Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Phillies Recap: Cubs-10, Phillies-5

Game Recap:
The Phillies 10 game winning streak came to an end this afternoon, as Chicago pounded out ten runs on 13 hits.

What went right?

Greg Dobbs was 2-5 with two RBI.

Pedro Feliz went 2-5 with a run scored and two RBI.

Shane Victorino was 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Jayson Werth was 2-4 and scored a run.

Ryan Howard went 1-4 and scored twice.

What went wrong?

Jamie Moyer didn't make it into the sixth inning, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits. He walked three and struck out three.

Chad Durbin took the Phillies out of the game for good in the seventh inning, allowing three runs on two hits while not recording an out. He also walked three batters.

Brad Lidge got hit for two runs of his own in the ninth inning. He allowed two hits, walked two and struck out two.

Chase Utley went 0-4 with three strikeouts and had a big error in the fourth inning.

Jimmy Rollins went 0-4, ending his hitting streak.

Game Analysis:

Well, everyone knew that the winning streak couldn't go on forever, and boy did it end with a thud today. In a horribly played game by both teams, the Phillies outstunk the Cubs. There were poor plays on both sides, as well as a combined four errors, 14 walks and 23 men left on base. It was a game that neither team deserved to win, but today, the Phils caught the wrong end of the ugly stick.

It was quite the nasty game today, as the Phillies wasted several chances to get back into the game and possibly put the Cubs away. In the past ten games, someone had always come up with the big hit. Today, no one could, as Chase Utley and Ryan Howard went a combined 1-8. When your two big bats in the middle can't produce, you're not going to win many games, and that was the case today.

So, what happens now? If the Phillies are as good as they've been playing for most of July, they'll dust themselves back off and play like they did during the last two weeks, save for today. If they let this loss get to them, it could be the start of something bad, but I honestly don't think it's going to go that way. This team is too good to let one bad loss get to them. Hell, they had a whole month of bad losses in June, and look how they've responded to that this month.

Tomorrow, Cole Hamels (5-5, 4.72 ERA) faces off against San Diego's Kevin Correia (6-7, 4.34 ERA). This is a makeup game from April 20th, when someone with a sense of humor decided it should be a Dollar Dog Night. It still is, so go and enjoy some cheap hot dogs tomorrow.

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