Swinging Momentum

It was somewhat disappointing as the Phillies choked last night, but I think that really shouldn't have happened. I thought that the Phillies leaving seven runners on base in the first four innings was pretty bad. It seems as if wasting those types of opportunities always comes back to haunt a team. It's like the football team who can't execute on third down or the hockey team that blows the power play. Even though the walk off home run by Ryan Zimmerman probably had very little to do with leaving all those runners on, I think that is very often a "coincidence" that early mistakes cause late losses. If the Phillies could have brought in two or more of those runs, the Zimmerman home run would not have been a walk off. However, it might have even been more important than that. A few more early runs would have swung the momentum the Phillies way earlier which could have messed with the Nationals. No one should doubt the importance of getting out to an early lead. Once you get a few runs, it seems as if the rest of the game flows much better and the team is able to execute on a higher level.
Photo by pacomexico on Flickr