Win: Roy Halladay (17-10)
Loss: Kameron Loe (3-4)
Save: Brad Lidge (20)
HR: Howard (26), Werth (20), Fielder (29), Hart 2 (25), Escobar (!!!!)
MVP: Corey Hart (.281)
LVP: Kameron Loe (-.184)
Fangraphs Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage
This game started out as a slugfest, as both teams combined to hit five homeruns in the first three innings of play. After that, things settled down until the seventh inning when Corey Hart put the Brewers up 4-3 in the top half with a solo HR. Hart's two homeruns in this game, by the way, were his first since August 1.
The key play came in the bottom half of the seventh, with Zach Braddock pitching and the bases loaded. Placido Polanco hit a shallow fly which Carlos Ruiz tagged up on. Ryan Braun threw home, and the ball would have reached Jonathon Lucroy on the hop, but Lucroy was forced to get out of the way with Ruiz coming in high right where the ball was heading. Sebsequently, the throw went to the backstop and allowed Wilson Valdez to score as well, giving the Phillies the lead.
I can't really fault Lucroy much for getting out of the way of the charging Ruiz. If the Brewers were in a playoff chase, I would probably be extremely upset. However, in a lost season I would rather not see Milwaukee's long term catcher get hurt in a collision with a 5'10", 215 lb man who is barreling at Jonathon at a full sprint.
By the way, I did some research while watching this game. In the game thread today, we had just 29 comments. Before tonight, the earliest amount of comments we had this season was in game thread #129, with 63. The last time we were under 29 comments on a game thread was on April 24, 2008, when the site was apparently broken. The last time we were under 29 comments on a game thread when the site was in perfect working order was on September 2, 2007. (Note that I found these by clicking the little "Game Threads" link in the byline, where it tells you what section a story is posted in [for instance, this is posted in WPA Game Recaps]. If whoever wrote the game thread didn't choose 'game thread' as the section, it didn't show up where I was looking. So this is by no means completely accurate.)