At some point, the Phillies decided winning this game was less important than to risk injuring one of the three aces not named Halladay who had yet to pitch. So Danys Baez was asked to throw until his arm fell off. He did this quite well.
And then when that wasn't enough, the Phillies turned to Valdez, their wonky second baseman, to pitch the 19th. He retired the side on three fly balls, allowing only Scott Rolen to reach on a hit by pitch. He jogged off the mound before the final out was caught with a huge smirk on his face and was mobbed by his teammates in the dugout.
Valdez was the first position player to win a game as a pitcher since Brent Mayne did it for Colorado in 2000.
This a game that featured both teams hitting dramatic home runs in the 10th inning; a half inning in which the Phillies walked three, hit one and still did not allow a Cincinnati run to score; and a one-out, bases-loaded scenario in the ninth inning that resulted in no Phillies runs.
There were 21/3 innings of spotless relief from David Herndon, a pitcher who will likely be optioned to triple A on Thursday; an at-bat in the 16th inning by Baez with fans chanting "Danys! Danys!"; and Roy Halladay blowing a three-run lead against a team he no-hit seven months ago.
All that was missing was Roy Oswalt playing left field.
Baez's performance was admirable. The 33-year-old Cuban threw 73 pitches, more in a game than he has in nine years. He allowed two base runners in five innings.
Ryan Howard saved everyone from going home in the 10th with a solo home run hit so far he stood to admire it for a few seconds. He mashed the second pitch thrown by Reds closer Francisco Cordero to tie a game that felt doomed.
