San Diego's Bullpen Closes the Door on Phils

The Phillies capitalized off key Padres errors in the early innings but a huge Phillies base running mistake cost them the game.

The Philadelphia Phillies (30-25) lost to the Padres today in 10 innings today by a score of 6-5 after a tough out by Placido Polanco in the bottom of the 10th after a Chase Utley single, Polanco tried to advance to third and was thrown out by a spectacular throw by center fielder Tony Gwynn Jr. 

Ryan Howard followed the single by Utley with a single of his own to create a first and third situation with 2 outs. The Phillies had a chance to strike back against Padres closer Heath Bell and tie the game when Jayson Werth came to the plate.

What followed may have been the worst at-bat Jayson Werth has had this season. Following a first pitch ball, Werth swung badly at three conceutive pitches to end the game which was a groan-inducing conclusion to the game for the sell-out crowd in attendance at Citizens Bank Park.

Following a night in which fans thought the hitting nightmare was over, the Werth of recent weeks returned today going hitless in five at-bats with three strikeouts.

Joe Blanton got the start for the Phils today and cobbled together another shaky performance for Philadelphia. Blanton went five innings and gave up 11 hits while allowing five earned runs.

Charlie Manuel in his post-game press conference spoke about Blanton's recent struggles.

"In the time he has been here he has been consistent. I think he will definitely get better," Manuel said.

Oscar Salazar's RBI single in the tenth won the game for the Padres (33-23) who still hold the lead in the NL West over the Dodgers by a game.

The San Diego bullpen came up huge after starter Kevin Correia struggled through just an inning plus of work. Correia gave up four hits and five runs while surrendering three walks.

The Padre bullpen came in and pitched a shutout the rest of the way while striking out eight Phillie batters on the way to victory.

Philadelphia will look to take three out of four in the series tomorrow evening at 7:05pm when Cole Hamels takes the mound in the final game of this wrap-around weekend set.

Moyer Throws another Complete Game as Phils Win

Don't look now, Jamie Moyer is now the 2nd best pitcher on this Phillies roster.

Moyer went the distance for the second time last night as the Philadelphia Phillies (30-24) finally awoke from their hitting slumber to beat the San Diego Padres (32-23) by a score of 6-2. The Phillies scored more than 4 runs for the first time in 12 games, led by the two-run blast by Jayson Werth.

Ryan Howard also appeared to be back in prime hitting form last night as he went two for four with a double amd two RBI.

Utley who was the third cog of the Philadephia offensive blackout, had an RBI last night as well. Utley was struggling mightily before last night's game. In his last ten games, Utley has gone four for 37 with only one RBI.

So it was encouraging to see many of the Phillies get involved in the hitting last night, as the Phils had jammed out 10 hits.

Moyer had to be relieved to see some run support last night because he wasn't getting much lately, as he had lost three of his previous five decisions even though he only had an ERA of 2.97.

Moyer improved to 6-5 on the season and with his performance last night, he lowered his ERA under 4 on the season to 3.98. It's the first time since 2006 that Moyer has thrown two complete games in the same season.

The 47-year-old Moyer became the third pitcher to win 100 games after hitting the age of 40. He also moved into a tie for 38th on the all-time wins list with 264 wins for his career.

Not many people expected Moyer to pitch this well going into the season as many people were clamoring for Kyle Kendrick in spring training to win the fifth spot in the rotation that ultimately went to Moyer. Looks like Moyer has proven to everybody that he still has a lot of gas left in the tank.

The Phils are still kicking as well, they remain two games back in the NL East but they've beaten the best team in the National League two straight games and they roughed up Jon Garland last night. Garland had Cy Young like numbers this season but gave up six runs over seven innings.


Today, the Phillies will go for three straight as Joe Blanton will toe the mound for the Phils against the Padres' Kevin Correia.

First pitch of Phillies/Padres Game 3 is set for 1:35 pm today down at the Bank.