Limp: Cubs 5, Phillies 1

The Phillies drop another game to the Cubs this afternoon in Philadelphia. It's difficult to suss out how much was Matt Garza's dominance, and how much can be attributed to ineptitude of the Phillies' offense, but between Jimmy Rollins' bloop single in the first, and Hunter Pence's infield hit against the Cubs' volcanic closer, Carlos Marmol, the Phillies did not manage a single hit. And only one baserunner, on a walk to Juan Pierre in the seventh inning. The Phillies sole run scored with two out in the ninth on a bases loaded walk by Ty Wigginton from MarmLOL.

Phillies' starter Kyle Kendrick was actually relatively effective, surrendering three runs (just two earned) in six innings, striking out seven (tying a career high) and walking just one. He allowed a home run to Joe Mather in the fourth, but allowed a cheap run in the third thanks to a Laynce Nix error. We've seen horrendous Kendrick performances, and this was not one of them.

Garza was more than adequate, he was dominant, striking out ten and walking just one in seven innings, effectively spotting his fastball and breaking pitches.

The Cubs scored two in the eighth off David Herndon in a very Herndon-ish inning. New Chris Wheeler crush object Tony Campana reached on an infield single, then stole second with the help of a botched pick-off. Campana would advance to third on a Darwin Barney sacrifice bunt, and would score on a fielder's choice grounder from Starlin Castro, a ball that Freddy Galvis foolishly tried to throw home to get the fleet Campana out at the dish. The Cubs would take advantage of the extra out, scoring their fifth and final run on back-to-back doubles by Brian LaHair and Jeff Baker.

Carlos Marmol entered the game in the ninth and quickly dispatched Freddy Galvis before walking Pete Orr and Jimmy Rollins. Juan Pierre popped out for the second out, and Hunter Pence loaded the bases with an infield hit. Wigginton drew the bases loaded walk, bringing Shane Victorino to the plate as the tying run. Victorino would fall into an 0-2 hole and would eventually ground out for the final out.

The game graph below the jump is doubly sad for the miniscule bump that came for the Phillies in the ninth, as if all our hopes were for naught.

The Cubs go for the 3 of 4 series victory tomorrow night in Philadelphia.

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