Relying equally on the Phillies' offensive ineptitude and the dominance of their starter, the Padres silenced the Phils in the first of a four-game late night west coast series.
The Phillies' newfound ace Jerome Williams pitched well into the eighth, but he was outdueled by Andrew Cashner, who outright owned the Phils. An unearned run in the second inning was the only scoring, driven in by Cashner himself on an error by third baseman Cody Asche.
Williams finished with seven and two-thirds innings, scattering three hits and a pair of walks, around six strikeouts, continuing his surprisingly good run. Cesar Jimenez and Luis Garcia combined to finish the game for the Phils, each with a walk.
For his part, Cashner finished with a complete game shutout, allowing only two hits and a single walk, while striking out seven. I japed about this above, but Cashner is a legitimately good pitcher, and the crappiness of the Phils' offense of late shouldn't detract from his performance, which was outstanding.
There's not much else to say. The Phils' two hits came from Domonic Brown and Marlon Byrd. Brown's, the first of the game, came in the fifth, as he bunted against the shift to break up the no-hitter. The Petco Park fans responded with a hearty chorus of boos, because, of course, actually trying to get on base should take second fiddle to allowing your opponent his no-hitter...
Brown, unfortunately, was promptly doubled-up off first, when Wil Nieves popped up to second. I'm not sure what his thought process was, but running on the pitch, he passed second base and didn't re-touch it. Poop.
The remainder of the Phillies' offence came from a Chase Utley walk and a couple harder hit balls, none of which made it through. The game was, chronologically, the shortest of the season for the Phils, which should tell you something, though I'm not sure exactly what that would be.
But, hey, at least the Eagles won.
Fangraph of Football Season:
Source: FanGraphs
The Phillies are now at 69-81 (nice) on the season, and are mathematically unable to finish above .500. The Padres are 69-80 (nice), so they still have a chance. Game two of this four-game set is tomorrow evening (or today, depending on what timezone you're in), when the Phils will send A.J. Burnett to the hill against the Pads' Ian Kennedy.
Goodnight all.