PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils completed their series with the Cubs this afternoon looking to win their 11th in a row. Unfortunately all good things must eventually come to an end and so the Phils finally lost a game today and boy did they lose. I mean everything went wrong today. Jamie Moyer was touched for 5 runs, the bullpen which had tossed 12 consecutive scoreless innings was touched up for 5 runs, the Phils defense, arguably the best in the NL up to this point, committed 2 errors, and out of 16 base runners only 5 managed to cross the plate. Even against the currently gutless Cubs that's good enough to win. Still on the bright side the Phils did at least win the series and with Cole Hamels on the mound tomorrow they can quickly begin a new winning streak. Getting back to today for a bit, Things looked fin for the Phils early on as Moyer matched Zambrano with 3 scoreless innings to open the game. Then like lightning in the top of the 4th, Chicago raced out to a 4-0 lead on a single by Alphonso Soriano, a double by Baker, and an error by Chase Utley. In the top of the 5th Chicago made it 5-0 on a single by Milton Bradley. The Phils made a decent comeback attempt, with 1 run in the bottom of the inning on a fielder's choice, 2 runs in the 6th on a 2 run single by Pedro Feliz to cut it to 5-3. Then Chad Durbin allowed 3 runs in the 7th on a double by Aramis Ramirez and a sac fly by Fox. Still the Phils fought back again with 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th on a 2 run single by Greg Dobbs to cut it to 8-5. All hopes of a Phils rally went out the window though a couple innings later as Brad Lidge allowed 2 runs in the top of the 9th on a single by Reed Johnson and bases loaded walk to Derek Lee to increase the lead to an insurmountable 10-5. I guess when you lose so a little, every loss has to be a bit of a doozy. Anyway so the Phils drop to 53-39 overall and now 5.5 games up in the NL East.