Bruntlett's triple play wraps up Phillies' win over Mets

NEW YORK - Not a lot has gone right for Brad Lidge this season. In fact, so much has gone wrong, at such inopportune times, you wouldn't blame him for subscribing to the law of Murphy, which also happened to be the last name of the Mets' hitter whose infield single put the tying run on first base with no outs in the bottom of the ninth yesterday.

But after Daniel Murphy's base hit, which followed fielding errors by Ryan Howard and Eric Bruntlett and set up the very real possibility of a ninth blown save for Lidge, something changed. You can view it as poor strategy by the Mets, a fluke play, or an inevitable turn of fate for two hard-luck players.

In the end, Lidge and Bruntlett's karma ran over the Mets' base-running dogma as an unassisted tripleplay capped the Phillies' 9-7 victory and left both clubhouses stunned.

It was the second time in major league history that a game ended on an unassisted tripleplay, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The other came on May 31, 1927, when Tigers first baseman John Neun ended a game against Cleveland. It was the 15th unassisted tripleplay in history - including one in the 1920 World Series - and the first since Cleveland's Asdrubal Cabrera turned one against Toronto on May 12, 2008. The last Phillie to turn an unassisted tripleplay was Mickey Morandini, who did it at Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, 1992.

"I think the luck has hopefully flip-flopped now," Lidge said. "I've obviously never had a tripleplay in my career. It was just shaping up to be one of those innings where a lot of times this year the ball hasn't bounced the way you expect it to. But Lady Luck changed hopefully today."

By the time Jeff Francoeur stepped into the batter's box for one of the most improbable at-bats in recent history, the Phillies and Mets had already exchanged a bunch of did-you-see-that moments. Those events included . . .

* A 12-pitch at-bat in the first inning in which Jayson Werth fouled off six straight pitches before sending a 2-2 fastball from Oliver Perez into the leftfield seats for a three-run home run.

* A statement-making pitching change from Mets manager Jerry Manuel, who yanked Perez in the middle of a first-inning at-bat against Phillies starter Pedro Martinez. Perez had allowed six runs and recorded just two outs before throwing three straight balls to Martinez, prompting Manuel to insert Nelson Figueroa into the game.

* A leadoff inside-the-park home run by New York's Angel Pagan, who drove a pitch to the wall in right-center, then raced around the bases as Shane Victorino held up his hands to indicate that the ball was stuck between the padding and the dirt. Before umpires could verify Victorino's claim, Raul Ibanez raced in and grabbed the ball and relayed it to shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

* An up-and-down outing from Pedro Martinez, who allowed four runs in the first three innings against his former club before settling down to retire 10 of the last 12 batters he faced and pick up his second win as a Phillie.

* A three-hit performance from Bruntlett, who was making his first start at second base since May 24 and entered the game with just 11 hits in 86 at-bats on the season.

* A potential fourth hit by Bruntlett that umpires disallowed after conferring and deciding that Francoeur had made a diving catch of the ball in rightfield in the top of the ninth inning.

* A two-base, ninth-inning fielding error on Howard, who failed to backhand Pagan's sharply hit grounder, allowing it to roll to the rightfield corner.

* An error by Bruntlett on a ball hit by Luis Castillo on the next play that allowed Pagan to score and brought the Mets to within 9-7.

"I'm kind of speechless," Victorino said. "The stuff that went on today, boy, you're just like, 'Wow.' "

But nobody - not Victorino not Francoeur, not Bruntlett, and certainly not Lidge - was prepared for the way the game ended.

As Lidge began to deliver a 2-2 slider to Francoeur, Murphy and Castillo broke for second and third, respectively. At the time, Bruntlett and Rollins were at doubleplay depth, with the middle of the field open. But when Bruntlett spotted the movement, he broke from his position to cover second base for the throw from home. Francoeur made solid contact with Lidge's slider, cracking a hard line drive up the middle that seemed destined to score one run and put the tying run at third.

"I'm thinking, that wasn't smart baseball," Rollins said of the Mets' attempted double-steal.

Bruntlett said that if he had not been covering second, he likely would not have made a play. But as fate would have it, Francoeur's liner screamed directly into his glove. He grabbed the ball, stepped on second base, then turned and ran to tag Murphy for the final out.

"I think it's just kind of react, and then after it is over try to figure out what happened," Bruntlett said.

"It was a crucial situation, and it was huge, especially since I was part of the reason that we got into a bad spot there in the ninth. It feels extra special to have that happen there and finish off the game."

It came at an important time for the Phillies, who improved to a season-high 21 games over .500. Instead of a ninth blown save, Lidge recorded his second in as many games and improved his season total to 25. Instead of rueing his costly error, Bruntlett was able to celebrate his three-hit day and game-ending play. And instead of affording the struggling Mets a glimmer of hope, the Phils dropped them to 15 1/2 games back in the National League East.

"It really is true - just when you think you've seen it all, you'll have something you've never seen before happen," Bruntlett said. "That was certainly the case today."

For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.