PHILLIES NEWS

The Heartbreak continues for the Phils. Rather than opening their series with the wild card leading Padres tonight with a bang, they opened it with a thud. Early on things looked good. Sure, Jamie Moyer allowed 2 runs right off the bat on a two run homer by Adrian Gonzalez, but the Phils came right back with 2 in the bottom of the 1st, on a double by Ryan Howard, and a single by Aaron Rowand. Then in 3rd inning, Tad Iguchi singled, stole second, and scored on a fielder's choice to put the Phils up 3-2. Sadly, it would be their last lead of the night. In the bottom of the 4th, with one out and Carlos Ruiz on first base, Abraham Nunez hit what appeared to be a harmless double play groundball at SS Khalil Greene. Greene then flipped it to 2nd baseman Marcus Giles to get Ruiz, but before Giles could throw to first, Ruiz slid into his legs and took him out, allowing Nunez beat his throw. Apparently, Giles took the takeout slide personally, and began a heated argument with Ruiz, that cleared both benches without incident. Unfortunately, that confrontation fired up the wrong team as San Diego exploded for 12 more runs and 20 hits the rest of the night, inluding 8 runs on 10 hits off Moyer in a dismal 4 and 2/3rds innings. The Phils on the other hand never scored again, losing 14-3 to drop to 65-61 overall, now 3 games behind the padres in the wildcard ,and 6 behind the Mets in the NL East. Life thus, still sucks.