A visit to Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia was never a great experience for visiting teams. While playing nine innings in the humidity and heat in front of the Phllies' rabid fan base certainly wasn't a walk in the park, imagine having to play more than twice that amount. The Dodgers did that on this day in 1993, only to leave the stadium 7-6 losers to the eventualy National League champion Phillies.
When Mitch Williams took the mound in the top of the ninth with a 5-3 lead, the Dodgers looked dead. But as the Phillies faithful would find out in the 1993 World Series the talented Williams was erratic, and the Dodgers benefited from his wildness on this night. Mitch Webster lead off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a single by Brett Butler. When Williams walked Jose Offerman and Cory Snyder to force in a run, Phils' manager Jim Fregosi had seen enough and replaced Williams with veteran Larry Andersen gave up an infield hit to Eric Karros to tie the score at 5-5, but worked out of a bases loaded no out jam to keep the game tied.
Pitching dominated in the second phase of the game, as neither team scored again until the 20th inning. The Dodgers struck first, getting a run in the top of the frame off of Mike Williams on singles by Offerman and Snyder, and a throwing error on Dave Hollins. The Phils avoided further damage when Williams picked Snyder off of third base and entered the bottom of the inning facing a one run deficit. The Phils were having a magic year in 1993, and they added a chapter to their incredible tale on this night when Lenny Dykstra hit a one out, bases loaded double off of Rod Nichols to make Philadelphia 7-6 winners.
Both teams used seven pitchers on the night in the six hour and ten minute marathon. Roger McDowell was particulalry impressive for the Dodgers, throwing three hitless innings. Jim Gott threw two perfect innings, and both Martinez brothers (starter Ramon who allowed five runs in seven rocky innings, and little brother Pedro who had two strikeouts in two scoreless innings) appeared in the game for the Dodgers.
At the plate, Jose Offerman had four hits in eight at bats for the Dodgers, while Eric Davis had three. Dykstra had three hits for the Phillies, and both he and teammate John Kruk homered off of Ramon Martinez.
The grueling game was one of 22 such contests the Dodgers would play in 1993. The team won ten of those contests on its way to an 81-81 record, which left them in fourth place 23 games behind the first place Atlanta Braves.
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