Phillies Bats Silent in Brewers Win
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Phillies starter Joe Blanton pitched a quality six innings making only 2 mistakes; a 1 out fifth inning solo homer by Milwaukee shortstop J.J. Hardy and a sixth inning 2 out, 2 run double by centerfielder Mike Cameron. The runs stood up as Phillies bats fell silent in the Brewers’ 3-1 win in Wednesday’s series game 2.
Blanton did the job holding the Brewers scoreless through four innings, having given up 4 hits and having benefited from fine defense; catcher Lou Marson nailing rightfielder Corey Hart at 2nd base on an attempted steal in the fist inning, a second inning ending doubleplay with 2 men on, leftfielder Raul Ibanez nailing his Brewers counterpart in leftfield Ryan Braun who attempted to stretch his fourth inning single to left into a double.
But J.J. Hardy pounced on a Blanton mistake in the fifth pounding a 3-2 pitch out to the leftfield seats to put the Brewers on the board.
Cameron lined a his 2 run double in the sixth upping the score to 3-0.
Blanton deserved better than a losing fate having put in his best performance of the new season thus far — six innings, 107 pitches, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. But he fell victim of a total lack of offensive support.
Meanwhile Braden Looper held the Phils scoreless through six innings for the win throwing 107 pitches giving up only 5 hits, walking 2 and, oddly, striking out none. That is to say that the Phils put whatever Looper threw into play, 9 balls on the ground and 9 in the are but nothing fell, or found holes and nothing was “well-struck.”
AP sports writer Rob Maaddi noted in the game recap for Yahoo sports:
“We hit four balls hard right at the right fielder,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “It seemed if something good happened for us, we didn’t take advantage of it.”
4 Phillies relievers shut down the Brewers completely over the final 3 innings, allowing no hits and only surrendering 2 walks.
The Brewers’ bullpen was perfect against the Phils in the seventh and eighth innings. Reliever Todd Coffey pitched a shaky ninth inning and got credit for his 2nd save of the season despite giving up 3 hits as the Phils offense tried to show signs of life. One of the hits was a 1 out centerfield solo homer to avert a shutout by rightfielder Jayson Werth.
After Werth’s homer, Ibanez followed with a single to leftfield. But 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz grounded into a fielder’s choice with Ibanez forced at 2nd. Matt Stairs, pinch-hitting for Marson, singled to rightfield — runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 out. Chris Coste pinch hit for reliever Ryan Madson and struck out swinging to end the game.
For all of the results of Wednesday’s games, click here.
In Thursday’s get-away game, ace lefthander Cole Hamels hopes to finally get the new season on the right track and lead the Phils to a 2 out of 3 series win over the Brewers. He is opposed by David Bush.
The Phillies leave after Thursday’s game for a 3 game weekend series in Florida against the Marlins before returning home on Monday to entertain the Washington Nationals for 3 games to end the month of April. They have the day off next Thursday before entertaining the NY Mets in a 3 game early season weekend series confrontation on May 1-3.
For all of Thursday’s games, click here.
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