Sloppy effort from Phils

The day after they failed to get Roy Halladay, the Phils’ defense took a holiday.

Maybe they were still celebrating the fact that they managed to acquire AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee without having to give any of their top young prospects.

For whatever reason, the Phils looked lifeless last night in dropping the first of a weekend set in San Francisco. It was the first time since July 1-2 that they’ve lost two games in a row.

They looked sloppy in making a loser out of Rodrigo Lopez in what might have been his last start. Lee assumes his spot in the starting rotation tonight.

Jayson Werth misplayed a fly ball in the first inning, leading to two runs.

Pedro Feliz seemed to surprise Chase Utley with a throw to second base instead of first in the fourth inning. The ball sailed past a flinching Utley into right field, fueling a four-run fourth.

It was Utley who showed about the only sign of life for the Phils. In the sixth, Giants’ starter Jonathan Sanchez whizzed a ball over Utley’s noggin. Utley took a long, hard look at the pitcher from the batter’s box. Two pitches later, he stepped out of the box while Sanchez was in his windup. Then he put an exclamation point on the standoff by sending Sanchez’s next pitch over the right-field wall. Unfortunately, it was a solo shot, and it was about the only life the Phils showed all night.

Lee will deliver a little CPR tonight when he makes his much-anticipated debut.

Hopefully, the team will shake off the doldrums that plagued them last night. It shouldn’t be hard to do. They can’t look much worse.

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