A Soggy Split

The game was wet, cold, and extremely boring. Last night my brother and I had the privilege of sitting in the pouring rain and watching our beloved Phillies get pounded by the Rockies by a final of 7-1.

Joe Blanton who was recently placed on the 15-day DL, was a late scratch from last night's game due to elbow problems. Kyle Kendrick got the start and he surrendered a 3 run HR to Jason Giambi in the top of the 1st and a 2 run shot again to Giambi in the 3rd. After just 3 innings of work Kendrick had managed to give up 5 runs which in my book is quite an accomplishment.

With a pitch count around 70 Kendrick was replaced by Danys Baez in the 4th who pitched 2 innings giving up another 2 run shot to Jason Giambi. Here is a stat that will make you sick to your stomach: Giambi's 7 rbi's last night is the same rbi total of the Phils in their last 5 games.

The Phils lone run came in the bottom of the 4th when Raul Ibanez hit a ground rule double to score Placido Polanco from 2nd. Aside from that the Phils' offense was non existent and the game ended in a sloppy 7-1 defeat.

Fortunately the Phils edged out a 2-1 small ball victory on Wednesday to split the 2 game set against the Rockies. Looking ahead the Phillies will host the Rangers this weekend in a 3 game inter league series. If you're overly worried about the Phiilies offense and stressed about their upcoming schedule let me try to put things into perspective for you.

The Phillies are currently 26-17 and hold a 1.5 game lead in the NL East and are still tops in the NL. The offense is due to break out soon especially with the return of Domonic Brown who was recently called up from the minors. And I've stated before that the Phillies are a streaky team that goes through offensive droughts from time to time, so there really is no need to panic. Plus this year they have their pitching staff to rely on and I expect starters Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt to all have big starts this weekend against the Rangers.