6th Inning Slam Puts Giants Past Worley, Phillies

Giants 7, Phillies 2
WP – Tim Lincecum (4-10, 5.72)
LP – Vance Worley (5-6, 3.82)

PHILADELPHIA — Through five innings Vance Worley was nearly unhittable.

With eight strikeouts and only a run and three hits allowed, Worley began the 6th inning. After loading the bases on a pair of singles and a walk, Worley gave up a tie-breaking sacrifice fly to Pablo Sandoval to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.

After walking the next batter, a grand slam by Brandon Crawford blew the game wide open and it gave the Giants a 6-1 lead. They were the first four of a five-RBI night for Crawford, who went 2-for-4 in the win.

San Francisco went on to win 7-2, riding a tremendous pitching performance from Tim Lincecum.

Victorino suspended three games; No Giants suspended

UPDATE 2 — Phillies Nation’s blog was wrong. No Giants were suspended. Eli Whiteside and Ramon Ramirez were fined, which is total bull crap.

Here is MLB’s statement, which was obviously released while they were high on some good stuff:

“Victorino’s aggressive actions prolonged the bench-clearing incident between the Clubs.”

Placido Polanco was also fined for being tackled. It cost him money to have a catcher put on an embarrassing display of tackling. Good job, MLB. I hope you thanked Tim Lincecum for the weed he shared with you.

Postgame quotes about the brawl

Shane Victorino walks away from the scrum last night. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

As soon as the final out was recorded around 1:30 AM ET, I hit the “publish” button, closed my computer and went to bed.

But my phone kept buzzing with texts from Matt Gelb and Todd Zolecki’s Twitter with interesting quotes from last night so I know I had to look them up this morning and share them with you guys.

As you know, things got a little testy last night. The benches cleared on both sides during the 6th inning of the Phillies 9-2 beat down of the Giants. Shane Victorino was plunked by reliever Ramon Ramirez and Eli Whiteside decided to look for a fight, blowing the top off and already boiling rivalry.

Here are some post game Phillies comments and the radio broadcast from last night. L.A. calls everyone gutless:

Tempers flare as Phils rough up Sanchez, Giants

Giants starter appeared frustrated after Shane Victorino's solo homerun started a four-run 4th inning. Sanchez didn't even make it past the 5th inning as the Giants lost, 9-2. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

This has become a very heated rivalry in baseball despite the two teams playing on opposite sides of the country.

It all started last October in Game 3. The two culprits were Chase Utley and Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez. Now let’s fast forward tonight.

It was the first time the Phils saw Sanchez since Game 3 of the NLCS. It was also the first time Utley has seen him since he tossed the baseball to Sanchez very sarcastically after being plunked in that game.

It was going to go either two ways: Sanchez bounces back after missing almost 50 days due to injury to shut down the Phils or he and the Giants get roughed up and frustrated in a Phillies laugher.

It started out in Sanchez’s favor, not allowing a hit until Vance Worley’s two-out single in the 3rd. But it was all down hill from there on as the Phils clobbered Sanchez and beat the Giants, 9-2.

Worley pitches first career CG

Ever since I blogged about Vance Worley being a mirage last week, he has turned up his game to a whole new level. Hey, keep reading the blog, Vance, we’ll say nice things about you now.

No, I really don’t believe he reads TTB but I do believe that he is starting to improve. And I feel any time a player like this makes me eat crow, it’s a good thing.

Worley went the distance for the first time in his career, holding the reigning World Champion Giants to three hits and two runs as the Phillies won 7-2.

The Phillies gave Worley four home runs, one the hard way, and the offense took advantage of the Giants’ late switch.

Bats Die in Loss

Roy Halladay is human after all. After the way he pitched, Phillies fans would have never expected to see him allow five runs in a single outing. The Giants’ bats showed up and the Phillies’ didn’t as they lost 5-1 Monday night.

Halladay (4-1, 1.80) pitched seven innings, allowing five runs on 10 hits, no walks, and five strike outs. He was hit hard all game, something we’ve never seen and didn’t last eight innings for the first time all season. He gave up his second homer of the year to Eli Whiteside to lead off the seventh.

Shane Victorino had himself a nice little game, attemping to spark the Phillies offense. He went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Ryan Howard continued to struggle, though getting a huge extension. He is homer-less in 60 AB’s.

Whiteside and Pablo Sandoval both had multi-hit games for the Giants. Whiteside doubled and homered with two RBIs and Sandoval had a double and a couple runs scored.

The Phillies got runners on base and forced Jonathan Sanchez to leave early after throwing 107 pitches. Sanchez only lasted five innings, allowing a run on three hits and five walks, one hit batter, and fanning six.

On a positive note, Antonio Bastardo pitched the eighth, allowing only a walk and striking out two.

It’s frustrating seeing the Phillies offense struggle, especially when Halladay shows signs of mortality. The Phillies stranded (11) runners in the game, a ridiculously high amount. They were also 0-for-11 with RISP while San Fran was 3-for-7 and stranded only five. That’s unacceptable when you have guys in your line up designed to hit the ball.

Doubles: Victorino 2 (2)

WP: Sanchez (2-1). LP: Halladay (4-1).

Boxscore.