Phillies Recap: August 4, 2009

Colorado Rockies 8, Philadelphia Phillies 3

Jamie Moyer battled incosistency all night and the Colorado Rockies got the early jump on the Phillies. After the Phillies cut an early defecit in half, the Rockies offense unloaded in the sixth inning with four runs, winning the game 8-3. The Rockies' Jason Hammel evened his record as 6-6 as Moyer fell to 10-8.

The start was not what Moyer wanted as he got two batters into the sixth before being lifted for Rodrigo Lopez. Moyer gave up a secon-inning homer to Garrett Atkins and it was all downhill from there. He was tagged for six earned runs in five innings, allowing 10 base runners and striking out three. Lopez, in his first appearance out of the bullpen was not impressive as he allowed two of Moyers' runs to score, then gave up two of his own. Tyler Walker and Brad Lidge each added a scoreless frame, but the game was decided by that point.

Hammel on the other hand was much more impressive as he scattered nine hits in 6 2/3 innings, while striking out six and not walking a batter. Jimmy Rollins provided one of the few offensive bright spots for the Phillies, mashing a monster two-run homerun to centerfield in the fifth. The Phillies would go on to add another insignificant run in the sixth. Once again, the impatience of their hitters leads to a rough offensive night, and the middle of the order produced mostly strikeouts and groundouts.

However, the real story here is the rough start by Jamie Moyer. The soft-tossing lefty never found a comfort zone and saw his team draw some boos late in the game. The Phillies fall for the fifth time in six games and are now 59-45 but maintain their five game lead in the NL East. They will faceoff again with the Rockies tomorrow night as both teams now look for their 60th win of the season.