All good things must come to an end. The Padres snapped Philadelphia's 13-game winning streak at Petco Park in San Diego on Saturday night, a run that dated all the way back to 2008 -- ah, those were the days.
Roy Halladay wasn't his sharpest in his first loss of the season, but despite experiencing some control issues early, Doc held the Pads to two runs over seven innings. Naturally the Phillies bullpen and offense hung their ace out to dry. Michael Stutes was tagged for three runs in the eighth, while the Fightins couldn't get anything going at the plate until the ninth -- far too little, too late, falling 5-1.
It's a new day though, and the Phils can still capture their second series victory of the season. Joe Blanton takes the ball against San Diego's Anthony Bass.
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Blanton (1-2, 4.26) is 1-1 as a starter this season, looking fantastic against the Marlins 10 days ago (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER), but more recently faltering in San Francisco (5 IP, 11 H, 4 ER).
The 4-12 Padres would seem like a good team to rebound against. Heavy B is 2-1 with a 3.75 ERA in four starts at Petco. However, centerfielder Cameron Maybin has had success against the big righthander. Maybin is 7-for-16 with three extra base hits off Blanton.
San Diego's Bass (0-2, 3.38) is still relatively green, particularly as a starter. A 6-2, 190-lbs. righty in his second big league season, Bass has five career starts, two this year. He's 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 2012, and has yet to last deeper than five innings.
The Phillies have seen Bass once, a relief appearance last July. He allowed a hit and struck out one in 0.2 innings.
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MEANWHILE, we'll have to wait for Cliff Lee's encore. Coming off his historic 10-inning performance against the Giants, the Phils have added Lee to the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique muscle.
Ruben Amaro told reporters the injury actually occurred in the 10th inning, but is optimistic Lee won't miss much time.
“He was sore the next day. It has improved each day, but we're being very cautious with this. There's no reason for him to completely blow it out. It's an injury that if he really pulls it, we could lose him for a long time. We'll be cautious with him, shut him down, and get him right. Hopefully he only misses a couple of starts.”
While the Phillies truly need all hands on deck at this point,
it's moments like these we are grateful to have Kyle Kendrick, who will
fill in Lee's spot. Kendrick was 5-4 with a 3.14 ERA in 15 starts last
season.