Astros sweep swooning Phillies

CHARLIE MANUEL sees it, too.

He sees the lack of urgency, the lack of focus, which earmarks teams without much future. But future, the Phillies have.

Even after a four-game sweep at the hands of the Astros, finished by yesterday's 5-1 loss. The idle Braves remained well in reach, three games ahead in the NL East. The Phils stayed a half-game behind the idle Giants in the NL wild-card race.

The Phillies play their next three games in San Diego. The Padres don't score much, but they have the best earned-run average in the majors - which means, to win, they do little things very well.

That means retaining focus. Staying sharp.

"You're supposed to know the situations in the game," Manuel said. "You get lackadaisical."

Did Manuel witness lackadaisical play the past four games - the first four-game sweep of the Phils in the 7-year history of Citizens Bank Park?

"I saw a hell of a lot of it," the manager replied.

The series, in which the Phillies scored just seven runs, will be remembered most for the combative umpiring of Greg Gibson and Scott Barry.

In the first game of the series, Gibson, at first base, did not call Michael Bourn out when Bourn seemed to clearly and egregiously leave the baseline. In the second game of the series, Barry, pugnacious and mocking, goaded Ryan Howard into an ejection in the 14th inning.

But Howard, with no position players available on the bench, indulgently bit on Barry's bait.

Besides, the umpires didn't cost the Phillies scoring chances. Jayson Werth was picked off second base in the first game, on Monday. Ben Francisco was picked off third base in the third game, on Wednesday.

"There's no reason to make a mental mistake. Not a lot of them," Manuel said.

Mentally, yesterday, the Phillies cost themselves little. It was more their mediocre starting pitching and their continued offensive futility.

Kyle Kendrick (8-7) gave up runs in each of the first four innings. He lasted six innings, but now he has allowed four or more runs in three of his last four starts.

Kendrick's biggest mistake came against pitcher Wandy Rodriguez, a solid hitter whom Kendrick faced with a man on third and one out in the fourth. Kendrick grooved a 1-0 pitch that Rodriguez crushed.

"It was a fastball, right down the middle," Rodriguez said. "I swung the bat very good."

He threw the ball even better.

Rodriguez rode a diving changeup through seven strong innings to move to 10-12, his first win in five starts. He held the Phils hitless through four and struck out Howard twice.

Howard went 0-for-15 with 10 strikeouts in his three starts in the series. He now is 3-for-24 with 12 strikeouts since coming off the disabled list with a sprained ankle.

"Right now, I'm not comfortable in the box," said Howard.

Few of the Phillies are, it seems. Raul Ibanez had three hits, two of them among the five Rodriguez surrendered. Chase Utley stung the ball twice, including an RBI double that scored the team's only run in the sixth.

It was not their only chance. They ran themselves out of that, again.

Werth led off the fifth with a single and moved to third on Ibanez' subsequent double. Shane Victorino struck out. Catcher Brian Schneider lined softly to shallow rightfield, where Hunter Pence and his questionable arm reside.

So, Werth tried to score on the play. Pence's one-hop throw beat him by three steps - so much, in fact, that Werth decided to try to run around catcher Jason Castro instead of running him over or trying to slide. Castro nipped Werth on the left calf, and that ended the inning.

The pitcher's spot was due up, but, Manuel said, he would have pinch-hit for Kendrick. Manuel had no beef with Werth trying to score.

"We were trying to make something happen," Manuel said.

They were trying to inject a little life.

"When you don't score runs everything looks . . . dead," Manuel said.

They hope to revive themselves on the West Coast.

"We always say we're resilient," said Manuel while admitting that his club is in a rut. "I can't think of anybody better to get out of it against than San Diego." *