Tough Times In The Desert

After 4 game sweeping the San Diego Padres, nobody expected the Phils to drop 2 out of 3 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Luckily, the Phils were able to win yesterday and escape Arizona with a victory and end the road trip on a positive not. Here is a game by game breakdown of the Phils series in the desert.

Monday Diamondbacks 4 Phillies 0

On Monday the Phils wasted a 12 K effort from Cliff Lee and were shut out by a final of 4-0. Lee got into trouble in the bottom of the third when he gave up a 2 run shot to Chris Young. Cliff proceeded to give up another home run in the 5th, this time a solo blast to Gerardo Parra, and he gave up an additional run in the 6th. It certainly wasn't an awful outing from Lee, he did have 12 Ks. But the Phils did nothing offensively. Ian Kennedy pitched a complete game 3 hit shutout to blank the Phils. The Phillies went down in order 6 of the 9 innings and only had a total of 3 base runners.

Tuesday Diamondbacks 7 Phillies 5

In a rare bad outing from Roy Oswalt, the Phils lost on Tuesday by a final of 7-5. Roy pitched just 3 innings and gave up 5 runs off of 6 hits. The only real positive of the game was the Phils offense. The Phils' bats broke out of their offensive slump producing 5 runs off of 12 hits. Ryan Howard had a big day going 3-4 with an RBI and Shane Victorino went 2-5 with a triple. Ben Francisco had a 2 run HR in the 9th to bring the Phils to within 2 runs of the Diamondbacks. But Raul Ibanez flied out to end the game and the Phils dropped their second straight.

Wednesday Phillies 8 Diamondbacks 4

Yesterday the Phils offense exploded for 3 first inning runs. Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco led off the afternoon with singles to left field. Jimmy Rollins then followed with a double to score Victorino and move Polanco over to third. After Ryan Howard struck out, Ben Francisco laced a double to left to score Rollins and Polanco. With a comfortable 3 run lead Cole Hamels looked great on the mound. Hamels pitched 7 innings giving up 3 runs off just 4 hits. The only real trouble Hamels got into was in the 5th when he surrendered a 2 run HR to Chris Young. Aside from that Hamels was dominant and at one point he had retired 10 consecutive batters. The Phils offense continued to pour it on and finally provide Cole with some much needed run support. Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard had solo blasts, and Jimmy Rollins had a 2 run shot in the 5th giving him 3 RBI's on the day. Coming into yesterday's game Rollins had just 2 RBI's on the season. Overall it was a great team effort and the Phils were able to escape Arizona with a victory and end the road trip with a 5-2 record.

The Phils are now 16-8 and will return home to face the Mets, Nationals and Braves. The Phils are in good shape right now overall. Their starters are pitching well and aside from the shutout on Monday the offense is producing runs. Stay updated to the blog for a Philles Mets preview as well as Phillies Game Day posts.