just not our day

HomeSiders have made 5 starts in the 3 days since our last major league win, and here is a quick synopsis of the carnage:

First, there was Kyle Drabek not getting out of the 1st inning against Cleveland the other night, which we have already talked about.

Then, there was Carlos Carrasco against the Rangers on Thursday. Carlos was fantastic through 4 innings, throwing just 39 pitches and coasting with a 3-0 lead. Then for the next 2 innings, he could not keep his pitches down enough, from curves to change ups, everything was up in the strike zone and the Rangers jumped all over him for 3 in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th en route to a 7-4 win.

Friday was a trifecta of chances gone astray. In Boston, the Athletics jumped on the Red Sox for 4 first inning runs and before Josh Outman threw a pitch, he had a big lead. Josh gave up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but it all seemed to change in the 2nd. After retiring the lead-off hitter, Josh got Mike Cameron to ground to third, but Kevin Kouzmanoff threw it away for a 2-base error. Then Outman struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a wicked curveball that eluded catcher Kurt Sazuki, and instead of being out of the inning, there was first and third and only 1 out. While Josh got out of that inning with only 1 unearned run scoring, he never was the same after that and left before the 3rd inning was over. In all, 2.2 IP, 5 runs (4 earned) 5 hits, 1 walk, no decision in 8-6 win for the Sox.

In Pittsburgh, Cole Hamels was pitching much better than Outman, but it would not yield results either. In fact, Hamels was spectacular for 8 innings, in which he gave up 1 run on just 1 hit and 3 walks, but left the game in a 1-1 tie. He also got 2 of the Phillies' 6 hits. That was 2 more than Ryan Howard, Domonic Brown and Carlos Ruiz combined. Antonio Bastardo (1.27), who has been pitching in the close games in the pressure situations, came on and got 3 outs, before yielding to Mike Stutes (1.84),who got the next 4. I cannot say enough about these 2 young guys and the jobs they are doing out of the Philadelphia bullpen!! Both of them used to be starters, and I could see Stutes being converted back in a year or 2 if needed. Of course, I used to say that about Ryan Madson also! O, I almost forgot, the Pirates scored off Danys Beaz in the 12th to win it, 2-1.

And then in San Diego, Jay Happ- who just cannot get enough run support- pitched well, but not well enough in the Astros' 3-1 loss to the Padres. Happ went 6 innings, gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, but that lack of run support tagged him with another loss. He has certainly pitched better than his 3-7 mark would indicate. Michael Bourn had a hit and his 23rd stolen base, tops in the majors!

One more note, before the game yesterday, the Phillies sent John Mayberry back to Lehigh Valley to make room for Shane Victorino on the roster.