YONG KIM / Staff photographer
Ryan Howard crosses home plate after second-inning homer gave Phils a 1-0 lead.
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BITTER AFTER TASTE
Phillies follow slaughter with a mundane loss
IN THE DUGOUT in the third inning, Charlie Manuel could feel the pendulum swing.
Just moments before, the Phillies had taken a 3-0 lead on a double by Chase Utley, then loaded the bases with no outs on a walk by Ryan Howard. Reds starter Aaron Harang was in trouble. Phillies starter J.A. Happ seemed poised to retake the mound with a comfortable lead.
But then Jayson Werth struck out on a 1-2 fastball, Greg Dobbs popped out to second base, and Pedro Feliz grounded out to the pitcher, and the Phillies took just one run out of an inning in which their first four batters reached base.
The three-run lead felt hollow, and it later proved to be, as two home runs by Brandon Phillips and an RBI single by Ramon Hernandez off Brad Lidge in the ninth lifted the Reds to a 4-3 win last night at Citizens Bank Park.
"I felt like the game kind of shifted when we didn't score there in the third inning," Manuel said.
One night before, in the wake of a record-setting, 22-1 victory in the first game of the series, Manuel made sure to point out that the Phillies were not allowed to carry any of their extra runs over to the following night. While the Reds' victory last night may have failed in the shock-and-awe department, it nevertheless resulted in a victory that, in the standings, is equal to the one the Phillies recorded the night before.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak and dropped the Phils to 43-38. It also spoiled a sixth straight quality start from a member of the previously maligned rotation. This time, it was Happ who had every right to rue what might have been, given the three runs he allowed in seven innings for his third straight impressive start. Instead, the young lefthander rued a couple of pitches to Phillips, both of which the Reds star dispatched for home runs, the first a two-run shot in the fourth, the second a solo blast in the sixth.
"He didn't get all of either of them," said Happ, who has allowed five runs in his last three starts. "The second one was frustrating [but] it went over the fence. I think he might have sold out kind of on an inside pitch on the second one. I thought it was a pretty good pitch, but he got to it."
But a Phillies offense that failed to drive home easy - or, at least, relatively easy - runs cut Happ's margin for error. One night after going 10-for-15 with runners in scoring position, they went just 1-for-12 in those situations, including 0-for-5 with a man on third base and less than two outs. After Utley's double in the third, they were hitless in their final 11 at-bats with runners on second or third.
Catcher Carlos Ruiz led off the fourth inning with a triple off the wall in centerfield, but Happ struck out and Jimmy Rollins grounded out sharply to leave him standing on third. Shane Victorino then grounded out to end the inning.
With the score tied at 3-3 in the eighth, a throwing error on Reds shortstop Jerry Hairston Jr. put Feliz on second base on what should have been a leadoff groundout. Ruiz then bunted pinch-runner John Mayberry to third.
But with one out, Rollins hit a hard groundball to first base, which Joey Votto gloved on one hop and threw home. Mayberry attempted to dive underneath the tag, but home plate umpire Mike DiMuro decided that Hernandez' glove sweep had caught him just before his hand touched the plate.
"I was just going on contact and trying to avoid the tag," Mayberry said.
Mayberry was the pinch-runner because Manuel elected to pinch-hit Eric Bruntlett in the seventh inning with two outs and runners on second and third. Dobbs, a lefthanded hitter, had played leftfield and batted sixth for the first six innings, but Manuel wanted a righty to face Reds lefty Arthur Rhodes. None of his three options had hit particularly well: Chris Coste was 1-for-11 as a pinch-hitter this season, while Mayberry was 1-for-5 with a home run. Instead, he went with Bruntlett, who was 3-for-18 as a pinch-hitter. Bruntlett struck out.
"We needed a hit there," Manuel said. "We didn't need a home run, and I thought Bruntlett had a chance - he got to play [Monday] and he hit a ball good - to make contact and something might happen." *
For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.
