Maholm Drive: Phillies Outsuck Cubs in 5-1 Loss

I get it.  Slumps happen.  I tell myself that this whole thing is still just a relatively small sample size, but still watching a guy who wasn’t good enough to pitch for the Pirates out pitch Roy Halladay is just down right sack punchingly difficult to watch.  This game caused me to forget myself and say the “f” word in front of my impressionable young nephew.  The only solace I can take from my inability to control my emotions is that I am fairly positive that his father was uttering the same expletive at the same time.

The Phillies lost this game 5-1.  Roy Halladay pitched seven innings and allowed three runs.  Paul Maholm went 6 1/3 innings and allowed one run. Let me go over that one more time for you.  Paul Maholm, not a different Maholm who can actually pitch, but the very same terrible Paul Maholm who can into the game with an inflated ERA and suspect control.

The offense had an opportunity to get to Maholm in the first inning after a Juan Pierre infield hit (remember that everyone?) and a Placido Polanco single.  There were men on first and third with no outs.  What followed was exactly what everyone is panicking about, a Jimmy Rollins pop up, a Hunter Pence pop out and a ground out from Shane Victorino.  Essentially the middle of the Phillies line-up managed to squander an opportunity to smack around a crappy pitcher and couldn’t get anything else going for the remainder of the contest.  Their lone run came off of the bat of current offensive star Ty Wigginton who went 2-4 with a single and a home run lengthening his hitting streak to twelve games.

I think it is also pertinent to comment on how crappy a home plate umpire C.B. Buckner is.  This did not just go for Doc, Maholm was also squeezed by this abhorrent umpire.  I didn’t get the chance to listen to the radio broadcast, but I am pretty sure that Larry Andersen had something to say about him.  He is inconsistent, upsetting both pitcher and batter alike.  Luckily Roy Halladay looks like he is going to kill him so we won’t have to worry about him ruining any more baseball games.  The real question here centers around how guys like this keep their jobs.

Next up, Joe Blanton takes on Randy Wells.  Hopefully this performance doesn’t make me swear in front of children.