The Phillies took it to the Colorado Rockies right from the beginning of Wednesday's night's game. Rookie Ace Kyle Kendrick allowed the first two Rockie batters of the game to reach base- but then he coaxed MVP candidate Matt Holliday into an inning-ending TRIPLE PLAY. Holliday's line drive was SNARED by 3B Greg Dobbs, who fired to 2nd base, where Chase Utley touched the bag to double off the runner on second, and tagged the runner coming from first. It was the 2nd triple play of the season for the Phils.In the bottom of the frame, the first three Phillies reached base against Rockies starter Denny Bautista (19.06 ERA entering the game). With Ryan Howard and Aaron Rowand coming up, it looked like it would be a huge inning, and, possibly, another huge game for the Phillies offense. I had the over/under at 14 Phillies runs at that point. (My over/under for the GAME was 21 Phillies runs.) But, somehow, the Rockies escaped the inning unscathed. The "somehow" being suckage from Howard, Rowand, and Greg Dobbs. But the Phillies still had seven more innings to score. (Assuming they wouldn't need to bat in the bottom of the 9th).
Unfortunately, the game, and possibly the entire Phillies season, went into the shitter, starting in the top of the 3rd inning. Kendrick was a strike away from getting out of the inning with the game still scoreless. But Rockies Rookie of the Year candidate Troy Tulowitzki walked to put two runners on. Matt Holliday followed with his 30th home run, giving the Rockies a 3-0 lead. Not good, but definitely not an insurmountable deficit for the Phils. Especially considering that Mark Redman was brought into the game. The Mark Redman who has been hideously bad this season.
The Phillies couldn't score on Redman in the 3rd, and went into the top of the 4th still trailing, 3-0. That may have been the worst inning of the Phillies season. It started with a line drive that smashed Kyle Kendrick just below the knee. He was helped from the field, and may not pitch again this season. Considering that he is the "one" in the Phillies "one-man rotation" that injury is pretty damaging. Adding insult to Kendrick's injury, the Rockies put up a six spot in the inning, off relievers John Ennis (8.22 ERA) and Clay Condrey (4.60 ERA). Condrey came in with two outs and the bases loaded, and proceeded to allow all three runners to score. Ennis' ERA is none too pleased with Mr. Condrey right now.
After that surreal half-inning, the game pretty much descended into madness. The Phillies, with the #1 offense in the universe, playing in the #1 offensive park in the universe, against the pitiful Redman and two rookies, failed to score. Not even a SINGLE, MEASLY run in nine innings. They were held to four hits (ALL SINGLES) in the game. If I had seen the innings totals by the Rockies pitchers (Bautista 2, Redman 5, Morillo 1, Newman 1) without seeing the rest of the box score, I would have guessed that the Phillies had scored at least 10 runs. But it wasn't the Phillies who scored in double digits, it was Colorado. They finished the game 12-0 victors, after scoring off every Phillie pitcher, with the exception of Condrey. (Not sure if Condrey should be excepted, as he allowed all three baserunners he inherited to score, but he was the best Phillies reliever tonight. "Best" = he was the only one able to pitch an inning without giving up any runs.) It was a horrible, horrible game. One that the Phillies and their fans would like to forget. Unfortunately, they've had so many forgettable games in the past week, that it might almost be time to forget about their playoff aspirations.
But they are not eliminated yet. The Real Deal goes for the Phils Thursday, as they try to salvage a split against Colorado. Then, it's on to New York for a weekend series against the 1st place Mets. They now trail San Diego by three games in the Wild Card race, are tied with Colorado, and only a half game ahead of Los Angeles. All of these blown games in the past couple of weeks are catching up to them...
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