The Philadelphia Phillies had their five-game winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Cardinals 4-1. Their record drops to 34-39.
- Cole Hamels pitched deep into the game, lasting 7.1 innings, but the took the loss after giving up three runs.
- Hamels allowed five hits, but also gave up five walks.
- The lefty only allowed one run through the first seven innings, and then ran into a rough patch in the eighth before being removed from the game.
- The Phillies’ offense returned to the anemic form that we have seen for the majority of the season, scoring just one run on six hits.
- Jimmy Rollins went 1-3, and drove in the team’s only run.
- Ryan Howard went 0-4 with two strikeouts and left four men on base.
- Marlon Byrd struck out three times in an 0-4 performance.
- John Mayberry started once again in center, and went 0-3 with a walk.
- Cody Asche went 1-4 in his return to the lineup.
- Jake Diekman allowed an unearned run while recording the final two outs of the eighth.
Final Thoughts
A big reason why the Phillies won five in a row this week was because Ryan Howard caught fire, driving in nine runs over four games.
When Howard goes cold, so does the rest of this lineup. If the big fella isn’t producing, its very hard for this lineup to generate more than a run or two in any game. It just speaks to how poor the rest of this lineup is when there’s no one else that can really step up and carry the team for a few days at a time. Its unfair to expect Howard to do all of the heavy lifting on his own, but the reality is that he’s the team’s only legitimate power threat, and if he’s off of his game, so is the production of this lineup.
