End of 8 innings:
Phillies 6-9-0Nationals 3-9-0
Ruiz to pitch the ninth for the Phillies.
Bullpen innings from Alvarado, Banks, and Strahm have been shutout innings with no hits or walks, five Ks (1,2,2).
Bottom 9th
Ruiz pitchingSingle and walk bring up the tying run with nobody out
No a good start this inning from Ruiz. Need outs.
Dusty Baker's kid singles to left to load the bases
Ruiz Ks' Garcia for the out #1.
Ruiz gets Wood looking for out #2.
A bit of audition for Ruiz, partly of his own making.
Clemens grabs a scary drive to left and bangs off the wall, and we had 'em all the way, Harry!
Classic closer performance
Thank goodness we won. After watching the Eagles debacle, I needed a lift.
Our lousy team finishes with 95 wins.
Clever of Ruiz to load the bases with no outs so that he could show Rob and the staff that he can work out of major trouble. Not pretty, but a scoreless inning and a save for Ruiz.
Line score
Phillies 6-9-0Nationals 3-11-0W-Nola (14-8)S-Ruiz (1)
Thanks LSP for keeping us all up to date on this game
Pat Murphy's gonna be manager of the year for taking over a 92-win team with some key personnel losses and winning 93 games and his team's third division title in four years. Rob will finish second or third for what was certainly a more impressive season top-to-bottom, going from 90 to 95 and first division title in ages. Even if the Phillies talent is better.
I guess if they'd won 100 games and never pitched Walker he'd get it.
Looks like the bot left early for a quick vacation before the Phillies return to play in the post season.
The bot hit its innings limit
The bot was ejected during the national anthem.
Nice to finish with a win. Now we wait to see if we play the Brewers, Braves, Mets, or Diamondbacks.
I am still hoping for the White Sox, but hope is fading.
I don't think it can be the Braves in the LDS. With the tie-breakers, the Braves are either flying to San Diego or out of the playoffs.
If so that adds another twist to the second game, if they win the first one. But the Braves were the ones that didn't want to go play at a neutral site. Understandably. It will be interesting to see if MLB gets involved at all, should they win Game 1. Like, refuse to let them call people up for the second game, force them to field the best line-up.
