Game Recap: 05.05.10 Phillies 4 Cardinals 0

Depending on how you want to look at it, Kyle Kendrick (1-1, 5.87 ERA) was either brilliant or damn lucky in Wednesday’s 4-0 win against the Saint Louis Cardinals (18-10), with the Phillies (16-11) taking a 2-1 lead in the series.

Kendrick relied heavily on his fastball, which made up for over half of his pitches. It was working for him, though, as he retired 11 of his 27 batters faced with it including 6 ground outs and 2 strike outs. He finished the night with 7 innings pitched, 6 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and no runs, getting his first win of the season. In a collaborative effort, Baez and Contreras assisted in the combined shut out of the Cardinals, each with one inning pitched, no walks, no hits, and one strikeout by Baez in the 8^th.



There were a few situations in which things could have started to go awry, such as when Albert Pujols advanced to third on a balk, or when Kendrick walked the very next batter before getting out of the third inning on a fly ball to right. Or how about in the second inning when the umpires made one debatable call on a punch out at third and one just blatantly wrong call at first giving Kyle a ton of breathing room and two less baserunners to worry about? Even though we can hardly write a recap based on what ifs and maybes, it should be noted that Kendrick was a jack of all trades tonight, pitching himself out of jams, and stumbling on luck that just happened to go his way.

AP/H. Rumph Jr.

Brad Penny (3-2, 1.99 ERA) didn’t have nearly as smooth an evening as Kendrick managed to have, however. After 6 innings, his night was over with 5 hits, 6 strikeouts and 3 runs coming off his first two home runs allowed in 2010, and the first long balls given up by the Cardinals in 22 games.

Victorino struck in the 4^th, getting the first hit of the game off Penny, and Polanco quickly followed suit by hitting a 2-run jack on the first pitch he saw, giving the Phillies a 2-0 lead. The Flyin’ Hawaiian refused to be shown up and struck back with a 1^st pitch homer of his own to lead off the 6^th, bringing the Phillies up 3-0.

One inning later, Juan Castro reached base on an infield single but was taken out of the game immediately after, feeling soreness in his left hamstring. After the game he said that it felt similar to the strain that sidelined him for two games in April and there does not seem to be too much concern. With Valdez pinch running for him, Dobbsy doubled, bringing the run home and sewing up the game at 4-0 good guys.

Roy Halladay (5-1, 1.47 ERA) takes the mound against Kyle Lohse (0-1, 5.28 ERA) tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 for the series finale. Pin It Now!