Postgame: Phillies blanked by Kennedy, D-Backs

The Phils’ nonexistent offense made Ian Kennedy look like Walter Johnson as Arizona waltzed to a victory in the series opener.

One could say that Kennedy silenced the Phillies’ bats on Monday night, but that implies the offense was making noise prior to the 4-0 loss. The defeat snapped a five-game win streak and marked the 14th-straight contest in which the Phils scored four runs or less, tying their longest such streak in 30 years. The Phils have also now dropped six of eight series openers.

The Phillies managed just three hits on the night, two of them coming off the bat of Placido Polanco. The only non-Polanco knock was an infield single by Jimmy Rollins that every major-league second baseman but Kelly Johnson would have converted into an out. All told, the Phils hit just eight balls out of the infield as Kennedy went the distance, striking out 10 and walking none.

Outside of two costly gopher balls, Cliff Lee pitched well. He allowed a two-run bomb to Chris Young in the third inning and a solo shot to Gerardo Parra in the fifth. The fourth Arizona run came on an RBI single by Xavier Nady in the sixth frame. Lee lasted seven innings, allowing four runs on five hits while matching a season high with 12 strikeouts.

In his major-league debut, Michael Stutes tossed a perfect eighth past the top of the Arizona order, showcasing a tight slider and his fastball topped out at 94 mph on the Comcast SportsNet gun.

Next up: Roy Oswalt (3-0, 1.88) will take on Daniel Hudson (0-4, 5.92) on Tuesday.

-Written for Beerleaguer by Matt Grassie

Comments

[GTown_Dave]

Roy Oswalt (3-0, 1.88) will take on Daniel Hudson (0-4, 5.92) on Tuesday.

0-4? 5.92? The Phillies are screwed.

[Old Phan]

Hudson has to win sometime. Why not tomorrow?

[InkmanCometh]

Fire Milt Thompson.

[J.R. King]

Charlie Manual will occasionally talk to his team through the media.

Today seems like it was one of those days:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies_zone/Angered-Manuel-says-Contreras-was-not-overused.html

[Question]

Cole Hamels
Gavin Floyd
Gio Gonzalez
Kyle Drabek
Vance Worley

I wonder what position players Amaro could've worked into the budget if history had turned out a bit differently.

[limoguy]

Tonight's game feels like a loss.

[dlhunter]

Freddy García for Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez.

What could have been...

[Hugh Mulcahy]

This outcome was pre-ordained when Mark Grace compared the Phils pitching record (69 runs, 5 shutouts against a league average of 93 runs) with the D'Backs (115 runs, 0 shutouts). I'm glad I fell asleep after 2 innings.

[Heather]

"Charlie Manual will occasionally talk to his team through the media.

Today seems like it was one of those days:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies_zone/Angered-Manuel-says-Contreras-was-not-overused.html"

Is he talking to his team or firing back at Amaro? The latter is certainly what it sounds like to me (and I think it's the POV the article tries to present as well.)

[Fatalotti]

These game recaps have terrible pictures nowadays. Why does Kennedy look like claymation gone horribly wrong in that shot?

[Meyer]

This picture is a subtle hint that the Phillies hitters, excepting Polanco, need a bus trip to the local Optometrist.

[NEPP]

So, so, so happy I went to bed early and didn't even check the score until right now.

Ouch.

[Fatalotti]

NEPP, it hurts more if you watched it. Believe me.

[R.Billingsly]

I watched until I fell asleep after the 7th. Of course, the only thing I wanted to watch was Stutes' debut. Figures it would come an inning after I stop watching.

They'll win tonight. Don't worry. The Phils will put up unheard of offensive numbers tonight. Say, 5R, 7H.

[NEPP]

Am I the only one that doesn't consider a 7 IP, 4 ER, 2 HR allowed performance good?

I would consider that average to mediocre out of a guy like Lee.

[Meyer]

Game time was 2:04. The 4 minutes had to be the ninth. I missed it taking a leak.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Panic button.....*PUSHED*

[3r0ck]

Am I the only one that doesn't consider a 7 IP, 4 ER, 2 HR allowed performance good?

I would consider that average to mediocre out of a guy like Lee.

Posted by: NEPP

Even if Lee had a perfect game through 9 it wouldn't have been enough ....

[NEPP]

***Even if Lee had a perfect game through 9 it wouldn't have been enough ....****

I agree...the offense needs to step up and they aren't right now.

[Fatalotti]

Lee's outing was fairly mediocre, and he has yet to completely live up to the hype this season. Still, it was 2-0 heading into the 5th, 3-0 heading into the 6th...

The Phillies were in the game, and any small offensive rally would have made it a game. Lee wasn't at his best last night, but he kept the team in the game, and gave them a chance. The offense decided it wasn't going to do anything against Kennedy.

[Bob]

Lee's game seemed sort of like one of those golf rounds where you talk in the bar afterwards about what a great round you would have had if only not for those two or three shots that created problems.

Didn't give up many hits (5) a couple of which were flairs, struck out 12, seemed to have pretty good command overall, one walk that I recall, and I think he might have gone another inning if there had been any sense in it.

But like the golf round, the two gopher balls, one with a man on, and another hit with a man on were all it took to ruin an otherwise good game. Tough timing, but that's the way it goes.

So for a guy like Lee, wouldn't go quite down to mediocre, but average, yeah, average is about it.

Would have been nice to see the offense pick him up.

[3r0ck]

I agree...the offense needs to step up and they aren't right now.

Posted by: NEPP

I agree - the offense is absolutely the problem. I don't think we need them to give us 5+ runs a game, but 3 hits? Off Kennedy? At least if the offense is going to go out swinging - do it after you've worked the count a bit. Ya know?

[R.Billingsly]

NEPP: I agree to a certain extent. He looked good most of the night -- you don't strike out 12 if your command isn't good -- but he wasn't outstanding.

For me, however, the bottom line is that he pitched well enough to win the ballgame. Especially against Ian Kennedy in that ballpark.

[Mike]

He gave up 5 hits, struck out 12, and only walked 1. I have to disagree he was mediocre. The problem was, he made two bad pitches that were, unfortunately, hit out of the ballpark. We're so used to seeing our guys swing through, or foul off those kind of pitches that we forget that every pitcher makes a couple of mistakes in a game no matter how well he pitches.

[Bay Slugga]

The offense should consider enrolling in the Drexel MBA program because they all should be fired.

[Heather]

Maybe the Phillies should read "Inside Baseball" and work on perfecting the Baltimore chop and squeeze bunts.

At least it would give them a fighting chance to score.

[Fatalotti]

You have to get a baserunner to third to utilize the squeeze.

So, that's out of the question...

[AL]

I just saw the MLBTR headline that Gabe Gross retired, got really confused thinking he was Greg Gross and was shocked that he would take the fall so soon, then felt a little stupid.

[Jbird]

In Ian Kennedy's 1st year in the NL, and 1st year where he had the opportunity to be a full time starter he put up a 3.8 era despite calling an extreme hitters park home. He also had very good minor league stats. The guy isn't terrible. Does the offense need to get better? Yes. Was last night an utter travesty predictive of an entire season of futility? No.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

When does Gregg Gross get fired and Milt brought back with a firm apology from the ownership and a key to the city?

[R.Billingsly]

Just want to throw this out there:

Jered Weaver is a good pitcher.

[rauls grandpa]

I know this is considered blasphemy by some but last night made me wonder if becoming that "mystery team" that stole C--- L-- away and made him a supa-millionaire was the mortal sin which will lead to the ultimate downfall of the team. I almost want to join the PP Posse and say that these guys are all getting old and losing their sh8t and having the best pitching staff in the galaxy won't save them.

[Steve]

The real shame is that our manager isn't some sort of hitting guru.

[Fatalotti]

Ian Kennedy had an FIP of 4.33 last year and a FIP of 4.12 this year. He's a pretty good pitcher, but nothing special. However, he did pitch really well last night. Compiled a game score of 91. 10 GB, 10 FB, only 2 line drives. 10 strikeouts to 0 walks, and of his 114 pitches, 78 were for strikes. The guy was just throwing well last night.

Couple that with a poor offense, and you get a complete domination.

Kudos to Kennedy.

[lorecore]

Damn you tail end of the west coast trip.

[Fatalotti]

Although, assuming a league average HR/FB rate of about 10%, there was a 34.87% chance that the Phils would hit 10 fly balls and not get a homerun, so they were slightly unlucky to get shutout.

[PhilliesDude]

Phillies pitchers can ill afford to make any mistakes at this time. They must feel the pressure of always having to make a perfect pitch. The San Diego Padres lineup may have provided a slight breather from this pressure but it must exist with better hitting teams like the Brewers and Diamondbacks. When I was at the 9-0 loss to Milwaukee game, I was thinking this when Halladay fell behind by a few runs. He had no room for any error that night.

The offense shouldn't be this bad but it is right now. There's not much distance between "shouldn't be" and "is".

[Heather]

Don't the fly balls have to leave the infield to have a chance at a homerun?

[Meyer]

Utley might like to be the hitting coach.

[Bob]

I know there aren't stats to measure it, but other than Lee's outing in general and Francisco's two nice catches, did anyone notice any positive energy with the team? Saw a little frustration from a couple of people, but nothing of that feeling that this team is never out of it till the game is over.

[PhilliesDude]

Bob, I would add Polanco to your list. Not only did he have two hits but he made a nice fielding play.

[Heather]

Bob, I know what you're talking about, but when almost the entire team is running bad (offensively) there isn't much positive energy.

Also, FWIW, I don't think this team has much of a personality even at the best of times, either. They're a group of highly competent, hard-working professionals who show up every day and try their best. That being said, they are also a bunch of stiffs.

[Fatalotti]

That was pretty good, Heather.

[PhilliesDude]

New thread to try plot the resurgence of the Phils!

[Lake Fred]

I thought our aces were supposed to throw shutouts and the other team loses. What gives? Oh well, there's always tonight's game to get back on track with Roy O.

[NEPP]

Here's Lee's gamelog for SOs

11
3
12
1
12

How crazy is that. He's basically alternating crazy SO number nights.