"Some days you walk out there and . . . he's pitched us good," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "But, I think, that's baseball and that's going to happen some. That doesn't bother me."
During Johnson's at-bat, a ball in the dirt squeaked away, nearly scoring Ryan Ludwick from third. The next pitch got away again, and this time Ludwick scored. Bastardo walked Johnson on four pitches to reload the bases, with the Phillies' lead cut to three runs, 8-5.
Manuel had seen enough of this Bastardo, and decided to place his trust with the go-ahead run coming to the plate in the hands of David Herndon, a pitcher who had given up four runs in his last four appearances. He walked in another run (charged to Bastardo), then got the final out.
The 25-year-old Bastardo declined to comment after the game.
"Antonio's been lights-out for us all year," Herndon said. "Eventually, you're going to run into that day where everything just doesn't fall into place. I think he had a little bit of trouble, feeling around just a little bit."
Michael Stutes, 24, had been good, but not invincible like Bastardo, entering Saturday. He, too, struggled after he cleaned up Kyle Kendrick's mess in the sixth, keeping a 3-3 tie.
In the seventh Stutes left a fastball too high and Logan Forsythe hit a leadoff triple. He recovered to get the next two outs before he let another pitch get too high and Cameron Maybin hit an RBI single, giving the Padres a 4-3 lead.
The Phillies eventually won, 8-6, despite the two relievers, and in large part because of an offensive explosion. Manuel wasn't surprised by the two youngsters' struggles.
"Yeah, I mean, that was coming," Manuel said. "As the season goes on, too, it's very important that we keep them well-rested. . . . When you get down through September, there [have] been a lot of inexperienced players who have gotten tired, had a tough finish."
Granted, Stutes is well below his 761/3-inning total in 2010 and more than 145 in 2009. But Bastardo pitched just 39 innings in 2010, after 78 innings in 2009. He has pitched 37 innings this season.
In the ninth inning - his inning - Madson restored order, mowing down the middle of the Padres order for his 17th save. Had the shift back to the setup role affected the Bastardo we have come to know?
"[It will] if you let it," Herndon said. "I think if you let it get in your head, it might bother you. And you might think about it a little bit. . . . But at the end of the day, you just have to go out there and get people out."
Contact staff writer Tim Rohan
at trohan@philly.com or @TimRohan on Twitter.
