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Cubs light up Velasquez and sweep Phillies

CHICAGO - The Phillies' surprising start - one of baseball's best stories this spring - faded away over Memorial Day weekend as the calendar unofficially turned to summer.

CHICAGO - The Phillies' surprising start - one of baseball's best stories this spring - faded away over Memorial Day weekend as the calendar unofficially turned to summer.

The team's miserable six-game road trip came to a close Sunday with a 7-2 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. They were swept for the first time since dropping the first three games of the season. They mustered six hits Sunday and did not score until the seventh inning.

Manager Pete Mackanin opted to sit Ryan Howard against a righthanded pitcher, but even that could not spark the team's listless offense. Vince Velasquez allowed seven runs. He failed to finish the fifth inning. The Phillies were stymied by righthander John Lackey. Cubs starting pitchers had a 1.21 ERA in the three-game sweep.

"Every team goes through a lull. Every team goes through a hot streak and a cold streak," Mackanin said. "How you come out of those streaks - especially the cold streaks - determines how good of a team you are. I choose to believe we're at the bottom of the roller coaster and on our way up. That's the way I look at it."

Tommy Joseph, who started for Howard, homered to lead off the ninth inning. He went 1 for 4 and has 10 hits in 35 at-bats in his first three weeks in the majors. Howard is batting .154 for the season and .097 in May. Mackanin said the Phillies will start to play Joseph more often than they had. Sunday was just the second time Joseph started over Howard against a righthanded pitcher. His three other starts against a righthander came in Detroit when Howard was the designated hitter.

"We brought Joseph up here for a reason: to get a look at him," Mackanin said. "I can't let him stagnate on the bench like [Darin] Ruf ended up doing."

Velasquez allowed a leadoff homer in the second to Miguel Montero and a crushing three-run homer in the third to Ben Zobrist. Montero's home run looked like it was headed for Sheffield Avenue until it crashed into the right-field scoreboard. Zobrist's homer landed in the first row of the right-field bleachers. He pestered the Phillies this weekend with five hits.

Velasquez has allowed five homers in his last two starts after allowing just three in his first eight. The righthander started the season with 15 scoreless innings but has since registered a 4.93 ERA in his last eight starts.

"When you get behind the count, you have nowhere else to throw a fastball but down the middle and then you give up home runs," Velasquez said. "It's just one of those days, I guess. You can't do anything about it. Just one of those days where they get the bat on the ball and it falls into play and you have to continue pitching."

The Phillies flew home Sunday night and will limp into Memorial Day with five runs in their last three games. They finished the six-game road trip with just one win. The team has lost seven of its last nine games, and its record is inching closer to .500.

The schedule does not let up. The Phillies will play 13 of the next 17 games against Washington, Toronto, and the Cubs. The fast start - which included a few hours of the Phillies' being in first place - was fun while it lasted.

mbreen@phillynews.com

@matt_breen