Brown's 1st HR not Nearly Enough as Dodgers Rip Phils

Congrats to Domonic Brown. Excellent job, Ross Gload. Thanks for playing, Kyle Kendrick.

It was a night of highs and lows (mostly lows) in the Phillies 15-9 loss to the L.A. Dodgers in the series opener. Brown launched his first career home run in the sixth inning and knocked in a career high four runs, but the game was long gone before he even stepped to the plate for that first bomb. Ross Gload was just as impressive as he slammed two home runs on the evening.

In games he has started this season, Gload is batting .383 with four homers and 13 RBI. Too bad Brown and Gload going yard, and Raul Ibanez extending his hitting streak to 17 games, became non-stories.

For the Dodgers, the damage was done by the top of the order. Scott Podsednik, Ryan Theriot, Andre Ethier, and James Loney combined to go 11-for-20, with Ethier’s 4-for-4, three RBI night pacing the club.

L.A. scored in six different innings, putting up two or more in five of them. From start to finish the Dodgers put a spankin’ on the Phils. Joe Torre’s team nearly beat the Phils in pitching changes too, as he even brought in a new reliever with two outs in the ninth inning of an eight run affair. All-in-all, LAD smacked 18 hits (to the Phils 14) and made it an early exit for many. To boot, the 3 hour, 40 minute time of game didn’t help either.

For the Phillies, the mess was made by the pitching staff. Kendrick just did not have it from the very start. He went just 3 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs (six runs) on eight hits. It seems to go in line with his season thus far; a few good/great starts with a real crapper mixed in. Kendrick has been a rock in the fifth starters spot for the most part up until this display of indecency.

The bullpen followed suit as being downright atrocious. New call-up Antonio Bastardo had been absolutely spectacular at Lehigh Valley. That did not translate. Bastardo gave up a run and managed just two outs as the first man out of centerfield following Kendrick’s departure. David Herndon was extra worse. Herndon gave up four runs, including the first home run to Jay Gibbons since 2007. A 7-4 game with Herndon quickly moved to an 11-4 Dodger advantage, which basically ended the evening for the Phillies.

What was not finished was the scoring by Los Angeles. Danys Baez was called on after the Herndon debacle and quickly allowed two more runs to score. Jose Contreras bucked the trend by tossing a scoreless frame, however, J.C. Romero would struggle to find his command once again as he allowed a two-run home run in 1/3 of an inning.

“Rough night,” said Charlie Manuel following the beat down. “I felt like some of guys swung the bats real good, but we couldn’t catch up. We couldn’t stop them.”

The 15 runs allowed by the Phils were the most since August 22, 2007 against, you guessed it, the L.A. Dodgers.

It’s not very often you’ll see the Phillies score nine runs, smack 14 hits, and be defeated. But on a hot, humid night, the ball was jumping and the Dodgers were doing a lot of running (around the bases). Just chalk this up as “one of those nights,” although it’s one of those night’s the Phillies can ill-afford to have right now as they rally for the division.