The Phils ended their road trip on a sour note with a dissapointing 2-1 loss tonight to the Cardinals. The Phils again failed to produce at the plate and as a result dropped both games of the 2 game set against the Cardinals. Last night it was basically the same story as the Phils lost 3-1. Cliff Lee walked a career high 6 batters and struggled with his command through out the game. Lee got pretty animated after not getting a call in the 4th inning which is rare for Lee who is usually calm and collective on the mound. Luckily Lee was able to keep his composure and put together a decent outing pitching 6.1 innings and giving up 3 earned runs.
Unfortunately the Phils failed to provide run support for Lee. They scored an early run off a Ben Francisco RBI single but that was it. They had bad at-bats against Jake Westbrook a pitcher they definitely should have roughed up.
Tonight Roy Oswalt appeared in his first game since April 26th and he looked strong early on. Oswalt had great command of his fastball and he was also getting guys out with his curveball.
Jaime Garcia for the Cardinals was just as good. Garcia at one point retired 10 straight and it looked like it was going to be a real pitcher's duel.
The duel didn't last long as Oswalt gave up a run in the 4th on a play at the plate. Yadier Molina laced a single to left and John Mayberry fielded the hit cleanly and threw a nice one hop right to the plate. But Dane Sardinha failed to apply the tag on Lance Berkman who slid cleanly across the plate and the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead.
The Phillies again struggled at the plate. They failed to produce anything against Jaime Garcia who is a very good pitcher. To emphasize just how good Garcia was, he had a 4 pitch inning in the 7th and was absolutely cruising.
But something fianlly happened in the 8th. Michael Martinez laced a single to right center and Jimmy Rollins went from first to third to put runners on the corners with 1 out. Placido Polanco then hit a sac fly to score Rollins and tie the game at 1. It wasn't pretty but the Phils were able to buckle down and manufacture a much needed run. Antonio Bastardo worked his way out of a jam in the bottom of the 8th and was able to pitch a scoreless inning and preserve the 1-1 tie.
In the 9th the Phils offense failed to score. In the bottom of the inning Danys Baez put runners on first and second with no outs and Albert Pujols at the plate. Baez fell behind 2-0 and eventually Pujols hit a weak flare to shallow right to load the bases with no outs. Baez forced Matt Holliday to hit a ground ball right to Rollins who fired it home to get the force at the plate. Charlie then brought in J.C. Romero who threw one pitch to Lance Berkman who hit a fly ball to center over the head of Michael Martinez to give the Cardinals a 2-1 victory and a 2 game series sweep.
The Phils have now lost 4 straight and have ended the road trip with a 3-5 record. Now they will return home for a 9 game homestand beginning tomorrow night against the Colorado Rockies.
Hopefully by returning home the Phillies will be able to find some answers at the plate. The Phils offense right now looks stagnant and dead and they need to do something to break out. Charlie needs to do some line up shuffling to bring some life back to the Phils' bats.
Right now I think it's too early to panic with the Phillies offense. The Phillies are a great veteran team who will eventually figure things out.
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