Phils 'Pen Blows Another in Loss to Padres

Remember when you were a kid and you would take your bike or skateboard to the steepest and longest hill in your neighborhood? You began with a big running start, jumped on your wheels and took off down the hill, going so fast that it felt like you were flying.

Suddenly, up ahead, you spot a tiny rock. But because gravity and inertia are doing their scientific things, you realize that you are going to fast to avoid the rock. You grit your teeth and close your eyes and take it with a full bore of speed that once contact is made you are sent tumbling into the air before crashing to the ground.

	Todd Pratt runs over Tom Lampkin but is gunned down at the plate in the eighth inning. (AP)

Bruised and bloodied, you get back up and head to the top of the hill and try it all over again... which basically sums up the first month of the Phils season (minus the science, of course). In most games they are speeding along, feeling the wind blowing in their hair before a little pebble called the bullpen sends them reeling into defeat.

Just like in Thursday afternoon's 6-4 defeat to the San Diego Padres.

This time the Rheal Cormier tripped up the team when he opened the door to a four-run seventh inning that allowed the Padres to score the comeback victory.

"I stunk," Cormier offered.

With starter Vicente Padilla cruising along into the seventh inning with a 3-1 lead thanks to three, two-out RBI hits, the bullpen was called upon to hold Padilla's lead and sew down the win. Instead, the lead burst at the seams and unraveled in a pile on the rain-slicked NeXturf.

Manager Larry Bowa yanked Padilla after he walked the first two batters of the seventh inning in a six-strikeout, seven-hit outing. Lefty Cormier promptly served up an RBI single to left-handed hitter D'Angelo Jimenez, a two-run triple to lefty Mark Kotsay for the go-ahead runs and another run scoring hit to lefty Ryan Klesko for good measure.

There's the ballgame.

"We tried to come inside to the lefties but it came back out over the plate," catcher Todd Pratt said.

The fateful inning began with Padilla issuing back-to-back, leadoff walks. Solid until then, Bowa says Padilla's only mistake in the game was shaking off Pratt on three times on a 3-2 pitch before giving up the second walk to pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney. Had he made a bad pitch to Sweeney for a home run, the game is just tied. Instead, Sweeney allowed the costly go-ahead run to come to the plate.

In an act of altruism, Pratt took the blame for Padilla's walk.

"I have to take the blame," the catcher explained. "He shook me off on the cutter three times. I should have called time and told him to throw a fastball."

Sadly, Cormier's outing has been an all-too familiar sight for the Phils' bullpen during this young season. In 22 games, the 'pen has coughed up six leads or ties after the seventh inning, which has resulted into five losses. Collectively, the relievers have a 4.85 ERA and a 4-5 record. Cormier, signed to a three-year pact before last season, was brought in as a proven left-handed set up man. But his 1-2 record and 10.80 ERA in eight games clearly isn't good enough.

"I'm embarrassed with myself," he said after his three-hit, two-runs in zero innings performance.

Now it appears that he has lost his lefty set-up job. Bowa said that in future tight situations, even with a lefty hitter coming up, he wouldn't look to Cormier. Instead, he's going to give young players like Carlos Silva a chance.

"You gotta do the job sometime. You have all these veterans who aren't doing their jobs," Bowa said. "Instead, we'll go with the kids. I'll let them fail and give them a chance.

"I've seen enough."

The changes don't end with the relievers, according to Bowa. Eschewing veterans Cormier and probably Ricky Bottalico for Silva and David Coggin in the 'pen, the manager also said he will probably "mess around with the lineup a little."

Bowa says he would like to get more at-bats for Jason Michaels, who is hitting .500 (5-for-10) the probable spot is in centerfield for Doug Glanville (.218 batting average).

Yet the big seventh inning was just the tip of the iceberg. The Phillies didn't just roll over and wave the white flag once the bullpen did its thing. In the bottom half of the seventh and the Padres leading 5-3, Jimmy Rollins hit a one-out double to put runners on second and third against reliever Jeremy Fikac. But Glanville was called out on a questionable third strike call. After Bobby Abreu walked to load the bases, Scott Rolen popped out weakly to second.

With the right-hander Fikac on the mound and runners on second and third, Bowa would have probably liked to pinch-hit for Glanville with a lefty swinger. Since he was a bit limited with Marlon Anderson sitting out with a hyper-extended right elbow, he couldn't make the move.

An inning later, Pat Burrell led off with a monstrous 424-foot homer off the 400-level facade in left-center to make it 5-4. Pratt followed with a one-out single but was thrown out at the plate to end the inning trying to score from first on Michaels' two-out double in the gap. In a different circumstance, Bowa might have pinch-run for Pratt but wasn't about to use regular catcher Mike Lieberthal on a raw and rainy day when he had been sitting around for eight innings.

Still, Bowa rightly says that the non-moves had no affect on the outcome.

"The game was lost in the seventh when we gave up four runs," he said.

The game also sounded the alarm for the Phils with Bowa sounding the loudest toll.

"You have to do the job sometime. We're not getting it done, it's that simple," Bowa said. "We have guys who aren't doing their jobs. The guys who aren't doing their jobs are veterans.

"There will be some new roles."

Players echoed the sentiment. Maligned reliever Bottalico realizes that there are still 140 games to go, but the Phils (8-14) have to start heading winning some games.

"We have to do something in a hurry," Bottalico said.

Pratt chalked the bad play up to an early swoon.

"Teams go through two bad streaks and three good streaks during a season," he said. "Our bad one is starting early."

But the bad streak is starting to wear on the team too. The Phils have played seven series' so far and have lost four in a row. They haven't won one since the home opening series against the Marlins. A gallows mentality has engulfed at least disabled utility player Dave Hollins who angrily swore at and shoved reporters who were assembled near Cormier, whose locker is next to Hollins'.

"We can't keep saying it's early," Pratt said.

For the Padres, starter Bobby Jones earned the win by pitching six innings and giving up three runs and six hits. Trevor Hoffman nailed down his seventh save.

But it doesn't appear that the upcoming schedule suits an ailing pitching staff. Altitude and Barry Bonds can mess with a team's confidence.

After the game, the Phils hit the road for six games that will take them to Colorado and San Francisco. In Friday's opener against the struggling Rockies (6-15), Terry Adams (0-2, 5.71) faces John Thompson (2-2, 6.14) in a meeting between two hard-luck pitchers. In last Saturday's 6-5 loss to the Pirates, Adams allowed six runs and eight hits in five innings. However, only one of Adams' runs was earned.

Thompson's big ERA is a bit misleading. The 28-year old right-hander pitched into the seventh inning in each of his first three starts allowing nine earned runs and garnering 15 strikeouts. But he didn't make it past the third inning in his last start where he six runs on three hits and three walks in a loss to the Diamondbacks last Saturday.

Notes: Pratt knocked out a double in the second inning to extend the team's double streak to 27 consecutive games. The Phils have a double in all 22 games this season and lead the Major Leagues in the category with 56. ... Klesko extended his hitting streak to 13 games, which is the National League season high. ... Abreu snapped a 0-for-11 with a 2-for-3, including an RBI double and stolen base. ... Padilla drove in his first Major League RBI with a single to score Pratt in the second. ... The game was delayed at the outset for 65 minutes.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com