September 18, 2011
Pence's Proverb #2: "Let's pop bottles!"
After the Phillies sealed their fifth consecutive NL East crown, the players waited for their starting rightfielder to arrive in the clubhouse and kickoff the celebration.
Hunter Pence, who has never experienced the playoffs before, will finally have his chance.
Much like last year, the Phillies waited for the ones who never experienced the playoffs before to kick off the division championship celebration. In 2010 it was Roy Halladay. In 2011 it was Pence.
Pence grabbed a bottle of champagne and started jumping around, drenching his teammates.
Winning five straight division titles is a phenomenal milestone, but the Phillies celebrated with a been there done that attitude.
All throughout the celebration, everyone on the team refered to the division title as simply "the first step" to their ultimate goal. All this team wants to do is win the World Series.
The Phillies have 12 games left to play in the regular season. It's expected that Charlie Manuel will continue to play his starters, but will give them a little more rest over the next two weeks, and give players like John Mayberry Jr. and Michael Martinez more at-bats.
At the same time, Manuel will be giving pitchers Joe Blanton, Joe Savery, and Justin DeFratus chances to pitch in relief over the remainder of the season, and possibly earn a spot on the postseason roster.
Outfielders Dominic Brown and Brandon Moss have also been called up from the minors to play in the last 12 games of the regular season.
Now to the game that clinched the division last night.
Roy Oswalt pitched an excellent game last night, striking out seven batters and only allowing five hits over seven shutout innings.Hunter Pence doubled to left field to score Jimmy Rollins and move Ryan Howard up to third in the first inning, putting the Phillies up 1-0 over the Cardianls.
Then in the sixth, Shane Victorino blasted a solo homer off Kyle McClellan to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead.
Michael Stutes replaced Roy Oswalt in the eighth. After getting the first two outs, Stutes gave up singles to Jon Jay and Albert Pujols. Lance Berkman singled in the next at-bat to score Jay, followed by a single by David Freese that scored Pujols to put the Cardinals within one run.
But Brad Lidge replaced Stutes with two outs, to get rightfielder Allen Craig to ground out to second and stop the Cardinals rally.
On to the bottom fo the eighth, after Ruiz reached 2nd base on an error and Rollins (who had a 4 for 4 night) singled. Shane Victorino knocked in his thrid RBI of the night with a single to center that scored Ruiz from third. The Phillies were up now 4-2.
In the next at-bat Chase Utley was hit by a pitch from Marc Rzepczynski, that loaded the bases.
After Ryan Howard struck out and St. Louis sent in Octavio Dotel to replace Rzepczynski, Hunter Pence reached first on an infield single that scored Rollins from third and made it 5-2 Phils. The bases remained loaded.
Then Raul Ibanez "blew the top off the joint" as Tom McCarhty said, hitting a grand slam in to the right field seats, to give the Phils a 9-2 lead. The fans were fired up and at that point, the champagne was on ice and the plastic was up in the locker room.
Ryan Madson came in to pitch the ninth, and quickly recorded the first two outs before giving up a single to St. Louis' second baseman Ryan Theriot. But Madson bounced back and got shortstop Rafael Furcal to hit a bouncing groundball to second. Utley barehanded the ball and threw it to Howard at first for the final out.
The Phanatic ran out on the field with the 2011 NL East pennant, the players and coaches shook hands on the field for the 98th victory of the year, then the celebration began.
Phillies.com
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_09_17_slnmlb_phimlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=phi
CSN Philly.com
http://www.csnphilly.com/baseball-philadelphia-phillies/news/Champion-Phils-keep-celebration-in-check?blockID=564598&feedID=704
ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=310917122
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