The Washington Nationals burst the Phillies 8 game win string bubble with two ugly weekend wins.  On Friday, newly acquired Roy Oswalt was pounded for 5 runs in six innings in his Phillies debut while the offense took the game off as the Phils lost to the Nationals by an 8-1 score.

On Saturday, Joe Blanton was again pounded early as the Nationals put up 3 first inning runs.  Blanton recovered quickly to retire 9 of the next 10 hitters he faced in the second thru fourth innings.  The offense rallied from being down 3-0 and 4-2 to tie the game on homers by catcher Carlos Ruiz and rightfielder Raul Ibanez (a 2 run seventh inning shot).  The Phils took a ninth inning lead as Ruiz singled in the go-ahead run.  Up 5-4 in the Washington ninth, closer Brad Lidge coughed up 2 hits and a walk.  One of the hits was a 1 out, 3 run walkoff homer to 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman as the Nationals came back to beat the Phils by a 7-5 score.

With the losses, the Phils dropped to 3 1/2 games behind NL East division-leading Atlanta who split their weekend games with Cincinnati.  The Mets picked up a game on the Phils and are now 3 games back after splitting their games with Arizona.

In Friday’s game, not only did the Nationals spoil Oswalt’s debut but reliever Chad Durbin was rung-up as well in a 3 run Nationals seventh inning.  Meanwhile, starter Craig Stammen and 2 Nationals relievers had little difficulty with the Phils.  Outside of rightfielder Jayson Werth’s seventh inning solo homer, the Phils offense put up only one mild threat — putting runners on 1st and 2nd base with 2 out in the fourth inning.

Even with Oswalt being tatooed in his debut, it’s far too early to open season for second-guessers regarding the Cliff Lee trade.  I’ll ask a different question which gets to the point of Saturday’s game:  What was/is the Phils greatest need at this point?  A second stud starter or bullpen/closer help?  Brad Lidge’s dinger to Ryan Zimmerman just begs this burning question.  Lidge spoiled an otherwise decent six inning outing by Blanton, a comeback effort by the Phils offense and scoreless relief efforts by relievers Jose Contreras and Ryan Madson.

To view the AP recaps of Friday’s and Saturday’s games for Yahoo, click here and here.

To view the scores of all of Friday’s and Saturday’s debacles, click here and here.

The Phils try to avoid getting swept by suddenly hot Washington as Cole Hamels opposes John Lannon in a battle of lefthanders.  The Phils have a much needed day off on Monday before traveling to Florida for 3 games against the Marlins beginning on Tuesday.

To view the schedule of all of Sunday’s games, click here.

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The Phillies’ winning streak now stands at 8 games as substitute shortstop  Wilson Valdez’s 1 out single in the eleventh inning on Thursday drove in 3rd baseman Cody Ransom, who had been walked by Arizona reliever   Esmerling Vasquez, and advanced to 2nd base on catcher Carlos Ruiz’s single.  Starters Kyle Kendrick and lefthander Joe Saunders engaged in a pitching duel for nearly seven innings.  With the Phils up 2-1 in the ninth, reliever Ryan Madson gave up a leadoff double and and was relieved by  J.C. Romero who gave up a single putting runners at 1st and 3rd bases.  The tying run scored on a groundout.  On the day when Phillies lefthander  J.A. Happ, having recently returned from being on the DL, was traded with 2 lower level minor league prospects to  Houston for 3 time All Star Roy Oswalt, the Phillies swept the Diamondbacks by 3-2 score in 11 innings on Valdez’s single.

With the win, the Phils narrowed NL East division-leading Atlanta’s lead to 2 1/2 games as the Braves were beaten by the Washington Nationals.  The Mets also gained on the Braves by shutting out St. Louis, but remain 3 games behind the Phils.

The AP game recap for Yahoo describes the game:

[Raul] Ibanez gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead in the sixth with a drive into the seats in right-center. Ibanez is batting .391 with two homers and 10 RBIs in the second half, raising his average to .263 from .243 at the All-Star break.

Ransom hit a one-out single in the fifth and scored when Ruiz lined a double into the left-field corner.

Miguel Montero hit a solo homer for the last-place Diamondbacks, who have lost seven straight.

After the Diamondbacks tied it in the ninth, the Phillies rallied against Esmerling Vasquez (1-4) in the 11th.

Vasquez struck out Jayson Werth before Cody Ransom walked. After Carlos Ruiz singled, Valdez lined a single to center and Ransom slid in safely ahead of center fielder  Chris Young’s throw.

“I feel happy to help the team,” said Valdez, who was filling in for the injured Jimmy Rollins. “We’re doing what we have to do to win.”

Jose Contreras (5-3) tossed a scoreless 11th for the win. Passed over in a save situation in the ninth, closer Brad Lidge pitched a perfect 10th. Lidge threw 64 pitches and struggled while earning two straight saves earlier in the week.

Joe Saunders gave up two runs and nine hits in seven innings in his first start since the Diamondbacks acquired him in the trade that sent Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels.

“Saunders pitched great,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said.

Kyle Kendrick allowed one run and four hits, striking out a season-high five in 6 1-3 innings. He’s 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in two starts since a brief demotion to the minors last week.

“I want to pitch here,” Kendrick said.

The Diamondbacks rallied to tie it in the ninth, but blew a chance to take the lead. After Ryan Madson tossed a perfect eighth, manager Charlie Manuel kept him in instead of turning to Lidge. But Justin Upton led off with a double and J.C. Romero entered to face Adam LaRoche, who lined a single to right.

Upton scored the tying run on Montero’s slow chopper to shortstop. After Mark Reynolds was intentionally walked, Romero walked Stephen Drew on four pitches to load the bases.

But second baseman Placido Polanco and shortstop Valdez turned an outstanding double play on Gerardo Parra’s grounder to second. Valdez made a strong throw to barely beat Parra at first. Parra was ejected by first-base umpire Adrian Johnson after slamming his helmet in disgust.

Valdez went 3 for 5 for the game while 2nd baseman Placido Polanco, 3rd baseman Ransom and catcher Carlos Ruiz each had 2 hits apiece.

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

The Phils begin a six game road trip on Friday playing 3 games in  Washington and 3 games in Florida against the Marlins with a day off in-between the 2 series. 

Both ESPN and the news site MyFox Houston broke first reports of the trade and also reported that the newly acquired Roy Oswalt will replace Happ as Friday’s starter vs Craig Stammen for the Nationals.  On Saturday, Joe Blanton goes for the Phils vs lefthander Ross Detwiler for Washington.

To view the schedule of all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.

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The Phillies’ winning streak hit 7 games on Wednesday as ace Roy Halladay tossed another masterpiece complete game and the number 3, 5, 6 and 7 hitters in the Phils lineup pounded Arizona starter Edwin Jackson for 5 runs and reliever Sam Demel for 2 more seventh inning runs with heralded prospect outfielder Domonic Brown and catcher Carlos Ruiz leading the way  as Halladay and offensive support led the Phillies over the Diamondbacks by a 7-1 score in game 2 of their 3 game series.

NL East division-leading Atlanta remained 3 1/2 games ahead of the 2nd place Philies after nipping Washington.  The Phils put more space between themselves and the 3rd place Mets who were edged by the St. Louis Cardinals in 13 innings.

Roy Halladay’s 1 run, 6 hit, 9 strikeout complete game performance was worthy of his billing as one of MLB’s best pitchers.  He has gven up but 2 runs in his last 4 starts, over a span of 35 innings at home.  In that span, he has struck out 34 while walking 3.  But the big news was highly heralded outfielder prospect Domonic Brown’s double, single and 2 RBIs in 4 plate appearances in his 1st MLB game. 

Brown’s second inning double to right centerfield, on the 3rd pitch he saw from Jackson, which followed centerfielder Jayson Werth’s double, drove in the Phils 1st run of 2 in the inning off of the Arizona starter.  Werth was moved from rightfield to centerfield as substitute for Shane Victorino who went on the 15-day DL after suffering an abdominal strain on his left side.  Brown took Werth’s normal rightfield spot.  The AP game recap notes:

After moving to third on Ruiz ‘s single, Brown scored on Wilson Valdez’s groundout, giving Philadelphia a 2-0 lead.

After grounding out to end the third inning, Brown followed Werth’s leadoff single in the sixth with his own single to right centerfield.
When Ruiz followed with a double to left, both Werth and Brown scored as the Phils scored 3 runs in the inning.

With 1 out and Phils runners on 2nd and 3rd in the seventh, Brown slammed a long sacrifice fly to right centerfield to score 1 of the 2 runs in the inning.  All and all, Brown’s line 2 hits in 3 at bats, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. 

Carlos Ruiz had a monster game going 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs.

Arizona’s Jackson lasted into the sixth and got noone out in the inning before being chased on Ruiz’s 2 run double.  Jackson was charged with 5 runs in all, while reliever Sam Demel was charged with the 2 Phils’ seventh inning runs. 

Halladay, who threw 114 pitches for the game, gave a ninth inning leadoff single, retired the next 2 hitters before an RBI double by catcher Miguel Montero broke the shutout.  Halladay then got 3rd baseman Mark Reynolds to fly out to rightfield to end the game.

To view the scores of all of Wednesday’s games, click here.

In the series final, Kyle Kendrick is opposed by lefthander Joe Saunders, obtained in the recent trade which sent Dan Haren to the L.A. Angels.  The Phils begin a six game road trip on Friday playing 3 games in Washington and 3 games in Florida against the Marlins with a day off in-between the 2 series.

To view the schedule of all of Thursday’s games, click here.

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Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick was banged around on Thursday for 3 runs in the first inning and 2 more runs in the fourth, on a 2 run homer by  Nationals outfielder Willie Harris.  Kendrick did manage to retire 9 straight hitters, although the Nats scored on the first 2, between the first and fourth innings. The Phils offense played catch-up scoring 4 runs off of starter  Craig Stammen and and a tying run off of lefthanded reliever Sean Burnett.  3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman resolved the issue for the Nationals, who avoided being swept, with a seventh inning RBI double off of newly-acquired reliever Nelson Figueroa.  The Phils left 11 men on base as Kendrick was pounded with the Nationals edging the Phillies by a 6-5 score in the series’ final game.

The AP recap of the game for Yahoo sports notes:

Harris… drove Kyle Kendrick’s changeup over the wall to put Washington ahead 5-2 in the fourth. 

Zimmerman… [hit a] pair of doubles, including the go-ahead hit off Figueroa (0-1), picked up after being waived by the Mets this week.

Figueroa walked pinch-hitter Alberto Gonzalez to begin the seventh, a result of what Nationals manager Jim Riggleman called “a nice at-bat there to get us in position to win the game.”

Two outs later, Zimmerman lobbed a ball barely beyond the reach of sliding right fielder Jayson Werth.

“Quail ball,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Manuel’s club kept falling behind, then coming back. The Nationals went up 3-0 in the first by turning three of Kendrick’s first five pitches into hits. [Nyjer] Morgan led off with a triple, Cristian Guzman lined an RBI single, and Zimmerman smacked the first pitch he saw off the wall in left for a double.

Kendrick eventually settled down, retiring nine consecutive batters, until Dunn led off the fourth with a single. One out later, Harris homered.

Philadelphia scored twice in the fifth but could have had more. When  Werth delivered his third double of the game,  [Ryan] Howard strayed too far off third rounding the bag and was tagged out on a play scored 7-4-5-2.

“He made up his mind he was going back,” Manuel said, “and he got in no man’s land.”

Kendrick threw only 55 pitches across four rough innings. He allowed five runs and six hits.

Washington’s Craig Stammen was barely better, lasting five innings, and giving up four runs and nine hits. What he didn’t do was walk anyone, a rare feat for a Nationals pitcher, given that the team issued 17 free passes over the opening two games.

But with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, the Phillies only pushed across one run. With runners on second and third in the eighth, Brian Bruney got Placido Polanco to ground out.

Then, in the ninth, with two runners on, [Matt] Capps got three consecutive outs.

“The game was sitting right there for us all day long,” Manuel said. “We didn’t cash in.”

The first 5 hitters in the Phillies lineup recorded 11 of the team’s 12 hits going 11 for 23 with 1 walk but the remainder of the lineup was deadpan.  Leftfielder Raul Ibanez, whose abysmal exhibition hitting has carried into the first 3 games of the season, went 0 for 4 with a walk striking out twice and leaving 4 runners on base. And centerfielder Shane Victorino was largely silent also getting of to a rough regular season start.  Pinch hitters  Ross Gload and Ben Francisco recorded a hit and reached following being hit by a pitch respectively. 

Reliever Tyler Clippard, the winning pitcher, inherited a 1 out, runners on 2nd and 3rd base situation in the sixth inning.  He hit Francisco with his first pitch and then was fortunate to escape with only the tying run scoring on a sacrifice fly as he coaxed 3rd baseman Polanco into a fielder’s choice grounder for the final out of the sixth.   Capps was credited with his first save of the season.

Figueroa, who walked 3, 1 intentionally, was charged with the loss after having walked Gonzalez.  Figueroa got the next 2 outs but fell victim to Zimmerman’s bloop double barely eluded the sliding Werth.

To view the scores of all of Thursday’s MLB games, click here.

Following Thursday’s game, the Phils fly on to Houston for 3 weekend games with the Astros before returning for their home opener next Monday, the 1st of a 3 game series (with an off-day on Tuesday) entertaining these same Washington Nationals.

In Friday’s first game between the Phils and Astros, young lefthander  J.A. Happ is opposed by another youngster, 2nd year starter Bud Norris.  On Saturday, ageless 47 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by  Felipe Paulino.

To view all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.

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Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick was banged around on Thursday for 3 runs in the first inning and 2 more runs in the fourth, on a 2 run homer by  Nationals outfielder Willie Harris.  Kendrick did manage to retire 9 straight hitters, although the Nats scored on the first 2, between the first and fourth innings. The Phils offense played catch-up scoring 4 runs off of starter  Craig Stammen and and a tying run off of lefthanded reliever Sean Burnett.  3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman resolved the issue for the Nationals, who avoided being swept, with a seventh inning RBI double off of newly-acquired reliever Nelson Figueroa.  The Phils left 11 men on base as Kendrick was pounded with the Nationals edging the Phillies by a 6-5 score in the series’ final game.

The AP recap of the game for Yahoo sports notes:

Harris… drove Kyle Kendrick’s changeup over the wall to put Washington ahead 5-2 in the fourth. 

Zimmerman… [hit a] pair of doubles, including the go-ahead hit off Figueroa (0-1), picked up after being waived by the Mets this week.

Figueroa walked pinch-hitter Alberto Gonzalez to begin the seventh, a result of what Nationals manager Jim Riggleman called “a nice at-bat there to get us in position to win the game.”

Two outs later, Zimmerman lobbed a ball barely beyond the reach of sliding right fielder Jayson Werth.

“Quail ball,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Manuel’s club kept falling behind, then coming back. The Nationals went up 3-0 in the first by turning three of Kendrick’s first five pitches into hits. [Nyjer] Morgan led off with a triple, Cristian Guzman lined an RBI single, and Zimmerman smacked the first pitch he saw off the wall in left for a double.

Kendrick eventually settled down, retiring nine consecutive batters, until Dunn led off the fourth with a single. One out later, Harris homered.

Philadelphia scored twice in the fifth but could have had more. When  Werth delivered his third double of the game,  [Ryan] Howard strayed too far off third rounding the bag and was tagged out on a play scored 7-4-5-2.

“He made up his mind he was going back,” Manuel said, “and he got in no man’s land.”

Kendrick threw only 55 pitches across four rough innings. He allowed five runs and six hits.

Washington’s Craig Stammen was barely better, lasting five innings, and giving up four runs and nine hits. What he didn’t do was walk anyone, a rare feat for a Nationals pitcher, given that the team issued 17 free passes over the opening two games.

But with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, the Phillies only pushed across one run. With runners on second and third in the eighth, Brian Bruney got Placido Polanco to ground out.

Then, in the ninth, with two runners on, [Matt] Capps got three consecutive outs.

“The game was sitting right there for us all day long,” Manuel said. “We didn’t cash in.”

The first 5 hitters in the Phillies lineup recorded 11 of the team’s 12 hits going 11 for 23 with 1 walk but the remainder of the lineup was deadpan.  Leftfielder Raul Ibanez, whose abysmal exhibition hitting has carried into the first 3 games of the season, went 0 for 4 with a walk striking out twice and leaving 4 runners on base. And centerfielder Shane Victorino was largely silent also getting of to a rough regular season start.  Pinch hitters  Ross Gload and Ben Francisco recorded a hit and reached following being hit by a pitch respectively. 

Reliever Tyler Clippard, the winning pitcher, inherited a 1 out, runners on 2nd and 3rd base situation in the sixth inning.  He hit Francisco with his first pitch and then was fortunate to escape with only the tying run scoring on a sacrifice fly as he coaxed 3rd baseman Polanco into a fielder’s choice grounder for the final out of the sixth.   Capps was credited with his first save of the season.

Figueroa, who walked 3, 1 intentionally, was charged with the loss after having walked Gonzalez.  Figueroa got the next 2 outs but fell victim to Zimmerman’s bloop double barely eluded the sliding Werth.

To view the scores of all of Thursday’s MLB games, click here.

Following Thursday’s game, the Phils fly on to Houston for 3 weekend games with the Astros before returning for their home opener next Monday, the 1st of a 3 game series (with an off-day on Tuesday) entertaining these same Washington Nationals.

In Friday’s first game between the Phils and Astros, young lefthander  J.A. Happ is opposed by another youngster, 2nd year starter Bud Norris.  On Saturday, ageless 47 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer is opposed by  Felipe Paulino.

To view all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.

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Phillies 1st baseman Ryan Howard keyed the offense on Wednesday slamming his 2nd homer, a 2 run shot in the fifth inning off of  Washington Nationals starter Jason Marquis.  2nd baseman Chase Utley’s RBI single in the fifth broke a 3-3 tie.  Howard knocked in the Phils’ final run with a double in the ninth inning and was supported by Utley and 3rd baseman Placido Polanco who also had two hits apiece as they survived a rough five inning outing by starting lefthander Cole Hamels.   Howard led the offense as Phillies belted the Nationals by an 8-4 score.

Starter and winning pitcher Cole Hamels struggled through five innings where at least one National reached in each inning.  Hamels threw 103 pitches to get 15 outs while giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 5.  

The Phils opened up a 2-0 lead in first inning as Marquis, who signed a free agent $15 million-2 year deal with the Nationals, was anything but marquis in his debut handing out 2 walks, hitting a batter, tossing a run-scoring wild pitch in addition to giving up Utley’s single.  The first Phils run scored as Howard grounded into a double-play.

Hamels’ third inning started out by getting both Marquis and leadoff hitter centerfielder Nyjer Morgan to ground out.  But then, shortstop Ian Desmond solved Hamels on his 2nd pitch solo homering to centerfield.  At that point, Hamels became a bit unglued walking both 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman and 1st baseman Adam Dunn on a total of 9 pitches.  Leftfielder Josh Willingham slammed Hamels’ 2-1 pitch for a leftfield single scoring Zimmerman to tie the score at 2-2.  Catcher Ivan Rodriguez grounded an infield single to load the bases, but Hamels managed to get rightfielder Mike Morse to ground out to 3rd base to retire the side.

The Phils came back to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning on 3 singles, including Hamels’ RBI single to centerfield.  But that lead was short-lived as Hamels once again succumbed to 2 out damage as Nyjer Morgan took 2nd base on Ryan Howard’s fielding error and scored on Desmond’s RBI double.  Hamels struck out Zimmerman to avoid any further trouble.

The Phils put up the game’s 3 decisive runs in the fifth, all charged to Marquis who retired no one in the inning. Polanco opened with a double to centerfield, scored on Utley’s leftfield single with Utley scoring on Howard’s 2 run blast to centerfield — 6-3 Phillies.  For Howard, it was his 2nd homer of the 2 regular season games thus far.  He also registered his 1st strikeout in 11 AB’s.

Losing pitcher Marquis threw 71 pitches in 4 innngs giving up 6 of the 8 Phillies runs on 8 hits while walking 3, striking out 2 and giving up Howard’s homer.

Hamels came his closest to putting up a clean inning in the Nationals’ fifth as Adam Dunn opened with a full-count walk.  But Hamels got 2 groundouts and a strikeout to close out a dicey five inning performance.

Former Phillies’ reliever Tyler Walker came on for Marquis to retire the side in the fifth inning and recorded the 2nd clean inning of the game against the Phils in the sixth – Marquiz went 3 up, 3 down in the third.  Reliever Chad Durbin went clean on the Nationals in their sixth inning, the first of his two inning stint.

The Phils scored their 7th run against relievers Jesse English and Tyler Clippard in the seventh inning on leftfielder Raul Ibanez’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to rightfield.  Durbin gave up a 1 out single and issued a walk in the Nationals’ seventh but came away unscathed. 

The Phils went down in the eighth against Clippard despite having 2 men on with 1 out.  Polanco grounded into a double-play to retire the side.

In the Washington eighth inning, pinch hitter Cristian Guzman slammed reliever Danys Baez’s first pitch to deep centerfield for a triple and scored the Nationals’ 4th run on 2nd baseman Adam Kennedy’s sacrifice fly to rightfield.  Pinch hitter Willie Harris followed with a double to rightfield.  Relievers Antonio Bastardo and Ryan Madson came on to each retire a hitter to end what could have been a scary inning.

The Phils scored their 8th and final run in the ninth inning against reliever  Matt Capps as Utley opened by reaching on shortstop Desmond’s error.  Howard drove in Utley nailing Capps’ 2nd offering for a double to rightfield. The Phils managed to load the bases with 2 outs, but Madson, hitting for himself, struck out to end the threat.

Things got a bit sticky for Madson in the bottom of the ninth after striking out Zimmerman for the first out.  Dunn and Willingham both singled before Ivan Rodriguez grounded Madson’s 1st pitch to 2nd base for a game-ending double-play.

To view the scores of all of Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s games, click here and here.

The Phillies go for a sweep of their 3 game series with the Nationals on Thursday as Kyle Kendrick starts in place of Joe Blanton who is currently on the DL due to a strained left oblique.  Facing Kendrick will be 2nd year starter Craig Stammen for the Nationals.

In other Phillies news, MLB.com reports that the Phils have claimed Nelson Figueroa off waivers from the Mets on Wednesday:

The 35-year-old right-hander made 16 appearances (10 starts) for the Mets in 2009, going 3-8 with a 4.09 ERA. For his seven-year career, Figueroa is 13-28 with a 4.54 ERA in 106 games (49 starts).   

Following Thursday’s game, the Phils fly on to Houston for 3 weekend games with the Astros before returning for their home opener next Monday, the 1st of a 3 game series (with an off-day on Tuesday) entertaining these same Washington Nationals.

For view all of Thursday’s MLB games, click here.

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