» Tampa Bay Pounds Phillies to Take 2 of 3 Games

Tampa Bay Pounds Phillies to Take 2 of 3 Games

The Phillies jumped on Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine to stake young lefthander Antonio Bastardo to a 4 run first inning lead. Bastardo, however, was shelled for 6 runs (including 2 homers) in the first 2 innings and the bullpen was shellacked for 4 more. Only 6 Phillies reached after the first, 3 of them on a walk, a hit batsman and an error, in another woeful offensive display as Tampa Bay pounded the Phillies by a 10-4 score on Thursday to take 2 of 3 games in their first post-World Series matchup.

Meanwhile, while the Phillies have lost 10 of their last 12 games, the NL East division race has tightened with the Phillies now clinging to a mere 1/2 game lead over the Mets who again beat St. Louis. Rising fast and breathing down both the Phils’ and Mets’ necks are those Florida Marlins who pummelled the Baltimore Orioles by an 11-3 count extending their winning streak to 5 while winning 7 of their last 10 games.

The Phillies have the look of a team in trouble — Big trouble. They were woeful on all cylinders on Thursday. The offense died after scoring 4 in the first inning. Bastardo couldn’t hold on to prosperity as the Rays battered him from pillar to post. With a run already in in the first inning, 2nd baseman Ben Zobrist belted a 2 run shot out to leftfield off of Bastardo to cut the score to 4-3. 3rd baseman Willie Aybar led off the second frame homering to leftfield to tie the game. The Rays went on to score 2 more runs in the inning.

The depleted bullpen was inept showing once again that guys such as Tyler Walker and Jack Taschner just don’t cut the mustard and that lefthander Scott Eyre and Clay Condrey are sorely missed. The AP game recap for Yahoo sports notes that closer Brad Lidge rejoined the active roster but was not used.

Offnsively, there is no question that leftfielder Raul Ibanez’s big bat is sorely missed. But Ibanez on the DL is only psrt of the problem. The other guys on the top of the lineup are not hitting consistently and not coming through in the clutch. One can click here to view the pitch-by-pitch on this latest ugly fiasco.

One can see things coming, that the learning curve on a pitching staff with 4 lefthanders of 5 starters has got to be short. I frankly can’t understand what Charlie Manuel and the front-office are thinking regarding the 4 man lefthanded starting tandum. Bastardo ought to be back in Triple A getting more seasoning.

Bastardo, charged with his 3rd loss besides 2 wins, threw 78 pitches in 3 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, including the 2 homers, while walking 3 and striking out 4. Sonnanstine recovered from the shakey first inning to go 5 1/3 inning to get the win. From the second inning until his leaving the game with 1 out in the sixth, Sonnanstine retired 13 of the 16 Phillies he faced in an impressive display. He threw 97 pitches giving up 4 runs on 6 hits, only 1 hit after the first, while walking 1 and striking out 7. The Tampa Bay bullpen totally closed down the Phillies over the final 3 2/3 innings.

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins was bench-bound on Thursday replaced by Eric Bruntlett, presumably because of his (Rollins’) mental lapse on Wednesday along with a terrible hitting funk. But, along with the Phillies hitting woes, Rollins is not the only culprit when it comes to mental errors.

With 1 out in the sixth inning, leftfielder Matt Stairs was hit by a pitch ending Sonnanstine’s outing. With Sonnanstine out and reliever Grant Balfour in, 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop with Stairs advancing to 3rd on a throwing error. Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr describes this game’s situational mental lapse:

Trailing 6-4 with one out and runners at the corners, the Phillies had a chance to rally in the sixth inning. Eric Bruntlett hit a fly ball to center, deep enough to score the run. Stairs tug up, but Feliz lost track of the outs and was doubled off at first before Stairs crossed the plate.

For the scores of all of Thursday’s games, click here.

The Phils head to Toronto on Friday for 3 weekend games as the team has got to take things in hand and recover the season before it “fades away like an old soldier” amidst a torrent of losses. Both Friday’s opener and Saturday’s game 2 are contests pitting lefties against each other as J.A. Happ is opposed by Ricky Romero on Friday. On Saturday, ace Cole Hamels is matched up against Brad Mills.