Phillies swept by Giants after 4-2 loss

SAN FRANCISCO - Jeff Francoeur had a flight to catch to get to Atlanta, where he'll celebrate his daughter's second birthday. Darin Ruf was going back to Philadelphia on the team charter flight.

Freddy Galvis was joining Carlos Ruiz on a trip to Panama, Justin De Fratus was heading down the coast to his offseason home in Southern California, and Chase Utley was sticking around in San Francisco, where he's made a home in recent years.

It's fair to say everyone in the visiting clubhouse, no matter where they were headed on Sunday afternoon, was eager for a break. The Phillies had just wrapped up one of the worst first halves in the long, losing history of the franchise.

Giants backup catcher Andrew Susac slugged a three-run home run off of Chad Billingsley in the fourth inning and the Phillies never looked too interesting in making a comeback in an eventual 4-2 defeat. The win completed a three-game sweep for the reigning world champions over the worst team in baseball.

The loss clinched the most defeats (62) for a Phillies team before an All-Star break.

It's the most losses for a Phillies team before the break since the Midsummer Classic began in 1933, 82 years ago. The Phils (29-62) entered play Sunday tied with the woeful '97 team, which went 24-61 before the break.

"We can go home and relax and try to get our heads together, just take the pressure off for a while and see what happens," manager Pete Mackanin said.

"It's (been) really tough," rookie third baseman Maikel Franco said. "But the first half is over already. So I have to come in Friday and do the best I can for the team, try to play for the team and try to get better every single day."

Franco has been one of the few bright spots for a Phillies team that has 10 more losses than baseball's second worst team, the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sunday's loss was the first straight for the Phillies; they went 2-8 on their just-completed road trip through Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco. They have lost 26 of their last 33 games.

In the seven weeks since the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, the Phillies have dropped 36 of 46 games.

"It's difficult," Galvis said of trying to stay upbeat through the losing. "It's hard. But like I always say, we have to come out and play hard. We have a young team. We have to learn a lot. We have to come in here everyday, try to learn, try to play hard and try to play the game the right way and hope everything gets better."

Sunday's loss in San Francisco wasn't unlike the 61 that preceded it. The Phillies received poor starting pitching.

For the second time in three starts since returning from the disabled list, Billingsley allowed 10 hits in five innings.

After getting ahead of Susac with two strikes, Billingsley could see his way out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fourth. But then he couldn't find the strike zone for the next two pitches, and his fifth was a cut fastball that caught too much of the plate.

Susac launched it over the fence in dead center for his third home run of the year.

"I threw the pitch here I wanted to, he made the adjustment on it and got enough of it," Billingsley said.

Billingsley would face three more batters before his day was deemed over - he was removed after giving up back-to-back hits to begin the sixth inning.

"They had a lot of singles and that one big hit," Billingsley said. "You can't do anything about it. I thought I had pretty good command today. They hit some good pitches. It happens."

Although the names have changed often through the last month, with Cole Hamels as the only mainstay, the rotation has been the largest deficiency on a team full of faults during their most recent downturn.

The Phillies rotation is 3-22 with a 6.93 ERA in 38 games since June 1. Their starting pitchers have failed to pitch at least six innings in 20 of their last 26 games.

"I mean that explains a lot," Mackanin said. "It doesn't always show when a bullpen guy comes in and isn't as effective. Sometimes they're overworked. You're asking a lot of these guys. So hopefully our starters can give us more length (in the second half) and we can use the bullpen the way we'd like to, rather than trying to make sure we don't overdo it because we need pitchers at the end."

Through the season's first 91 games, the rotation is 18-49, marking the first time the Phillies starters have been at least 30 games under .500 before the All-Star break since 1942, when it was 18-50 at the break.

The 1942 Phillies lost 109 games. The current Phillies would have to up their correct pace to avoid losing 110 games. The franchise record, set in 1941, is 111 losses in a season.

Four years after setting the franchise record for wins, the Phillies are hoping to avoid making a complete different kind of history in the next three months.

"Pitching and defense, it's the old cliche," Mackanin said. "That's how you win baseball games. But it's so true. Our starters have to give us more length. If they do that, I think we're going to be OK, we're going to be much better in the second half."