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Burrell sets stage for Lidge to close out former team

May 23, 2008 - 4:52 AM By Andrew J. Ferraro PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- In his return to the only place he ever had called home, Brad Lidge got a chance to save a victory for his new team. He had little problem delivering.

Lidge worked a scoreless ninth inning against his former team, making pinch hitter Pat Burrell's tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning stand as the Philadelphia Phillies posted a 7-5 victory over the Houston Astros in the opener of their four-game series Thursday.

Given the night off from his usual left field duty, Burrell led off the eighth for Greg Dobbs and launched a 3-2 offering from Wesley Wright (3-2) over the left field wall for his 11th homer of the season, giving the Phillies a 6-5 edge.

"(Wright) got ahead of me with a good breaking ball, but when the count got to 3-2, I knew they didn't want to put me on," Burrell said. "I was prepared to (pinch hit), but I really didn't think they would use me right there."

Chase Utley added insurance later in the inning with an RBI single.

Tom Gordon held the lead with a scoreless eighth before Lidge, who spent the first six years of his major league career with Houston before being traded to Philadelphia over the winter, worked around a hit in the ninth for his 12th save in as many opportunities.

"That was a lot of fun for me, but there was a lot of adrenaline," Lidge said.

Attempting to preserve the win for Chad Durbin (1-1), Lidge struck out Michael Bourn - one of the players for which he was traded - and induced a groundout by Kaz Matsui before Miguel Tejada kept the inning alive with a single.

But the closer got the hot-hitting Lance Berkman to fly out to center field, sealing Philadelphia's third straight win.

"The matchup against Berkman with the game on the line, it definitely does not get much better than that," Lidge said. "That was power versus power."

"He threw me a fastball," Berkman said. "It's not like you have a whole lot of time to make up your mind. There's a reason why he's given up 10 hits in 22 innings or something like that."

Houston rallied to forge a 5-5 tie with a three-run sixth that was highlighted by Ty Wigginton's two-run double.

Neither starter was effective. Philadelphia's Kyle Kendrick gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings, while Houston ace Roy Oswalt surrendered five runs and 11 hits in six frames.

"I haven't been comfortable all year," said Oswalt, whose ERA rose to 5.61. "I've had some quality starts, but I haven't gotten in that zone where I feel like I can throw a seven- or eight-inning shutout. Every inning feels like a battle."

The Phillies erased a 2-1 deficit with three runs in the third. After Shane Victorino and Utley opened the inning with a single and a walk, respectively, Ryan Howard - who went 3-for-5 and scored three times - delivered an RBI double to forge a tie.

Pedro Feliz put Philadelphia ahead with a run-scoring single and Geoff Jenkins followed with a sacrifice fly for a 4-2 advantage.

Howard pushed the lead to three runs with a towering leadoff homer to left in the fifth off Oswalt.

"Overall, we hit the ball real well tonight," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "And Kendrick pitched the ball good for five innings. The bullpen took over and did really well to close this one out for us."

Wigginton and Berkman each collected three hits for the Astros, who had won three of their previous four games.