Phils Squeak Past Padres to Open up West Coast Swing
HIGHLIGHTS
–Ben Francisco hitting his third home run of the season: The Phillies really need some sort of sustained power and while it’s not all about home runs, it certainly does help the cause. Ben Fran rocked one to dead center that just got out of the park. He also added an RBI on a sac fly.
–Roy Oswalt looked fine. Nothing lingering from the back issue a week ago. He took advantage of a weak Padres lineup to get through six innings, giving up only one hit to go with two walks and seven strikeouts.
-Always nice to see Brian Schnieder do big things when he takes over for Carlos Ruiz. He hit a monster homer to right center field off of Mat Latos in the second inning after Ben Fran did it.
-Holding Mat Latos to only 4 1/3 inning, making him throw 107 pitches was patience at it’s finest. However, they could not capitalize…
LOWLIGHTS
-12 LOB, 1-for-9 with RISP. That is not going to win you games. For all those hitters occupying bases, only one of them reached home? This is clearly a facet of the Phillies offense that needs work.
–Ryan Howard is slumping. With an 0-for-5, 4 strikeout performance, he not only brought home the Golden Sombrero, but he looked foolish the entire night (although I will say that strike three on strikeout #3 against Latos was probably not a strike).
-The bullpen: Ugh. Will someone take over a role? David Herndon struggled again and Antonio Bastardo had to help clean up the mess. Jose Contreras had a shaky ninth inning, but got through it for his 5th save. Someone has to define roles in the pen. It’s gotta be Bastardo in the 7th, Madson in the 8th, Contreras in the 9th. And then pray you don’t have to anyone else.
