After 135 games of being on top of the NL East, the Phillies (12-9) surrendered first place to the streaking Mets (13-9) after dropping two of three to the Giants. The Phils had a hold on the NL East lead since May 2009. Given it is only April, so no need to worry. These three games probably made Phillies fans worry about the offense a little more. It also showed us that Roy Halladay is indeed human. Jamie Moyer looked shaky again and we saw shades of '08 Hamels but it was not the most impressive start.
Monday: SF Giants-5, Phillies-1
W: Sanchez (2-1); L: Halladay (4-1)
So Roy Halladay took the mound to start off the series and all Phillies fans thought that the Giants were going to be blown away. That was not the case for Doc in today's game. A tight strike zone and an aggressive Giants offense got to Roy for his first loss of the year. It started in the first inning when Halladay had two men on base. Mark DeRosa singled to plate two and give the Giants a rare 2-0 lead on Roy and the Phils. The Giants tacked on another run in the second on a Whiteside double. The Phillies had chances with runners in scoring position but failed to get much of anything going. That seems to be the trend as of late. Chase Utley got an RBI ground out in the fifth, the Phillies only run, Utley's 600th RBI of his career. An Aubrey Huff RBI single and a Whiteside solo homer would create the final two runs to give San Fran a 5-1 win over the struggling Phillies. Shane Victorino led the Phils with three hits in five at-bats out of the lead off spot. Despite Halladay's bump in the road, he lasted seven innings. Overall he have up 10 hits and gave up five runs, all earned and managed to strike out five. The Doc did keep up his no walks tendency. This outing raised his ERA to 1.80 on the season. Antonio Bastardo pitched a scoreless eighth and struck out two.
Tuesday: SF Giants-6, Phillies-2
W: Wellemeyer (1-3); L: Moyer (2-2)
Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick duked in out in the spring for the fifth starter spot. Both looked impressive yet have not been able to show any consistency so far in 2010. Moyer did not have a terrible outing on Tuesday, but giving up four runs in six is not what you are looking for out of a starter. Raul Ibanez got the scoring started in the second inning with a sac fly to plate Werth and give the Phillies an early 1-0 lead. That lead would not factor for long as Moyer gave up two solo homers in the bottom of the frame to make it 2-1, San Fran. The Giants would threaten again in the fifth as Edgar Renteria and Pablo Sandoval both got RBI singles to make it 4-1. Renteria and Sandoval would get RBI singles again in the seventh to make it 6-1 Giants. An eighth inning Ben Francisco single scored Carlos Ruiz for the Phillies second and last run of the game. Moyer pitched six and gave up four runs on 10 hits, two homers. He struck out two and walked one. Chad Durbin gave up two runs in his inning of work and JC Romero pitched a scoreless inning with a strikeout.
Wednesday: Phillies-7, Giants 6
W,BS: Madson (1-0, 2); L: Romo (0-2); S: Figueroa: (1)
Going into yesterday's game, it was Cole Hamels vs. Tim Lincecum. Not exactly the pitcher you want to face when looking to avoid a sweep. Though Cole ended up giving up three runs in the sixth, he managed to strike out 10 batters over his six innings of work. The scoring did not start until the top of the fifth when the $125 million man, Ryan Howard stepped up. Big Brown sent a Lincecum pitch out to left center to give the Phils a 1-0 lead. Andres Torres would tie the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double. With the bases loaded in the sixth, Hamels looked to avoid anymore damage. A 3-2 pitch got away from him and went high and wide to walk in the go-ahead run. Edgar Renteria hit a soft line single to plate two and quickly made it a 4-1 Giants lead. Tim Lincecum would depart after eight and a third. To note, Utley singled in the ninth to notch his 1,000th career hit. Anyways, with a 3-2 count and the bases loaded Jayson Werth hit a fly ball to right. The Giants right fielder had a long way to run and could not get there. Werth cleared the bases with a double on a 3-2 count with two down to dead lock the game at four. Right when Lincecum left the game, the Phillies bats came alive. Brian Schneider scored in the top of the tenth on a wild pitch to make it 5-4 Phils. Ryan Madson came in to close in the 10th but gave up the tying RBI single to Andres Torres to again tie it at five a piece. A Wilson Valdez double put the Phillies ahead 6-5 in the 11th and a Velez fielding error on a Victorino pop-up allowed a run to score to make it 7-5. In the bottom half, the Giants scored a run on a Nate Scheirholtz double, which moved Juan Uribe to third. Eugenio Velez grounded into a fielder's choice and Uribe was going home on contact. Ryan Howard went home on the play...his throw was a bit off but catcher Brian Schneider saved the day with a great tag at the plate to keep the Phillies in the lead, 7-6. Figueroa closed the door to seal the win for the Phillies, 7-6. A great comeback by the Phillies at the last minute in the ninth and very clutch hitting in the extra innings. Baez, Contreras and Herndon all pitched scoreless innings to keep the game in reach after Hamels departed. Madson got the win and the blown save and Nelson Figueroa got the save in the 11th. Howard led the Phils in hits with two and his homer off of Lincecum in the fifth.
APTER THOUGHTS: It is only April, so second place does not worry me too much yet. Roy Halladay had an off game but I am not taking it to heart since he has been dominant otherwise. Even though he gave up five runs, he still went seven innings and saved the bullpen some work. The bullpen played another game of Jekyll and Hyde in the series. On Monday, Bastardo pitched a scoreless inning...Tuesday, Durbin gave up two runs in an inning and on Wednesday, three relievers threw scoreless frames but the closer gave up the tying run. The Phils will not be able to deal with this amount of inconsistency from their pitching all year. Joe Blanton is close to returning and Lidge may be available as early as the weekend. The starters need to go more innings and stop having innings where they just keep giving up hit after hit. Four runs by a starter is not what you are looking for by any means. Halladay gave up five, Moyer and Hamels four. Other than Doc, the Phillies starters have ERA's above 4.00. Ridiculous.
Now to the offense...yes, we do still have one. Although the bats have been quiet as of late, there are a few things to point out. Wilson Valdez came up in the clutch filling in for Rollins with the go-ahead double in the 11th on Wednesday. I applaud the efforts of him and Juan Castro because they are both doing fantastic in the place of the all-star short stop in the field and at the plate. Chase Utley had a memorable series. He got his 600th career RBI and 1,000th career hit. Ryan Howard broke out of his 65 at-bat homerless streak with his dinger off of Lincecum. Jayson Werth again came up clutch in a big situation in the bottom of the ninth on Wednesday. I do not know what kind of money he will demand come season's end, but te Phils front office better take a hell of a good look at him before they let him walk. The offense really does need to pick it up though. Howard, Utley and Ibanez have been relatively quiet as of late. I know it is baseball and there are still lots of games to play but it worries me to see these guys struggle.
Up next...The Phillies will return home to face-off against the NL East leading Mets this weekend...here are the matchups...
FRIDAY at 7:05pm: Jon Neise (0-1, 3.68) vs. Kyle Kendrick (0-0, 7.71)
SATURDAY at 3:10pm: Mike Pelfrey (4-0, 0.69) vs. Roy Halladay (4-1, 1.80)
SUNDAY at 8:05pm: Johan Santana (3-1, 2.08) vs. Jamie Moyer (2-2, 5.25)
Let's hope the Fightin's can reclaim their spot atop the NL East. Stay tuned for the Apter Hours series recap on Sunday night or Monday morning. GO PHILS!
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