PHILLIES NEWS

Tonight(Friday) the Phillies ran into a buzz saw in Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett, who shut them down for 6 innings , retiring the Phillies' first 16 batters, and over 8 innings allowed them just 2 runs on 3 hits, one of them a two-run homer by Chase Utley. It's hard enough for the Phillies to win right now when they do score runs, so you can imagine how badly tonight went for them. To say that this game was never really close would be an understatement. Phillies starter Ryan Madson lasted just 1 and 2/3rd of an inning and by the 3rd inning the Phillies trailed 6-0. Rookie Scott Mathieson came on to replace Madson and pitched well keeping the score 6-0 until the Phillies finally got on the board in 7th inning on Utley's homer, cutting the lead to 6-2, which would be as close as the Phillies would get. Manny Ramirez homered off Mathieson in the bottom of the 7th to up the score to 7-2 and Mathieson was subsequently pulled from the game in favor of Ryan Franklin who was roughed up in the 8th inning for 3 runs on 2 hits, producing a laughable final score of 10 -2. All I can say is Charlie Manuel had better figure out how to get the lineup going and fast because right now their pitching isn't good enough for them to win while scoring 2 runs a night. He has got to find a way to settle down Chase Utley, Bobby Abreu, and Aaron Rowand, because they all seem to be pressing every time they come to bat and they are really struggling right now because of it.