There were fireworks at Citizens Bank Park this evening on fan appreciation night as the Phillies played their final regular season game of the year in South Philadelphia.
That's not a metaphor for the Phillies offense or anything. No, they stunk all night. There were actual explosions in the sky once the game ended 6-1 in favor of the Nationls.
The Phillies managed only two hits in the first eight innings. They scrapped together a pair of meaningless hits and a lone run in the ninth but that was too little too late.
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Roy Oswalt was not nearly as bad as his final line of 6 earned runs on 7 hits over 7.2 innings of work may appear. The Nats got to him for a pair of runs in the third inning after Chase Utley and John Bowker couldn't get together on a bloop between them (pictured) that could have kept the Nats off the board. The play was ruled a double, but it looked as if one of the Phillies should have made the catch. If Hunter Pence is out there, I'd suspect he would have made the play.
There were fireworks at Citizens Bank Park this evening on fan appreciation night as the Phillies played their final regular season game of the year in South Philadelphia.
That's not a metaphor for the Phillies offense or anything. No, they stunk all night. There were actual explosions in the sky once the game ended 6-1 in favor of the Nationls.
The Phillies managed only two hits in the first eight innings. They scrapped together a pair of meaningless hits and a lone run in the ninth but that was too little too late.
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Roy Oswalt was not nearly as bad as his final line of 6 earned runs on 7 hits over 7.2 innings of work may appear. The Nats got to him for a pair of runs in the third inning after Chase Utley and John Bowker couldn't get together on a bloop between them (pictured) that could have kept the Nats off the board. The play was ruled a double, but it looked as if one of the Phillies should have made the catch. If Hunter Pence is out there, I'd suspect he would have made the play.
Oswalt also gave up a costly three-run homer to Michael Morse in the eighth. Those were his only real costly mistakes on the night. After the game, Oswalt said things very easily could have gone differently.
"You look at two plays tonight and it could have been eight innings, zero runs," he said.
The scoreboard at Citizens Bank Park showed Roy Oswalt consistently hitting 93-94 with his fastball. He looked sharp and said he felt great.
"I felt pretty well," Oswalt said. "Actually spotted pitches pretty well early. Probably the best I've felt all year."
If you had any worries about Oswalt heading into the postseason, I would stress too much. He looked pretty on point this evening.
As for the offense, that's another story.
"Our offense is kind of out of rhythm," Charlie Manuel said. "We've had so many guys on the field, different guys, but also our regular guys' timing is off. "
The 1-5 hitters tonight in the Phils lineup were a combined 0-16.
The skipper didn't want to make any excuses for the guys on the field tonight, but he also isn't too concerned about the offense going forward and heading into the playoffs. He''ll wait and see until he gets the lineup he wants back with Howard and Pence batting four and five rather than Raul Ibanez and Ross Gload as they did tonight. And you certainly won't see John Bowker or Pete Orr in your lineup come playoff time.
"Once we get all of our guys back, Howard's due back tomorrow more than likely. I think Pence is due back Saturday," Manuel said. "Once we get our regular lineup back in there, hopefully we'll get a little balance, a little timing and rhythm back and we'll start producing some runs."
Phillies fans are waiting to see it.
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The Phillies were swept in a series of at least three games for the first time all year.