The Phillies had a chance to hit the .500 mark for the first time this year both on Friday night and Sunday. Both times they came up short. In game one of the series, Kyle Kendrick took the mound and had a second straight mediocre start, which should be a serious concern for Phillies fans. Although he labored throughout the game, he wasn’t helped much by the defensive play behind him. Ben Revere badly misplayed a fly ball to center in the fifth inning, which quickly turned into a meltdown for Kendrick. The bats also did next to nothing against Jordan Zimmerman, the ace of the Nationals staff. Even when the Phillies were fortunate enough to load the bases with only one out, Revere grounded out into a double play. Washington won 5-2.

Game two had a much kinder result for the Phillies. Jonathan Pettibone had another stellar start and the Phillies managed to put up five runs. Three of these runs were off Dan Haren, who carries an ERA of 5.43. Although the run production was up, the offense only had 6 hits. Another point of concern was Jimmy Rollins, who committed his seventh error of the year. Rollins glove is supposed to be his strong point, but this year it hasn’t been nearly as solid as expected. Nevertheless, the Phillies escaped with a 5-3 win.

Game three gave the Phillies another opportunity to pull even with Washington in the standings. Cole Hamels, who has struggled at times and been burdened with a severe lack of run support, took on Steven Strasburg, who has had similar issues as far as offensive support is concerned. For six and a half innings the two teams were engaged in a pitchers’ duel. However, an infield single and more shoddy fielding, this time from Michael Young, allowed the bottom of the seventh to be a big inning for the Nationals, who would score 5 runs. Hamels appeared visibly upset in the dugout after being pulled, likely due to yet another letdown from his teammates. Once again, the offense was ineffective and only managed to score one run, which was on a balk from Strasburg. Washington went on to win 6-1 and now remains two games ahead of the Phillies.