For seven innings on Wednesday, Phillies starter Joe Blanton and Tampa Bay’s Matt Garza were locked in a tight pitchers duel, marred only DH hitter Pat Burrell’s second inning homer off of his old team and rightfielder Jayson Werth’s seventh inning solo shot.  Held to 3 hits by Garza in another ugly offensive short-circuit, the Phils remained in the game until the eighth when lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero got into a none out, runners-at-the-corners jam.  But thanks in large part to a 2 out fielding lapse on a fielder’s choice grounder by shortstop Jimmy Rollins,  Tampa Bay topped the Phillies by a 7-1 score on Burrell’s homer and a late-inning bullpen meltdown to even their series at 1 game apiece.
 
As a result of Wednesday’s loss, and the Mets’ 11-0 pounding of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Mets now only trail the Phils by 1 1/2 games in the NL East division with the Florida Marlins now breathing down both of their necks at 2 games back in 3rd place after beating the Baltimore Orioles.

Blanton had a fine outing, as he has in 5 of his last 6 starts, again going deep into the game and only being pulled after centerfielder B.J. Upton’s eighth inning leadoff double.  But the Phillies wasted the effort thanks to a feast-a-little, starve-a-lot offense.  And while catcher Carlos Ruiz took an 0-3 collar at bat, he nailed rightfielder Gabe Gross at 2nd base on a 2 out second inning attempted steal and blocked the plate well as leftfielder  Matt Stairs nailed Upton at home on a fly out/doubleplay in the eighth inning which would have kept the Phils in the game but for Rollins’ miscue.

After a second inning leadoff single, Blanton got the 1st out recording the 1st of his 10 strikeouts.  But Burrell nailed an 0-1 pitch and drilled it to leftfield to give the Rays a 2-0 lead. 

Meanwhile, Garza retired 9 of the first 10 Phillies he faced, including striking out the side in the second inning.  But in the fourth, he walked centerfielder Shane Victorino, 2nd baseman Chase Utley and 1st baseman  Ryan Howard to load the bases with none out.  But Werth bit on Garza’s 1st pitch and ground into a doubleplay, with Victorino out at home, to take the starch out of a possible inning.  He followed by fanning Matt Stairs to end the inning.

Blanton retired 9 of 10 Rays hitters between the third and fifth innings before leftfielder Carlos Crawford and 3rd baseman Evan Longeria opened the sixth inning with doubles.  Fortunately, Crawford was out after testing Jayson Werth in rightfield by trying to stretch a double to a triple.  Werth’s throw surely saved a run.  Blanton avoided damage finishing the sixth with a strikeout and groundout sandwiching a walk.
 
Werth homered on Garza’s full-count pitch in the sevwenth after Howard grounded out.  Stairs followed with a single to center, only the 3rd hit off of Garza in the game.  But the Rays’ starter retired the next 2 Phillies on a flyout and a fielder’s choice grounder to end the inning.

Blanton followed in the seventh by striking out the Tampa Bay side for the second time in the game.

After Garza went clean on the Phillies in the eighth, Upton opened the Ray’s eighth with a double to rightfield which ended Blanton’s outing.
Blanton’s line in a losing cause was 7 innings pitched, 121 pitches, 2 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks and 10 strikeouts.

Romero followed Blanton and was greeted by Crawford’s leftfield single putting Upton at 3rd base.  But Romero appeared to be weathering the threat as late game replacement at 3rd baseman Willy Aybar flied out to left with Ruiz applying the tag on the speedy Upton who was nailed leftfielder Stairs.  

Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr describes what happened next in the eighth;

Pat Burrell hit an soft grounder to Jimmy Rollins.  Rollins nonchalantly tossed the ball to Chase Utley covering second, only for Ben Zobrist to be safe and a run to score.  Rollins made a huge mistake by not throwing to first, especially with a slow runner in Burrell.

From there, AP sports writer Fred Goodall’s game recap for Yahoo sports describes the resultant damage;

Jason Bartlett followed with a two-run single off Chan Ho Park to extend his career-best hitting streak to 18 games, tying  Quinton McCracken for the franchise record. Gabe Gross finished the Phillies off with a two-run double.

One has to wonder about Jimmy Rollins at this point.  He’s not hitting, and over the past 2 seasons, there have been times when it appears that he has not hustled, just as was the case a couple of seasons ago with the Mets shortstop Jose Reyes.  The case cited above is, for sure, a lack of hustle or alertness.  A toss to 1st base to get the slow-footed Burrell would have ended the inning with Romero escaping with the score still 2-1 and with the Phils with a real shot in the ninth inning.

The Phils made things a little dicey for reliever Randy Choate in the ninth inning when, with 2 outs, Werth singled to center and pinch hitter John Mayberry Jr. walked.  But Choate got pinch hitter Chris Coste to ground an 0-1 pitch into a fielder’s choice to shortstop with Mayberry being forced at 2nd to end the game.

In related news, the Phils expect to reactivate closer Brad Lidge, who had been out with a sprained right knee, from the 15 day DL on Thursday.  

For all of scores of Wednesday’s games, click here.

In Thursday’s series final, young lefthander Antonio Bastardo faces 26 year old Andy Sonnanstine as the Phillies need to take 2 of 3 in this series.. 
The Phils next head to Toronto for 3 weekend games.

For all of Thursday’s games, click here.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 10:35 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
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