Phillies open series with second consecutive loss on national TV
Kendrick unravels as Phils keep struggling – Todd Zolecki, MLB.com
Phillies fall to Cards, but Rollins says “It’s not over” – Jim Salisbury, CSNPhilly.com
Kendrick KO’s in frustrating fifth inning – Ryan Lawrence via The Reporter
Cards belt four homers, beat Phils – Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post Dispatch
Cardinals pound Kendrick, Phillies 8-4 – R.B. Fallstrom, AP via Yahoo! Sports
Another day, another game that will cause Phillies fans to see their hair turn gray, or pulled out. The Phillies jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Cardinals starter Blake Hawksworth and took a 4-2 lead in to the fifth inning. That’s when tings fell apart for Phillies starting pitcher Kyle Kendrick.
Kendrick was roughed up in the loss. AP photo.
A one out walk from Kendrick started a forgettable rally against Kendrick, who has put together some solid numbers against St. Louis in his career. None of that mattered in the fifth inning when St. Louis right fielder Jon Jay doubled home Felipe López to bring the Cardinals within one run. Mr. Cardinals himself, Albert Pujols, then launched a ball to deep right field to give the Cardinals the 5-4 lead.
Kendrick could not stop the damage in the inning, unfortunately for the Phillies. After getting the second out by getting Colby Rasmus to ground out to first Kendrick gave up back-to-back home runs to Allen Craig and Skip Schumaker. Allowing a towering homer to Pujols is one thing, but Craig and Schumaker now have a combined four home runs for the season. That should tell you all you need to know about Kendrick’s performance last night. Things just unraveled in front of our eyes during the fifth inning.
“I fell behind in counts and left pitches up,” Kendrick said. “I was behind 2-0, 3-1 all night and I paid for it in the fifth.”
Chad Durbin allowed a lead off home run to Randy Winn. As Jim Salisbury informs readers in his game recap on CSNPhilly.com, the Phillies have now allowed 102 home runs this season. That is second most in the National League.
Offensively the Phillies had the hits and base runners, but after the first inning just could not find a clutch hit anywhere in the line-up. The Phillies recorded 13 hits and had 17 base runners but could only put together four runs in their latest loss in the Midwest. Shane Victorino fouled out in the seventh, with Ryan Howard on third and Jayson Werth on first, to end an inning. Jimmy Rollins grounded in to inning ending fielder’s choices in the sixth and eighth innings with runners on first. The game ended with Howard grounding in to a double play.
The loss places the Phillies six games behind the NL East leading Atlanta Braves. Currently the Phillies are three games out of the NL Wild Card race. The Cincinnati Reds currently lead the Wild Card race.
Next Up
The Phillies and Cardinals meet again tonight. Winning will once again be difficult as the Cardinals will send Chris Carpenter to the mound to oppose Jamie Moyer.
Original Story:
http://machorow.us/2010/07/20/recap-k...
