Dodgers Rally In The Eighth, Even Series At One

31 pitches.

Five pitchers.

Three hits.

Two walks.

Two runs.

One blown save.

That was the bottom of the eighth inning for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the eighth, the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for two runs and held on for a 2-1 victory to even their best-of-seven series with the Phillies at one game apiece.

As my friend Mike always says, “How do you beat Ric Flair? A small package in the center of the ring.”

I say, “How do you beat the Phillies? Get to their bullpen.”

The Phillies’ bullpen stinks. I know it’s harsh, but there is no way around it. Yesterday, they ruined what was a brilliant pitching performance by Pedro Martinez.

Martinez was vintage Pedro. He had the Dodger batters off-balance all game. His performance was very similar to his performance in Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS against the Cleveland Indians.

He didn’t have a 95-mph fastball that night, either. But what he had both nights was his brain. And Martinez is one of the smartest pitchers in the game, if not the smartest.

Nobody is better when they don’t have their best stuff than Martinez is. He had everything working yesterday. The Dodgers had no chance against him in the hot California sun.

Of course, the classic decision to second-guess is Charlie Manuel taking out Martinez after seven innings. He allowed just two hits, struck out three, and didn’t walk a batter in those seven innings of work.

Most importantly, Martinez had only thrown 87 pitches. If Manuel would allow Martinez to throw 130 pitches against the New York Mets in a meaningless game in September, why wouldn’t he allow him to go further into this game?

“To me, Pedro was done,” Manuel said. “He did a tremendous job and took it actually farther than I anticipated. . . . He was gone. I think he was spent.”

If the manager of the Phillies says that Martinez was done, then I have to believe him. One would think he would know his players better than anyone.

Manuel took Martinez out after the seventh and that’s when the fun started.

The Phillies brought Chan Ho Park into the game to face Casey Blake, Ronnie Belliard and Russell Martin.

Park, so good Thursday night, was the complete opposite Friday.

He allowed a leadoff single to Blake before misplaying a poor bunt by Belliard.

With runners on first and second and nobody out, Martin attempted a sacrifice bunt. But Park wouldn’t let him.

Because he couldn’t throw the ball over the plate.

If a guy is giving himself up for an automatic out, let him. Throw the ball over the plate.

On a 3-0 count, Park was gifted a strike call from the umpire on a pitch three inches inside. It completely changed the at-bat and the inning.

With the count 3-2 and the bunt off, Martin hit a routine groundball to third. Pedro Feliz threw the ball to Chase Utley at second to get Belliard. On the turn for the double play, however, Utley decided to throw the ball off the fence of the Dodgers’ dugout.

Some people will say Utley’s bad throw was caused by Belliard's hard slide. That wasn’t the case. Utley just made an awful throw.

Juan Pierre, running for Blake, scored on the play to tie the game at one. Instead of having two outs and a runner on third, the Dodgers had one out with a runner on first.

Then came the parade of Phillies relievers. I am surprised I didn’t see Don Carmen or Mitch Williams come into the game.

Scott Eyre gave up a single to Jim Thome. Ryan Madson walked Rafael Furcal. And with the bases loaded, JA Happ walked Andre Ethier to force in a run.

Just like that, it was 2-1 Dodgers. When Jonathan Broxton set the Phillies down 1-2-3 in the ninth, the series was tied at one.

And not to be overshadowed in this win for the Dodgers was the effort by Vicente Padilla. He was matching Martinez pitch for pitch and only made one mistake (which Ryan Howard took out of the park in the fourth) in seven-plus innings of work.

Game 3 is Sunday at 8:07 ET.

Hero for Game Two – Vicente Padilla

Goat for Game Two – Chase Utley

Series MVP – Ryan Howard

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg