Game Recap:
Kyle Kendrick pitched eight scoreless innings, but Ryan Madson and Jose Contreras allowed four runs in the ninth and tenth inning as the Phillies lost their third game in a row.
What went right?
Placido Polanco went 2-5 with a run scored.
Chase Utley was 2-5 with a run scored and two RBI.
Ryan Howard went 1-5 with an RBI.
Raul Ibanez went 1-2 with two walks.
Kyle Kendrick had his best outing of the season, pitching eight shutout innings while giving up just four hits. He struck out two and walked two.
What went wrong?
Carlos Ruiz went 0-4 with two strikeouts.
Ryan Madson blew his first save of the season, allowing three runs on back to back home runs in the ninth inning. He walked a batter and didn't strike anyone out.
Jose Contreras didn't even record an out, allowing Nate McLouth to hit a leadoff, game winning home run off of him in the bottom of the tenth inning.
Game Analysis:
For the second game in a row, a great start by a shaky looking starting pitcher has gone to waste. While on Sunday, Cole Hamels didn't get any support from his offense, tonight, Kyle Kendrick was left hanging thanks to the Philadelphia bullpen, which allowed four runs in just two innings to send the Phillies to their third straight loss.
At the start of the season, people said that the bullpen would be the biggest worry for the Phillies heading into this season, and for a week and a half, they were wrong. Now, the bullpen is starting to rear its ugly head, as the relief pitchers have allowed eight runs in the last four games. Ryan Madson blew his first save of the season, and his 7.71 ERA is going to make people start wishing for Brad Lidge to come back even sooner. Luckily, Lidge isn't back yet, nor is J.C. Romero. Once those two get back from the DL, the bullpen should take care of itself, and these issues later in games will resolve. Madson is having the same issues now that he had last season when he was in the closing role. He's just not used to it. While he's a great setup man, he doesn't seem to have the stuff to close out games, and that's what Lidge is for. With Madson and Romero both available in the seventh and eighth innings, Lidge will have less to worry about, and the Phillies will be in much better shape than they are now in terms of their bullpen.
I'm not going to take anything away from Kyle Kendrick tonight. After two horrible outings to start the season, Kendrick came out tonight like his major league career depended on it, and pitched eight scoreless innings. Even when he did get into some trouble, he showed poise and was able to get out of it, which is something that he hasn't been able to do in his other starts this season. His pitches were on target, and he recorded 16 ground ball outs, which is exactly what he needs to do to succeed at the big league level. I don't know where he's going to go after this start, but with Joe Blanton still a week or two away from returning, and J.A. Happ likely headed to the DL with a forearm/elbow injury, he could be sticking around in the starting rotation.
Against Tommy Hanson, the offense did what they had to do, especially with a good young pitcher on the mound. The Phils forced Hanson out of the game in less than five innings, continuing their trend of working starting pitchers over. The only problem was that, after Hanson left the game, the Phillies only scored a run off of the Braves' bullpen, and that proved to be their undoing at the plate tonight. If the offense had been able to produce more against the bullpen of Atlanta, then Madson might not have had the problems he did in the ninth inning, and Jose Contreras might not have even had to come into the game at all. Instead, Madson gave up back to back home runs, Contreras allowed a walk off blast in the tenth inning, and the legend of Jason Heyward grew a little bit more.
There's still 149 other games to play this year, I wouldn't be too worried yet.
Tomorrow, Roy Halladay (3-0, 1.13 ERA) looks to stop the losing streak as he faces off against Tim Hudson (1-0, 2.84 ERA).
No comments:
Post a Comment