Tony LaRussa’s return marks Philadelphia Phillies defeat to St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 - Part 2
The Philadelphia Phillies suffered their third consecutive defeat and the first in the two match series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night. The Cardinals welcomed their victory with open arms after the humiliating series sweep they suffered
at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds.
The Cardinals won 3-1 against the Phillies in a match where the Phillies best pitcher, Cliff Lee was pitching.
This game also marked the return of the Cardinals’ manager, Tony LaRussa who had been ill due to shingles when the team was losing against the Reds.
Lee is an experienced pitcher who is excellent when he hits the catcher’s mitt with one strike after another. There have been times when he has delivered a complete inning within the duration of ten minutes or less. These are facts that prove what Lee is
like when he’s at his best. Unfortunately none of that happened at Busch Stadium in St Louis.
In his six starts since he threw a shut-out innings against the Washington Nationals on April 14th, Lee has remained winless. He pitched 122 pitches in the duration of six and one third innings. During the innings Ryan Theriot, Lance Berkman and
Matt Holliday successfully walked twice each, which set a career high for Lee who has never allowed six walks. These six walks are two more than what he all of his previous starts since the season began.
It was as apparent as can be that Lee was not his usual bona fide self on the mound during the game.
The only run that graced the scoreboards from Philadelphia’s side came in the second inning courtesy of John Mayberry Jr. who scored after Ben Francisco singled. Mayberry has had a good start since the season began and it looks like he is on his way to becoming
one of the more reliable hitters in the teams lacking offence after Shane Victorino.
The men from St. Louis scored twice in the fourth inning and once in the seventh. The first run came as Nick Punto singled to right-field off which Matt Holliday scored. The next run of the fourth inning came as Ryan Theriot singled and Lance Berkman scored.
The seventh inning was graced with Jon Jay’s single to centre-field after which Punto scored and Theriot moved to second base during the play. It will be interesting to see how the Cardinals carry their winning momentum into their next match-up. The Phillies
put in a decent performance, but it was not enough to contain the Cardinals’ offence.
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