Despite Kyle McClellan's four walks in seven innings the St. Louis Cardinals had a chance, Tuesday, to walk out of their series opener with the Philadelphia Phillies with a win against Roy Halladay, the first and best of the Phillies' various aces. That was before the bullpen, a sore spot ever since Ryan Franklin's disintegration pushed the team's young right-handers into an almost omnipresent role in the team's gameplan, gave up nine runs in a painful eighth inning on the way to a loss by a score of 10-2. Daniel Descalso had two hits and a double for the Cardinals, who fell to 40-34 after the loss.
Roy Halladay was strong as always—one earned run in six innings—but the Cardinals scraped a run together against his understudies, and Kyle McClellan's spotty performance had somehow left them with a one run lead. But Trever Miller allowed a walk and a base hit, Jason Motte plunked two batters, and Brian Tallet, Miguel Batista, and Maikel Cleto all struggled to retire batters without allowing baserunners.
Next the Cardinals will get Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt. It would've been good to sneak away with this one.