Braves Beat Phillies Again, Despite Howard’s Homer
|
|
|
|
|
Phillies 1st baseman Ryan Howard homered with 2nd baseman Chase Utley on-board in the sixth inning off of Atlanta starter Tim Hudson to break a 68 inning Phillies team homerless string. But the Braves roughed up lefthander Cole Hamels early on a 3 run homer by 1st baseman Troy Glaus. Hamels didn’t make it through the first inning on Tuesday. Atlanta scored 2 more runs in the third, and a run each in the fifth and the seventh innings as the Braves beat the Phillies again, despite Howard’s homer, by a score of 7-3.
The Phils latest losing string is now at 3 as the loss dropped them to 1 1/2 games behind the Braves in the NL East. The Florida Marlins, who beat Milwaukee, are in 3rd place 3 games behind the Braves and 1 1/2 games behind the Phils. The Mets won their game with the San Diego Padres and are tied for 3rd place with the Marlins. Washington dropped to 4th place 4 games off the pace with their loss to Houston.
Hamels, who was previously thought to be back to his 2008 form, was hammered right out of the starting blocks. Leadoff hitter 2nd baseman Martin Prado opened with a double to leftfield. After rookie phenom rightfielder Jason Heyward lined out to right centerfield, Hamels walked 3rd baseman Chipper Jones. Glaus followed by pounding Hamels’ 2-1 offering out to leftfield. After a 1 hour, 4 minute rain delay during the first inning, manager Charlie Manuel had seen enough and Hamels was dispatched for an early shower.
What followed was a parade of 6 Phillies relievers with Chad Durbin being roughed up in a 2 run Braves third inning and Antonio Bastardo being touched for a run in the fifth. Up 6-2 after Howard’s 2 run shot, the Braves touched reliever Danys Baez for an garbage run in the seventh.
The Phils had a number of chances to score, particularly in the late innings after winning pitcher Hudson exited following a 104 pitch six inning 2 run, 5 hit, 2 walk, 6 strikeout performance. But noone stepped up in the clutch.
AP sports writer Paul Newberry describes the Phils’ futility in his game recap for Yahoo:
How bad are things going for the defending champs?
Consider Shane Victorino’s at-bat in the fifth. First, he lost his grip on a swing and the bat flew into the stands, striking a woman. She walked out for medical treatment, rubbing her right shoulder. Then, striking out on a 3-2 pitch, Victorino’s bat came around and struck the mask of Braves’ catcher Brian McCann as he attempted to throw, wiping out a steal because of unintentional interference.
The Phillies’ most frustrating sequence came in the seventh, their best chance to get back in the game.
After putting runners on first and third with no outs, Victorino popped out to first and [Wilson] Valdez hit into an unusual, inning-ending double play. Valdez’s grounder was fielded by third baseman Chipper Jones, who made a low throw to second for the force. Prado scooped it out of the dirt and realized he had no chance to complete the double play the traditional way. But he spotted slow-running Carlos Ruiz heading home and threw to McCann, who put the tag on his fellow catcher and held on to the ball despite getting bowled over.
The Phils managed to score a run in the ninth with 2 out on 2 singles and a walk and had bases loaded after reliever Jonny Venters hit Chase Utley. But with the tying run at the plate, the Braves went to closer Billy Wagner who was credited with his 8th save after getting 2 quick strikes on Ryan Howard. Howard failed in the clutch grounding to shortstop to end another moribund offensive performance.
To view the scores of all of Tuesday’s MLB games, click here.
The Phils hope to avoid another series sweep in Wednesday’s final as Kyle Kendrick is opposed by Derek Lowe for the Braves.
The Phils have Thursday off before heading home for a 7 game stand at Citizen’s Bank Park.
To view all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
del.icio.us |
digg |
Furl |
Reddit |
YahooMyWeb |