PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils traveled to Pittsburgh tonight to begin a series with the Pirates. Joe Blanton got the start and was decent allowing 3 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings of work. Thanks to solo homers by Jimmy Rollins in his 1st 2 at bats on the first pitches he saw, that performance by Blanton was good enough to leave the Phils trailing 3-2 heading into the top of the 9th. There Ben Francisco doubled in 1 run and the "Flyin Hawaiian", Shane Victorino tripled to score Francisco and clinch an apparent 4-3 Phils win. Except Brad Lidge couldn't close it out in the bottom of the 9th. First Luis Cruz singled to leadoff. Then Lidge threw a wild pitch to move the tying run into scoring position. Next Brandon Moss singled to right field, right to a charging Jayson Werth, looking to throw the runner out at home, but he bobbled the ball and threw wide of the plate, pulling Carlos Ruiz just far enough away from the plate to allow the run to score. Finally Andrew McCutchen lined a 2 run homer into the seats and just like that it was game over, 6-4 Pirates. I just don't know what has happened to Lidge this season. He still has the same stuff, he's just not using it as efficiently as he did last season. If the Phils bullpen were a little more healthy right now he would probably be done for a while, but at this point, with Clay Condrey, J.C Romero, and Brett Myers still on the DL, there just isn't anyone who can fill in for Lidge, so we'll just have to hope he gets it back together after this. Anyway so the Phils drop to 72-52 overall, but remain 7 games up in the NL East.