Umps, Phillies Don't Help in Dodgers' 6-1 Shellacking of Them

By SAMUEL BOTWINICK  |  Staff Writer
@avdbkr20samuel

Bad calls, untimely hitting, and bad luck have been recurring themes for the Phillies this year.  Sunday was just another occasion for them to showcase their ineptitude as the Phillies fell to the Dodgers 6-1 at Dodger Stadium.   

Scoring early has been a rare feat for the Phillies this year, and today was no different.  In the top of the first, Michael Young hit a ground-rule double but did not reach home.  After Chase Utley struck out and Jimmy Rollins lined out to left, Dodger's pitcher, Stephen Fife, uncorked a wild pitch, which allowed Young to run to third.  Young was stranded there, however, after Ryan Howard grounded out to first.

Botched calls have hurt the Phillies too many times this year, and today was a case in point.  After Yasiel Puig singled to start the bottom of the fourth, he attemped to steal second.  It appeared that after he had reached second, his foot came off the bag where Rollins tagged him, but, strangely, he was called safe.  This proved costly as Hanley Ramirez singled to left to score Puig.  Immediately after that, Ramirez attempted to steal second, but his foot looked like it had fallen off the bag as well, and Rollins tagged Ramirez but was again called safe.  This also ended up hurting the Phillies as Matt Kemp drove home Ramirez.  By the end of the inning, the Dodgers had a 3-0 lead.  Two of those runs came after Puig appeared to have been tagged out.


The top of the fifth summed up the Phillies' day in one play.  With one out and Ben Revere on first, Revere decided to run on a 3-2 pitch, which ended up getting snagged by Adrian Gonzalez, who merely walked to first to complete the easy unassisted double play to end the inning.



The Dodgers kept piling it on in the bottom of the fifth.  With one out, Puig blooped a triple, which fell a foot in front of Delmon Young, and scored on Gonzalez's double to the right field corner to increase the Dodgers' advantage to 4-0.

The Phillies were finally able to push across a meaningless run in the top of the ninth when Rollins drove home Utley on a blooper to left to put a dent into the Dodgers big lead, making it 6-1.


Fife pitched great, tossing seven scoreless innings on four hits, while punching out five.



Kyle Kendrick pitched half-decently for the Phillies, surrendering four earned runs on ten hits, while striking out two, over six innings of work.








The Phillies, who have off tomorrow, will look to rebound Tuesday when they travel to PNC Park to play the Pirates.  Jonathan Pettibone will attempt to go for his fourth win of the season. 




-  Samuel Botwinick is a staff writer for the Philadelphia Baseball Review.  Contact him at sbotwinick@philadelphiabaseballreview.com or @avdbkr20samuel on Twitter.