Phillies Drop First 2 to L.A. Angels
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After riding a 17-7 winning crest into St. Louis 10 days ago and bludgeoning the Cardinals 20-2 in the series opener, the Phillies offense in their last 5 of 7 games has gone flatter than a pancake or Israeli lafa. That flatness was obvious in the two games against the L.A. Angels as rightfielder Vladimir Guerrero killed the Phils with 5 hits in 8 at bats, including 3 homers, 5 RBIs and two fine young Angel pitchers and a dynamite bullpen held the Phils to 2 runs on 7 hits in two games as the Angels won the first two games 7-1 and 6-2.
With the losses on Friday and Saturday, the Phillies 1st place lead over the Marlins has shrunk to a scant 1 game as Florida split in inter-league play. Their lead over the 3rd place Mets, 7 1/2 games earlier last week, is now 4 1/2 games back even though with their new manager (Charlie’s little brother??) Jerry Manuel, they are still 1 game under the .500 mark. The 4th place Atlanta Braves have also picked up 2 1/2 on the lead this week.
The Phils came up against Ervin Santana and 3rd year lefthander Joe Saunders who had 18 wins between them, now 20, and the offense just wasn’t up to the challenge against either. Guerrero, going back to his Montreal Expo days, has totally worn out Phillies pitching during his career.
The Angels supporting cast just plain demolished Adam Eaton on Friday, with Guerrero’s first inning 2 run shot getting them started as Eaton was a disaster reverting to his absolute 2007 worst after having delivered quality starts in his previous 7 appearances. Santana was excellent through 7 innings giving up 2 hits, striking out out 9 and holding the Phillies in total check to post his 11th win despite poor defense which produced 4 errors.
2nd baseman Chase Utley, 1st baseman Ryan Howard and leftfielder Pat Burrell, the meat of the order accounted for 6 of the 11 total strikeouts by Angels pitching and were collectively 0-10. Utley was the only one of the trio who walked once. They left 7 on base and Utley got the only RBI of the game for the Phils on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
For play-by-play on Friday’s game, click here.
For 7 2/3 innings on Saturday, Brett Myers faired far better than Eaton as Myers and lefthander Joe Saunders locked up in a classic 2-2 pitchers duel as rightfielder Jayson Werth’s solo homer and 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz’s RBI double kept the Phillies in the game despite their flat offense and Chase Utley’s 0-23 day of rest.. Guerrero’s first and seventh inning homers kept the Angels even.
But in the 8th inning, Angels manager Mike Scioscia was on his toes while Charlie Manuel was not. Scioscia saw that Saunders had thrown 93 pitches and that was it. Meanwhile, Manuel held Myers, who tossed 112 pitches through 7 2/3 innings, around long enough for him to give up the major damage and take loss on pinch hitter Erick Aybar’s 2 run shot to rightfield which put the Angels in front to stay at 4-2. The Angels scored 2 more unearned insurance runs in the ninth inning off of reliever Chad Durbin while Angel closer Francisco Rodriguez registered his MLB leading 29th save of the season as recorded win #11.
The Angels bullpen held the Phillies hitless the rest of the way with 4 Phils reaching, 3 on walks and a 4th on a 3rd strike Scot Shields wild pitch in the eighth. Shields however recorded 4 strike outs in the eighth.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
In Sunday’s final, the Phils hope, NEED to salvage something from the disastrous 6 game homestand as ace lefthander Cole Hamels seeks his 8th win vs 4 losses and is opposed by Jered Weaver who sports a 6-7 mark.
Monday is another open date for the Phillies before they head West to play 3 games against the Oakland A’s followed by 3 games to finish off June with the Texas Rangers.
Veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer opposes Oakland’s Joe Blanton in Tuesday night’s series opener.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Sunday’s and Monday’s games, click here and here.
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