On a day in which the Phillies honored Harry Kalas, the San Diego Padres sent Brad Lidge’s save streak and the Phils hopes of a win, fittingly, outta here.

(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Pitcher Brett Myers pitched another wild, yet controlled, game, giving up his league leading seventh homerun of the season, and four walks, but only allowed three runs in six and two-thirds innings, all while striking out six. It is a thoroughly baffling box score, which has been a recurring theme of the young season.

The Phillies were in a prime position to break their two-game losing streak as they went into the ninth inning with a 5-4 lead. Chase Utley hit a solo-home run in the eighth inning to tie the game at four, followed up by a sacrifice fly by Pedro Feliz to put the Phillies up 5-4.

Enter Lidge in the ninth. The Phillies closer had converted his past 54 save opportunities, including seven in last year’s postseason, dating back to September of 2007. Unfortunately, the streak was not meant to continue.

Jody Gerut led off the inning with a double after outfielder Shane Victorino misplayed his blooper into centerfield. Gerut then moved over to third base on a ground out by David Eckstein. The streak ended with a blown save after Gerut scored to tie the game at five on another ground out by Brian Giles to first.

Lidge, who has been anything but dominant this season, proceeded to walk the next two batters before giving up a three-run homerun to Padres third-baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, for his first loss as a member of the Phillies.

After manager Charlie Manuel came out to relieve Lidge, the fans gave him a standing ovation as he walked back to the dugout.

“It made me feel good when they were cheering, I’ll be honest,” Lidge said.

When he was asked about his feelings on the ending of the streak, Lidge underscored what has been on everyone’s mind about the entire Phillies’ pitching staff.

“I tried not to think about what it would feel like when it ended,” Lidge said. “Now that it’s over, I’m proud of what I did, but this is a new season, and I need to pitch better now.”

“We’ve got to try and play through these things,” said slugger Ryan Howard. “It’s a good thing now that it’s early in the season rather than having it be late in the season. There’s a lot of time to right the ship and that’s all we can do right now.”

At some point, however, it’s not going to be early anymore.

The Phils look to rebound in the third game of this four game series against the Padres today at 1:35 PM with Chan Ho Park on the mound.