PHILLIES NEWS

It was an ugly night in Philadelphia tonight but someone had to win it. For most of the evening it didn't look like that someone would be the Phillies. However, a late rash of Red's errors proved to be the difference. During the regular season the Cincinnati Reds were the best defensive team in baseball, but tonight was different. They committed 4 errors, hit 3 batsmen and allowed 5 unearned runs. Against anyone, especially the Phils, that is a recipe for a disaster. Moreover, they actually led 4-0 Early in the game and just let it slip away thanks to all the miscues. When you do that. When you lose a game of such magnitude in that fashion it takes a lot out of you and the Reds, particularly manager Dusty Baker, certainly looked like a defeated team after wards.

Anyway, lets take it from the top. Roy Oswalt allowed leadoff homer to Brandon Phillips in the first and was basically off his game after that. He just started constantly shaking off Carlos Ruiz and his pitches suddenly didn't have the same bite on them. In end he managed to at least keep things close, allowing just 4 runs on 5 hits while striking out 5. On multiple occasions he got key outs with runner's scoring position and minimized damage by allowing solo homer to Philips and Jay Bruce. Otherwise things might not turned out much differently for the Phils tonight. More on that in a second. Ultimately you would be hard pressed to call this bad start by Oswalt. It just wasn't his best and I would expect much better from him moving forward.

Anyway, the Phils for their part just could not figure out Bronson Arroyo in the early going, that is until his teammates hung him out to dry. He put up 4 scoreless frames to start the night and appeared to be cruising, but as is often said, a pitcher is only as good as the defense behind him. Such was this case for Arroyo in the 5th. He continued to make good pitches, but with 2 out things went awry. First Brandon Philips failed to properly field a ground ball, allowing Shane Victorino to reach base, as Dominic Brown slid safely into 2nd. Then Scott Rolen booted a grounder to 3rd to the load bases for Chase Utley. Utley made 2 errors early in the game that really hurt Roy Oswalt, but he began to atone for them here with a 2 run single to cut the lead to 4-2.

Next in the 6th, Jayson Werth worked a leadoff walk and one batter after that Arroyo's night was over. ex-Phil Arthur Rhodes replace Arroyo and beaned Carlos Ruiz in the knee to put 2 on and 2 out for pinch hitter Ben Francisco. Logan Andrusek came in to pitch to Francisco and threw a ball off his helmet to load the bases for Shane Victorino. Victorino walked to force in a run and the lead was down to 4-3. Andrusek finally regained his control long after that to retire Placido Polanco and end the inning. In desperation Dusty Baker went to the Cuban Missile, Aroldis Chapman to pitch the 7th inning. The move backfired in every way possible. First Chapman hit Utley, or at least the umpire though he hit him. Then with one out Rolen botched a fielder's choice as Utley slid into 2nd just ahead of his throw, putting 2 on and 2 out for Jimmy Rollins.

From there, Rollins looped a routine fly ball to right field by Bruce lost in the lights, resulting a 2 run double which put the Phils ahead 5-4. Raul Ibanez followed with a single off the stunned Chapman, but it wasn't enough to score the hobbled Rollins. Instead a fielder's choice by Ruiz brought Jimmy in for a 6-4 lead. Later Werth slapped an RBI single to add a run in the 8th before Brad Lidge closed out the shellshocked Reds relatively easily for the 7-4 win.