6/9/13
You know what’s the best thing about baseball? There are 162
games. The season is a marathon and not a sprint. Games like the second game of
this series are ones you want to forget, but the best thing is that there’s
another game to be played on the next day. In the second game of this series, the
Brewers won 5-4 in grand fashion in the ninth inning. Aramis Ramirez hit a
walkoff single to score Jean Segura, who was a pest against the Phillies. Cliff
Lee did all he could through six innings, but had a rough seventh inning. The
hitting was there for the first four innings, but disappeared in the latter
stages of the game. Alfredo Figaro had a decent start because he kept the team
in the game. Kyle Kendrick got the nod for the Phillies as Tom Gorzelanny made
a spot start for the Brewers. Ryan Howard is out of the lineup for the Phillies
and was replaced by Kevin Frandsen. Cesar Hernandez replaced Freddy Galvis in
the lineup as well. The only change to the Brewers lineup was Juan Francisco
starting at first base instead of Yuniesky Betancourt. Will Kendrick put the
Phillies back to their winning ways or will Gorzelanny in somehow someway make
the Phillies lineup look putrid?
The Phillies offense went back to the way it has been all
year. They scored three runs all on the bat of Domonic Brown. He hit a solo
homerun in the second inning and drove in a two RBI double in the eighth inning
which made it a 4-3 game, which was the final score. Segura
put the Brewers on the board as he hit a solo homerun of his own to tie the
game at one in the fourth inning. Jonathan Lucroy hit an RBI double and Carlos
Gomez hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to make it 3-1. In the seventh
inning, Ryan Braun got an RBI single to make it 4-1.
Kyle Kendrick had another quality start as he pitched six
innings and allowed three runs. He had six strikeouts but allowed eight hits
and walked one batter. Michael Stutes had his first bad game of the season. He
allowed the run that sealed the deal for the Brewers, and put four Brewers on
base. Joe Savery finished the game as he went unscathed in the eighth inning.
Tom Gorzelanny pitched better than I thought he would have
pitched. He got hit around hard by the Phillies in the first three innings, but
the Brewers fielders helped him out immensely. Carlos Gomez made a great catch
in centerfield to rob John Mayberry Jr. of a homerun. Other than that, the
Phillies worked the count early in the game and made Gorzelanny throw 52
pitches by the end of the third inning. He was on a pitch count of 50. The
Phillies were dumb enough to swing at the first pitch, or early in the count,
in the majority of the fourth inning. That made Gorzelanny end his night
throwing 58 pitches in four innings. He didn’t get the win because he pitched
four innings so Tyler Thornberg picked up the win instead since he pitched the
fifth and sixth inning. John Axford pitched a solid seventh inning, but Brandon
Kintzler made the Phillies get back into this game as he allowed the two runs
in the eighth inning. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth and recorded his
fourth save of the season.
Overall, the Phillies should have won this game. They had a
great chance to blow this game open in the sixth inning when they had runners
on second and third with nobody out with the meat of their lineup coming up.
Instead, Delmon Young struck out, and Kevin Frandsen got thrown out at home
after Domonic Brown stupidly swung at the first pitch. John Mayberry Jr. ended
that sixth inning with a ground out too. I still questioned Charlie Manuel’s
in-game strategy in the eighth inning. If it were me, I would have used Howard
to pinch hit for Delmon Young. Now, both are prone to striking out a lot, but
Howard would have a more favorable matchup since he would have faced a right handed
pitcher. Instead, Howard pinch hit for Mayberry Jr., who has been hitting the
ball well as of late. The final thing I disliked about this game, the umpires.
There was a bad call at first base when Frandsen clearly tagged Ramirez on his
leg, but Ramirez was called safe. I really disliked the home plate umpire’s
strike zone that favored the Brewers pitchers. The Brewers were getting strikes
called on pitches that were way below the knees of the Phillies hitters.
Although he did this consistently, I still don’t like it. Everybody has a set
strike zone and that is from the knees to the letters of the uniform. I do wish
Erik Kratz the best recovery as he blew out his left knee in the ninth inning
when he was running to first base. I fear that he could be finished for the
season because he felt a pop in his knee. That’s a really bad sign in which the
Phillies are thin in catching depth.
UPDATE: Erik
Kratz got placed on the 15-Day disabled list. Steven Lerud has been called up to
be the backup catcher for the Phillies. Humberto Quintero is now the starting
catcher until Carlos Ruiz returns.
Can the Phillies
split this series? Sound off and stay tuned until next time…
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