I dont care how big of a Braves fan I am, and how much I want the Phillies to lose big time...I am very happy about this. Couldn't have happened to a better person!
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PHILADELPHIA -- The thunder came in the first inning off the bat of Jim Thome, as he sent career home run No. 400 sailing out of Citizens Bank Park.
Then it rained. (Insert that phrase several times.)
Then it poured -- in the form of a four-run, fifth-inning deluge that gave the Phillies a come-from-behind edge.
Then it rained again, with the thunder and lightning enhancing the already fun-filled evening.
Soggy and tired, the Phillies survived three hours and 54 minutes of rain delays on Monday, and emerged with a 10-7 triumph over the Reds before 44,710, the largest crowd in the brief history of their new digs.
As the game went on, the crowd dwindled to a gathering, then a committee, then finally a smattering. The time of the game was 3:04 -- 50 minutes shorter than all the rain delays combined.
Just like that, a game that was originally scheduled on April 14 as the park's first night game became its first all-night contest.
Technically, the game took more than two months to complete.
"It was a great night, kind of a wild night," said Jim Thome. "We were here a long time. What an awesome feeling."
Those who packed in to see Thome take his first stab at 400 didn't leave disappointed. The big guy took care of them some 6 1/2 hours before the game was declared finished after a third rain delay.
Manager Larry Bowa knew Thome would end the suspense quickly.
"He did it in typical Thome fashion -- right out of the gate," Bowa said. "[The long game] wasn't a lot of fun, but obviously it was a great moment for him. I told him on the plane ride [from Minneapolis] last night that he might do it in the first at-bat. He said, 'Ah, I don't know.' Hopefully we'll see 500 and 600 in a Phillies uniform."
Many also came to see Ken Griffey Jr. shoot for his even more historic 500th home run, but Griffey sat out the game.
Jimmy Rollins started the game off with a single and was still on first when Thome came to the plate two outs later against Reds starter Jose Acevedo.
Thome fell behind 0-2 before working the count full, getting more comfortable with each pitch.
"After he threw me the fastball inside, I sat on that breaking ball that I hit out," Thome said. "I got lucky. It was out over the plate. It was an even better feeling that we won the ballgame, so it worked out great two ways."
The ball seared through the raindrops and landed in the left-center field seats. Thome received a standing ovation as he thundered around the bases. Third-base coach John Vukovich showed the ultimate respect by tipping his cap as Thome rounded third.
His teammates mobbed him when he reached the dugout, and Thome came out for a curtain call. The Phanatic led the cheers from the top of the home dugout, hoisting a sign that read "400" in big red letters.
Pat Burrell connected two pitches later, giving the already excited crowd even more reason to cheer.
Umpires ordered the tarp on the field after the top of the third, and the game was halted for two hours and 18 minutes. The game resumed without either starting pitcher. Acevedo and Eric Milton had been replaced by Phil Norton and Ryan Madson.
The thought of the game being rained out -- and the stats not counting -- occurred to Thome.
"I kept watching the Doppler [radar] in the clubhouse," he said. "In my mind, I was trying to think positive, that the rain was going to get out of there."
It didn't, but the teams played anyway.
After Madson (4-1) escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth, Philadelphia tormented Reds reliever John Riedling (4-1). Chase Utley laced a double and scored on a Rollins triple, and David Bell's two-out, bases-loaded single gave the Phillies a two-run lead.
Jason LaRue's second homer of the game brought the Reds within a run, but Philadelphia scored three more in the bottom of the seventh -- following the second rain delay, which lasted an hour and five minutes. Sean Casey also homered twice for the Reds.
By the time "Enter Sandman" blared to welcome closer Billy Wagner at 1:31 a.m. ET, most of the game's attendees had long been tucked in. The faithful fans who remained cheered valiantly, if wearily.
Wagner never actually threw a pitch in the top of the ninth. The tarp came out again, and 31 minutes later, the game was officially called. Had it been played, Bowa said Elizardo Ramirez would have come out for the save.
"The umpires have a tough job," said Bowa. "From the point of view of a manager and a player, yeah, I was surprised we kept playing. But I understand what they're up against."
The Phillies were up against having to make up a makeup game next Monday, so this was the better scenario.
The best moment came when Thome met Todd Stark, the fan from Glenmont, N.Y. -- some 4 1/2 hours away -- who caught the ball and waited all night to return it to Thome, who showered him with an autographed bat and jersey, among other things.
"Thank you," Thome said, staring at the ball. "I know you waited a long time. We all did."
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I wrote a "real" entry last night...I just wanted to post this to give my props to the "Thome-inator" Rock on, man!
da2kokib and al19fl
jules