Rolled by Cubs, Phillies stumbling out of the gate

Written by Mike Mariano | 18 July 2010

Forget what little momentum the Phillies had going into the break because tonight cements a series loss against the Cubs losing three out of four.  Not only that, the had the one game they lost in hand and practically gave it to us.  So the Phillies were a few breaks away from being swept and gave the Mets back second place.  Not good.

Roy Halladay got hit around from the first inning on and when Herndon came in to relieve him, the wheels fell off completely.  The Cubs put up double digit runs for the second time this series and it seems like all those guys they'd been waiting for all got hot.  Not all Doc's fault with the poor outing as the wind was blowing balls all over the field, but Tim Gorzelanny didn't have too much trouble.  This was his second start against the Phils this season and he was great again.  Also, the table-setters for the Cubbies, Colvin & Castro had three hits each which is leads to constant pressure on the pitcher and the defense.

On the offensive side, these days if Ryan Howard doesn't bring all the juice then the team doesn't score too much.  He hit a solo home run late in the game, but they were too far back for it to make a dent.  It was an impressive opposite field shot that went to the same exact spot that Ben Francisco's dinger too batters later went, and Francisco pulled his.

Continuing in the NL Central, the Phillies have four against the Cardinals coming up and have the ESPN game again tomorrow night -- must see match-up: Hawksworth v. Kendrick!