The Philadelphia Phillies lost their fourth straight game on Friday night, falling to the Reds 3-0. Their record drops to 17-22.
- Kyle Kendrick got off to a tough start, putting the Phils in an early hole by allowing a three-run homer in the bottom of the first. However, Kendrick would bounce back to throw a solid game, finishing with six scoreless innings. He allowed just four hits and a walk.
- Ryne Sandberg shook up his lineup, moving Ben Revere out of the lineup and placing Jimmy Rollins at the top of the order, with Carlos Ruiz batting second, and John Mayberry hitting seventh and playing center field.
- The result of the new lineup: no runs, six hits.
- Cody Asche had the team’s only extra-base hit with his seventh double of the year.
- The outfield went a combined 0-11, with Marlon Byrd, Domonic Brown, and John Mayberry all failing to record a hit.
- Brown is batting just .214, and Mayberry .125. How’s that for a potent outfield combo?
- Chase Utley went 2-4 with a couple of singles, but missed an RBI opportunity in the fourth inning with runners on first and third with one out.
- Ryan Howard went 0-4 with two strikeouts and left five men on base.
- Howard had a particularly feeble at-bat in the fourth, striking out on three pitches with two men on, chasing the third pitch badly out of the zone.
- Antonio Bastardo struck out the side in the eighth.
- Roberto Hernandez was used to pitch the ninth.
Final Thoughts
The shutouts keep piling up.
Right now, this team looks every bit as bad as they did in Spring Training where they’d go three games at a time without scoring a single run.
Its a good move to get Ben Revere out of the lineup, but there’s only so much that Ryne Sandberg can do with this mess of a team.
If he moves Revere out, he’s got to put John Mayberry and his .125 average in.
He’s struck with Domonic Brown and his miserable season-long power slump.
He’s stuck with Ryan Howard, who at this point in his career is capable of getting hot for two or three days at a time, and going two or three weeks at a time with absolutely minimal production.
A lineup that’s so badly flawed is going to produce results like this time and time again.
