Road To 10,000 Losses: Wait, That Was A Win?

Road to 10,000 Losses is a countdown to the Phillies’ 10,000th loss, coming sometime later this year. After splitting the first two games of the Marlins series, the Phillies stand at 9978 losses, only 22 away from 10,000.

The Phillies are never going to top .500. The 23-23 Phillies have hit the .500 mark at 20, 21, 22 and 23 wins, but have lost the next game each time. The Phillies, though, have kept creeping back up to .500, including an 8-7 10 inning win last night.

But, right. Last night’s ninth inning could leave the Phillies in trouble for a couple of weeks. The Phillies scored three in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, two bloop singles and a triple made it 7-5. Hanley Ramirez grounded to Greg Dobbs, who threw home instead of taking the easy out at first. Dobbs was remorseful:

“I’m sick to my stomach,” said Greg Dobbs, who was responsible for one of the two defensive lapses. “I want to eat, but can’t. I feel tremendously responsible for that inning because we should have had three outs.” [...]

“I wasn’t,” he said. “Quote it. Print it right on front page. ‘What was Dobbs thinking?’ I saw it all happen right in front of me in super slow mo. As I released the ball, I went ‘whyyyyyyyyy. What are you doing?’ I should’ve taken the ball and either tagged Ramirez or gone to the bag, instead of being way too aggressive. It was just stupid. Afterward, I was so disgusted with myself that I just started walking in circles, thinking ‘Did I just do that?’”

Okay, calm down, Greg. It’s okay. We forgive you.

Myers eventually had two on with two out. Aaron Boone singled to left. Jayson Werth nailed Ramirez at home by 10 feet. And then Rod Barajas stood up, Ramirez slid under the tag — and the game was tied. Manager Charlie Manuel and Barajas were ejected after arguing the call.

Two pitches later, Brett Myers threw it five feet away from the plate and strained his shoulder. Clay Condrey eventually got the Phillies out of the inning, and the Phillies eventually won in the 10th inning on an Abraham Nunez (!) single that scored Jimmy Rollins.

Chase Utley homered and tripled in the win. But the real star of the game was announcer Harry Kalas, who didn’t quite seem to know the umpire was clearly calling Ramirez safe. Later, he giggled like he was high after Clay Condrey snared a line drive to end the bottom of the 9th.

Oh, Harry.

Phillies win bittersweet game in Florida [Phillies.com]