PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils completed their series with the Orioles and thus their homestand this afternoon. Cole Hamels got the start and went 8 brilliant innings, allowing just 2 runs on 9 hits, while striking out 10. Unfortunately with Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez both MIA the Phils could only give Hamels one run and ultimately fell 2-1 for their 6th consecutive loss. Charlie Manuel even took my advice and got himself thrown out of the game but the Phils still didn't get fired up. Either no one was paying attention or only road trips get them going these days. The Phils actually led early 1-0 on a solo homer by Greg Dobbs and then Brian Roberts rallied Baltimore ahead for the 2nd game in a row, doubling and scoring the tying run in the 6th and singling with one out in the 8th inning to knock in the eventual winning run. So the Phils drop to 13-22 at home and are just dying right now. Hopefully with the off day tomorrow Howard will get well and return to the lineup to start the road trip on Tuesday, because they are really going to need him to provide the spark until Ibanez comes back, especially considering that Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, and Pedro Feliz all failed to register a single hit today, as they went a combined 0 for 13. So anyway the after getting swept for the 2nd straight time the Phils drop to 36-32 overall, but thanks to another Met's loss the Phils remain 2 games up in the NL East