Late Dodger Rallies Nip Phillies
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The Phillies scored single runs in the first, second and third innings, including 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s 30th homer in first, but then the offense took the rest of the game off wasting a fine 7 inning effort by ace lefthander Cole Hamels. The Dodgers rallied to score single runs in the eighth and ninth innings against relievers Chad Durbin and J.C. Romero to edge the Phils in a 4-3 heartbreaker.
With Tuesday’s loss, the Phillies 1st place lead in the NL East dropped to 1 game over the Mets and 1 1/2 games over the Marlins who both won. The 4th place Braves gained 1/2 game and are now 8 games back having been rained out of their game with the Chicago Cubs.
The slumbering Phillies offense had only 3 men reach after the third inning against lefthander Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers’ bullpen, 2 on walks and 1 single in another less than lackluster performance. Hamels did everything he could to bring home a win; 111 pitches through seven innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He even helped the cause offensively with an RBI single driving in the Phils’ 2nd run in the second inning. He deserved a better fate in this one than a no-decision in a Phillies loss.
Candidly, there seems a spark missing in the offense in 2008 that was present in the 2007 team. I’d have been personally happier with 2 less 20 run games and a more consistent offense not prone to long lapse periods of total unproductiveness. This is real difficult to put into words but the bluntness is necessary; aproaching mid-August, it can be safely said that unless this team rights its offensive ship and quick, they will very soon be on the outside,looking up at the Mets and Marlins while fighting off the Atlanta Braves even for possession of 3rd place in the NL East.
There are two obvious gaps offensively which come to mind and which need filling. 3rd base and rightfield.
At 3rd base, Pedro Feliz has definitely been an upgrade offensively over last year’s Wes Helms (who is playing up to last season’s stats, although he’s killed the Phillies). However Feliz has fallen short of expectations — the pundits projected him as a 30 homer guy when playing half his games at Citizens Bank Park. He could finish about equal with his hitting stats of 2007, although he seems far off his career-best stats of 2004 when he hit .278 with 22 homers and 84 RBIs in 144 games. Feliz, however, remains on the DL (since July 27) with lower back inflammation. It would have been nice to see Casey Blake in red pinstripes instead of Dodgers’ blue and it seems that the Phillies had much preferred him to Manny Ramirez. Would have been nice to see his 3 for 10 with a homer and 4 RBIs in this series on the Phillies’ side of the slate rather than in the Dodgers’ stats. The point is that 3rd base by committee with Greg Dobbs and Eric Bruntlett just doesn’t cut the mustard.
In rightfield, the platoon of Geoff Jenkins with Jayson Werth just doesn’t make it and the disparity between them both is apparent as Werth hits about 20 points higher in BA with 6 more homers and 13 more RBIs in 5 less at bats than does Jenkins. I wanna see Werth regular, without the platoon. Not only is Werth’s offensive superiority obvious, but his defense is all-around superior to Jenkins.
But now, back to Tuesday’s game.
After Utley homered in the first for the Phils’ 1st run, Blake’s 2 out RBI single knotted the score. Hamels then retired the next 15 Dodgers in a row through the fifth inning.
The Phillies scored their 2nd run on Hamels’ RBI single past 3rd base in the second inning and plated their 3rd run on leftfielder Pat Burrell’s sacrifice fly to rightfield in the third.
After 2 singles and a fly out put Dodgers on 1st and 2nd in the sixth inning, leftfielder Manny Ramirez solved Hamels for a single driving in the Dodgers’ 2nd run. 3-2 Phillies.
Meanwhile, Dodgers’ lefthander Clayton Kershaw retired 10 of the final 12 Phillies hitters he faced, 8 of them in a row. Kershaw threw 100 pitches in his six innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 2, striking out 8 and giving up Utley’s homer in a performance nearly as impressive as Hamels’.
Hamels retired the side in order in the seventh before being replaced by Chad Durbin to open the eighth inning.
The AP report describes the eighth and ninth innings for Yahoo sports;
The Dodgers tied it 3-all in the eighth against reliever Chad Durbin, who hit Manny Ramirez just above the left elbow with a pitch to load the bases with none out. Blake followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Matt Kemp, but Nomar Garciaparra grounded into an inning-ending double play in his first game off the disabled list.
Phillies reliever J.C. Romero (4-4) began the ninth by hitting Russell Martin with a pitch. Martin went to second on James Loney’s groundout to first, then scored when [Andre] Ethier lined a 1-2 pitch into the outfield [for the game winning single].
Hong-Chih Kuo (4-2) pitched two hitless innings for the win.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Tuesday’s games, click here.
On Wednesday, recent acquisition Joe Blanton opposes Brad Penny who, after two standout seasons, is having an off-year at 6-9 with a 5.66 ERA. In Thursday’s final matches Brett Myers against rookie Hiroki Kuroda. These final 2 games of the Dodgers series are must wins for the Phils lest the tables with the Mets and Marlins be turned.
The Phils next stop is the San Diego Padres for 3 games beginning Friday.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Wednesday’s games, click here.
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