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Painful loss puts Phils down 3 games to 1 It looked like our Phillies were back. After a game-tying home run by Feliz in the eighth and one strike away from bringing a tie game to the bottom of the ninth, Lidge gave up three runs and the Phillies lost 7-4. The Phillies were playing catch-up all night long. Joe Blanton gave up two straight hits to Jeter and Damon and the Yankees had runners on second and third with no outs. A Rod was hit by a pitch in the inning. Being the baby he is, he complained to the umpires who gave a warning to both teams. A groundout RBI and sacrifice fly made the score 2-0 before the Phillies batted. The Phillies got one back with doubles by Shane Victorino and Chase Utley. The Phillies tied the game in the fourth thanks to a two-out RBI single by Pedro Feliz. Ryan Howard scored on the play, although replays showed he actually did not touch the plate. Blanton could not get that shut down inning, giving up two runs by walking Nick Swisher and giving up three straight singles. Once again, they were down by two. The Phils inched closer in the seventh when Utley hit a solo homer off Sabathia for the third time this series. Then the ninth. Joba Chamberlain blew away Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez with 96 mph fastballs and a full count on Pedro Feliz. He threw another fastball and Feliz sent it for a home run into left field. The game was tied and the crowd was going nuts. Brad Lidge came in the ninth inning and was completely dominant. He got pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui to pop up and struck out Derek Jeter. He had a 1-2 count on Johhny Damon and almost retired him on a foul tip that hit the ground. Damon battled and hit a single to left field. With Teixeira at the plate, Damon stole second base. The Phillies had a shift on for Teixeira and nobody covered third, so Damon outran Feliz and went all the way to third. Lidge hit Teixeira to put runners at first and third. Alex Rodriguez batted next and hit a double to left field. Just like that the Phils were down again. Posada brought out the dagger with a two run single to the gap in left-center field and all of a sudden it was a 3 run deficit. Posada was thrown out trying to extend the hit to a double, but the damage was done. Mariano Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 inning and the game was over. This one hurts. Down 3-1 in the series, the Phils are now in a tough spot. All hope lies with Cliff Lee if we want to return to New York for game 6.
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