The Phillies (62-50) got stomped by Los Angeles Dodgers tonight by a score of 15-9 as they drop the opening game of a three-day set with their 2008 and 2009 NLCS counterparts. The Phillies pulled to within three runs of the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Ross Gload hit his sixth home run of the season to make it 7-4, but that was as close as the Phils got.
The Dodgers responded with four more runs in the top of the sixth to put the Dodgers over the 10 run mark as they made the score 11-4 and that was the game.
The Phillies were tied for the fourth best home record in the league coming into the night and that didn't mean much as Kyle Kendrick had his worst start since returning from his brief stint in the minors following a rocky start against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Kendrick on the night struggled from the jump as he allowed a quick run for LA but settled down to get through the second inning unscathed, but in the third inning, the Dodgers struck getting two runs on three hits and Kyle didn't get through the fourth inning.
Kyle's line on the night was not pretty as he gave up five earned runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings. Kendrick took the loss on the night, his fifth of the season.
The Phillies used seven pitchers on the night including recently brought up left hander Antonio Bastardo who didn't win any fans tonight only pitching 0.2 of an inning and giving up three hits in that span. So the bullpen woes for the Phils continue on a night they definitely needed relief and they didn't get much. The bullpen on the night gave up nine earned runs on 10 hits.
Raul Ibanez on a brighter note, kept his hitting streak alive as he increased that number to 17 games and counting as it took his last at-bat to extend it as Raul is hitting over .400 in those 17 games and has earned the right to keep his job in left field the rest of the season as there was an increasing sentiment that maybe Dom Brown would take that spot if Raul didn't pick it up offensively.
Another good note from tonight's game was Domonic Brown's first Major League home run, which came in the bottom of the sixth as he had a four RBI night for the Phils. The Phillies fought to the bitter end as Philadelphia scored a couple runs in the bottom of the ninth but ran out of position players as they had to use pitcher Cole Hamels in a RBI situation, he flied out to end the game in the at-bat.
Everyone now will look ahead to Roy Oswalt's Philadelphia debut tomorrow night as he will take to the mound against Chad Billingsley for the Dodgers, who is having a pretty good season for LA, as he has a record of 9-6 on the year with a good ERA of 3.82.
Oswalt in his two starts as a Phillies has seen mixed results, he's 0-1 so far with an ERA of 4.38, but he pitched better in his last start against the Florida Marlins as he ran out of steam in the seventh inning. Hopefully he's not suffering from tired arm tomorrow night so the Phillies can maybe make up some ground in the wild-card and divisional races.
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