It wasn’t a good evening for the offense, who barely pressured Oswalt after the first inning. The righty threw 92 pitches in seven innings, handing the ball to his bullpen — Wesley Wright, a crafty LOOGY who struck out the side, and Doug Brocail, who defused a baby rally — and getting his first win of the season. The Phils got their only run in the first, when Ryan Howard singled home Jayson Werth with two outs.
They wasted a great outing by Kyle Kendrick, who finally looked like his 2007 self. He threw 96 pitches, getting 10 ground outs and five strikeouts. He surrendered two runs and four hits, lowering his ERA to a respectable 4.40. JC Romero and Ryan Madson pitched each a scoreless inning to keep the Phils in the game.
It’s sad — the Phillies are getting great pitching and the offense is laying eggs. Nobody was being patient. Part of it was Oswalt, who found his curveball and relied on it a lot; part of it was due to having notorious early-count hitters in the lineup. Tomorrow, since Jimmy Rollins is out again — he won’t be back until Saturday at the earliest — Charlie Manuel needs to think outside the box and put together a lineup of patient, line drive hitters. Give So Taguchi a start — sit Geoff Jenkins. Chris Coste will start, obviously.
Of course, not having Rollins handcuffs the Phillies in another area: They have one less bat on the bench. It’s starting to become painfully obvious that maybe putting Rollins on the DL would’ve been a better idea — at least they would’ve had another healthy option on the bench.
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