John Mayberry Hits Walk-Off Grandslam To Give Phils Wild 7-3 Win Over Marlins

After Dom Brown led the Phillies to a 7-2 victory in the first game of a three game set to open up the week, the Phillies sent Jonathan Pettibone to the mound looking for a series win. And what ensued, may have been the most fun game of the season.

Through the first six and a half innings, the Marlins were firmly in control. Ricky Nolasco had only allowed one hit, and the Marlins were up 2-0 after RBI’s from Casey Kotchman and Rob Brantly. Then in the bottom of the seventh the fun began.

After a Dom Brown strikout, Ryan Howard doubled to right to put a runner in scoring position. For as good as Dom Brown has been recently, Delmon Young has been putting some pretty good swings on the ball. And Young who came up after Howard, smoked a ball into left-center that missed being a game-tying homerun by about ten feet. Young, then on second after doubling, served as the tying run. Erik Kratz, who got the night off, then gave a Jonathan Papelbon-esque sprint in from the bullpen to pinch hit from Humberto Quintero. After the sprint, Kratz delivered a clutch rbi double over Marcell Ozuna’s head and off the wall to score Young. For Kratz,  it was one of the better swings I have seen him take, as he waited for the ball to get deep into the zone, and drove it to the opposite field. Kratz missed giving the Phillies a 3-2 lead, literally by about five feet. The Phillies would strand Kratz on second, and headed to the eighth inning tied.

After a scoreless eighth inning for Mike Adams in the top half of the eighth the game got, to quote Doc Halladay, “Funner”. Ben Revere singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Although a simple bunt would have been nice, Young hit a grounder down the third-base line. Marlins third-baseman Ed Lucas gathered the ball, fired to second and got Young, but Derek Dietrich’s relay to first wasn’t in time to double-up Michael Young at first. And then on of our favorite umpires, Bob Davidson, came into play. Davidson called out Young because he said that Revere interfered at second base. After watching the replay, not only did Revere not interfere at second, but Dietrich didn’t hold the bag so Revere should have been called safe, and the Phillies should have had runners on first and second with no one out. Instead Bob Davidson called Revere out and Young out because Revere “interfered” with Dietrich trying to turn the double play. I’m actually happy this happened though, because it got the crowd so heavily involved with the game. For the rest of the bottom of the eighth, and entire ninth inning the only time Phils fans stopped booing, was to cheer when Jonathan Papelbon struck someone out. And then they went straight back to booing. And it wasn’t just part of the stadium it was literally 40,000 fans on their feet booing for and inning and a half straight. I’ve watched Philly sports a long time and heard tons of booing, but this was the most fun I had in hearing Phils fans boo, since Scott Rolen made his return to Philadelphia.

Unfortunately, the booing didn’t translate to any more runs for the Phillies, and the game headed to extra innings. In the top half of the tenth inning, Juan Pierre reached on a single and stole second and third on Antonio Bastardo. And this is a perfect time to remind fans that tonight was Carlos Ruiz bobblehead night, because the next pitch made fans wish Chooch was behind the plate. After allowing Juan Pierre to effortlessly steal second and third, Antonio Bastardo threw a pitch low and away in the dirt. It was a terrible pitch, but Carlos Ruiz would have blocked it. Instead Erik Kratz allowed the ball to play him, and Juan Pierre trotted home to score the go-ahead run. With that all the fun of this game felt like it would translate to a loss to the 16-42 Miami Marlins.

But in the bottom of the tenth, a funny thing happened. John Mayberry led off the inning against Steve Cishek, when the Phillies seemed headed for a loss, and he crushed a ball to left center that got out to tie the game. Seeing Mayberry hit a homerun off a righty is a rare occurrence, but damn if it wasn’t timely.

Mike Stutes pitched a scoreless top of the eleventh, and things got wild in the ninth. After Ryan Howard flew out, Dom Brown reached on an error. With no utility player left on his bench, Charlie Manuel sent Kyle Kendrick up to pinch-hit for Michael Stutes. After fouling off two bunts, Kendrick got a bunt down to advance Brown to second. Isntead of facing Freddy Galvis,  Marlins walked Galvis, to face Erik Kratz. And then Marlins pitcher Edgar Olmos lost his control, and walked Erik Kratz on four pitches. After taking a ball and a strike, John Mayberry laced a ball over Juan Pierre’s head in left, the ball kept rising until it was in the flower bed for a walkoff grandslam for John Mayberry. It was a fitting end to what was the most fun game of the season, even if it was against the still 16 win Miami Marlins. And the energy at CBP has been crazy the last two nights.

John Mayberry is all smiles after tying the game in the 10th and winning it in the 11th.

The Phillies will turn around tomorrow, and face the Marlins at one in the afternoon, looking for the sweep.  Cole Hamels will take the mound for the Phillies looking to turn around a disastrous start to the 2013 season. It sure would feel good to see the Phillies take care of the Marlins and get a sweep. Even though they’ve only won 16 games this year, the Fish have given the Phils a tough time and sweeping Chad Qualls would feel great.