Astros Sweep Phillies’ Non-Existent Offense
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Houston leftfielder Carlos Lee solved Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick for a double, a solo homer and 2 RBIs on Thursday to lead the Astros to their first sweep of the Phils in 11 years. Lefthander Wandy Rodriguez looked like another world-beater allowing the Phils only one run, on 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s sixth inning RBI double, and five hits while striking out six in seven innings of work to win his 10th game vs 12 losses. Rodriguez retired 12 of the first 13 Phillies he faced before rightfielder Jayson Werth led off the fifth with a single as the Astros swept the Phillies’ non-existent offense winning the final by a 5-1 score.
The Phils blew their 6th opportunity in 8 games to gain ground on Atlanta and actually lost ground dropping to 3 games behind NL East-leading Braves who were idle on Thursday. Having been swept by Houston, the Phils dropped to 1/2 game behind the San Francisco Giants for the NL wildcard lead. The Giants were also idle on Thursday. The St. Louis Cardinals remained 1 game back of the Giants and 1/2 game behind the Phils and play Washington later on Thursday. The Mets and Florida Marlins continued jockeying for 3rd place with the Marlins now holding 3rd after edging the Mets. The Marlins are 9 games behind the division-leading Braves while the Mets remain 9 1/2 games back as they prepare to square off later on Thursday.
Aside from the one Phillies score in the sixth, their only other serious shot that the Phils sputtering offense had to score off of Rodriguez came in the fifth. Werth led off with his single and leftfielder Raul Ibanez followed with a double putting runners at 2nd and 3rd base with none out. But Rodriguez struck out centerfielder Shane Victorino. Catcher Brian Schneider followed by lining out to shallow rightfield for the 2nd out. Werth was caught at home trying to score on the play by a fine relay through from rightfielder Hunter Pence to retire the side. The Phils finished what should have been at least a 7-3 homestand with 4 wins in 10 games.
Those interested in more minutae on this latest Phillies bummer can click here for the AP game recap for Yahoo sports.
To view the scores of all of Thursday’s games, click here.
After a less than successful homestand where the Phils failed to gain ground on NL East-leading Atlanta, the Phils now head west for a 7 game roadtrip; 3 games with San Diego, 3 games with the L.A. Dodgers and a makeup game against Colorado.
To view the schedule of all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
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