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By Michael Tapia

Rocky Balboa once told his son, “it ain’t about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” and like the great city of Philadelphia where Rocky is from that is what the Phillies did in Game 5.

The Phillies felt behind early in the game after Buster Posey hit into fielder’s choice that scored Andres Torres for the 1-0 score Not too long after in the 3rd inning, the Phillies responded, Carlos Ruiz and Raul Ibanez capitalized on an error by first baseman Aubrey Huff who tried to throw out Shane Victorino at second base (2-1). The following batter was Placido Polanco, who singled to left center and score Victorino for the 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth Cody Ross emerged again, Ross hit a double to right field that scored Pat Burrell and got him his 8th rbi of the postseason making the score 3-2. The game remained uneventful until Jayson Werth hit a home run off Ramon Ramirez  for the 4-2 final.

On the Phillies side, Jayson Werth has showed how much he is worth to this Philadelphia franchise coming through with big contributions as he did in Game 4, when he hit a double to tie the game 5-5 in the top of the eighth. It is worth noting that Werth will become a free agent at the end of the season; should he continue playing like he has it will be compelling to see how far the bidding war for his services goes this off-season. On the other hand, the Giants have an emerging talent in Cody Ross who is due for arbitration once the playoffs conclude.

Unfortunately, the pitching duel that we expected between Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay did not materialize to its deepest extent. In Game 5 Halladay gave up six hits and only struck out five batters while Lincecum struck out seven Phillies and only gave up four hits but also gave up three runs for the lost. In Game 1, Halladay lost after giving up a whopping eight hits by “Roy Halladay” standards and four runs and Lincecum won with an eight-strikeout performance and giving up six hits. In the end, we did not get one or two hitters or not even a shutout from both of these elite starters so it is safe to say that more was expected. Now, we shall see if Roy Halladay will get his first Cy Young in the National League or will Tim Lincecum get his third in a row.

After the Game 5 win the Phillies now trail 3-2 in the series and hope that Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels are able to step up against Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain.

The Phillies kept getting hit and they kept moving forward waiting for their chance and at the end of night they won. Now, they go back to San Francisco where they will try to win the last two games and advance to the World Series for a third year in a row. The Phillies who will have Roy Oswalt on the mound and the Giants with Jonathan Sanchez resume their series on Saturday, game time is at 3:57 PM EST. Tonight the ALCS is back in action with the Yankees and the Rangers facing off at 8:07 PM EST. Phil Hughes will be pitching for New York while Colby Lewis will be on the mound for Texas. Check back on Monday for a recap of what happened over the weekend.

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