Plumbing the Depths: Padres 5, Phillies 1

Of all the "nothing was working" games of the young 2012 season, tonight's game against the Padres may have been the worst. Ace Roy Halladay had an uncharacteristically choppy start, including the second inning where he walked the bases loaded and allowed a run, as the Phillies offense mustered just three basehits (including one from Halladay), as the Padres finally beat the Phillies in Petco Park, winning Saturday night by a score of 5-1.

With the state of the offense right now, it's probably a bit presumptuous to praise an opposing pitcher for his performance, but to err on the side of giving too much credit, Padres' starter Cory Luebke was sharp, allowing just two hits, two walks, and striking out five in his eight innings of work.

As mentioned above, Roy Halladay was less than his best. With starting catcher Carlos Ruiz benched for a second straight night due to a wrist injury, Halladay threw to backup Brian Schneider for the first time since 2010. Halladay had trouble locating his pitches, walking the bases loaded in the second and getting out of the inning allowing just a single run thanks to a brilliant diving play and throw from second baseman Freddy Galvis. Halladay would surrender another run in the third on a Yonder Alonso double.

Any practical hope for a comeback was quickly snuffed by a brutal Mike Stutes eighth inning that saw the scuffling reliever surrender three runs two out runs on a walk and three consecutive hits. The Phillies would meekly answer and prevent the shutout in the ninth on an RBI double from Ty Wigginton.

Terrible game. One more game tomorrow. It's fun.

Source: FanGraphs