The Philadelphia Phillies lost their second straight game on Wednesday night, falling to the Braves 9-2 in Atlanta.
- Roy Halladay struggled through his first start of the season. Halladay did show some encouraging signs; his fastball topped out at around 92 mph, and he had decent movement on his pitches, but he just didn’t have enough to give the Phillies what they needed. It took the former ace 40 pitches to get through the first inning, in which he gave up three runs.
- Halladay lasted just 3.1 innings, and was pulled after allowing five runs and throwing 95 pitches. I thought it was a great decision by Charlie Manuel to get Halladay out early and not overtax his arm. Manuel could have left Halladay out there to tough it out for at least the rest of the fourth inning, but he wisely considered the team’s long-term prospects when he made his move.
- The problem was that reliever Raul Valdes wasn’t interested in pitching effectively tonight. Valdes entered the game, and promptly loaded the bases before giving up a bases-clearing double to Freddie Freeman to make it a 7-0 game.
- Chase Utley now has five RBI’s in the first two games, he added two tonight in the seventh inning with a two-run double off of Atlanta’s Cristhian Martinez.
- A bit of good news was that Domonic Brown got hits in his first two at-bats and finished the night 2-4
- Erik Kratz struggled heavily at the plate tonight. He hit a costly double-play in the second inning. After back-to-back singles by Domonic Brown and John Mayberry, Kratz killed the rally with his groundout, and turning things over to Roy Halladay with two outs. Kratz also struck out with two men on in the fourth inning, and again with two men on in the six inning.
- Another shred of good news from this game was that Antonio Bastardo made his first appearance of the season and pitched a scoreless sixth inning.
- Mike Adams also made his Phillies debut, and looked great, mowing the Braves down on nine pitches in the seventh.
Final Thoughts
This was a pretty brutal game for the Phillies.
For the second straight game, the Phils fell behind in the first inning, but this time they didn’t have any counter punches for the Braves.
The positive that you take from this game is that Roy Halladay was able to show some encouraging signs. He got knocked around a bit, and it took him too many pitches to get through certain innings, but he did have good movement on his pitches and got a lot of guys to swing and miss on his way to nine strikeouts. We know that Halladay is in the process of trying to reinvent himself as a pitcher, and while his first outing wasn’t a good one, he gave the Phillies some reason for hope.
The Phillies really missed Carlos Ruiz tonight. With Ruiz serving his 25-game suspension, it creates a scenario where you have Erik Kratz up at the plate with three opportunities with two men on, and the career-minor leaguer was unable to come through.
The biggest culprit in tonight’s loss was Raul Valdes. His job was to stop the bleeding and keep the Phillies in the game, but instead he imploded and allowed the Braves to deliver a three-run knockout punch that put the game out of reach in the fourth inning. That blow really killed whatever chances the Phillies had of rallying tonight.
The Phillies will try to salvage the final game of the series tomorrow, with Cliff Lee making his first start of the season.
The Starting Rotation is going to be a problem this year as well as middle relief, why Manyel stayed with Caldes as long as he did way typical mid-managing of his Bullpen. Valdes had poor control and a straight flat pit he’s and should have been yanked after letting the first 2 batters on base..
Phillies left 6 Runners on base the first 4 Innings which is where the game was lost.. Phillies don’t have the long-ball boppers of 3-4 Years ago so their offense has to come out of the gate and put some runs on the board early to help take some stress of their Starters..
And Pabelbon is a bum, trade him to Fetroit for RHP Rock Pircello and some prospects, Tigers need a Closer bad and may be stupid enough to make that deal
2 games BA k already in the loss column to the Nats, Braves and Mets
Tomorrow will be a rain out so a poor start for the Phils out of the gate
Step away from the computer Paulman. I think you need a drink
I will always tell it like I see them.. and right now, this Phils Team is not looking to good..
Paulman, were you drunk typing these posts? I don’t want to be a stickler but it wouldn’t kill you to briefly proof read your comments before posting them. Some of the stuff you typed was just mind boggling and extremely difficult to read and understand.
Yes and Yes BTC,
I am not a very good typer on my I-Phone… I will suspend myself with full pay and benefits until the next Phillies Game..
Phils gave up 7 runs and then 9 runs —> ouch
Washington has back to back shut outs of Miami. Braves power vs. Nationals pitching. Ryan Howard still hit-less
@pheags, hahahaha……
Do not underestimate Ruiz and his effect on pitching, and kratz, it seems the two starters thus far are uncomfortable with him, and kratz brutal at plate
freddy freeman looks like barry bonds with a balco fitness shake
Are the pom-pom wavers, enjoying the games, thus far? I’m not. Can not enjoy a hopeless team, with ZERO shot of making the playoffs, who are overpaid & overrated, & have an @$$clown as a GM! This team needs to be rebuilt & Halladay is cooked! Un- F^#@ing- Believable!!!!
Man, that Justin Upton really does suck, & strikes out a ton, & wouldn’t have fit here, huh?!? Morons, the lot of you!!!!
for the first 3 innings we had to listen to Chris Wheeler & Tom McCarthy throw rose petal propaganda over the phillies 0-3 deficit then Sarge Matthews replaces wheeler in the 4th and McCarthy tries to continue to downplay the braves supremacy. He starts spewing that Justin Upton’s homer barely made it over the wall and Sarge cuts him off and says, if it didn’t go over the wall it certainly would have went through it because he smoked it. Sarge is funny. Wheeler is just so annoying.