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Victorino's homer in ninth leads Phillies

Jun 3, 2007 - 11:26 PM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Shane Victorino saved the head of manager Charlie Manuel.

After a curious decision by Manuel in the eighth inning, Victorino homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9-8 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Victorino sent a 1-0 offering from Kevin Correia (1-2) over the left field wall for his fourth homer of the season, capping a wild afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.

"I told myself to try and drive the ball here in this situation," Victorino said. "I had that feeling of something playing back in my mind, saying I'm gonna get an opportunity to come up in a situation and hit again in the ninth. Lo and behold, look what happened."

Victorino's opposite field shot just cleared the fence, prompting Correia to say afterwards that the ball would not have been a home run in any other park.

"You name me one other (ballpark)," Correia said. "But he put a pretty good swing on it and he hit it good. (The pitch) was a strike pretty much on the outside corner. A little up, more than I wanted it."

The day started with Victorino, a native of Hawaii, being honored with figurine dolls of him wearing a grass skirt being given out to the crowd.

"As the game went on, more and more I felt the vibe of what this day meant," Victorino said. "It was all circled around the Hawaiian tradition. You had people wearing hula skirts. You had everybody wearing leis.

"It was funny how a couple of guys said how unusual it would be for (me) to do something in regard to a walkoff on (my) figurine day. Look at what happened. I'm gonna enjoy the moment. I'm glad it happened on this day."

Manuel, whose team rallied from a 7-3 deficit, made a somewhat baffling decision in the bottom of the eighth. With his team holding a one-run lead, he elected to let reliever Ryan Madson hit with a runner in scoring position and two out.

"We wanted to keep Madson in the game," Manuel said. "He's been good on lefthanded hitters and we had the lead."

Madson struck out then issued consecutive one-out walks in the ninth before Manuel went to Antonio Alfonseca (3-1), who is filling the closer's role for the injured Brett Myers.

"I got the first out (in the ninth) real quick," Madson said. "I've got no excuses. I just didn't get it done."

Kevin Frandsen greeted Alfonseca with a run-scoring single to left field, tying the game at 8-8.

The reigning National League Most Valuable Player, Ryan Howard had belted a three-run homer with one two out in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Phillies an 8-7 lead.

"Today was one of those days," Howard said. "Bad weather, overcast and we got down early by a lot. We somehow managed find a way to win the game. "

The lefthanded hitting Howard, who hit a franchise-record 58 homers last season, gave the Giants a glimpse of his power, crushing a 1-2 pitch from lefthander Jack Taschner over the center field wall for his 10th blast of the campaign.

"I was just looking for something good to get the run home," Howard said. "Fortunately, he left a fastball right there, I took advantage and I hit it out."

Taschner had walked the lefthanded hitting Chase Utley before surrendering Howard's fourth homer in the last nine games.

"(Taschner) just made a mistake there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He was ahead of both hitters. He's 0-2 on Utley and ends up walking him. That's what hurt us. Then, he made a mistake to Howard ahead in the count. He just couldn't finish off a hitter there."

The homer by Howard capped a five-run inning for the Phillies, who erased a 7-3 deficit against talented rookie Todd Lincecum and the ineffective Giants' bullpen.

Wes Helms had reached Linceum for a two-run double earlier in the seventh to pull the Phillies within 7-5.

Lincecum, who had been 2-0 in his last four starts since struggling against the Phillies in his major league debut on May 6, gave up six runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings. The 22-year-old righthander walked one and struck out six.

"(Lincecum) just got it up there in the seventh," Bochy said. "He's been pitching great. We got to pick him up and we didn't do it."

It was an ineffective outing for Phillies starter Freddy Garcia, who was roughed up for seven runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.

On the second pitch of the game, Randy Winn reached Garcia for his fifth homer as the Giants grabbed an early lead.

Bengie Molina, who fell a triple shy of the cycle, homered off Garcia in the second to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. It was Molina's sixth homer of the season.

The Phillies used the long ball in the fourth to grab the lead.

Utley hit his 10th homer to lead off the inning and Aaron Rowand smacked a two-run shot, his eighth of the season, later in the inning for a 3-2 lead.

However, the Giants responded with three runs in the fifth to take back the lead.

Rookie Fred Lewis plated a run with a single to left field. Omar Vizquel, who was going to stop at third on the play, scored when left fielder Pat Burrell's throw went into the ground after the ball had slipped out of his hand.

Ryan Klesko followed with a two-run single, giving the Giants a 5-3 lead. Klesko's grounder skidded past second baseman Utley, who looked to be in position to make the play.

In the sixth, Vizquel plated a run with a single when his liner went off the glove of rookie pitcher Mike Zagurski, whose throw went directly into the ground after he picked up the ball. A wild pitch by Zagurski later in the frame allowed the Giants to take a 7-3 lead.

"The guys fought hard today," Bochy said. "This park, there's no safe lead. We let that slip away, no question about it. That's why this (loss) is a hard one to take and to swallow."