NO FISHING

by Max Blue
http://maxblue3.tripod.com

                                    Somebody hung out a sign:
                                    NO FISHING, or you’ll pay a fine.
                                    Phils backed away and let Fish swim,
                                    but hey, those guys’ chances still slim.
                                    Watch now and see Champs shine.

Sunday, August 9, 2009. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Florida – 12, Philadelphia – 3.
WP – Johnson (11-2), LP – Moyer (10-9).
HR – Helms (2), 9^th, 1 on.
Feliz ( 8), 7^th, 1 on.

            Moyer was Moyer – 5 innings, 2 earned runs – into the 5^th he had a 1-0 lead. That ain’t bad, sports fans, against a team desperate to close a yawning gap in the lost column with the season on the downhill side of the schedule. Josh Johnson is a fine pitcher – big fastball and killer changeup – Phils just inches of putting him away in the first inning – Rollins and Victorino on base when Utley and Howard both backed Fish outfielders to the wall for loud outs. Fish manager Fredi Gonzalez pulled out all the stops in the 5^th. With 1 out, Bako muffed a Bonifacio bunt in front of the plate, Ramirez singled and the two tried a double steal, twice. The first time, Cantu fowled the pitch, the second time he singled to left for the 1-1 tie. Handle-hit singles by Helms and Ross gave the Fish a 3-1 lead before Moyer ended it with a strikeout and a fly out. The seventh saw Rodrigo Lopes flame out in a 6-run Florida feast.
            The high point for more than 45,000 fans was a rare, maybe unprecedented, ejection of a centerfielder from his spot 350 feet away from homeplate. It was strike three, Victorino way out there, with his long-range vision in perfect focus, saw it clearly. When umpire Ed Rapuano called it a ball, Victorino couldn’t restrain himself; he jumped up and down and waved his arms. Then he did it again. Next it was Rapuano who couldn’t restrain himself – he almost threw his back out of joint with a major-league “you’re out of here, buster,” fling of his right arm into the air just short of the pitchers’ mound where he had sprinted to get closer to his centerfield tormentor. Then Victorino went into a sprint – he came at full gallop to the infield, flung catcher Bako out of his way, and would have put violent hands on the blind ump but for a major-league bearhug from Ryan Howard.

              It was great theater and the fans loved it – never mind that the Champs were close to being swept on their home turf by their nearest competition. For the next three innings Philadelphia baseball fans had a glorious chance to unlimber the major-league boos they had been marshalling – somebody thought they ought to be booing Ryan Howard for taking a called third strike with tying runs on base, but how could they do that? And how could they boo Jamie Moyer, bless his creaky left arm? So they booed and booed, then booed some more as the afternoon slipped away under a 19-hit Fish assault that left the team, bruised and abused, limping out of town still looking at a five-game lost column lead over these pesky minnows masquerading as Fish.