With the Dodgers in a crunch, they called upon young Stephen Fife to provide a spot start. He did all he could to earn a W, tossing six innings of one-run ball, exiting with a 2-1 lead.
Then Ronald Belisario came in and decided to rip away that feel-good moment.
Belisario was all over the place in the eighth, beaning two and walking one before Hunter Pence's two-run single put the Phillies up for good, 3-2. That's two straight defeats by the Dodgers to the Phills, and four straight overall. They're now three games in back of the Giants in the NL West.
That's pretty much how things have been lately. If there's a chance something can go wrong, it will.
Fife was making the start in place of Chad Billingsley, who just hit the 15-day DL with a sore elbow. In the first, Fife must have been doing his best Billingsley impersonation by giving up a run. Jimmy Rollins led off with a double and went to third on Shane Victorino's sacrifice. An RBI groundout by Chase Utley made it 1-0.
Roy Halladay was making his first start since being actived off the DL, and got through the first with ease. But in the second, the Dodgers took the lead. Andre Ethier singled and Adam Kennedy doubled for runners in scoring position and no outs. Believe it or not, James Loney had a good at-bat with an RBI single to make it 1-1. Luis Cruz followed with his own run-scoring single, and the Dodgers had the 2-1 edge.
Both Fife and Halladay were able to pitch blanks from there, as Fife got through six innings, and Halladay five. Josh Lindblom relieved in the seventh and got the Phills in order.
Don Mattingly then handed the ball over to Belisario, who's been up and down lately. Well, this one would certainly qualify as a "down" considering he completely fell apart with two outs.
The top of the order of Rollins and Victorino both grounded out to open the eighth. The wildness took over from there, as Utley walked, and both Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz were hit by pitches. Needing to make some sort of change, Mattingly gave the ball to Kenley Jansen, who promptly allowed a two-run single to Pence to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.
The only runner the Dodgers got on in the final two innings was a single by Kemp in the eighth. And that would be all she wrote.
As you can tell, the margin of error is so small with the Dodgers. It seems like every pitch they make is big since they find themselves constantly in these close games. That's a good thing that they're being competitive, but they're coming up on the short end a heck of a lot more now compared to the beginning of the year.
Fife battled like crazy, especially considering the first hitter he faced doubled and he was down 1-0 pretty fast. Over six innings, he gave up four hits, one run, three walks, and one strikeout. With Billingsley saying he should be back soon, Fife may only get one more start at the most, but he showed he has some talent.
The real culprits of this game was the lack of ability of the offense to score, and of course, Belisario, who gave it all away. In the five games since the All-Star break, the bats have scored 14 runs. Take away the six runs they scored last Saturday, and they've put up two runs in each of the other four games. I know Kemp and Ethier are back, but they need help. They aren't going anywhere with numbers like that.
I wrote the other day that I was concerned about Belisario's increased workload. After Tuesday night, I'm even more concerned now. I know he got two outs right away, but he still was way off the mark after that and couldn't put the finishing touches on it. Over his last five appearances covering 4 2/3 innings, he's allowed five runs. And just like the offense, that won't cut it either. Throw in the fact that he's been used as the setup man, and that's even worse. Ugh.
With the great start to the season the Dodgers had, the only good thing about losing now is that they still are well within striking distance of taking over first in the division. The flip side is that now the Giants are the ones on fire, and that doesn't look to be changing. Keep in mind that there's now two wild card spots, so that helps.
Anyway you slice it, the Dodgers have to figure things out to start winning again. Scoring two runs a game and suffering bullpen meltdowns will only further bury them.
Wednesday's game will be a doozy, as Clayton Kersahw goes up against Cliff Lee. It's pretty hard to believe that both men have a combined eight wins on the year. Granted, Lee only has one of them, but a 3.92 ERA shows he hasn't had much luck, either.
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