All We Ask For Is One Hit With the Bases Loaded: Phillies Lose 2-1

Edinson Volquez was traded for Josh Hamilton when it seemed like there was still a pretty strong possibility that Hamilton would end up dead in a New Jersey off ramp ditch.  He also had a pretty good season for the Reds after the trade and was subsequently suspended for violating MLB’s substance abuse protocol.  Now, he is a member of the San Diego Padres.  He was traded for the best hitter in baseball, battled injuries, inconsistency and was outed as a cheater.

He’s had a weird career trajectory for sure, but it can not be denied that Volquez has great stuff.  There are times that it looks like if the opposing batter would just stand there and not swing the bat, he would walk everyone.  You know damn well that this Phillies roster is not going to take pitches.  Good stuff and impatience is not a good combination as evidenced by the fact that the Phillies could only muster one run against the enigmatic right hander.

He only walked two batters while striking out five in six innings of work.  Watching the Phillies swing at crap that all of us knew damn well would be out of the zone was absolutely infuriating.   It makes it worse when Roy Halladay is pitching.

There is nothing like a game winning sacrifice fly to make you want to punch yourself in the stomach.  Roy  Halladay spent the majority of the game making the Padres miss baseballs.  He struck out ten batters.  He walked a batter, allowed seven hits and two runs.  This was enough to earn him his third loss of the season.  He allowed a pair of doubles in the top of the third inning after being handed a lead earlier in the inning.  He allowed the game winning run on a pop fly in foul territory that resulted in a play at the plate and a sac fly.  It is a really awful way to lose a game.

The offense managed to leave a total of twelve men on base and went 1-10 with men in scoring position.  They had the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth and with one out in the seventh.  No runs.  Hunter Pence and Ty Wigginton had especially bad days going a combined 0-7 with a crap ton of men left on base.

Doc deserved better, but the Phillies can still win the series with Cole Hamels on the mound.  Really, all we want is, one time, for the offense to come through with men in scoring position.  It seems like an eternity ago since that happened.