Death's Sweet Release: Marlins 2, Phillies 1

The 2012 season has been a dying thing from the opening weeks of April. One of the more aggravating motifs of the season has been the inability of the offense to support Cliff Lee during otherwise brilliant pitching performances. Appropriately, it happened again tonight, and the Phillies fell to the Marlins by a score of 2-1, in a loss that officially killed the Phillies postseason hopes for 2012.

Lee continued his great second half run, going seven innings and allowing just three hits, striking out five and walking (surprise!) none. The sole blemish was on a very, very long home run from Giancarlo Stanton in the fourth inning. Let's be honest, can you even get mad about that?

Mark Buehrle flummoxed the Phillies in that crummy way that only he can, striking out eight (!) and allowing just a single run on an RBI single from Jimmy Rollins in the eighth.

With Lee lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh, it was up to the bullpen to keep the Marlins off the board. In the eighth, Phillippe Aumont did an adequate job, allowing a couple baserunners in the form of a walk and a base hit, but keeping the Marlins off the board. After the Phillies failed to score in the ninth, Josh Lindblom came on to pitch and, after allowing a leadoff double to Bryan Petersen, induced a groundout from Jose Reyes. After (wisely) walking Stanton, Carlos Lee lined a single to center field, scoring Petersen from second and ending the game.

The Phillies now need to go 3-2 over their final five games to avoid their first losing record since 2002.

Gamegraph of Euthanasia:

Source: FanGraphs