Early Game Heroics

In case you are finished collecting two of everything and have time to surf the internet, I will pass on the news that the Phillies won Thursday night's matchup with the Mets and therefore, the series as well, two games to one.  The game was called in the mid-fifth inning due to rain.

If you haven't seen the highlight clip yet of Aaron Rowand's catch, put down the computer mouse, pick up the TV remote and go to any sports-related programming.  You will see it.

The scene:  Top of the first inning.  Two outs.  Bases loaded with batters walked by Gavin Floyd, though none have scored yet.  Xavier Nady hits a ball to right center field.  Aaron Rowand leaps on his trusty steed, flying back towards the fence.  He made an over-the-shoulder catch, crashing into the wall, face -- make that nose -- first.

Rowand fell to the ground, but managed to hold onto the ball, he held it up as blood ran out of his nose.  Though it was only the first inning, Harry Kalas exclaimed, "A game saving catch!"  There is no doubt the catch saved three runs, so as it turned out, it really was a game saving catch.

Rowand was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital -- the camera crews followed him there, documenting the fact that he walked in under his own power -- where it was determined his nose was broken.

Rowand is truly a hard-nosed player, but only in the figurative sense.  In the literal sense, his nose is now much less hard.

Another hard nosed player decided, in the bottom of the first inning, that Rowand's sacrifice should not go in vain.  Chase Utley launched his eighth home run of the year into the right field seats to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

Later, the Phils would extend the lead to 2-0 when Shane Victorino, Rowand's replacement, stretched a single into a double, and then scored on a David Bell single.  Almost as soon as Gavin Floyd retired the Mets in the top of the fifth inning, the sky opened up, play was halted, and eventually the game was called.

Congratulations Aaron, you just became a Philadelphia icon.

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Update: The 700 Level has video, via YouTube.com.

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Update:

Cut Me Mick/Squeeze it Mick: The Daily News has a great account of the aftermath of the catch:

Teammates rushed to his side as he rolled onto his stomach.

"I'm all right, I'm all right," Rowand told Abreu, the first person to arrive. Abreu waved for medical assistance, then plucked the ball from Rowand's glove to indicate that Rowand made the catch.

Catching instructor Mick Bill-meyer scrambled from the bullpen to Rowand's side. Henderson handed him a towel to catch some of the blood streaming from Rowand's nose.

Billmeyer, holding the towel, saturated in seconds, found himself nauseated at the sight until Rowand quipped: "Good thing I've got a hard head."

As the medical staff ran across the field, Rowand saw the blood streaming from his body, from a cut across the bridge of his nose and from both nostrils.

"Squeeze it, Mick," he said. "Squeeze it. Harder."

"I ain't squeezing it harder. It's broke," Billmeyer said, avoiding the pooling blood that fell, said Abreu, "like rain."

"Squeeze it," Rowand said in a nasal growl.

Billmeyer squeezed.