"You don't think about where you would be. You only think about where you're going," Aaron Rowand said. "That said, I've been involved in games that are crazy or whatever. Just not [six] in a row."
The craziness unfolded thus:
* ROLLED: Aug. 28 . . . Rowand started it all with a 45-foot single up the third-base line that scored Shane Victorino from third base, tying the game - a grounder that, thanks to the unusual cant of the baseline at Citizens Bank Park, usually stays fair. Victorino was on third because he pinch-ran for Pat Burrell, who earned a one-out walk. Victorino stole second, then took third when catcher Paul Lo Duca slipped on the plate and threw wild into centerfield. Ryan Howard won the game with a walkoff homer in the 10th.
* ELECTRIC SLIDE: Aug. 29 . . . With the Mets trailing by a run in the ninth, with runners on first and third and one out, Shawn Green chopped a ball past the mound. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins charged it and double-clutched on the difficult flip to second base, making it almost certain that Green would be safe at first, the run would score and, at least, the Phillies would have to hit in the ninth. Except Marlon Anderson slid wide to the third-base side of second and used his arms to clobber second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, whose throw to first was too late to get Green. However, Green was ruled out because Anderson interfered with Iguchi.
* YOU DIRTY RAT: Aug. 30 . . . After the Phillies' bullpen turned a three-run lead into a two-run deficit in the top of the eighth, Mets nemesis and Billy Wagner detractor Pat Burrell - who once called Wagner a "rat" - homered off the closer in the bottom of the eighth. Wagner, terrible at holding runners on, gave up two singles and three steals - two to unlikely thief Jayson Werth - in the ninth before Chase Utley drove in the winning run.
