Friday, June 25, 2010
Associated Press
philadelphia
Ryan Howard had barely made the short trip to the dugout from first base when gusting wind and rain enveloped Citizens Bank Park.
“It was like a tornado came,” Howard said. “I was waiting for the cow to fly through. The winds were really swirling.”
Waiting through the mid-afternoon storm was all that remained for the Philadelphia Phillies to complete a 12-3 rout of Faussto Carmona and the Cleveland Indians to complete a three-game sweep Thursday.
Placido Polanco had four hits, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth each had three hits and catcher Dane Sardinha connected for his first career home run for the Phillies. It was Philadelphia’s highest offensive output since scoring 12 runs against Pittsburgh on May 17. Every Phillie scored and reached base at least once.
Joe Blanton pitched effectively into the eighth inning — his second straight strong outing — and might have gone the distance if not for the thunderstorm that pounded the field with two outs in the eighth. It caused a delay of 1 hour, 37 minutes, and fierce winds made putting the tarp on the field difficult for the grounds’ crew, but cooled off a 96-degree day.
“It reminded me of back home [in Illinois],” Werth said. “It was like a real tornado.”
The Phillies roughed up Cleveland’s best pitcher to record their sixth win in eight games. They had two five-run innings, and the 15 hits was their most since recording 17 on May 15 at Milwaukee.
Cleveland has lost five straight.
“Today they just blew us away,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “They showed why they’ve been in the World Series the past two years.”