29-62.
The Phillies are going in to the All-Star break with a record of 29-62, worst in baseball, and the worst first-half mark in franchise history.
Today's recap is going to be brief, because it's still a beautiful afternoon in San Francisco, and I want to spend our anniversary weekend doing something more cheerful than writing about bad baseball.
Chad Billingsley got off to a good start with a perfect first. In the second, a Buster Posey single was erased by a Hunter Pence double-play; and in the third, Angel Pagan singled, but was stranded on first. In the fourth, though, the "2015 Phillies" happened to Chad. With two outs and runners on the corners, Brandon Crawford singled up the middle, scoring Posey from third and moving Brandon Belt to second, bringing up Andrew Susac.
----
That’s some raw power, @andrewsusac: http://t.co/IxqFY4gUh4 #3for1HomeRun pic.twitter.com/tUZ9A8EnTY
— MLB (@MLB) July 12, 2015
----
This homerun was troublesome for two reasons. First, it gave the Giants a 4-0 lead, a tough threshold for the Phillies to meet in the fifth. Second, and perhaps worse, the blast was hit to dead center. Had Susac hit it out to right, for about the same distance, not only would I have been able to witness the 69th and nicest Splash Hit in AT&T Park history, but my wife and I would also have gotten $50 Levis' gift cards due to sitting in the Levis' Landing area.
Alas, Susac hit into the Dockers Deck or Patagonia Pier or the Jos. A. Bank Jetty, and ultimately doomed the Phillies.
The bullpen held the line bravely enough, with scoreless innings from Jake Diekman and Luis Garcia, and a three-strikeout perfect inning from Ken Giles, but it was rendered moot by the inability to put sufficient runs on the board.
They did try, though. In the seventh, with two outs, Maikel Franco singled to center, and Ryan Howard followed with a popup. Franco was running on the pitch, and kept going, even when three Giant fielders came together around the ball and dropped it in very shallow left-center. Howard reached first safely, and Franco made it all the way around to score., On a base hit, because official scorers are dumb.
Cody Asche followed with a double, pushing Howard to third. Cue the hottaeks about Howard not having broken into a dead run on making contact in a vain attempt to reach second--he'd have been out by 15'--but hottaeks gotta hottaek. Josh Osich struck out Jeff Francoeur to end the inning.
In the ninth, with the score still 4-1, the Giants' closer Santiago Casilla allowed a leadoff single to Ben Revere, who advanced to second and third on "defensive indifference." Note: Defensive Indifference is both one of the dumbest scoring calls in baseball, and an awesome podcast by Liz Roscher and Michael Baumann. Look it up on iTunes/Podbean/wherever.
Revere later scored on Howard's "second" single of the day, but 4-2 was as close as the Phils would get.
So, 29-62. After the All-Star break, the Phils return home to hose the Miami Marlins for a three-game series beginning on Friday the 17th.
But in the meantime, 100 wins is still a possibility!