Harden Shuts Down Phillies

3 hits? 3 f****** hits. I would have rathered they gotten no hit so their pathetic performance would be worth something to someone. But no. Their effort was so bad that I can say that Rich Harden deserved to throw a no-hitter with the way he handled the Phillies offense.

Harden (5-0) looked like he was pitching to little leaguers. Hell, my little league team full of 9 and 10 year olds could have managed more base runners. In his 8 innings pitched, Harden threw 95 pitches. He gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, and struck 11. Alan Embree pitched the 9th, giving up the 3rd hit.

Now to talk about Adam Eaton. Eaton pitched another quality start, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks, and striking out 6 in 7 innings of work. His efforts were not backed up again by this dismal offense.


Shane Victorino was the only Phillie with 2 hits. Pat Burrell had the other hit, his 2nd triple of the year. Victorino stole his 20th base in the 9th. Before taking off, he stumbled a few pitched prior and looked like he aggravated his groin. Hopefully it wasn't anything serious.

Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth struck out 3 times and Geoff Jenkins added 2. Chase Utley, Victorino, and Carlos Ruiz made up the other 3. It was an all around bad game for Rollins as he made an error in the field as well.

The Phillies remained 2 games ahead of the Marlins. The Mets and Braves move half a game closer to the Phillies, being down 3.5 and 4 games respectively, with their day off.

The Phillies travel to Arlington to play the Texas Rangers in that sweltering Texas heat. In their ball park and in that heat, the ball should fly. This could be a good series to get back on pace. But they need to score because the Rangers know how to put up runs, especially with Michael Young and Josh Hamilton.

Probables for the series in Texas:
Friday: B. Myers (3-9, 5.51), K. Gabbard (2-3, 4.96)
Saturday: C. Hamels (7-5, 3.27), V. Padilla (10-3, 3.74)
Sunday: J. Moyer (7-5, 4.09), E. Hurley (0-1, 4.24)