I'm going to try to promise not to excessively use the word "sell" in my next few pieces. I will try. I'll start by focusing on tonight's contest. After losing two of three to the Mets, the mind-bending Phillies roster would travel to St. Louis to take on arguably the major's best squad, the Cardinals. It's the start of what just may be the beginning of the end for this team, as they'll head to Detroit next to take on the 2012 AL Champion Tigers. Jonathan Pettibone would begin the roadtrip for the Phils. He has been impressive at times this year, but could he bring that talent against such a potent offense? He'd also have to ace Shelby Miller, one of the Cardinals' seemingly endless streak of impressive young guns.
The scoring started early for the Red Birds. Matt Carpenter and Jon Jay each started hings off with a single. Given the opportunity, Allen Craig would ground into a forceout that scored Carpenter. Despite the early 1-0 deficit, Pettibone seemed to have his stuff.
In fact, through the first couple innings, both pitchers had their stuff. Pettibone and Miller matched each other well through the start of the game, with only four hits being surrendered by the two combined. Unfortunately, things began to open up a bit for the Cards in the fourth.
Consecutive doubles by Craig and Yadier Molina gave St. Louis a quick run. Matt Adams and Davis Freese followed with singles of their own, pushing the Cardinal lead to 3-0 over Pettibone's Phillies. Pettibone would last five innings, being pinch hit for by Laynce Nix in the sixth. Raul Valdes worked a scoreless inning in relief.
Up until the seventh inning, there wasn't much to talk about offensively. With just three hits to that point, their scoreless inning streak reached 14. Following a Darin Ruf single off new pitcher Seth Maness, John Mayberry Jr. doubled to score the first run. Though it was just a run, it did leave the Phillies down by just 2, 3-1.
Carlos Beltran tripled to left field to begin the home half of the seventh when Domonic Brown attempted to make a diving play. There was a bit of a care when he was slow to get up, but he remained in the game. However, another Allen Craig hit would put the lead at 4-1 for the Cards.
As they seem to do often, the Phillies tried to make it interesting in the ninth. Chase Utley and Delmon Young would each single to put two on, but Ruf and Mayberry Jr. couldn't capitalize. The Phillies lose 4-1.
After a disappointing end to the Met series, you would hope the Phillies could come out and play well against the Cardinals. Unfortunately, the bats just did not arrive. The poor offense continued, and fans have obviously begun to lose interest. One of those would be my dad. I watch the Phillies with him most of the time, and some of his comments are quite entertaining. Starting tonight, I think I'll start sharing his frustration with you, the reader. My favorite from tonight when I asked why he didn't have the game on:
[As he's eating pasta salad] "They've been playing so bad, I had to get something to eat."
I really don't know how that helped, but I just found it interesting. Maybe you guys experience the same with your family. Anyway, this team really is disappointing. They have not played to the best of their abilities lately. If this pattern continues, you may be seeing the last of some fan favorites in Phillies' red. That being said, tune into tomorrow night's game, when John Lannan will take on Jake Westbrook at 8:15.
–Andrew Gillen
