Phillie bats fall silent in 1-0 loss

In their season opener, the Phillies pitching came up small. In today's 1-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, their pitching was excellent, but their bats were nowhere to be found. The Phillies managed just one hit off of Nationals starting pitcher Tim Redding and relievers Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch. Redding didn't have overpowering stuff, as evidenced by his 2 strikeouts, but he survived by getting the Phillies to hit to his defense. The Phillies got good contact several times, but they were right at Nationals players. The lone hit of the night came from Pedro Feliz, who had the greenlight on a 3-0 count and slapped a single up the middle.

Cole Hamels looked rocky in the first inning, but settled down to pitch 8 strong innings. The lone run Hamels gave up was off a homerun by Ryan Zimmerman in the 6th inning. Hamels is still prone to the longball, but the Phillies will take 1 run given up in 8 innings every time.

We are barely starting this young season, but it is a little disturbing that the Phillies have yet to put together a complete game. The offense and pitching haven't shown up on the same night. The Nationals, while they are 3-0, are not a team that should be giving a possible World Series contender this much trouble. The Phillies get their chance to avoid a sweep tomorrow, when they have old man Jamie Moyer facing off against Jason Bergmann at 1:05. It's not a must-win situation, but it would really help the confidence of the Phillies and their fans if they can pull out a victory.

Here is the Phillies lone highlight of the night, the Pedro Feliz base hit.