PHILLIES NEWS

After sweeping the White Sox the Phils came out firing against the Tigers tonight. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard both homered in the 1st inning and the Phils led early 2-0. Unfortunately just when it seemed as if their hot streak would continue, Detroit came back with a vengeance. The Tigers scored 2 in the second inning to tie it, and then in the 5th Jon Lieber ran into the dreaded ,big inning, as he was touched up for 5 runs, including a 3 run homer by Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. Still, it was only 7-2, so the Phils were at least still in it. They wouldn't stay in it for long. The Tigers scored 4 more runs in the 6th off Francisco Rosario, including an RBI double by Sean Casey, to race out to an 11-3 lead(Jimmy Rollins hit his second homer of the night back in the 5th). Still, as has been their MO all season the Phils weren't ready to give up yet. Greg Dobbs homered in the 6th, to cut the lead to 11-4. After the Tigers had tacked on another run, Shane Victorino hit a 2 run homer in the 7th to cut the lead to 12-6. Carlos Ruiz doubled in a run, and Jimmy Rollins tripled in Ruiz in the 8th to cut the lead to 12-8. Then with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, the Phils put two on for Greg Dobbs, with Jayson Werth in the on deck circle representing the tying run. Unfortunately, Dobbs struck out and the Phils fell 12-8. In all the Phils hammered 5 homers, for 8 runs on 13 hits. and yet they still lost. Which tells you just how good the Tigers are. So the Phils dropped to 35-32, but they are still in 3rd place just 3 games behind the Mets for first, and .5 games behind Atlanta for 2nd. In other words, life sucks again.