Blame it on the cold, blame it on opposing pitching, blame it on the bats. Whatever the case, the Phillies offense has stunk so far.
The Braves shut out the Phils, 4-0; so far Atlanta has outscored the Phillies 8-1 to open the season. Instead of Derek Lowe mastering the Phils, it was Jair Jurrjens who wiggled out of some small jams, getting many shallow pops and warning-track pseudo-blasts. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley each collected two hits — otherwise it was a paltry showing.
Jamie Moyer surrendered a leadoff home run to Kelly Johnson. That was all Atlanta needed. Moyer gave up four runs in five innings. The bullpen did another stellar job in response, as Chan Ho Park tossed an easy sixth, Jack Taschner threw two scoreless innings and Clay Condrey put up zeroes in the ninth.
Tim MalcolmTim 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.
