BALTIMORE - Jerome Williams tumbled over in a heap, facedown, just outside the batter's box. An awkward leg split while covering home plate left the Phillies' struggling righthander in agony, ending a miserable 31-pitch outing that featured six Baltimore Orioles runs.
But that was just the beginning of the Phillies' most embarrassing performance of a dismal season. Baseball's worst team hit rock bottom Tuesday night in a 19-3 defeat at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, in three-plus hours redefining the meaning of the oft-used sports term "rebuilding."
The blowout clinched the Phillies' first winless eight-game road trip since 1883, the franchise's inaugural season.