Philadelphia Phillies Lose Despite Three First-Inning Runs vs. Cardinals

It’s not getting any prettier for the Phillies after the All-Star break as now not only are the bats suffering, but the pitching is starting to slide as well.

The latter has become more evident after Roy Halladay got knocked around Sunday night and Kyle Kendrick got knocked around even worse on Monday night.

Kendrick, who only pitched five innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, gave up seven runs—four of them home runs, and five of the seven runs coming in the fifth inning. Up until that point, Kendrick had been an impressive 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA against the Cardinals.

I’m not exactly a math whiz, but something tells me that ERA will be going up a little bit.

“My command was off all night,” Kendrick said after the game. “I got behind, I left pitches up. They should be hit where they hit them.”

Kendrick, however, isn’t the only guy to blame. He did give up a 3-0 nothing lead the Phillies’ bats gave him in the first inning, but it’s also worth noting that the Phils wound up with only four runs on the board when all was said and done.

Jayson Werth, whose days as a Phillie could be numbered, continued his struggles with runners in scoring position. In the first inning, he had guys on second and third with only one out, and couldn’t even manage to hit a ground ball and get a run home.

Instead, Werth hit a weak pop-up to Albert Pujols at first base. Shane Victorino came up afterward and hit a shot back up the middle to bring both guys home, but had Werth done that and gotten on base, Victorino’s hit could have brought him home and put four runs on the board right out of the gate.

Later, Werth decided to get cute over at first base and take a monstrous lead. Yadier Molina would have none of it, stood up, and gunned Werth easily.

It doesn’t even look like he’s trying anymore.

Also figure in that Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco went a combined 2 for 10 and you’ve got a lot of hits coming with the bases empty and not a lot of RBI opportunities. If someone doesn’t grab Rollins by the neck and convince him to stop swinging for the fences, his average could soon fall below .200 and the Phils could soon fall below .500.

Jamie Moyer (9-9, 4.88 ERA) takes on Chris Carpenter (10-3, 3.16 ERA) Tuesday night in game two of the series, so it’s either going to be a 2-1 Phillies win or a 13-1 Phillies loss. There really is no in between with Moyer on the mound, is there?

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