Phillies Finally Hit the Long Ball, Defeat Cubs in Spite of Bullpen
By: Mike Reisman
The Phillies have had problems with their bullpen for most of the 2000's, and for the first time in a long time, it looked as though the bullpen was finally reliable. Unfortunately, after last night's blown save by Ryan Madson, something that was bound to happen eventually, and tonight's near meltdown, the bullpen may be the same as it has been since the turn of the millennium. Luckily, the Phillies bats woke up tonight, and were able to bail out the bullpen.
The Phillies jumped out to a 1st inning lead on a Ryan Howard ground out, scoring a run, making it 1-0. The next inning, Domonic Brown would hit a two run home run, his second of the year, making it 3-0. The Phillies wouldn't score again until the 7th, when Placido Polanco hit a grand slam, the third of his career, making it 7-0.
The Phillies would take out Roy Halladay who, like normal, shut down the Cubs, holding them to six hits and striking out nine batters in seven innings. This led to the bullpen's breakdown, starting with Jose Contreras who allowed two hits, and four earned runs while walking two, in just 0.1 innings. Then, J.C Romero came in, allowing a two run single (one run was given to Contreras) making the score 7-5.
The Phillies would stop the bleeding there, eventually getting the win, 7-5. Halladay would get his 9th win of the year, and Antonio Bastardo would get his second save of the year.
Tonight showed some great, and awful things with the Phillies. First, the Phillies seemed to finally be able to catch some breaks on offense and score some runs. Although the Phillies went a pitiful 1-12 with RISP, the one hit was Polanco's grand slam. Of course, 1-12 isn't what the Phillies want, but the two home runs in the game, and the timing of Polanco's homer were big, and if the Phillies continue to lack in the hitting department, the timing of the hits they get will be huge.
Another positive tonight comes as no surprise, as Roy Halladay pitched another superb game. Halladay showed great control, striking out nine batters, and not allowing any walks. Halladay also threw only 106 pitches, an unfortunately low number for him. The Phillies made a great choice not keeping Halladay in the game, even though it almost cost them the game, the long term effect of this is worth it.
Finally, the problem with tonight's game was obviously the bullpen, which nearly blew its second straight game. The biggest culprit tonight was Jose Contreras, who has given up at least a run after holding opponents scoreless through his first 12 appearances. This wouldn't be a problem if this was his only problematic game, but he has been unreliable as of late, something that needs to stop since he has been the Phillies most reliable reliever in the past. Besides Contreras, the bullpen wasn't at much fault, however, the Phillies need to kill this trend of poor pitching before it escalates, even if it means pitching Cliff Lee all nine innings tomorrow.
The Phillies play again tomorrow at 4:10, as Cliff Lee will try to defeat Matt Garza.