Yes, sports fans, this was an "ugly" loss insofar as the Phils squandered a tremendous early opportunity to get to Josh Johnson. They had already taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on Ryan Howard's opposite field home run and then loaded the bases with no outs. They failed to score another run the rest of the evening.
Roy Halladay pitched very well at times though he uncharacteristically walked the opposing pitcher for what the announcers said was the first time in his career. Can that be right? (Rhetorical question. Someone else can look it up!!) Johnson came in to score the tying run on a sacrifice fly and in the eighth inning the Fish scored the winning run on two errors, really, by Jimmy Rollins, who bobbled a hard hit grounder right at him for the first miscue, then hurried his throw wide of first for the second and official miscue.
That was it. The Phils failed to capitalize and they paid the price.
Raul Ibanez started in left field and Ben Francisco in right. Ross Gload, who hit well the night before in a rare start, sat until he pinch-hit in the ninth. Why, Charlie? Why not start Gload in right and John Mayberry in left? Manuel's devotion to Ibanez is killing this team. (OK, the guy who is looking up the Halladay info above can check to see if Ibanez and/or Francisco have great numbers against Johnson. Frankly, it's hard to imagine anyone on this team has great numbers against Johnson.)
4 comments:
What I heard the announcer say was that it was the first time THIS SEASON that Halladay walked the opposing pitcher.
At any rate, when he walked Johnson in the 3rd inning, and Johnson eventually scored, I said that's the ballgame right there. They will lose by one run. I said it right then and there. End of story.
Bases loaded twice and don't score. Once with NO OUTS!!
Poor Halladay feels like he has to pitch a shutout each time to get a win.
Thank goodness this is the final year of their contracts for Ibanez and Blanton.
Thanks, Matty. I didn't hear it correctly. It wasn't hard to imagine Halladay had never walked his opposite number but it did seem somewhat unlikely. As for the pitchers to go down (earlier post) I guess Worley is the guy given there are options remaining for him.
Raul got a double and a single against Johnson- better than any of the other players last night.
I know Ibanez got two hits. I am talking about STARTING him. It worked out for Charlie last night; most nights, it doesn't.
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