Phillies Drops Final Two In St. Louis

Friday night, it was a thing of beauty.

The Phillies score 20 runs on 21 hits against an overachieving St. Louis Cardinals team. Things look promising.

That is until Saturday rolled along...

Whether it was a poor hitting approach or the dreadful FOX Sports announce team of Kenny Albert and Mark Grace, the Phillies couldn't figure out Kyle Lohse, who gave his best Brandon Webb sinker ball impression en route to the 3-2 win. He limited the Phillies to just four hits, and two came off the bat of pitcher Adam Eaton, who delivered his team-leading ninth quality start of the season.

OK, a loss is a loss is a loss. Go get 'em the next day, boys!

Oh yeah, I forgot. Brett "Hitting Machine" Myers was toeing the slab on getaway day. Great.

The Phillies took an early 1-0 lead on a Ryan Howard run-scoring double. As fast as you can say "send him to Triple'A," Myers caughed up the lead. Myers issued his world-leading 1,000th home run of the year to Troy Glaus in the third inning. The Phillies at that point trailed 5-1.

To their credit, the Phillies battled back, as they are accustomed of doing. Erratic bullpen pitching on the part of St. Louis helped the Phillies tie the game in the eighth inning thanks to four straight walks.

In the ninth inning, the Phillies had a wonderful opportunity to score the go-ahead run. With first and third and one out, Jimmy Rollins tapped a harmless groundball to first baseman Chris Duncan, who fired home to gun down Eric Bruntlett, who literally knocked catcher Yadier Molina out of the game. Oh, Bruntlett was out.

So, to the bottom half, where things got messy after Tom Gordon got the first two outs. A throwing error by Chase Utley kept the inning alive. Utley had a chance to redeem himself, but Gordon somehow missed the throw covering first base. Cardinals score the winning run.

The Phillies finished their nine-game road trip with a 5-4 mark. Not bad, but a little unexpected after a quick 3-0 start.

There are other issues up for discussion in a later post, notably the Myers situation, which is starting to become a huge concern.

Until then, it's time to prepare for the swarm of moronic Boston Red Sox fans to Citizens Bank Park starting tomorrow for the first of three.

Oh boy.