2003 Donruss Elite #141 Jimmy Rollins

Pirates 6, Phillies 3
Game 58 - Saturday Night, June 4th in Pittsburgh

One Sentence Summary:  Despite generating some late, ninth inning excitement, a quiet offense was again the story as the Phillies continued their struggles in Pittsburgh.

What It Means:  The Phillies dropped their fourth in a row for the first time this season and they've now scored seven runs in the past four games.  The Phillies record is 34-24 and their lead in the division stands at two games over the Marlins.  Roy Halladay will try to help the team avoid the sweep tomorrow afternoon.

What Went Wrong:  There was no offense.  Again.  Kyle Kendrick (3-4) gave up four runs in his five innings of work and the bullpen coughed up two more runs late in the game.  (As an aside, how much longer will the team stick with reliever J.C. Romero?  In 14 innings so far this year, he's allowed 14 hits and 10 walks.  That's not good.)  The team had just six hits before adding three hits in the ninth.

Jimmy Rollins left the game in the third due to discomfort stemming from taking a foul ball off his knee in the first.

Featured Card:  When the the Phillies lose, and there really isn't anything interesting or historically significant about the loss, I sometimes struggle with finding an appropriate card to post.  So tonight, I turned to Baseball Reference to find the biggest blow-out victories the Phillies have had against the Pirates since 1901.  In the hopes of adding a game to this list tomorrow, here are the three games since 1901 in which the Phillies outscored the Pirates by at least 15 runs:

• July 11, 1910 - Phillies 18, Pirates 0 in Pittsburgh
• May 20, 1951 (Game 1) - Phillies 17, Pirates 0 in Pittsburgh 
• April 5, 2003 - Phillies 16, Pirates 1 in Philadelphia

Rollins led the hit parade back in the 2003 game, going 5 for 6 with four runs scored and three RBIs.  If his knee is OK, here's hoping he leads an offensive explosion tomorrow afternoon.  (And if this doesn't work, so help me, I'll post a Sil Campusano card.)

Transactions:  John Mayberry, Jr. is back from Lehigh Valley after a one game demotion as Ross Gload has left the team to take a brief paternity leave.  Following tonight's game, Mike Zagurski was sent back down to the minors and David Herndon was brought back up.