It finally ended at 1:19 a.m., after 6 hours and 11 minutes, in the 19th inning, after the Phillies loaded the bases against Cincinnati righthander Carlos Fisher, who was in his sixth inning of work and had become the target of jeers. On his 95th pitch, Raul Ibanez lifted a long sacrifice fly to center field and Jimmy Rollins trotted home from third to give the Phillies a 5-4 win.
But that only happened after a series of improbable events that set the stage for one of the most memorable games in recent memory.
Wilson Valdez became the first Phillies position player since Tomas Perez in 2002 to pitch in a game. The diehards still remaining started a Wil-son! Wilson! chant.
That moved catcher Carlos Ruiz to third base where he promptly dove over a tarp and almost into the stands chasing a pop foul.
Valdez hit Scott Rolen with a pitch but otherwise got three pop-ups to retire the Reds. His fastball hit 90 miles an hour. "They asked me if I could pitch and I said, 'Yeah, why not?'" grinned the infielder, who still had traces of the shaving cream pie he was hit with during his postgame interview in his billy goat beard.
"I told myself I had to go to the mound and throw strikes. I guess those guys were just too excited. I just moved the ball outside and they were chasing it.
"It's something I'm never going to forget. I could have gone 3 more innings, 4 more, whatever."
Manager Charlie Manuel admitted that he hates to use position players on the mound. He said he's never done it before. But he really had no choice after using long man Kyle Kendrick to get one out in the 10th and another in the 11th.
The unsung hero of the game was reliever Danys Baez who pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing just one hit and walking one. He threw 73 pitches, pushing himself far beyond his normal workload.
