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Overmatched Again, Phils Drop Another To Mets

From Geoff Jenkins swinging for the fences and striking out, to Jayson Werth missing the pitch following him, to Ryan Howard totally losing it at the plate, the Phillies were absolutely overmatched again by the Mets in a 4-2 loss.

It comes down to hitting with runners on base, and the Phillies didn’t do it. The only RISP run the Phils collected was a blooper by Carlos Ruiz that was centimeters from being a catch by Angel Pagan. Other than that, the offense flailed and failed throughout the day to a good but not great Oliver Perez and a Mets bullpen asking to be beat.

Where’s the blame? You could blame Werth, who went 0-for-5 with three Ks and five LOB. You could blame Howard, who went 0-for-5 with three Ks and four LOB. You could blame Charlie Manuel for not adjusting to his offense’s struggles and pushing Pat Burrell into the cleanup spot, or trying something different at the top of the order. (On that note, whyis Manuel replacing hot-hitting Chris Coste and not Eric Bruntlett?)

Jamie Moyer went six innings, giving up two runs in the first inning. He was effective. Ryan Madson gave up two runs in the seventh, but were they his fault? Pinch hitter Endy Chavez grounded a surefire double play ball to Howard, but he bobbled the ball and could only get the out at first. With two outs — instead of three — Jose Reyes stepped up and belted a pitch into the right field seats. Without that play we’re looking at a tie game.

Chase Utley added a home run. He’s been fine. Everyone else — overmatched.

Associated Press photo

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Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.

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