Philling in: A recap of a late night at Citizens Bank Park

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER On Wednesday night I attended the Phils-Reds game at Citizens Bank Park as a paying spectator. It was a good, crisp, fast-moving game. I was in my car by 10:20 and in my driveway by 11:40. At 11:40 on this night, a night when I was pinch-hitting for Mandy Housenick as a Phillies reporter, I was scrambling down to the clubhouse to get some quotes after their 4-3, 11-inning marathon win over the Reds, a game that took four hours and 24 minutes. God knows what time I will be in my driveway on this night/morning, somewhere around 2:30. Thanks to all the pitching changes (each team used five relievers) and the extensive work needed to keep the field dry after they played through a steady rain for two or three innings, this one moved at a snail's pace. And with Johnny Cueto and Cole Hamels pitching you thought there was a chance for a fast-moving classic, like maybe a two-hour quickie. Instead Cueto and Hamels struggled in the rain and were long gone by the time this one was decided. Hamels was, justifiably in my view, miffed by the decision to keep playing through a steady downpour that turned the mound and infield dirt into a mess. It was reminiscent of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series between the Rays and Phils when CBP looked more like a waterpark than a ballpark. The game probably should have never started when it did. "You want to be able to go out and give it your best and Cueto and I have both been pitching really well," Hamels said. "You want to go out and do what you're capable of doing. [Because of the rain] we weren't as precise as we normally are. But we battled. We fought to the very end. We're just supposed to go out and pitch, but I didn't think it was fair to both teams." The Phillies are now 58-67 on the season, and still well out of serious wild-card spot contention. Even if they win all 37 games they have left and finish 95-67, they probably don't catch the Nats for the division title. But they have played real solid baseball in recent weeks and are a respectable, but not good enough 21-17 since the All-Star break. And Domonic Brown is looking like he might be here to stay. He has hit safely in his last five games, batting .429 in that stretch, and five of his nine hits have gone for extra bases. This was the Phillies' ninth walkoff win of the season and their fifth win in six extra-inning games at home. Some other notes that might have made some print editions of the story in The Morning Call, but not all: J-Roll slowed: Rollins, hitting what would be a career-low .238 through Wednesday and just 4-for-33 at the plate in his last seven games, was out of the starting lineup against Cueto. “I was thinking of resting him on Monday,” Manuel said. “I played him, but I think tonight is a good time because we have Washington coming in here. He’ll be off Monday. I just want to see how things go. If I could give him a blow every now and then, I think it will help his hitting and keep him stronger and things like that.” Michael Martinez, hitting just .153, started in place of Rollins, but Rollins pinch-hit for him in the sixth inning, stayed in the game and made his presence felt with a game-tying sacrifice fly to shallow left-center in the eighth and hit a double in the 10th. Bullpen shuffle:Jeremy Horst returned from paternity leave on Thursday, forcing the Phillies to make a move and they sent Michael Schwimer (0-1, 4.24 ERA) back to the IronPigs, at least until the annual Sept. 1 roster inflation. “We want to look at [Phillippe] Aumont. That definitely plays in that,” Manuel said. Aumont, who was 3-1 with a 4.26 ERA in 41 games for the IronPigs this year, made his major league debut in the eighth inning and tossed a scoreless and hitless inning that included a walk. Power outage:The Phillies starting lineup Thursday featured a combined total of 31 home runs. The Reds lineup had 100 blasts, including 26 by Jay Bruce and 25 by Ryan Ludwick. Still No. 1:The Phillies aren’t No. 1 in the standings, but they remain No. 1 in attendance average with 43,386 per home game, including 41,972 on Thursday night. They have not had a home game draw less than 40,000 since April 29, 2009. Swatting Nats:Washington can’t clinch the National League East crown during their three-game visit here this weekend, but they can certainly remind the Phillies that their five-year reign atop the division is about to come to an end. The Nats haven’t played in Philly in three months (May 21-23) and will send Edwin Jackson to the mound against Kyle Kendrick in Friday night’s series opener. The pitching gets better as the weekend continues. Gio Gonzalez (16-6) opposes Roy Halladay on Saturday night and Jordan Zimmerman (9-7, 2.54) matches up with Cliff Lee on Sunday afternoon.