Dunn and Mateo's Clutch Hits Hand Phils Third Straight Loss

In a game in which he threw 103 pitches, Robert Person wants two of those back... come to think of it, he probably wants to make that three.

The Phils right-hander wants the pitch he threw that resulted in a rain-making, two-run homer to Adam Dunn on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth and the one he threw for an 0-2, two-out, two-on double to Ruben Mateo an inning later to put the Cincinnati Reds up for good as they cruised to a 5-2 victory over the Phils on Saturday evening in the Vet.

	Reds' trainer Greg Lynn tends to Sean Casey after he was hit in the head by Robert Person in the first inning of the Phils' loss, Saturday night. (AP)

That's two, 0-2 pitches that lead to the Reds' runs if you're scoring at home. Additionally, that's two straight games where an 0-2 pitch out over the plate cost the team against the Reds.

"You can understand it happening one time but not the second," said manager Larry Bowa. "It's very frustrating, especially when it's an issue that's been addressed."

Person calls the costly pitches a mere failure of execution.

"[Against Dunn] I tried to come up and in. It was up but he just got a hold of it," Person explained. "Afterwards I was thinking I should have just bounced a split."

But the pitch that probably did the most damage didn't cost Person a run, yet it affected his psyche throughout the evening. On his seventh pitch of the evening to the game's third hitter, an inside fastball got away from the hard-throwing right-hander and caught the left-handed hitting Casey flush on the batting helmet — just a shade above his earhole — that sent the strapping first baseman to the dirt as if he'd been shot by a rifle.

Luckily, Casey will be all right. He had a CAT scan and an X-ray taken at Thomas Jefferson Hospital and the readings came back normal. The initial prognosis has him listed as day-to-day.

However, Person admitted after the game that the pitch caused him to be a bit more gun-shy.

"It definitely affected me," Person said. "I was flustered and it was hard to pitch in after that. The first time [catcher Mike Lieberthal] put it down to come in, I shook him off."

Person says he has been trying to call to Casey to apologize but hasn't reached him as of late Saturday night.

"I've never hit anybody in the head before," Person said. "I called over (to the Reds clubhouse) a couple of times. It's very unfortunate. He's a great player and a great guy off the field."

But before all of that, Person took a bouncer by Barry Larkin — the game's second hitter — off his index finger. He says it didn't bother once the game got going but admits it did affect his breaking pitches.

Just a rough day at the office for Person and the Phils.

"We got burned on 0-2 pitches for the second night in a row," Bowa said. "We can remind them about it but then it's up to them to execute."

Inopportune pitching aside, the 5-7 Phils, now losers of three straight, didn't give Person much support against Joey Hamilton (1-0, 2.50). The big right-hander went six, solid innings where he scattered seven hits for two runs.

"I really didn't have a breaking pitch, but I was able to get out of some bad situations," said Hamilton, who was 2-1 with a 2.30 ERA for the Reds and Blue Jays against the Phils last season. "As long as the team wins, I've done my job."

The Phils jumped on Hamilton early, scoring a run in the first on a two-out RBI single by Mike Lieberthal that drove home Jimmy Rollins, who hit a leadoff double and got another in the third on a sacrifice fly by Lieberthal that came on the heals of back-to-back one-out singles by Marlon Anderson and Scott Rolen.

But that was it. Hamilton retired 10 of the last 12 he faced and then turned it over to the bullpen, which gave up two hits in the last three innings. Danny Graves earned his fifth save and his second in as many days.

"They're all pitching well," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "It makes me more confident to pull a starter."

That confidence has carried over to the Reds' starting rotation.

"They've done such an unbelievable job," Hamilton said. "If a starter can get a minimum of six innings, we will win some games."

Regardless of the costly 0-2 pitches, Bowa doesn't place all the blame on Person.

"In all fairness, two runs aren't going to win many games," Bowa said.

The Phils and Reds play the series finale on Sunday with Vicente Padilla (1-1, 1.50) facing off against Elmer Dessens (0-2, 4.22). Padilla has allowed one earned run in six innings in each of his last two starts against the Braves. His last time out, last Monday, he lost to Kevin Millwood, 2-1, while pitching with a stiff back. So far, both of his Major League starts have been deemed "quality."

Dessens struggled in his first start of the season — a 10-3 loss to the Cubs where he lasted just 3 2/3. However, he pitched a four-hitter over seven solid innings in a hard-luck, 1-0 loss to the Pirates last Monday.

Terry Adams was scheduled to pitch Tuesday in Miami to kick-off a six-game trip, but will miss the start with a strain of the right sternoclavicular joint (below collar bone and above sternum). It's a chronic condition that Adams is treating with a cortisone shot and anti-inflammatories. In his stead, everyone will be moved up a day meaning Brandon Duckworth (1-0, 2.77) will face the Marlins' Brad Penny (1-1, 4.61).

Notes: Bobby Abreu pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth after being out of the lineup for the third consecutive game. Abreu played 174 consecutive games before sitting out on Thursday and Friday. ... Tomas Perez played in his first rehab game for Double-A Reading and went 2-for-5 with two singles and a strikeout. He's slated to play Sunday for Reading as a designated hitter. ... Former Phil Reggie Taylor led off the game with his first Major League triple. ... Jason Michael, freshly called up from Scranton, singled in a pinch-hitting appearance in the seventh. ... Lieberthal extended his RBI streak to four games and his hitting streak to six games. The catcher has a hit in nine of his 10 starts.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com