Inconsistency. That is what has been haunting the Phillies pitchers and the bats. In a 2-1 series loss to the Diamondbacks, the Phillies saw many leads disappear. Cole Hamels gave up four homers in a 7-4 loss on Friday, Jayson Werth hit two solo homer to help the Phils win 3-2 on Saturday and and a shaky Kendrick start paired with a bad bullpen outing ended in a disappointing 8-6 loss yesterday...here is a quick look at what went down in the three-game set.
Friday: Phillies-4, D'backs-7Just when we thought Hamels had found his stuff, he gave us another reason to doubt him. The game started off well as Cole manhandled the first 10 batters faced but it all came undone after that. He would give up homers to four of the next nine batters, including back-to-back homers from Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche, for a total of five runs in the fourth inning. He got roughed up for a total of six runs on eight hits. There was a peek of the old Cole when he fanned seven batters, but it all went away in the fourth After Hamels left, recently activated pitcher JC Romero would give up a homer to Kelly Johnson.
The Phillies had a 2-0 going into the bottom half of the fourth before Hamels starting losing the bottom part of the strike zone. One of the runs was Jayson Werth, who scored on a rare four-base error. Shane Victorino excelled in the lead-off spot, tallying two hits, including a triple and two RBI's. Ben Francisco also had two hits while Polanco picked up the other RBI.
Saturday: Phillies-3, D'backs-2Saturday was a chance for Nelson Figueroa to impress in a spot start in the roation due to the injury to J.A. Happ. Fig, who grew up in Chandler, Arizona, which is very close to Chase Field, found himself pitching in front of family. Charlie Manuel just wanted him to keep the Phillies in the game and give them a chance to win. He did exactly that.
Jayson Werth started the scoring with a solo homer. Figueroa kept his composure through his five innings of work and only seemed to make one mistake. That mistake was a two-run bomb at the hands of Kelly Johnson. Nelson left the game with the Phils trailing 2-1 with a final tally of 100 pitches, two walks and four strikeouts. The bullpen would come in and do a fantastic job for the rest of the game. In the seventh inning, Raul Ibanez crushed a ball to right to tie the game at two. Still tied 2-2 in the ninth, Jayson Werth hit what TMac called a "moon shot" to left center with two outs to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Ryan Madson struck out two and closed the door in the bottom half.
This game was one of homers...all five runs scored came via the long ball.
Sunday: Phillies-6, D'backs-8Kyle Kendrick, like Cole Hamels, was coming off of a great start. He pitched eight shutout innings against Atlanta but ended up with a no-decision thanks to the Phillies bullpen faltering late. This time, Kendrick and the bullpen had a rough time in the game.
The Phillies struck first as Greg Dobbs ripped a two-run homer in the opening frame for a 2-0 lead. Ross Gload drove in a run in the fifth to make it 3-0. Kendrick seemed to be cruising along to another solid start until the trouble inning came. It seems to happen a lot to Kyle and Cole as of late. Kendrick gave up a single to opposing pitcher, Rodrigo Lopez, which was a bad sign. Kelly Johnson followed with a two-run homer and a few at bats later, Mark Reynolds hit a three-run blast and it was quickly a 5-3 game. The Phils fought back in the sixth with three runs to take a 6-5 lead but the combo of Danys Baez and David Herndon was not enough. The D-backs managed to tie things up in the seventh on John Hester's RBI double, and then took the lead in the eighth on Reynolds' run-scoring double and Chris Young's RBI single.
Kendrick would not factor in the decision yet again. He has yet to tally a win or a loss this season but his ERA explains most of his outings.
APTER THOUGHTS...It seems like the perfect explanation of the Phillies in this series would be Jekyll and Hyde. They could not find their consistency and their pitching was all over the place. Besides Figueroa and Madson, the Phillies pitching staff pretty much handed the D'backs two wins without a fight. Arizona scored 17 runs on 33 hits in the series while the Phils power bats, sans Jayson Werth, struggled to find a groove.
While the offense has been quiet, the pitching is what is the worry. Hamels and Kendrick let one inning destroy their starts and the bullpen just was leaving balls up in the zone like they were asking to be hit. Injuries have plagued the pitching staff a lot so far. Happ, Blanton, Lidge all on the DL. Blanton looks to be coming back within the next few weeks but it seems as if Halladay is the only reason the Phillies are 11-7. He has four of their wins and a lot of the other wins are credited to hitting scoring a lot of runs and the mediocre pitching.
The Phillies are known as a home run team and they were beat at their own game by Arizona. Overpowered would be the word to explain it. Although there are plenty of negatives to take from this weekend, there is a few positives.
1. Ryan Madson struck out two in the ninth and made the save look easy.
2. Wilson Valdez and Juan Castro are doing phenomenal jobs to fill in for J-Roll.
3. Jayson Werth is ripping the cover off of the ball
The Phillies head to San Fran for a three-game series that will feature some great matchups. Halladay will go tonight against Jonathan Sanchez and Cole Hamels will oppose Tim "The Freak" Lincecum on Wednesday. Should be a good series.
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