Phillies lost to the Dodgers, 4-3.
WORLEY SHAKY
-In his first outing since May 11, Vance Worley was shaky. He allowed three runs in the first two innings before settling in for two more. After missing time with right elbow inflammation, Worley was held to a pitch count of roughly 75, according to Charlie Manuel. The Phillies held true to that as he finished the fourth inning, throwing 80 pitches. Final line: four innings, four hits, three runs, three walks, four strikeouts.
-At times, it looked like he was getting squeezed by home plate umpire DJ Reyburn. Fact is, Worley seemed a bit rusty. Couple that with the Dodgers ability to take pitches (2nd in the NL in walks going into Monday night) and it was quick night for the Vanimal.
-Velocity did not seem to be an issue for Worley. According to FanGraphs, his fastball has averaged a tick below 90 this year and for the most part, he hovered around 88-90 throughout the evening.
PHILS GET TO KERSHAW
-It’s never easy trying to hit off a lefty that throws 96 with wicked off-speed stuff. But, the Phillies were able to get to the reigning Cy Young winner, Clayton Kershaw, for three runs in the third inning. Placido Polanco hit his second homer of the season off the lefty and finished 2-for-4. On May 5, Polly was hitting .250 and had a .571 OPS. Now, he’s at .294 and .703, respectively. Kevin Youkilis, still?
-Jimmy Rollins has been struggling, but at least for one at-bat, we got to witness the Jimmy of old. In the fifth inning, Rollins roped a triple into the alley in left-center field off Kershaw. However, one batter later, Jimmy would get burned at the plate on a boneheaded baserunning mistake. I’m guessing it was a run-on-contact play with Plaicdo Polanco at the plate, which itself was an odd choice given there was one out. But I digress.
-After a pop up in the third inning, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweeted that Jimmy is popping up to the infield at a ridiculous rate. Gelb’s tweet: Only Brendan Ryan (23.3%) has more batted balls go for infield pop ups than Jimmy Rollins (22.1%). Yikes.
-Hunter Pence just downright stinks right now with runners in scoring position. With the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh, he swung at two pitches, grounding out softly to second base on the second try. Rushing at-bats isn’t working, and hasn’tworked, this season for Pence. Yet he continues to do it. I’m no swing doctor, but slowing down might help. He’s now hitting .206 with RISP, good for 107th in the NL, using a minimum 25 plate appearances.
PEN NOT LEAKY…
-Kudos to Joe Savery who pitched 2 1/3 scoreless frames. The southpaw struck out the side in the sixth, the first time in his career he accomplished that feat. Antonio Bastardo came on after Savery to finish up the seventh and got through it without incident.
-Tony had some trouble in the eighth, loading the bases, but got James Loney to ground out to end the threat.
EXCEPT FOR PAPELBON
-Maybe this is why Jonathan Papelbon isn’t used in non-save situations. He gave up a triple to right-center off the bat of Dee Gordon, who flashed ridiculous speed. Elian Herrera then sent him home with a single to left one batter later to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead. In nine non-save situations, by my count, Papelbon has allowed six runs.
-After the game he laid into home plate umpire DJ Reyburn saying he “sucked.” That, and a whole lot more.
NOTES
-Bobby Abreu made his first trip back to Philadelphia since his trade in 2006. Pretty incredible, but true. Abreu heard a few boos and a few cheers from the CBP crowd – which was to be expected.
-Rain fell for much of the night, which I’m sure made this a fun game to play in. The wind also whipped throughout the night. Not a great June evening at the park.
-Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly was ejected for the third time this season. Here in the press box, it wasn’t certain as to why.
