July 18, 2007

Phillies pound Dodgers pitching

By Al Balderas
The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — The next round of uncertainty regarding the Dodgers' pitching staff didn't take long to pick up steam.

Mark Hendrickson started Tuesday night's game against the Philadelphia Phillies and pitched poorly enough to create some questions as to who will be take the mound for the Dodgers on Sunday.

The Phillies scored three runs off of Hendrickson in the first inning and hit him up for four more in the fourth inning on their way to a 15-3 victory at Dodger Stadium.

"That's too far from now to talk about that," manager Grady Little said of whether Hendrickson will start Sunday. "He had a rough night.

The last two times he pitched for us he came away as the winning pitcher. (Tuesday) wasn't his night from the start."

The Phillies pounded out 26 hits, tying the Los Angeles Dodgers record for an opposing team. The San Francisco Giants also had 26 hits on May 13, 1958. The franchise record of 27 hits allowed was set by the Cincinnati Reds on June 8, 1940.

Ryan Howard and Aaron Rowand led the attack with three home runs, three doubles and four RBIs between them.

Howard hit home runs in the fourth and fifth innings off of reliever Eric Stults. Rowand, who played at Cal State Fullerton, hit three doubles and a seventh-inning home run. He also singled in the first inning for a career-high five hits.

Hendrickson began the season in the bullpen but became a starter when Jason Schmidt went on the disabled list because of right-shoulder bursitis. He returned to the bullpen only to come back to the rotation when Hong-Chih Kuo was shelved because of inflammation in his left elbow. In his three starts since returning to the rotation, Hendrickson is 1-2 with a 6.23 ERA

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead when Chase Utley doubled home Shane Victorino, who had singled. Rowand and Wes Helms added RBI singles.

Hendrickson worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and retired the side in order in the third.

Whatever effectiveness he found during that five-batter stretch was lost by the time he took the mound in the fourth. Phillies pitcher J.D. Durbin, who got his first major-league hit in the second inning, reached on an infield hit in the fourth. Jimmy Rollins followed with a single and both runners scored on a triple by Victorino. Utley added an RBI single to end Hendrickson's night.

"When I went out there, I didn't really have much," Hendrickson said.

"After I got them out in the second inning, I thought maybe I had tamed a little bit so give them credit. That's a good hitting team over there and they swung the bats well."

Stults replaced Hendrickson and his first pitch to Howard was hit over the right-field wall. Howard's second home run, an inning later, was hit deep into the left-center field bleachers. His two home runs gave Howard two multi-home run games this season and nine for his career.