Phillies Recap: September 26, 2009

Milwaukee Brewers 7, Philadelphia Phillies 5

W - Hoffman (2-2), L - Walker (2-1)

The Phillies jumped all over Braden Looper and the Brewers and took a 4-0 lead in support of Kyle Kendrick. However, the team just couldn't hold the lead and allowed the Brewers to claw their way back into the game. With the game tied going into the ninth, the Brew Crew won the game on a walk-off home run by Ryan Braun. The final score was 7-5 in a game that the Phillies really should have won.

Sloppy defense and a shaky start by Kyle Kendrick did not help to preserve the Phillies' early lead. Kendrick started off strong but quickly began to fall apart, allowing base hits and walks. In four innings, Kendrick allowed two runs on six hits and a pair of walks. He fanned four but was lifted early as he never really looked in control of the game. Jamie Moyer came on and gave the Phillies four solid innings of relief, but was the victim of some poor defense that allowed the game to be tied late. The Phillies bullpen then allowed the walk-off home run to Braun.

Braden Looper was not especially good and the Phillies touched him up for four early runs. However, he did seem to settle in and held the Brewers close for six innings. He allowed three earned runs on seven hits and walk, while striking out five. The Brewers' bullpen again came in and shut down the Phillies offense for the final three innings. Ryan Howard did hit his 43rd homer of the season in the losing effort.

In a game that featured five errors and poor play from both sides, the Phillies can only blame themselves for this loss. They built an early lead that they couldn't hold on to and failed to add much to their lead late in the game. The tandem of Kyle Kendrick and Jamie Moyer did fairly well, but got little help from the rest of the team. That led to the dramatic finish, which leaves the Phillies' magic number at four with eight games left to play.