Categories: 2009 RecapsPosts

Duh. Obvious Problems Hurt Phils Again

The reasons why the Phillies lost to the Braves, 4-2, were glaringly obvious:

Jack Taschner was brought into a high-leverage situation, up one, in the seventh inning. Taschner is not a setup man. Scott Eyre, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin and Clay Condrey were all rested.
Jimmy Rollins went 0-for-5, lowering his average to .195. At no time did he look like a threat to even get on base.
To accompany that, Shane Victorino went 0-for-4.
Brad Lidge was brought in while down a run. Again, poor, poor bullpen management.

It’s no secret these were the problems. Despite a solid (if battling) start by Brett Myers (6 IP, 1 ER), a great offensive and defensive showing by Ryan Howard (2-for-4, 2 2B) and inspired play by Matt Stairs (2-for-2, RBI), the Phillies didn’t look like winners. After dropping two of three against the Braves, the Phils are now 15-14.

Here’s the really sad thing about this recap: I wrote it after the bottom of the eighth.

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.