Did Kyle Kendrick Really Just Throw Eight Shutout Innings?

The quick answer to the title of this post is…. yes, yes he did.  Kyle Kendrick had one of the best performances of his career tossing eight innings, allowing nary a run and striking out a career high seven batters.

Let me amend my previous statement; this is Kyle Kendrick’s best career start.  He even got out left handers.  The most ironic part about Kendrick’s surprising competence is that Roy Oswalt is all better now and this will be Kyle’s final foray into the art of starting pitching.  It is a cruel, cruel world in which a performance like this is rewarded with a demotion.  Now don’t feel too bad for Kyle as there are plenty of instances of wretch inducing awfulness that justify his demotion.

The offense showed up against Aaron Cook, a pitcher with a remarkable similar skill-set to Kendrick.  Luckily, the Phillies offense did not let Cook get through eight scoreless innings like his counterpart.  Ryan Howard hit a 450 ft home run off of the beleaguered Rockies pitcher, proving that the one season that he didn’t suck was an aberration.  Cook was gone after four innings allowing four runs and five hits.  His ERA jumped to 5.34 and caused Rockies fans to question why this shit basket is in the rotation.  As Phillies fans, we should all be thankful that he has not been reassigned.

Ryan Howard hit two home runs, and Hunter Pence went 2-3 with a pair of doubles to pace the offense.  This was a crisply played 5-0 shutout for the Phillies, their 18th of the season.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Phillies send Roy Halladay in search of a sweep.  The Rockies counter with Jason Hammel.