A picture is worth a thousand words

They’re crying in the stands at Shea…

Three outs to go in Philly.

A long, stark winter ahead for the Mets.

And we go to the ninth…

what else do you need to know?

Another homer for Howard… ho-hum

Interestingly, Ryan Howard homered for the fourth game in a row in the seventh inning. It was his 47th home run of the season.

What’s so interesting about this, you ask? Well, the 47 home runs is the same total that Jim Thome hit for the Phillies in 2003 and it’s one away from Mike Schmidt’s old franchise-best tally in 1980. The fact is that we have been so matter-of-fact about Howard’s home runs this season. Forty-seven homers is nothing to sneeze at and it’s like we’ve come to expect it from the big slugger.

Just think how many he might have hit if he didn’t lose three weeks in May while on the disabled list. Or think how many he would have hit if he hadn’t slumped so badly during the first months of the season, as well.

Yeah, 47 homers for Howard… ho-hum.

The Phillies are six outs away.

Wildfire

With one outs and two on in the sixth as Jamie Moyer approached 100 pitches and made his third time through the Nationals’ lineup, Charlie Manuel sauntered out to the mound and called for Tom Gordon.

Even though Moyer allowed just five hits to go with six strikeouts and no walks in 5 1/3 innings, Manuel’s move was pretty smart. After all, when teams catch up to Moyer, it gets ugly fast. Moreover, the Phils’ skipper likely will have Kyle Lohse to add to the bullpen mix with Gordon, J.C. Romero and closer Brett Myers. That gives him a full arsenal to work with.

Besides, it’s clear that Manuel is not taking any chances with anything for the rest of the ride… wherever it may take the Phillies.

And as much as some folks do not want to admit it, Manuel has pushed all the right buttons all season long.

In the sixth, the Phillies added two runs highlighted by Jimmy Rollins’ 20th triple of the season. The triple makes Rollins just the fourth player in Major League history to get at least 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 homers, and 20 stolen bases in a season. The other players are Curtis Granderson (this season for Detroit), Willie Mays (1957), and Frank “Wildfire” Schulte (1911).

The Phils lead by four with nine outs to go.

They’re heading for the exits at Shea.

Cruising right along

The Marlins posted another run as Jamie Moyer cruised through the fifth. It looks as if it’s safe to say that the Mets are cooked against the Marlins.

But the question remains:

Will the Phillies hold on?

If they don’t, is it really so bad? After all, the Phillies were trailing the Mets by seven games on Sept. 12. The fact that they were able to crawl back into this thing is victory enough, right? Are we being too greedy by asking the Phillies to go all the way?

Um… no. No we are not.

For the Phillies to blow it now, just 12 outs away from the NL East title, would almost be as bad as the Mets’ colossal collapse into oblivion. Notice I wrote almost because I believe the Mets’ demise is worse than the 1964 Phillies’ late-season collapse.

And how about those kids in the picture… are they going to be scared for life? Maybe they should just switch to being Yankees fans.

Meanwhile, Carlos Ruiz left the game with a right elbow contusion. Chris Coste is the catcher and will likely be on the field when (if) the Phillies clinch. That just adds on to the pile of extraordinary occurrences in the career of Coste. Crazy.

Make sure you packed clean underwear

Scott Lauber, the beatific bulldog scribe from the Wilmington News-Journal announced a few days ago that he was bringing an extra set of clothes in case his are doused in a post-game celebration. This made a lot of sense. Who wants to go back upstairs from the clubhouse dripping wet from champagne spray?

Then again, I’ve never witnessed one of those post-game champagne celebrations. Oh, I’ve seen them on TV and have a pretty good idea about occurs, but I do write about the Phillies. Champagne does not flow freely in these parts.

Nevertheless, I have a suitcase full of clothes in my car. The Phillies are getting closer to clinching this thing even after Jamie Moyer gave up an unearned run with two outs in the fourth on Austin Kearns’ single.

Regardless, the Phillies are 15 outs away because back at Shea, the Marlins still lead by six runs as they approach the midway point.

These two games could end at the same time.

The Phillies went down in the bottom half of the fourth against new Nats’ pitcher, Jonathan Albaladejo. I’m not sure, but I would bet that Jonathan Albaladejo is the longest name I have ever typed. It’s 18 letters by my count. Anyway, Jonathan Albaladejo plunked Carlos Ruiz with two outs, which was the second time that the Phils’ catcher has been drilled this series. On Friday night he was smacked on the hand by a pitch from Tim Redding and it looked like it really hurt. My guess is that it bothers Ruiz when he throws.

Still 3-1 heading to the halfway point.

Adding on and whiting out

I just wrote the results of the last inning in the wrong page of my scorebook. I hate when that happens. Now my Bob Carpenter Scorebook is going to look messy like a chicken wrote all in it and I can’t have that.

Bob Carpenter, by the way, is the play-by-play announcer for the Nationals’ TV broadcasts. His scorebook is excellent, but now my copy has Presto! whiteout all over it.

I’m not sure if Carpenter’s book is as good as how Jamie Moyer has been pitching so far. He took down the Nats in order again in the third, this time on 13 pitches. He also got another strikeout on one of those off-speed pitches on the outer edge of the plate.

It didn’t go as well for Jason Bergmann against the Phillies in the bottom of the third. Carlos Ruiz doubled to open the inning, then, with one out, Bergmann walked Jimmy Rollins and plunked Shane Victorino. However, he nearly wiggled out of some bases-loaded trouble when Chase Ultey harmlessly popped up to short and had two strikes on Ryan Howard with two outs.

But Howard’s two-run single made it 3-0, which made that six-run deficit at Shea look like it was double-digits.

Moyer humming along

Jamie Moyer remained sharp in the second inning to retire the Nats in order. The last two outs of the inning were strikeouts on pitches where Moyer got Wily Mo Pena and Jesus Flores to chase some off-speed stuff (does Moyer throw anything else?) way off the outside edge of the plate.

Moyer needed 16 more pitches to get through the second. So far he’s thrown 29 pitches –19 of them strikes.

At the plate, the Phillies went down just as harmlessly as the Nats. Jason Bergmann was even more efficient than Moyer, throwing just eight pitches in the frame.

Back at Shea it’s still 7-1 with one out and Jose Reyes at the plate. They just showed a shot of the Mets’ new ballpark on TV… if the Mets go down today, they might need a new one in time for next year. Shea might not make it through the day.

Rollins steals a run

Veteran lefty Jamie Moyer was sharp in the first, throwing just 13 pitches to retire the side despite a double by Ronnie Belliard the barely landed inside the right-field foul line.

Meanwhile, the “M-V-P!” chants for Jimmy Rollins started as soon as the third out was recorded in the first. It seems to me that the fans don’t have to chant that to convince anyone anymore. The BBWAA has to have their ballots in by the end of the day and my informal polling shows that Rollins will likely win the MVP Award.

Charlie Manuel should be first or second in the manager of the year balloting with Arizona’s Bob Melvin, while Jake Peavy has the Cy Young Award sewn up.

The rookie of the year award seems to be a tossup between Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun and Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki. Kyle Kendrick should garner some votes, too.

Back to the action… Rollins singled to open the frame and then swiped second before Shane Victorino grounded back to the pitcher. On a 1-2 pitch to Chase Utley, Rollins stole third base for his 41st steal of the season.

I wonder if Rollins called up his buddy Dontrelle Willis last night? I was going to ask him, but he seemed like he didn’t want his pre-game focus broken.

Anyway, the stolen base worked out pretty well because Rollins scored on Utley’s lined sacrifice fly to right to make it 1-0. Back at Shea, Carlos Delgado grimaced in pain after getting hit by a pitch from Willis. It appears as if the Mets’ slugger is out of the game.

The Mets are in big, big trouble.