Phillies Lose 2 of 3 to Giants, Offensive Snooze Continues
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Lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero relieved Chad Durbin to start the seventh inning. Durbin retired the side in the sixth after the first 2 Giants got on against starter Adam Eaton. With the Phillies leading 3-2 in the seventh, Romero retired the first 2 hitters he faced. Then rightfielder Randy Winn singled to center and was followed by defensive replacement catcher Steve Holm who pounded Romero’s first pitch out to leftfield giving the Giants the winning run in edging the Phils by a 4-3 score.
AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley describes the scene for Yahoo sports;
The guy who made the Giants by surprise came up with a most surprising home run against a pitcher who rarely surrenders them.
Steve Holm entered the game as a defensive replacement at catcher, then delivered the biggest hit of the day. His mom, Bobbie, was in the stands to see it, too.
Holm hit a go-ahead, two-run shot in the seventh inning for his first major league homer…
“What I got was a fastball a little up. You’re just going to try to be as aggressive as you can be when you come off the bench,” said Holm…
Romero had allowed only one homer in his previous 61 appearances and came in with an 0.63 ERA over his first 17 outings of 2008.
The percentages always say that even the best pitcher, the best reliever is going to eventually be solved in a giving situation. That Romero coughed up the winning homer and was tagged with the game loss is not the problem. The problem is the Phillies suddenly enemic offense which has scored but 5 runs in two games after their 7-4 comeback win in the series opener.
The Phillies got a mere 4 hits in 4 1/3 innings against young lefthanded starter Jonathan Sanchez who walked 5. They could not push home more than 3 runs as no one had multi-hit games. The Giants bullpen was lights-out over the final 4 2/3 innings allowing only 2 hits. Reliever Jack Taschner, the pitcher of record when Holms homered, was awarded the win. Closer Brian Wilson notched his 11th save, his 2nd of the series, in closing down the Phils in the ninth.
With the loss, the Phils fell to a statistical tie with the Mets, who won, for 2nd place in the NL East, both clubs are 3 games off the pace as frontrunning Florida who also won. Atlanta is but one game below the Phils in 4th place making this week’s 3 game series between the Braves and the Phillies real important early in the season.
In the second inning, 1st baseman John Bowker drove an RBI single to left as the Giants got on the board first.
The Phillies tied the score at 1-1 third inning. After 1st baseman Ryan Howard struck out, Sanchez walked leftfielder Pat Burrell. Rightfielder Jayson Werth struck out followed by a double by 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz putting runners at 2nd and 3rd. Catcher Carlo Ruiz was intentionally walked to get to Eaton, thus loading the bases. But Sanchez walked Eaton to force in the tying run. However Sanchez escaped further damage by getting shortstop Jimmy Rollins to fly out to centerfield.
The Giants took a 2-1 lead when, with none out and the bases jammed, 3rd baseman Jose Castillo grounded into a 2nd base-to-1st base doubleplay as the lead run scored.
2nd baseman Chase Utley, Howard and Burrell teamed up in the fifth as the Phils took a 3-2 lead. With one out, Sanchez walked Utley and Howard answered with an RBI triple to right centerfield sending Sanchez to the shower. Burrell then drove Howard in with a sacrifice fly to rightfield off of reliever Billy Sadler, the run being charged to Sanchez. Werth ended the inning by fouling out to shallow rightfield.
The Phils remained on top until Holm’s 2 run shot off of Romero in the eighth.
Eaton gave up only two runs while pitching into the sixth although his 5 walks stamped the performance as anything but efficient. Sanchez largely held the Phillies offense in check, even with walking 5.
6 Phillies got hits, with no one having a multi-hit game. Howard, who is in the midst of his annual spring slump, notes that he “isn’t tracking pitches well, yet the problems should be temporary” as in previous seasons.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Sunday’s games, click here.
The Phils get a much needed day off before returning home Tuesday for 6 games; an important 3 game series against Atlanta where they must wake up their offense in a consistent way in order to rebound from a 3 and 4 roadtrip so as not to fall into a losing funk, and 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays with the beginning of interleague play.
On Tuesday, two youngsters meet as Kyle Kendrick is opposed by lefthander Jo-Jo Reyes. On Wednesday Brett Myers hopes to return to form in opposing 42 year old lefthander Tom Glavine. In Thursday’s final, ace Cole Hamels faces Chuck James in a battle of young lefthanders.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, click here and here.
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