Phillies Offense Snoozes, Blanton Loses Debut to Cardinals
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Phillies starter Joe Blanton had a fine first start on Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals after having been on the DL since near the end of spring training due to a strained left oblique. Blanton gave up 2 runs over 6 2/3 innings before leaving with the sacks jammed in the seventh. Reliever Nelson Figueroa came on and gave up 4 runs, 3 charged to Blanton before finally retiring the side. Meanwhile, on the offensive side, everyone not named Jayson Werth or Chase Utley went silent in the game against starter young lefthander Jaime Garcia who gave up 1 run on 3 hits in six innings while walking 4 and striking out 6. Werth and Utley homered in the seventh and ninth innings respectively, but while the Phillies offense snoozed, Blanton lost to the Cardinals by a 6-3 score in his 2010 debut.
Although they lost, the Phils maintained a 1/2 game NL East lead on the Mets who were edged out by Cincinnati in eleven innings.
The only bright spots in this one were;
- Blanton’s 94 pitch 6 2/3 inning effort where he held the Cards to 2 runs on 10 hits in a losing cause before Figueroa inflated his stats for him. Blanton walked 1, struck out 4 and gave up pinch hitter Nick Stavinoha’s homer leading off the seventh and breaking a 1-1 tie.
- Rightfielder Jayson Werth who went 2 for 4 and has reached base at least once in all of the first 25 games of the season.
- Closer Brad Lidge threw a scoreless ninth inning only giving up 1 hit while striking out 2, although it took him 17 pitches to get the side out.
Other than these, it was another lazy game for the Phils’ offense as Garcia bottled them up for six innings while reliever Kyle McClellan gave up only Werth’s homer in the seven in his two innings and lefthander Trever Miller gave up Utley’s solo homer and got 1 out in the ninth inning with former Phil Ryan Franklin finishing up by striking out 2 on 7 pitches to end it.
AP sports writer Dan Gelston provides these notes in his game recap for Yahoo sports that:
Garcia ….caught a huge break in the fifth inning after letting Juan Castro tie it at 1 on a sacrifice fly. Garcia had runners on first and second with one out. Blanton bunted, but catcher Yadier Molina made the quick grab to nail the runner at third. Shortstop Brendan Ryan’s throw to first pulled Skip Schumaker off the bag and into a running Blanton.
Blanton was called out on interference for an inning-ending double play. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel argued the call and was ejected from the game.
Werth has reached base in all 25 games, the longest streak to start a season for a Phillie since 1920. His streak is also the longest in baseball this season.
Just a note to confirm an earlier report cited on this blog, that the Phillies did, in fact, send lefthanded reliever Antonio Bastardo to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after Sunday’s game.
To view the scores of all of Monday’s MLB games, click here.
Lefthander Cole Hamels goes on Tuesday against Adam Wainwright.
To view all of Tuesday’s games, click here.
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