Phillies Bullpen Saves More Than Games!

Phils lend hand with tarp, top Rockies
Players, coaches brave elements to help grounds crew
By Ken Mandel / MLB.com

DENVER -- Seeing a member of the Coors Field grounds crew flung 10 feet in the air, then swallowed by a tarp was enough for the Phillies.

With rain and fierce winds making personal safety a concern before the start of the seventh inning -- turning the task of covering the field into an adventure -- most of the Phillies' players and coaches did the only thing they could.

Help.

"The guy might have died," Greg Dobbs said. "He was trapped under there. We were watching and once it got to a point, we were all like, 'We gotta do something.'"

Combating the harrowing experience at Coors Field on Sunday afternoon -- in which the Phillies would win, 8-4, to finish the first half -- players and coaches left the safety of the dugout to battle the billowing tarp that had engulfed three grounds crew members, and dragged another about 15 feet.

Aaron Rowand and Chase Utley clung to a section in left field. Michael Bourn, Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels grabbed a large piece along the third-base line. Shane Victorino waged his own personal war near third base -- tightly gripping his section and not letting go. He won.

"You see something like that, you get worried that somebody is going to get hurt," Victorino said. "It was funny to see us out there trying to pull the tarp and act like we know what we're doing."

They knew enough. The extra player and coach power provided serious help to the roughly 20 grounds crew members in a 10-minute fight with the elements.

"It was incredible," said Mark Razum, Colorado's head groundskeeper. "They literally grabbed it and took over. It changes your outlook on a baseball player. It was overwhelming to see the guys who were actually playing in the game help out. Maybe a bench guy, but it was the starting pitcher, the starting lineup."

Razum doesn't want to think about what would've happened had the Phillies, umpires John Hirshbeck and Bill Welke and the Rockies' LaTroy Hawkins and Ryan Spilborghs not rushed in. The situation would've gotten much uglier because the material was getting bunched up and incredibly heavy.

"It saved us, really," Razum said. "It was huge for them to do that."

The moment Eaton saw a grounds crew member disappear after his flight, the fact that he had thrown 111 pitches didn't matter. His final task proved the most difficult, as he fought to unravel the mangled tarp near home plate while watching for the trapped grounds crew members to escape from underneath.

"It wasn't easy, because it was wet at that point," Eaton said. "Three went underneath, one guy came out and I was like, 'Where's those other two people?' Then I saw their arms come out and their eyes were as big as plates."

Fierce unpredictable winds made the tarp increasingly uncooperative, and several Phillies dashed for sandbags, with bench coach Jimy Williams directing traffic. Bourn and Abraham Nunez led this task, with Nunez's accurate toss making the highlights.

"The sandbag is a much harder throw," Nunez said, laughing. "We were trying to help. We wouldn't go out there, but we were scared when we saw that guy in the tarp. You don't want somebody to get hurt."

After prevailing, the Phillies received a standing ovation from the 25,119 wet fans who appreciated the effort, and received handshakes from the grounds crew as they retreated to the dugout for a 50-minute rain delay.

When play resumed, the Phillies finished off a series-salvaging win, beating the Rockies on the field. Spontaneous civic mindedness aside, Victorino pounded a Tom Martin fastball to give the Phillies a three-run cushion in the seventh and Ryan Howard added a sacrifice fly in the ninth.

(snip)

But Madson's save wasn't nearly as big as the team save recorded nearly two hours earlier.

"We didn't know what we were doing, but we knew we had to help," Victorino said. "At first, we were pulling the tarp toward home plate, and a guy was yelling for us to pull it the other way. We helped and watched a couple of guys go for a joy ride. We didn't want anybody to get suffocated or trapped. [Getting hurt] never crossed my mind.

"And we won."