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

Blanton’s home run leads game four rout

Going into game four of the World Series, all the Phillies wanted out of Joe Blanton was enough to put them into a position to win that game and move within a win of a world championship. The Phillies got that and more from Blanton on this Sunday, October night.

Blanton tossed six superb innings, giving up only two runs. But, it was his performance at the plate that left the 45,000 fans at Citizens Bank Park in awe in this game. Blanton performed one of the rarest feats in baseball history in the bottom of the fifth inning of game four.

Blanton stepped to the plate with the Phillies already up 5-2. He quickly worked his way ahead in the count, going up 2-1 against Rays’ pitcher Edwin Jackson.  Jackson then threw a 93 miles per hour fastball right over the heart of the plate, a pitch that Blanton made him pay for.

Blanton then turned on that pitch and hit a no-doubter home run into left field to put the Phillies up 6-2. It was one of five home runs the Phillies would hit on the night en route to a 10-2 win. The victory put the Phillies just one win away from their first world championship in 28 years.

Being at that game, I can still remember the excitement my nine-year-old self-felt when Blanton hit that home run, and I still get chills thinking about the atmosphere of everybody walking out of the stadium after that game all yelling the same thing, “one more!”