Leftfielder Gary Matthews Jr. singled in a run and 5th year 1st baseman  Casey Kotchman followed solving ace lefthander Cole Hamels for a 1 out 2 run homer in a 3 run Angels second inning.  That was all that starter Jered Weaver and the L.A. bullpen needed as the Angels held off the Phillies to win the final by a 3-2 score and to sweep the series.

The Phillies maintained their one game lead in the NL East over 2nd place Florida who lost, but their leads over the Mets and Braves, who won their games, shrunk to 3 1/2 and 4 games respectively.

The Phillies had Weaver in big trouble in the first inning but came away empty.  Shortstop Jimmy Rollins led of with a single to centerfield and stole 2nd base.  3rd baseman Greg Dobbs walked.  After 2nd baseman Chase Utley extended his hitless string to 24 at bats by flying out to left centerfield, Rollins and Dobbs executed a double-steal — runners at 2nd and 3rd base with one out.  But Weaver got 1st baseman Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell on strikes to end the inning.

Then the Angels took heart and came on in the second with Matthews’ single and Kotchman’s two run homer. 

The Phils got a run back in the third as Utley doubled and Howard drove him in with a 2 out single.  But then Weaver got Burrell on a foul pop to end the inning.

The Phillies never came close to scoring again until the seventh.  But by then Weaver was long-gone having given up a sixth inning lead-off single to Howard and striking out Burrell before hitting the showers. Weaver tossed 5 1/3 innings and threw 92 pitches giving up 1 run on 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6.

Outside of the 3 run Angels second inning, Hamels pitched a fine ballgame for seven inning retiring 9 of the final 10 batters that he faced.  He threw 94 pitches giving up 6 hits, the 3 runs while walking none and striking out 4. For wont of some offense, Hamels didn’t deserve to lose this one.

The Phils scored their 2nd run in the seventh with one out as Rollins got to lefthanded reliever Darren Oliver for a 1 out RBI double. But then reliever  Scot Shields came in and struck out both pinch hitter Chris Coste and Utley to end the threat.  Shields then retired the Phils in order in the eighth.

Meanwhile, reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge took care of the Angels in the eighth and ninth innings and it all came down to the Phillies once again facing closer Francisco Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth.

With 2 out, the Phils made things a bit dicey for Rodriguez but again lacked the clutch hit.  Pedro Feliz, who pinch hit for Hamels in the seventh and took over at 3rd base for Dobbs, singled to leftfield.  Eric Bruntlett ran for Feliz and stole 2nd base.  Rollins was walked intentionally.  So Taguchi was sent to hit for Lidge.  Rodriguez got Taguchi to foul out to 3rd to end the game and to chalk up his 30th save of the season.

For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Sunday’s games, click here.

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 Monday’s and Tuesday’s games,  click here and here.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 6:51 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc, 2008 Phillies Highlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.