Cards drop last three to Phils: Halladay all business, Lohse struggles

The Cardinals dropped their third straight game after losing to the Roy Halladay and the Phillies 7-2 Thursday afternoon. St. Louis managed just three runs in the final three games of the series despite playing in the hitter’s friendly Citizen’s Bank Park. The struggles today may have had to do with the fact that Roy Halladay was on the mound for Philly. The newest Phillies ace threw seven strong innings, allowed one earned run and struck out nine. For the Cards, Kyle Lohse ended the rotation’s three-week streak of quality starts. He got off to a bad start on a windy day, giving up a three-run shot to Jayson Werth in the first. The Phillies were in control from there and finished off the Cards.

St. Louis answered in the second after David Freese tripled and scored on an error.

The Cards had a golden opportunity in the fifth with Matt Holliday at the plate and the bases loaded, but Halladay rose to the occasion. With a full count and two outs, Halladay broke off a curveball to send Holliday to the bench and end the St. Louis rally. I guess that’s why the Phils went out and got the Doc who now has six wins.

The Redbirds can take a valuable lesson from this series. Although they had jumped to the top of the National League standings, the Phillies are still the top dog. The road to the World Series goes through Philadelphia. With about five months left in the season, the Cards will gain the experience needed to stand toe-to-toe with the champs come October.