you pay for it. Just like Ryan Howard's 2 run double in the top 9th against the Rookies to tie the game and than Jayson Werth's RBI single to take lead to win the game. Well the same thing happened here and Jimmy Rollins made the Dodgers pay for their mistake's late in the ball game. Rollins 2 out double to win the ball game will be remember forever in Phillies postseason history along with Matt Stairs home run last year. Maybe this is a sign that's telling every team in baseball "WE ARE THE TEAM TO BEAT". Rollins says big things and makes big things happen when needed. All I can say is "ARE YOU KIDDING ME"? "THANK YOU PHILLIES, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER"?
Game 5 of the NLCS will be tomorrow night at 8:07 on TBS. The Phillies will send out their lefty starter Cole Hamels to win Game 5 and head back to the World Series. For the Dodgers there hopes stay alive in the hands of Vicente Padilla. Phillies - Dodgers Game 5 don't miss it.
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