4.27.15 Phillies @ Cardinals Recap: Phillies win 4-1

Where have you gone, Adam W.?

Cards Nation turns its hopeful eyes to you

Ooh ooh ooh

What's that you say, John Mozeliak?

Adam's ankle's torn and he can't play

Hey hey hey

What a shame

The Game

There comes a time in every blogger's life where she has to recap a Cardinals loss.  I knew this day would come, I just didn't expect to happen so soon.  Alas, here we are.  John Lackey took the mound tonight against the skeletal remains of Cole Hamels.  The Phillies have really struggled to score runs this season, and it looked like it might be a good matchup for the home team.

The Cardinals started the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, notching one run that probably should have been much more.  After Jon Jay drew a walk, Lackey attempted (and failed) to move the runner over.  Cue discussion of the DH in baseball.  I like Danny Mac even more now that I've learned he's on my side.  He likes "the strategy of National League baseball" and I have to agree - even if it's not pretty a lot of the time.  With Matt "I HIT DOUBLES FOR BREAKFAST" Carpenter up to bat, Jay inexplicably attempted to steal second base.  He was out - by a lot.  Naturally, Matt Carpenter got a hit.  Jhonny Peralta, batting second, also got a base hit and moved Marp all the way to third.  Matt Holliday continued the hit parade with a single to score Carpenter (that's an MMI, MBI, and RMI all in one).  Matt Adams walked next, but Mark Reynolds, starting in right field tonight (that is not a typo) came up empty with the bases loaded.

After a fantastic play to rob Odubel Herrera of a hit in the fifth, Carpenter doubled in the bottom of the inning (YAWN), but was stranded at second base.

The Phillies finally got on the board in the seventh inning and never looked back.  Peter Bourjos came back from the dead to play center field, as Jay moved over to right.  I would complain about Bourjos not starting but Jay continues to make impressive plays, including this one, which I thought off the bat he had no shot at getting to.  Anyway, the Phillies scoring went like like this: Matt Adams misplayed (open for interpretation) a ground ball to right field and Cody Asche reached base; Carlos Ruiz followed up with a single to send Asche to third; Freddy Galvis grounded to Marp, who immediately threw home when Asche broke toward the plate on contact - Asche got caught in a pickle and Molina eventually tagged him out; Hamels bunted over Ruiz and Galvis (who reached on the previous play) to third and second, respectively; Ben Revere hit a just-barely-fair double down the line, scoring them both; and Herrera singled to center to score Revere.  Jay threw home on the play, but it wasn't in time.  Molina stopped the bleeding by throwing a rocket to second to get Herrera, who was trying to take an extra base on the play.

Lackey left after the abysmal seventh inning.  His final line: 7 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 SO.  Kevin Siegrist and Matt Belisle pitched the 8th and 9th innings to finish out the game.  The Cardinals threatened with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, after a Kolten Wong double and a classic Jon Jay HBP.  Cody Stanley struck out swinging to end the game.  Phillies win 4-1.

Notes

1. Psycho-Cybernetics.  It's real and it's spectacular.  Look, I was a fan of McCarver-McLaughlin, if only because the other options were so awful, but the Dan-Ricky pairing is gaining favor with me.  I understand less and less of what McCarver is talking about, and at least Rick attempts to talk about advanced statistics.  But I still root for Solo Dan 4EVA in my dreams.

2. Matt Holliday played a joke on Mark Reynolds before the game, making a sort of police-style outline of Reynolds' body in the outfield  where he crashed into the wall yesterday - complete with silly blond hair.  Holliday gets some personality points for this one.  Credit to @mstreeter06:

3. Tim McCarver did say one intelligent thing tonight: "Matt Carpenter is the best two-strike hitter in the National League."  Still, Tim, I must respectfully disagree.  He's the best two-strike hitter in baseball - nay, the WORLD.

4. In other sad pitcher news, the Dodgers announced that Brandon McCarthy would miss the rest of the season due to a torn UCL.  But McCarthy isn't too upset:

to be fair, 31 years of use is a lot to ask for from a ligament

— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) April 27, 2015

5. The series continues tomorrow at 7:15 CT, as Michael Wacha takes on Severino Gonzalez.