Tonight was one of those nights for the Phils where nothing went right and I mean nothing. The best thing they can do after this one is forget about it move on, but that won't be easy. Once again they couldn't hit with runners in scoring position. They also compounded things with some very sloppy play. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each got thrown out at 2nd trying to stretch a single into double. Although they did turn a highlight reel double play early in the game Chase and Juan Castro mistimed a double play late in the game leading to an error when Chase couldn't get the ball out of his glove right away. That caused Chad Durbin to have his first bad inning of the season. Finally although he pitch effectively enough to keep the Phils in the game and give them a chance to win Jamie Moyer allowed 2 homers in the 2nd inning putting the Phils in a hole from which they would never escape. Oh and once again there were questionable balls and strikes almost all going in the Giants favor.
As poorly as they played the Phils actually only lost by 4 with the final score 6-2, which just shows how poor the Giants lineup is and how well Moyer battled in allowing just 4 runs against 10 hits in 6 solid innnigs. It was such a disgusting effort I don 't want to too much more about it. However, there were a few positives the Phils can take out of this one. With his 6 innings tonight Moyer has now 6 innings in all 4 of his starts this season and has yet to allow more than 5 runs which makes him, behind Roy Halladay, the Phils most consistent starter right now. As long he keeps eating up innings and saving the bullpen like he did tonight he won't be leaving the rotation any time soon. J.C Romero made his 2nd appearance tonight since coming off DL and looked sharp with a 1-2-3 8th inning. In fact he really looked like the old J.C pumpimp himself up after every pitch. That's a good sign that the Phils bullpen can indeed improve over the coming weeks and might not be in too much trouble after all if indeed Romero and Brad Lidge, who returns Monday, are strong and healthy again.
With the loss the Phils drop out of 1st place for the 1st time since last May. They've got a lot to be thankful for though. Despite their awful play of late they have still managed to go 3-5 on their current road trip and could 4-5 on the trip with a win tomorrow, basically breaking even. Conversely, the Braves, who are on a similar road trip and have played just as poorly, have lost 7 in a row. So even the Phils worst is better than most teams below average play and that's really why they are so good. After all how many teams do you know that can be awful and still play near .500 ball?
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