Moyer Pounded, Phillies Fall to Giants
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I saw a comment yesterday, in passing on another blog, opining that Phillies veteran 45 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer is about done careerwise. Unfortunately, I cannot now locate the comment to link to it. But if his performance Saturday against the Giants, a 6 run pounding in 4 innings leading to an 8-2 loss, is emulated in another couple of games, a lot of fans and Phillies bloggers are going to be drawing similar conclusions.
With the loss, the Phils now drop 2 games behind the Florida Marlins while maintaining a 1 game lead on the 3rd place Mets who split a doubleheader and maintained a 1 1/2 game lead on the 4th place Atlanta Braves who lost.
This game was not pretty. Not only did Moyer get pounded, but the offense took another snooze, this time against young Tim Lincecum who opened on a tare string out the side in the first inning with heat approaching 97 mph.
Moyer seemmed in control in the Giants first as he got three ground outs with a single by shortstop Omar Vizquel sandwiched in between.
1st baseman Ryan Howard opened the second inning with a leftfield homer and the Phillies took a 1-0 lead. But the lead was short-lived as centerfielder and former Phillie Aaron Rowand tied the score with a homer to start the second inning. Then after a single and a walk, Lincecum helped his own cause with an RBI single to center as the Giants took a 2-1 lead.
The Phils went 3 up, 3 down again in the third and the Giants were quickly back having at Moyer again in the bottom of the third.
The Giants loaded the bases with one out and shortstop Emmanuel Burriss got an RBI on a sacrifice fly to leftfield. Then 1st baseman Dan Ortmeier pounded a bases-clearing 2 run double and Frisco was up 5-1 after three.
The Phils went down in order in the fourth as Lincecum was dominating, only allowing the 1 hit, Howard’s homer, to that point. In the Giants fourth, leftfielder Randy Winn homered and the Giants increased their lead to 6-1. Vizquel, Winn and Rowand all had 3 hits in the game. 3rd baseman Jose Castillo had a perfect 4 for 4 game scoring 3 runs and driving in 1.
Reliever Rudy Seanez replaced Moyer to start the fifth and the Giants scored single runs against him in the fifth and sixth innings as the lead swelled to 8-1.
For Moyer, who was pounded for 6 runs on 9 hits while throwing 80 pitches in his four innings of work, it was his 3rd loss vs 2 wins. He walked 1, struck out 1 and coughed up 2 dingers. Relievers Ryan Madson and Clay Condrey pitched the seventh and eighth innings for the Phils and shut down the Giants on 1 hit.
Lincecum allowed only 2 Phillies to reach base through seven innings, one on a walk and one single. In the eighth, catcher Chris Coste added a second run for the Phils with a 1 out solo shot. After a 2nd Phil reached on a single in the eighth, Lincecum retired the side. In eight innings, Lincecum gave up the two solo homers, a total of 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 8 in winning his 5th game vs 1 loss. The youngster threw 105 pitches, 74 of which were strikes.
Closer Brian Wilson replaced Lincecum to start the ninth and made short work of the Phillies.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Saturday’s games, click here.
In Sunday’s final, Adam Eaton opposes young lefthander Jonathan Sanchez as Eaton hopes to get back on track and the Phillies hope to take the series from the Giants rather than the other way around. On Monday, the Phils have an open date before returning home Tuesday for 6 games; 3 against Atlanta and 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays with the beginning of interleague play.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Sunday’s games, click here.
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