Phillies lose, drop three of four to Pirates

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

The Phillies, throwing Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in a four-game series with the Pirates, ended up losing three of four to Pittsburgh after falling on Thursday, 6-4. The Phillies finished 3-5 in their eight-game homestand.

Thursday featured another Lee start with not a whole lot of run support. Granted, the Phillies did give Lee a pair of leads that he could not hold, which led to a second straight stomach-churning loss to the Pirates.

Handed a 3-1 advantage in the seventh inning, Lee walked his first batter of the day and it was costly. With two outs, Andrew McCutchen singled before Gaby Sanchez -- who homered earlier -- singled for his second RBI to make it 3-2 and force Lee into a first-and-third pickle.

Charlie Manuel then came out to speak with Lee. Manuel had Phillippe Aumont warming in the bullpen, but decided to stick with his lefty. Lee jumped out to an 0-2 count, but Michael McKenry served a bloop single to center to knot the score.

Aumont relieved Lee in the eighth and failed to keep the game tied. In succession, Aumont hit a batter, allowed two singles to load the bases before pinch-hitter Garrett Jones took the air out of Citizens Bank Park with a two-run double to give the Pirates the game and the series. Pittsburgh tacked on one more run in the eighth with a sac fly.

Heading into Wednesday night, the Phillies were 6-0 when leading after the sixth inning. Now? 6-2.

Before the unraveling of Lee and Aumont, Ryan Howard, who was hitting 2 for 17 (.118) with runners in scoring position, came up in the sixth with two in scoring position and put the Phillies ahead with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Domonic Brown plated Howard from third with a sac fly to center field. Previously, Brown was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts when hitting with a man on third and less than two outs.

That 3-1 lead, though, quickly evaporated.

The Phillies have now scored three runs in Lee's last 23 innings pitched. Lee finished with seven innings pitched, 10 hits, three earned runs, 122 pitches and a critical walk.

Amazingly, Pittsburgh won the four-game set despite its star outfielder McCutchen going 1 for 15.

The Phillies are now a season-worst five games below .500 (9-14) and head to New York for their first visit to Citi Field this season to take on the Mets. Here are the probable pitching matchups for the weekend series.

Friday -- Kyle Kendrick (1-1, 3.28) vs. Dilon Gee (1-3, 5.95)

Saturday -- Jonathan Pettibone (0-0, 3.38) vs. Shaun Marcum (first start)

Sunday -- Cole Hamels (0-3, 5.40) vs. Jonathon Niese (2-1, 3.81)

Comments

[Five-4-One]

don't think having Young bat 8th is a great idea either because he can ground into double plays and you would be in a spot where you may not be turning the lineup over enough. That would be unless you turn Revere loose on the basepaths quite a bit. But by process of elimination Young may have to bat eighth.

Posted by: The Truth Injection | Friday, April 26, 2013 at 09:30 AM

Revere has to make it to the basepaths first. He seems to be struggling with that part mightily.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Mayberry's not going anywhere. He is valuable as a 4th outfielder who can, you know, play the outfield. I hate watching him freeze on strikes and whiff on ball 4 but, he isn't replaced by Ruf or Young. Ruf is putting up Dom Brown MLB nos. in AAA (poor) and, with No-D Young on the team, has no place on the MLB roster.

[The Truth Injection]

541: He will. Again- a better player than he has shown so far this year.

[The Truth Injection]

It does need to be noted that Ruf is hitting .214 in Lehigh Valley with a .286 slugging and a .536 OPS. He has 1 home run and 2 RBI on the year.

I wonder if the disappointment is getting to him early in the season and he needs a confidence boost to get started again.

[The Truth Injection]

Sorry- had my numbers mixed up. Ruf has a .343 slugging and a .616 OPS.

[The Truth Injection]

Oh and 7 RBI. Sorry. Looked at the last 10 games numbers when I posted.

[jbird]

I don't understand why Mayberry has to go. He is a pretty ideal backup outfielder who can play center when necessary and has some pop. There's plenty of value there. It's not his fault there aren't 3 better, starter-quality outfielders on the roster.

[Jack]

I basically agree with all of Sneed's posts from last night.

The bullpen has been bad, but you're crazy if you think that's the biggest problem with the team. The offense is 23rd in the majors in runs, and they're probably a bit lucky to be that high. The underlying numbers are worse (they have a team OBP of .301...).

I mean, are you kidding? You're expecting to make the playoffs with that offense?

[Jack]

I mean, it's also not really about which part of the team is to blame.

At a certain point, you just acknowledge that it's a bad team. I understand TTI can't bring himself to do that. But I do think it's starting to dawn on plenty of reasonable people that last year wasn't exactly a fluke.

[Willard Preacher]

For all the doom and gloom, I pounced on Kendrick +105 tonight.

As mentioned ad nauseum already, it's not KK who scares me. It's the bullpen and whether or not the offense shows up.

[GTown_Dave]

But I do think it's starting to dawn on plenty of reasonable people that last year wasn't exactly a fluke.

This is basically the bottom line. I happen to find the offense esp. annoying, others find the bullpen more to blame ... it's spitting hairs. The 2013 Philadelphia Phillies: Bad Ball Players Playing Ball Badly. No one is immune.

[Edmundo]

All this Mayberry has to go stuff is silly. I heard Anthony Gargano say he's a waste of a roster space. I like Gargano as a talk show host but am unimpressed with his baseball acumen. :)

Mayberry is a limited player, like all backup OFs. If spotted as a platoony RH, occasional spot starter in CF, and PH vs. Loogies, that's optimal usage. Anything more exposes his weaknesses.

I wonder if some of the dislike is because he looks like he should be more than he is. I find myself thinking, gee, if I had his talent I'd be so much better than him ...

But heck recognizing 85-95 MPH pitches is s special skill and he just has a limited amount of that ability. Enough to make the majors, just not enough to excel.

[jbird]

Re: Mayberry, I prefer having backups who do a couple things really well, but have some glaring deficiencies to a player who does everything at a consistently mediocre level. There is, however, room on an mlb roster for both types of players.

[lorecore]

WP: The underdog is 6-1 in the last 7 Phillies games.

[GTown_Dave]

Preacher: Buck is going to hit 6 HR off of Kendrick. In the 1st Inning.

[bittel]

Her's the thing about Mayberry: you're not really losing much by having him off the team, and what you are (potentially) gaining is the point.

He's a good defensive outfielder. Is he going to be that much better than Galvis will be out there? Not that much, if at all. (Btw, I don't want Galvis out there ideally, but that's the backup plan).

If Ruf is called up, at least you get the chance of a scary RH bat behind Howard. Mayberry will NEVER be that. Can we admit that?

He strikes out more than 25% of his ABs, and 33% so far this year. That hurts.

[lorecore]

I'm quite certain that the reason Ryan Howard sucks so far this year is because of Ryan Howard, and not about who is hitting in front/behind him.

[GTown_Dave]

Corey Seidman: "Only 2 relievers in baseball have thrown at least 65 balls in fewer than 150 pitches. Phillippe Aumont is one."

And he's the "good" prospect from the Lee trade! Can you imagine what will happen when r00b starts making trades to rebuild? The Phillies will end up w/ 30 more guys who haven't seen a game above Single A, & they'll all be pitchers w/ some vague notion of "stuff", & zero control, or "versatile" speedsters who couldn't clear the fence in a little league park.

[Iceman]

Jack- do you think the numbers they've put up so far will be consistent all year- that is, where they are ranked now is where they'll be ranked at the end of the year?

[johnnysanz3]

Oh yeah, first priority is definitely to jettisone a backup OF who can play all 3 positions adequately with a .281.328 .542 .870 line against LHP over 360PA in his career, and that makes 517k this year. What a waste of roster space! Gargano is a good host for things but he's just another sensationalist hack when it comes to actually talking sports knowledge. Like every other radio show talk host.

[Iceman]

"@CoreySeidman: The Phillies' bullpen has 6 losses and 3 holds (worst in MLB). They have a 1.48 WHIP (worst in MLB)."

Not the biggest problem, though.

[GTown_Dave]

I'm always amazed that so many people enjoy listening to sports talk radio. How can it possibly be interesting for anyone but the host(s)?

[The Truth Injection]

They see Jack trollin', Phillie hating, typin' dumb sh!t always postin' dirty

typin' dumb sh!t, postin' dirty
typin' dumb sh!t, postin' dirty

I mean seriously, you are just making stuff up. I've posted over the past week how poor this team has been of late, and how sloppy they have played. I do think though they need to be given some time to see whether they turn it around though before you panic. i realize that a guy who has been calling them a horrible team since 2009 won't understand that, but other people on here are far more reasonable.

[Joe D]

I'll tell you what. I am hard pressed to find a dumber baseball team than this one. Even back in the Francona years those teams were just void of any talent. This team has some (albeit most of it declining) but they are easily the dumbest team in franchise history. I've never seen so many errors (mental and physical) in every single aspect of the game. They have to lead the league in guys thrown out at the plate. And can Utley stop being cute when he runs? Just run to the plate or run to 1st. Enough of the running on the grass BS. It doesn't work and if it does you will be called out anyway. Think. I have such a foul taste in my mouth with this team and it is f-ing April 26th. There is no saving it. There just isn't. As soon as something goes right another hole will spring a leak. We are inching closer and closer to dismantling this thing. And please for the love of all things holy trade Doc to a real contender and one that win a world series.

[The Truth Injection]

The problem with Mayberry is that he is kind of miscast in his role. Even in a strict platoon he is probably a little miscast. He is a 4th outfielder and I think that is his ceiling. He isn't a guy that is going to be, or should be, an everyday player.

It's hard to necessarily get on his case about whatever people are getting on him about when he is miscast.

[Phillibuster]

Isn't the red name in the OP usually the player in the picture?

[Joe D]

I have a lot of issues with many other guys on this roster not named John Mayberry.

[Jack]

Iceman: "Jack- do you think the numbers they've put up so far will be consistent all year- that is, where they are ranked now is where they'll be ranked at the end of the year?"

I think they'll end the year close to 23rd in the majors in runs scored, yes.

Where do you think they'll finish?

[MG]

TTI - Have you been listening to too many of your students' music recommendations again?

Bullepn has been the biggest turd among a pile of HS this month.

[bay_area_phan]

GTown_Dave: "I happen to find the offense esp. annoying, others find the bullpen more to blame ... it's spitting hairs."

Bingo! The idea that there can only be a single cause for the Phillies' (or any team's) woes is utterly nonsensical. The bullpen has, once again, been wretched. It is a major reason for our hideous record. The fact that we've scored 3 or fewer runs in 14 of our 23 games is also a major reason for our hideous record. In fact, 2 of Aumont's losses this year came in games that ended up 2-1 and 1-0. Do you think maybe those games might have turned out differently if we had a half-way decent offense? Do you think Aumont would have even pitched in those games in the first place if we could have mustered, say, 2 runs to take a lead into the late innings?

[Joe D]

Papelbon has the life doesn't he? He's just hanging out in the bullpen pulling in a cool $80,000 a game to eat sunflower seeds.

[Joe D]

This team has holes upon holes...arguing about which ones bother you more seems silly.

[Phillibuster]

Joe: You forget, he has to make some controversial, idiotic statements to get the requisite attention a closer needs to be effective.

[Joe D]

That's true, Philli. That can be very taxing work.

[bay_area_phan]

Though I admit it's a matter of personal taste, I share GTown_Dave's view that the pathetic offense is even more annoying than the pathetic bullpen. Here's why: bullpens are very much subject to the vicissitudes of chance & are not easy to fix. Last year, Jeremy Horst and Raul Valdes were terrific. This year, they're hideous. 3 years ago, Jason Grilli was a AAAA journeyman; now he's an elite closer. 2 years ago, John Axford went 46 for 48 in save situations. Now he's terrible.

My point is: while our bullpen is awful, it's difficult for me to summon much outrage about the situation, because it's an inherently difficult problem to solve. Hell, RAJ has spent $19M over the last 2 off-seasons to acquire the best closer & best setup man on their respective FA markets. It's not like he isn't trying to solve the problem. If anything, I'd argue that he's trying too hard by throwing gobs of money at an area in which you never exactly know what you're getting, and in which solutions often spring up out of nowhere for far less money (this is the point Jack has been making since the off-season). But I can't say that RAJ doesn't recognize the problem, nor can I claim that he hasn't tried to solve it. He has tried desperately.

On the other hand, he hasn't done much to solve the problems on offense. And, unlike the bullpen, those problems are not insoluble at all. If you sign Josh Willingham or Nick Swisher, you pretty much know what you're going to get -- at least for the first few years.

[GTown_Dave]

b_a_p: My reasoning is fairly similar. Everybody bitched about the 8th inning woes last season, & to his credit r00b attempted to fix the problem by signing an actual, MLB-caliber pitcher. Let's face it, that was the ONLY obvious upgrade made to the entire roster. Of course one can argue health, contract, blah blah blah. My feeling is, he tried.

Now look at the offense. Pence & Vic are gone. In their places are a LHB who is only good as a PH, a RHB who is great for 1 month of the season & sucks the remaining 5, & the weakest -- literally, "weakest", as in "lacking strength" -- hitter I have ever seen, & that includes most starting pitchers.

Brown was moved to LF to accommodate the eventual arrival of a fat, injured, racist, & has been even worse than his thoroughly mediocre prior performance. Howard stinks. Utley & Rollins have been about equal parts beneficial, & straight-up, what the f*ck retarded. M. Young has been better than expected, but he's still old, immobile & filled to the brim w/ GIDPs that are simply dying to escape. The Catcher situation I place entirely on Chooch, so r00b avoids blame there.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have 2 hitting coaches -- well, 3 really, because you have to include noted hitting guru Charlie Manuel -- & this team still can't figure out how to get a base runner from 3B to Home Plate w/out making the first Out of the inning at Home Plate. The glaring lack of talent mixed w/ a shocking level of sheer stupidity is maddening to watch. Honestly, 2-16 w/ RISP? Bowa would've killed someone by now.

Point being, r00b blew his wad on SP, a "Closer" & Ryan Howard, then filled the rest of the roster w/ whichever turds hadn't yet sunk to the bottom of the bowl (&, in the case of D. Young, one which already had). No GM in the history of the franchise has been permitted to spend so much money, & somehow r00b has used that opportunity to purchase what appears to be a sub-.500 team. It's pitiful.

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