Game 78: Cahill shuts down Phils (48-30)

The Phillies were unable to produce much offense last night, and Cole Hamels fell victim to some bad luck in the Phils' 4-1 loss to Oakland.

No direct complaints for the manager about this game.

It would have been nice if Ryan Howard were more disciplined at the plate. He swung at a 3-0 pitch in the 6th inning and a 2-0 pitch to lead off the ninth inning (a lead-off walk would have changed the entire complexion of their ninth-inning rally), both resulting in outs. The only run the Phils scored was a direct result of two walks drawn against Cahill, but Howard's 3-0 groundout in the sixth defied logic. Howard has hit only three home runs on 3-0 counts his entire career, so he'd probably be better off taking 3-0 pitches more often.

The Phils then turned to Roy Halladay on Sunday to go for the series victory.