Houston, We Have A Problem

Phils Swept by Astros, Head for Arizona to Face Johnson

HOUSTON — After Tuesday night's loss to the Houston Astros where the Phillies went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, manager Larry Bowa sounded off by saying his players have to start putting the team ahead of their personal glory.

"Sooner or later they have to understand what winning baseball is about. It's not about hitting home runs, it's about putting the ball in play with men on base and driving in a run," the manager said following Tuesday night's 5-1 loss at Astros Field. "We've been winning with pitching. You have to hope these young guys will wake up and realize its not about 'me,' it's about what 'we' can do. I'm tired of watching it... "

	Vicente Padilla followed up his near no-hitter by allowing 10 hits and five runs in a 6-2 loss to the Astros, Wednesday night. (AP)

He repeated the sentiments during a team meeting prior to Wednesday's series and season finale against the Astros.

But based on the results, a 6-2 loss and series sweep by the 'Stros, Bowa might be a bit speechless. Sure, the Phils hit .400 with runners in scoring position, Wednesday night. But it's not like they had too many chances in a 2-for-5 effort.

Rookie lefty Carlos Hernandez made sure of that by allowing just four hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven innings of work. More impressive than the numbers was the fact that Hernandez retired the last 11 batters he faced and 14 of the last 15.

The hitting woes continue.

"Anytime you don't score runs, that's a concern, obviously," Bowa said. "Eventually, guys are going to have to do what they are capable of doing."

Less impressive is the Phils futility on the road. The sweep by the Astros drops the team to 3-15 away from the Vet, which is worse the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' 3-13 road record. Combine that with 12 losses in 13 tries on the road and it's no wonder the team is bringing up the rear in the NL East.

It's not going to get any easier for the Phils, either. From here, the team heads for Arizona will it will play four games against the defending World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks beginning on Thursday. Bowa's boys can look forward to facing NL Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson in the opener and former ace and World Series co-MVP, Curt Schilling, on Saturday.

But maybe it doesn't matter whom the slumping Phils face. All pitchers look like Randy Johnson, according to Bowa.

"Right now, every pitcher we face looks good, especially in this series," said Bowa, whose team swept three games from the Astros last week at the Vet. "You can't have as many peaks and valleys as we've had. It makes it very difficult."

What makes the losses and poor hitting such a riddle is the fact that the team plays so well at home. It's like a completely different team puts on the Phillies' uniforms on the road compared to the group at home. While the road record is the worst in the Majors, the 14-8 home mark is tops in the Majors.

They are the Bizzaro Phillies.

"I think a lot of it has to do with the offense. We just haven't hit well," Bowa said. "We haven't hit well in what most people would consider to be hitters' parks. Nine of those losses came at (Colorado's) Coors Field, San Francisco and here. That's nine games we definitely didn't hit the ball."

Stick that Bizzaro moniker on Wednesday night's starter Vicente Padilla, who was as different as night and day from his last outing, five days ago at the Vet.

Coming just four outs away from a no-hitter against the Diamondbacks last Friday night, Padilla followed the gem up with a real clunker. He lost his no-hitter four pitches into the game and the shutout four batters into it as Houston tagged him for three in the first on the way to a six-inning, five-run and 10-hit effort.

Padilla allowed five hits in the first, notably Lance Berkman's one-out, two-run double and Richard Hidalgo's RBI single. The Astros went on to add another in the third on a one-out single by Daryle Ward that brought in Jeff Bagwell, who singled and moved to third when Bobby Abreu was charged with an error trying to field Berkman's single.

The fifth run against the Phils hurler came when Craig Biggio bashed his second of three doubles to bring in Julio Lugo, who led off the inning with a walk.

The Astros tacked the final run on the board in the eighth on a leadoff homer by Hidalgo.

Realistically, Padilla (5-3, 2.90) is lucky to have made as far into the game as he did. With one out in the first and runners on the corners, Scott Rolen started an inning-ending double play on a slow roller hit by Morgan Ensberg. Faced with the same situation in the third but with just one run in, Rolen turned another twin-killing on a hot shot hit by Hidalgo. Still again, Rolen turned two on a ball hit by Brad Ausmus in the fourth to erase another sticky situation.

"I was missing my location," Padilla said in Spanish "I got better after the first inning, but I was not as good as last time."

Bowa said despite the rocky first inning, Padilla pitched well enough to win.

"Early in the game, his pitches caught a lot of the plate," Bowa said. "After the first inning, he settled down and pitched good. But we didn't get any runs for him."

During the sweep in Houston, the Phils were outscored 28-6 and out-hit, 39-17. Wednesday night, the Phils received two hits each from Rolen and Burrell and a single from Jimmy Rollins. Rolen collected an RBI in the third by singling in Rollins on a nicely manufactured run. Rollins led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a balk by Hernandez and on to third when Jason Michaels flew out, smartly, to right. Rolen knocked him home with a single to left.

After Rolen's single, Hernandez retired the next three before giving up a fourth-inning, line-drive home run to Burrell that landed in the seats in left to make it 4-2.

After that, Hernandez (4-1, 3.22) turned the lights out.

"The first three innings I was not hitting my spots," Hernandez said. "After that, I just started worked a little on closing my shoulder. That's probably why I was having trouble. I finally started throwing the ball where I wanted after that."

Rollins thought the Phils were ready to bust out against Hernandez.

"I thought he was very hittable, but sometimes when you think that way about a pitcher, it's not that way," said Rollins, who went 2-for-14 with a homer and no walks during the series.

For the Astros, Biggio snapped a 4-for-44 slump with the three doubles. Dropped out of the leadoff spot in the order to the No. 2 hole by manager Jimy Williams, Biggio saw his average dip to .215. His last at-bat on Tuesday night was also a double and now the hard-nosed second baseman feels like he has it turned around.

"I've had a terrible three weeks, and what made it worse was we were losing," Biggio said. "It you struggle and you're winning, you can handle that but if you're scuffling and losing, that's hard."

Said first baseman Jeff Bagwell, who went 3-for-13 during the series, "When Biggio gets hot, things get scary."

Scary is where the Phils go next. Arizona just took two of three from Pittsburgh after dropped two of three last weekend against the Phils. In the opener, David Coggin (0-1, 7.65) will face Johnson (6-1, 1.95) for the second consecutive start. Last time out, Coggin didn't make it out of the fourth, allowing five runs and two homers in the 6-5 loss.

Johnson was his typical self through five innings at the Vet last Saturday, surrendering just three hits and no runs. However, he gave up four runs and five hits in the sixth and seventh innings as the Phils climbed back from a 5-0 deficit to force extra innings.

The pitching probables for the series shape up like this: Terry Adams (1-3, 3.43) vs. Miguel Batista (2-2, 4.71) on Friday night; Brandon Duckworth (2-3, 5.14) vs. Schilling (8-1, 2.86) on Saturday night and Randy Wolf (2-2, 5.31) vs. Brian Anderson (0-3, 6.00) in Sunday's finale.

"They've got good pitching here, but we're going to be facing the two best pitchers in baseball," Bowa said. "(Miguel) Batista is throwing good too."

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com