Madson closes out Phillies' win over Rockies

TO UNDERSTAND the full magnitude of the fist pump, you must first travel back 2 years. Back to downtown Denver, back to a cold October night, back to the eighth inning of a potential playoff clincher that Ryan Madson had been called upon to save. The Phillies were leading the Rockies, two games to one, in the best-of-five divisional series, and with two outs and the tying run on second base Charlie Manuel called on his setup man to carry the lead into the ninth. Isn a perfect world, he would retire the final batter of the eighth, then perhaps stay on to close out the win and send the Phillies on to the National League Championship series.

But like a lot of Madson's early save opportunities, perfection was not in the cards. He threw a cutter inside, Jason Giambi fought it off, and after the ball dropped into leftfield the game was tied. The Phillies would pull out the victory in the ninth, later advancing to their second World Series in as many years, but Madson would never forget his role in the drama.

Around 9:30 last night in front of a home crowd starving for a victory, Madson watched Giambi walk to the plate with the tying run on second base and two outs in a game the Phillies led, 2-1. He had allowed a leadoff double to start the frame, but responded by striking out the two most dangerous hitters in the Rockies' lineup. After an intentional walk to Todd Helton, Madson locked himself in.

"I said, 'I'm not going to let him get me this time,' " Madson said.

Five pitches later, Giambi swung and missed at a 93 mph fastball, and Madson pumped his fist with a loud yell. For the first time in what felt like forever, a wave of energy swept through the Phillies' dugout. A 2-1 victory over a fellow contender will do wonders for morale, particularly in the fashion that Madson provided it.

For most of the night, the Phillies had survived on good defense and tremendous pitching, John Mayberry Jr. and Carlos Ruiz providing the former and Cole Hamels contributing the latter. Mayberry threw out Alfredo Almezega from rightfield for the second out of the first inning when the speedy outfielder attempted to go first to third. Ruiz provided the final out of the second inning, delivering a strike to catch Ryan Spilborghs stealing second. Hamels retired the next 13 batters he faced, keeping the Rockies off the scoreboard until two outs in the seventh, when Helton's RBI double tied the game at one.