Another Phlop

Phils Cough Up Late Lead Again as Expos Complete Sweep

MONTREAL — Some holiday weekend.

The Phillies took leads into the seventh inning of each game of this weekend's three-game series against the Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium.

And somehow, they found a way to get swept.

The latest loss came Sunday afternoon, when the Expos scored four runs in the seventh inning off Vicente Padilla and handed the Phils a 6-5 loss. The Phils' league-worst road record fell to 4-21. It's the first time they've been swept in Montreal since July 14-16, 1995.

	Bobby Abreu beats Jose Vidro's tag and is safe at second. Abreu went 1-for-4 on the day with a run scored. (AP)

"Obviously, I was hoping for a much better weekend,'' said bench coach Gary Varsho, who replaced suspended manager Larry Bowa for the three-game series. "We played good enough to lose. We just can't nail it down here when we're away from the Vet, and it is frustrating. And I take it to heart, just like [Bowa] does.''

An RBI double by Pat Burrell — his third hit of the game — gave the Phillies a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. It looked like Padilla was well on his way to earning his seventh win of the season. But not even Padilla (6-4) is immune to the Phillies' road woes. With one out, the Expos loaded the bases, and Jose Macias made the second out with a fielder's choice to Travis Lee that drove in Montreal's third run.

Padilla was running on fumes, but because the Phillies had used five relievers in Saturday night's loss — and traded Cliff Politte earlier in the day — Varsho decided to stay with his ace.

Jose Vidro, who extended his hit streak to 20 games with a first-inning double, capped a 4-for-4 day with a broken bat single to center that made it 5-4, bringing Vladimir Guerrero to the plate. Guerrero was hitless on the day, so given his past success against the Phillies, he was due. After Padilla allowed the tying run to score on a wild pitch, Guerrero came through, bouncing a single up the middle to drive home Vidro with the go-ahead run. Padilla got out of the inning when Guerrero was thrown out trying to steal second,

"He was under 100 pitches and he should have had enough stuff to get people out,'' Varsho said. "He was one pitch from getting out of the inning.''

"I appreciate that Varsho stuck with me in that situation," Padilla said. "Unfortunately, it's just bad luck still on the road. We had a good chance to win, but luck was not on our side today."

Padilla allowed 6 runs and 11 hits and threw 111 pitches — all season highs — while striking out just 2, matching a season-low.

"I tried my best and I tried to keep the team close. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out," Padilla said. "It's not because we're playing bad, it's just things haven't gone our way on the road."

Notes
The Expos wore 1970 uniforms in a "Turn Back the Clock" promotion. It must have helped, because there were 19,015 fans at Olympic Stadium. ... Bowa watched all three games from a booth in the press box.

Andy Schwartz
ComcastSportsNet.com