PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils continued their series with the Braves this afternoon. Cole Hamels got the start and again he wasn't very sharp, but he managed to get through 6 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits. The Phils meanwhile touched up Kenshin Kawakami for 3 runs on 7 hits, notably a triple by "the Flyin Hawaiian", Shane Victorino in the top of the 4th inning, a double by Raul Ibanez and a triple by Pedro Feliz, in the top of the 5th inning, and finally a solo homer by Jayson Werth in the top of the 7th inning to give the Phils a 3-2 lead. Thanks to good bullpen work by Scott Eyre and Ryan Madson the Phils took that lead into the bottom of the 9th and in came Brad Lidge to get the save again. This time he wasn't so lucky, but it wasn't totally his fault either. Chase Utley misplayed a groundball to leadoff the inning and put one on with nobody out. Next Matt Diaz bunted to move the runner over and Lidge failed to field it cleanly and then threw it away trying to get Diaz at 1st. Thus, allowing the runner on first, Garrett Anderson, to score the game tying run. Accordingly he went on to load the bases from there and the infield came in to try to get a couple forceouts. He did get strikeout but the next batter Omar Infante grounded the first pitch he saw just past a diving Jimmy Rollins to score the winning run. I am not to sure what to say about Lidge at this point. Although this wasn't totally his fault it wasn't pretty either. Unfortunately, there just isn't anyone in the Phils bullpen who can do any better right now so I think for now we're stuck with Lidge until, as Pedro Martinez would say "the cavalry arrives", and J.C Romero, Clay Condrey, and Brett Myers return from DL. Therefore I truly hope he figures it out again at least for a while, because we're going to need him for a little bit longer. The Phils lineup can also be blamed somewhat for this loss as they left 11 runners on base and 3 times failed to score with a runner in scoring position and 1 out or less. Considering how well the lineup had been performing you have to hope this was just the result of another superb pitching performance and not the beginning of another slump. Anyway so the Phils drop to 65-49 overall, and now 4 games up in the NL East.