Kuroda 2 Hits Phillies, Dodgers Sweep, Phillies Fall to 2nd
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Rookie Hiroki Kuroda held the Phillies to 2 hits through an impressive seven inning outing as only 3 Phils reached base in the game. The Dodgers mustered barely enough offense against Brett Myers enroute to a 3-1 win and their 1st four game series sweep of the Phils in Los Angeles since July, 1962.
Thursday’s loss, combined with the Mets’ 9-3 pounding and series sweep of the Washington Nationals, the Phils now sit in 2nd place in the NL East 1 game down and looking up at the Mets, as predicted on this blog. The Marlins who lost are 2 1/2 games behind in 3rd place. The 4th place Braves dropped to 10 games back after being thumped again by the Chicago Cubs.
Nearly 3 weeks ago, I really thought that once the Phillies won the NL East again, we would look back on July 25th and 26th against the Atlanta Braves as the point in time where the 2008 season turned. The Phils had lost 2 of 3 to the Mets, saw the Braves nurse a 1-0 lead through eight innings before decimating closer Brad Lidge for 7 runs to complete an 8-2 win and then saw Cole Hamels squander a 3-0 lead and dig them into a deep 9-3 hole before coming back to win by a 10-9 score. But apparently, after the Dodgers completed their sweep of the moribund Phillies offense, my observation was wrong. Or, perhaps Charlie Manuel needs to call another team meeting because the offense is again in free-fall towards oblivion.
True, Kuroda threw a masterful game through seven innings but, is Dodger pitching that good? Outside of Chad Billingsley and Kuroda’s last 3 starts and complete game shutouts of the Cubs in June and the Braves in July and a hot-handed closer in Jonathan Broxton, the Dodgers pitching staff leaves much to be desired.
One can’t shake a stick at Phillies pitching either. Myers deserved a better fate than to end up with his 10th loss. He went seven innings throwing 102 pitches giving up 3 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 8. That makes 4 quality outings, 3 stellar ones since returning from his stint in the minors. And, on the whole, Phillies pitching was good enough to have win 3 of 4 in this series. THE problem is a hibernated, less than lackluster offense.
Check out the logs on the meat of the Phils’ lineup for the last 3 games; Chase Utley 2-11, Ryan Howard 1-11, Pat Burrell 1-10 — Need I say more? The Phillies offense is, at present, the most overrated, underachieving in both leagues. Management had better do something to light a fire and right the ship with sweeps of San Diego and Washington lest the Mets leave them in a cloud of dust.
For those with enough stomach to follow the pay-by-play on the Thursday’s capper of a disastous series, click here. It’s an utter waste time to rehash.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Thursday’s games, click here.
The Phils next stop is the San Diego Padres for 3 games beginning Friday. 45 year old veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by 42 year old Greg Maddux in the series opener. In Saturday’s game 2, young Kyle Kendrick opposes Chris Young. In Sunday’s final, lefthander Cole Hamels faces recently acquired Cha Seung Baek.
The Phillies have Monday off before returning home for a 9 game stand beginning with 3 against the Washington Nationals.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
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