A long series at Busch Stadium continues this week after the 23-23 Philadelphia Phillies tripped up the 25-20 St. Louis Cardinals 10-9 Thursday evening. Shane Victorino's fielder's choice got Philadelphia on the scoreboard first. Victorino's two-run double made the score 6-0 during the second inning.
Ty Wiggington and Freddy Galvis drilled in other Phillies during the inning. St. L joined Philadelphia on the board during the bottom of the third on Matt Holliday's groundout. Carlos Beltran, David Freese and Yadier Molina had RBI-hits to trim the Phillies' lead down to four. Holliday, Molina and Freese homered later for the Cards. Philadelphia however also got on the scoreboard with Placido Polanco's single, Mike Fontenot's single and Galvis' second RBI-single of the night. Wiggington's home run doubled the Phillies' lead during the eighth.
Going out on a limb here, but Friday's starting pitcher for Philadelphia 0-2 Cliff Lee with a 2.66 ERA is the best ace in Major League Baseball this year to be winless. Lee's lost 5-1 and 5-2 to the 22-22 Boston Red Sox and 24-20 New York Mets at home while getting two no-decisions on the road at the 20-24 Pittsburgh Pirates and 24-21 San Francisco Giants. Lee yielded a run during six innings at Pittsburgh while going 10 scoreless at SF 11 days later. The Phillies fell 2-1 and 1-0.
St. Louis is just 15-for-70 with seven RBIs, three from Lance Berkman, on Lee who conceded five runs in October to the Cardinals in a 5-4 playoff loss. At Busch however in 2011 Lee beat and lost to St. L 4-0 and 3-1. A complete game shutout resulted in a Philadelphia victory while a 6.1-inning three-run effort meant a loss five weeks earlier.
5-1 Kyle Lohse with a 2.91 ERA tries to get the Cards back into the win column. St. Louis is 7-2 with Lohse on the hill and 3-0 with him at Busch Stadium throwing fastballs. Lohse's last home game however was ugly getting smothered for five runs during 6.2 innings by the 15-29 Chicago Cubs. Before that the 25-19 Cincinnati Reds were shutout for seven innings and the 18-26 Milwaukee Brewers knocked in three runs during six innings.
The Phillies are 78-for-261 with 32 RBIs on Lohse. Ryan Howard and Laynce Nix have two HRs apiece. Howard has eight RBIs on Lohse who was drubbed 11-6 at Philadelphia on Oct. 1 for six runs, five earned, during 5.1 innings. On June 22 Lohse was outworked by Lee losing 4-0 by giving up three runs during eight innings. Normally I'd go with Lee, but this year I've got to take Lohse and the Cardinals.
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