Fan appreciation day ends victoriously

by Jes Spriggs staff

The support of the 29,109 civilians in the stands on fan appreciation day in Veterans Stadium did something bordering amazing for the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, Sept. 24. The incredibly close game against the Florida Marlins, which went into extra innings, was clearly one of the most exciting games the Phillies have played all season.

The game began with the youthful Brandon Duckworth, who is praised for his poise and maturity on the mound, pitching for the Phillies, and Ryan Dempster pitching for the Marlins.

The first inning held several moments of controversy when notoriously hot-tempered coach Larry Bowa argued with umpire Bill Welke for calling Bobby Abreu out at home for allegedly missing the plate. Despite the bad start, the Phillies ended the inning with a 1-0 lead. It is not until the fomth inning that Mike Redmond's sacrifice fly tied the game 2-2.

The crowd erupted with enthusiasm in the fourth inning when Travis Lee raised the score to 3-2 with his seventeenth homerun of the season. Florida's series of pitchers following Dempster were Ricky Bones and Braden Loper, held Philadelphia scoreless for quite a while. Phillies pitcher, Duckworth; writer however, was replaced in the sixth inning by Cliff Politte, followed by Ricky Bottalico.

In the eight inning Bottalico gets off to a good start,