Philadelphia Phillies: Top-10 moments from 2008 World Championship run

Utley and Howard go back-to-back in World Series Game 3

World Series game three, the bottom of the sixth inning, Phillies leading 2-1. In the top half of the inning, Tampa Bay Rays‘ third basemen Evan Longoria just missed a home run to left that was knocked down by the wind. It seems like the ball would not be traveling out on this night.

Well, don’t tell Utley and Ryan Howard that. Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Utley squared off against Rays’ pitcher Matt Garza. Up in the count 2-1, Garza threw a 94 mile per hour fastball that got too much of the plate, and Utley made him pay.

Utley deposited Garza’s pitch well into the right-field seats. Following a long pre-game rain delay, the winds were swirling, but as Joe Buck said “don’t worry about the wind,” when Utley hit a no-doubter into right.

Up next came Howard, who worked the count to 2-2 then was thrown a 86 mile per hour slider that hung just enough for Howard to hit another ball deep into the right-field stands. His home run put the Phillies up 4-1 in game three.

The Phillies did win that game, but they did squander that 4-1 lead though. But, if it wasn’t for Howard and Utley’s long balls in the sixth, then it may have been the Rays coming out on top in game 3 and going ahead 2-1 in the series.