Just Plain Miserable: Marlins Sweep Phillies

Also posted on Phillies Nation.

There is no other way to put it. The 12-3 loss to the Florida Marlins was the Phillies worst loss of the season. The early morning thunderstorms in the Philadelphia region set the tone for a miserable day. Blame Ed Rapuano. Blame Jamie Moyer. Blame Jayson Werth. Blame anybody. The Phillies were awful on all cylinders.

Actually, Moyer didn't pitch that bad. He pitched 5+ innings giving up 3 runs, 2 earned. He gave up 11 hits, but they were all singles-- bloop singles. The Marlins weren't hitting the ball hard against Moyer, who has had so much success against the Fish throughout his career.

The Phillies were the first to get on the board. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino each reached base to start the first inning. Chase Utley flew out to center field, and Rollins advanced to third. Ryan Howard smoked the ball to right, but Jermey Hermida made a spectacular leaping catch against the wall. Or was it? It may have bounced off the wall and into his glove, but it was ruled a catch. Victorino was doubled off first base for the unconventional double play. Rollins tagged from third on the sacrifice fly, crossing the plate before Victorino was out.

The Phils held the 1-0 lead until the fifth. Jorge Cantu, Wes Helms, and Cody Ross each hit consecutive RBI singles, and the Marlins jumped to a 3-1 lead.

The Phillies had trouble manufacturing runs off Josh Johnson (6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 SO). The Phillies were hitting the ball hard, but hit into a lot of tough luck. The Phillies are having problems with runners in scoring position, but they only had three runners past first base. Luckily, the Marlins stranded 12 men themselves. The Phillies were able to keep it close-- that was until the floodgates opened in a controversial seventh inning.

With runners at the corners in the sixth, Howard struck out. The pitch was clearly low, but Rapuano called it a strike. He had an inconsistent strike zone all day. In the first inning, Utley clearly did not agree with some of the pitches Rapuano called. It seemed like Johnson was getting certain pitches called, and Moyer wasn't.

In the seventh, Rodrigo Lopez threw a pitch to Wes Helms, which looked like a strike. Victorino disagreed, and threw his arms up in the air as he stood in center. Nobody seemed to notice, except Rapuano, who ejected Victorino. At first, Victorino jogged in like it was no big deal, but once he reached the infield, he sprinted towards the home plate umpire. Pumped up from last night's UFC fight, Victorino was restrained by teammates Paul Bako and Howard. Jayson Werth came into replace Victorino, and that was when the doors opened for the Marlins.

The sold-out crowd was into it, booing every pitch that wasn't a strike. However, it didn't take long for the fans to head to the exits.

Chris Coghlan (4-for-6) has been trouble all series. With the bases loaded and two outs, Lopez could see his way out of the inning. That wasn't the case as Coghlan singled to center. Werth was unable to keep the ball in front of him as he completely missed it. Three runs scored on the error.

The Marlins weren't quite finished. Hanley Ramirez doubled over the head of Werth. Jorge Cantu singled to Werth. Instead of getting the ball into the infield, Werth fired home, and the ball scooted past the catcher. The Marlins blew the game wide open, 9-1.

The Phillies had a long ways to rally, but showed signs of life when Pedro Feliz homered. The Marlins got those runs back against Brad Lidge, who gave up a RBI single to Hanley Ramirez and a two-run homer to Helms.

It was a pathetic day for the Phillies, committing three errors, managing just six hits, and giving up 12 runs. The lead in the division is down to four games, thanks to the sweep.

MLB Illegal Review?

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Pat Burrell hit a ground-rule double. The umpires called for instant replay to see if a fan interfered. However, it appears that this was an improper use of replay.

MLB created the replay for "boundary calls." Bud Selig introduced the rule in 2008:

"Major League Baseball will institute the use of instant replay to determine
disputed home run calls -- fair or foul, in or out of the ballpark, and fan
interference."

The word "and" makes it unclear. Is it fan-interfered home runs, or home runs and interference in general.

The official MLB Rule is:

"Instant replay will apply only to home run calls -- whether they are fair or
foul, whether they have left the playing field, or whether they have been
subject to fan interference. The decision to use instant replay will be made by
the umpire crew chief, who also will make the determination as to whether or not
a call should be reversed. "

The keyword is only, which describes home runs. Therefore, it has to be a controversial home run call with fan interference to be reviewed, not a Steve Bartman type of fan interference.

The Phillies broadcasters also read the rule on the air, noting that there was no reason for the replay. The ball clearly bounced in the outfield before it went over the fence, so it couldn't have been thought to be a home run.

Luckily, the play didn't effect the game, and the call stood. But it was indeed a waste of time and something the umpires need to get right.

Umps are Busy with no DH

While there are errors on the field, there are errors in.. the lineup?

The Tampa Bay Rays made a mistake in their lineup on Sunday that forced starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine to bat.

Evan Longoria was supposed to be the Ray's designated hitter, instead the lineup card had two third baseman: Longoria and Ben Zobrist. No DH was listed.

Making sure the decision was correct, the game was delayed 13 minutes before the umpires declared that Sonnanstine would have to bat third and the Rays would lose a DH. Longoria would be available to come off the bench.

Sonnanstine didn't look like a pitcher at the plate. In the fourth inning, Sonnanstine smoked an RBI double to left. He also reached based on a failed sacrifice attempt. He became the first pitcher since Matt Garza in 2007 to get at least two plate appearances in an American League game.

"I knew something was up, but I didn't know exactly what was going to happen,"
Sonnanstine said. "They told me that I was going to have to hit, and I corrected
them and told them 'I get to hit.' I took it as an opportunity. That was one of
the craziest games I've ever been a part of."

On the mound, Sonnanstine allowed five runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings of work.

Maddon took the blame, but the players backed him up winning it 7-5. In the process of the win, benches cleared when Kerry Wood nearly hit B.J Upton twice. Victor Martinez, who almost was hit by a pitch earlier in the series, got into a verbal argument with somebody on the Rays bench until the dugouts emptied.

Troy Percival responded plunking Mark DeRosa in the ninth, but was likely unintentional as it was a save situation and DeRosa was buried in an 0-2 count.

Besides figuring out the DH situation and separating the players from each other, the umpires were busy. They appeared to have missed a call on Ryan Garko's fly ball to left field. Carl Crawford caught the ball against the wall, but the replay shows that the ball clearly hit the padding before entering Crawford's glove.

The outcome of the game may have been different if the Rays had their regular DH, Pat Burrell. Burrell was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 11. Burrell suffered a neck strain, but Joe Maddon doesn't expect it to be more than 15 days.

QUOTE SOURCE: ESPN