GaryMrMets
07-01-2004, 02:56 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/9053227.htm
Posted on Thu, Jul. 01, 2004
Suddenly, no offense for Phils
Poor outing by Worrell leads to loss
By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com
SOMETIMES, YOU score. Sometimes, you don't.
So, sometimes, you need the bullpen.
For the Phillies, that was last night.
Oh, well.
Their scoring went dry for a night but Paul Abbott stitched together a decent five-inning start, Rheal Cormier went two scoreless innings with a one-run lead and Tim Worrell entered in the same situation.
Worrell exited two outs, eight batters and four runs later trailing by three, paving the way for a 6-3 Montreal victory. The Phils' loss kept them from winning three straight for the first time since they won four in a row from May 18 to 21 and gave them a 13-14 record in June. It was Worrell's worst outing of the season.
Should Worrell have faced that many batters? Why not bring in closer Billy Wagner after the score was tied at 3 instead of intentionally walking Terrmel Sledge, a rookie batting .167 against lefties and .000 against lefty closers who throw 100 mph? Wagner considered the possibility, too.
"Not in June," manager Larry Bowa quickly replied. "Not even close."
Besides, there were other issues.
The Phillies went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base against Zach Day by the time Worrell entered; this, after the Phils had scored 31 runs in two straight blowout wins over the Expos. Yes, Worrell had gone 10 straight appearances without allowing a run, including five holds, a save and a win.
"We had the game where we wanted it," Bowa said. "We were right where we wanted to be."
Worrell just didn't have it last night. He gave up four runs in the eighth, dropping to 2-3 and inflating his earned-run average from 2.82 to 3.69.
"Obviously, I wasn't real sharp," observed Worrell, who was most disappointed that he wasn't more aggressive. "I just got away from pitching."
And his hitters got away from scoring. They even did most of their damage the previous two games without Jim Thome, who leads the majors in home runs.
Thome's 27th, a two-run shot in the fifth that gave the Phils a 3-2 lead, tied Cy Williams' club record for homers in a month. He ripped his 15th of June on the month's last day. Williams smashed as many in May 1923.
"You don't care about that too much when you lose a game," Thome said.
When you're the starting pitcher you care a lot, especially when you haven't won since April 16 and you haven't won at all with your new club.
Abbott lasted just five innings and 76 pitches but not because he was particularly bad; five hits, two runs. He left because the bases were loaded in the bottom of the fifth with one out when his spot came up and he had given up a homer, a hit and two smoked balls to center in the top of the inning.
Cutting one's losses didn't seem unwise. After all, Abbott did get released by the Devil Rays early last month, back when they stunk.
"I understand it," Abbott said.
Day stayed much longer. He lasted 6 2/3 innings and exited having given up a career-high seven walks, part of the reason for his season-high 124 pitches. Including Jose Vidro's error in the fifth, Day allowed 16 baserunners. However, thanks to the Phillies' bats finally cooling after scoring 11 two-out runs in each of the first two games, only three of those 16 scored.
That proved inconvenient for the Phils when Worrell entered.
Vidro singled with one out then scampered all the way to third on Nick Johnson's single, taking advantage of Doug Glanville playing deep in centerfield and not charging hard on the hit. Vidro scored on Tony Batista's sacrifice fly that moved Johnson to second.
Johnson tagging and moving up led Bowa to decide to walk Sledge, but then Worrell gave up an RBI single to Juan Rivera and an unintentional walk to Phillies killer Brian Schneider that brought up Carl Everett to pinch-hit. He delivered a two-run single that knocked Worrell from the game.
When reliever Luis Ayala froze Thome to end the eighth 1-2-3, most of the 40,407 realized it was a work night and navigated homeward for beauty sleep, missing Chad Cordero's perfect ninth.
Now, that's bullpen execution.
Phillers
Expos first baseman Nick Johnson's smooth fielding has caught the eye of many but is no surprise to Larry Bowa, Johnson's light-hitting uncle but two-time Gold Glove winner. "That might be the only thing from his uncle's side: the glove," Bowa quipped...The rainout of the June 10 game with the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago was rescheduled for Aug. 30 at 2 p.m... .Expos second baseman Jose Vidro has a 17-game hitting streak.
Posted on Thu, Jul. 01, 2004
Suddenly, no offense for Phils
Poor outing by Worrell leads to loss
By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com
SOMETIMES, YOU score. Sometimes, you don't.
So, sometimes, you need the bullpen.
For the Phillies, that was last night.
Oh, well.
Their scoring went dry for a night but Paul Abbott stitched together a decent five-inning start, Rheal Cormier went two scoreless innings with a one-run lead and Tim Worrell entered in the same situation.
Worrell exited two outs, eight batters and four runs later trailing by three, paving the way for a 6-3 Montreal victory. The Phils' loss kept them from winning three straight for the first time since they won four in a row from May 18 to 21 and gave them a 13-14 record in June. It was Worrell's worst outing of the season.
Should Worrell have faced that many batters? Why not bring in closer Billy Wagner after the score was tied at 3 instead of intentionally walking Terrmel Sledge, a rookie batting .167 against lefties and .000 against lefty closers who throw 100 mph? Wagner considered the possibility, too.
"Not in June," manager Larry Bowa quickly replied. "Not even close."
Besides, there were other issues.
The Phillies went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base against Zach Day by the time Worrell entered; this, after the Phils had scored 31 runs in two straight blowout wins over the Expos. Yes, Worrell had gone 10 straight appearances without allowing a run, including five holds, a save and a win.
"We had the game where we wanted it," Bowa said. "We were right where we wanted to be."
Worrell just didn't have it last night. He gave up four runs in the eighth, dropping to 2-3 and inflating his earned-run average from 2.82 to 3.69.
"Obviously, I wasn't real sharp," observed Worrell, who was most disappointed that he wasn't more aggressive. "I just got away from pitching."
And his hitters got away from scoring. They even did most of their damage the previous two games without Jim Thome, who leads the majors in home runs.
Thome's 27th, a two-run shot in the fifth that gave the Phils a 3-2 lead, tied Cy Williams' club record for homers in a month. He ripped his 15th of June on the month's last day. Williams smashed as many in May 1923.
"You don't care about that too much when you lose a game," Thome said.
When you're the starting pitcher you care a lot, especially when you haven't won since April 16 and you haven't won at all with your new club.
Abbott lasted just five innings and 76 pitches but not because he was particularly bad; five hits, two runs. He left because the bases were loaded in the bottom of the fifth with one out when his spot came up and he had given up a homer, a hit and two smoked balls to center in the top of the inning.
Cutting one's losses didn't seem unwise. After all, Abbott did get released by the Devil Rays early last month, back when they stunk.
"I understand it," Abbott said.
Day stayed much longer. He lasted 6 2/3 innings and exited having given up a career-high seven walks, part of the reason for his season-high 124 pitches. Including Jose Vidro's error in the fifth, Day allowed 16 baserunners. However, thanks to the Phillies' bats finally cooling after scoring 11 two-out runs in each of the first two games, only three of those 16 scored.
That proved inconvenient for the Phils when Worrell entered.
Vidro singled with one out then scampered all the way to third on Nick Johnson's single, taking advantage of Doug Glanville playing deep in centerfield and not charging hard on the hit. Vidro scored on Tony Batista's sacrifice fly that moved Johnson to second.
Johnson tagging and moving up led Bowa to decide to walk Sledge, but then Worrell gave up an RBI single to Juan Rivera and an unintentional walk to Phillies killer Brian Schneider that brought up Carl Everett to pinch-hit. He delivered a two-run single that knocked Worrell from the game.
When reliever Luis Ayala froze Thome to end the eighth 1-2-3, most of the 40,407 realized it was a work night and navigated homeward for beauty sleep, missing Chad Cordero's perfect ninth.
Now, that's bullpen execution.
Phillers
Expos first baseman Nick Johnson's smooth fielding has caught the eye of many but is no surprise to Larry Bowa, Johnson's light-hitting uncle but two-time Gold Glove winner. "That might be the only thing from his uncle's side: the glove," Bowa quipped...The rainout of the June 10 game with the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago was rescheduled for Aug. 30 at 2 p.m... .Expos second baseman Jose Vidro has a 17-game hitting streak.