Game 158 - Saturday Night, September 24th in Flushing
One Sentence Summary: The Phils dropped their eighth in a row, due largely to Hunter Pence's costly error in the third.
What It Means: The Phils are 98-60. The Phillies became the first team in history to lose eight straight games after clinching a pennant and the first team to lose eight straight after winning their 98th game. A week ago, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that the 2011 Phillies would shatter the franchise record for wins - the 1976 and 1977 squads each won 101 games. But now, the Phils would have to win their last four games of the season to break the record.
In my mind, the franchise record for wins is meaningless. Getting everybody healthy and back on track before the postseason is the key.
What Went Wrong: The Phils had the bases loaded with nobody out in the first, but Pence grounded into a double play and John Mayberry, Jr. popped up to end the threat. In the bottom of the third, with the Phillies holding a 3-0 lead, Pence dropped a fly ball from Willie Harris in what should have been the third out of the inning. The Mets would go on to score five runs in the inning - four of which were unearned.
Featured Card: The last time the Phillies lost eight in a row was back in September 2000. They snapped out of it on September 8, 2000, when Bruce Chen, Vicente Padilla, Chris Brock, Ed Vosberg and Jeff Brantley combined to shutout the Mets, 2-0. The Phillies scored their two runs in the eighth on a two-run home run from Scott Rolen.
The shocking thing about this streak is that back in 2000, they weren't throwing out the kind of pitching staff they have now.
ReplyDeleteYep, Bruce Chen ≠ Roy Halladay!
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