PHILLIES NEWS

The finished their series with the Nationals tonight as they looked to complete the sweep. Kyle Kendrick got the start in place of the injured Joe Blanton and unfortunately was roughed up allowing 5 runs on 6 hits in the just 4 innings. That put the Phils behind early 5-2 and they couldn't quite dig out of that hole despite a valiant effort. In the top of the 5th, an error gave the Phils 1 run and then a Ryan Howard single knocked in a 2nd run to cut it to 5-4. Then in the top of the 6th Jimmy Rollins sac flyed in a run to knot it all up 5. Ryan Zimmerman untied it in the bottom of the 7th with an RBI double for a 6-5 Washington lead, leaving the Phils to rally again and they almost did successfully. In the 8th and 9th innings they had chances to tie it up again, but Placido Polanco grounded out with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 out in the 8th, and Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, and Shane Victorino all flied out with the tying run in scoring position.

So in the end Phils came up just short in this one, losing 6 -5. It is too early in the season to panic over a loss like this. Kendrick can only get a better from here on out and he only figures to be in the rotation for another month so when Joe Blanton comes off the DL. While the pitching struggled a bit tonight the Phils continued to hit, racking up anoher 12 hits and 5 runs in the loss. Most Impressive tonight was Werth who slapped 3 hits and scored a run. Unfortunately for him it just wasn't quite enough to get the Phils the win. Rollins, Howard, and Chase Utley also continued to look with each collecting 2 hits and an RBI on the night. So the Phils drop to 2-1 overall, but that's fine because 2 out of 3 in each series is all you need to be successful. The sweep would have nice though. Next up for the Phils will be Brett Myers and the Astros. Unfortunately Myers won't be available to pitch against his old team, but it should be an interesting series anyway.