Kendrick outpitches Pettitte, 7-1

Over and over Andy Pettitte used the phrase "stupid pitch," almost as if in some cruel way, saying it made him feel better.

More than two hours had passed since Shane Victorino hit Pettitte's 2-and-2 cutter over the leftfield wall for a two-run homer in the fifth inning of the Yankees' 7-1 loss to the Phillies, and the lefthander was furious at himself for a pitch "that basically cost me the game."

After the Yankees suffered their second straight loss to the team they beat in the World Series last season, there were a lot of people besides Pettitte to blame. Their offense was shut down by Phillies righthander Kyle Kendrick, their bullpen allowed four runs in the ninth and an error by Ramiro Peña helped open the scoring.

But Pettitte didn't want to hear it. After suffering only his second loss in 10 decisions, all he wanted to talk about was a pitch that he wanted back the second it left his hand.

With Carlos Ruiz on second, two outs in the fifth and the Yankees down 1-0, Pettitte threw what he called the wrong pitch to the wrong location. Victorino made him pay, launching it over the wall in the leftfield corner to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead.

"I just wasn't wholeheartedly behind it and just threw it with not a whole lot of purpose behind it," Pettitte said. "Just a bad pitch on my part."

In truth, though, Pettitte pitched well enough to win on most nights. He allowed two earned runs (three total) in seven innings, the 10th time in 12 starts he's allowed two or fewer earned runs.

But a night after the Yankees mustered only two runs and three hits in eight innings against 47-year-old Jamie Moyer, they were baffled by the 25-year-old Kendrick. He allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, capitalizing on the Yankees' inexperience against him. Mark Teixeira was the only hitter who had ever faced Kendrick, and he couldn't really offer his teammates much advice, having gone 1-for-12.

"We didn't get a lot of hits yesterday and we didn't get a lot of hits today," manager Joe Girardi said. "What did we have, four today? And Robbie Cano got two of them. We just didn't swing the bats very well."

The only real scoring opportunity the Yankees had against Kendrick came in the sixth and ended thanks to a highlight-reel catch by third baseman Placido Polanco. With runners at first and third, two outs and a run already in, Polanco sprawled over the rolled-up tarp in foul territory and reached into the first row to make a remarkable backhanded catch of Nick Swisher's pop-up. That preserved the Phillies' 3-1 lead.

"He made a great defensive play catching that on the tarp," Girardi said. "You never know if Swish gets another swing, things change. But it didn't happen."

Any thoughts of a comeback were erased when the bullpen faltered in the ninth.

After Joba Chamberlain allowed a double by Ruiz, an RBI single by Wilson Valdez and a walk to begin the ninth, Damaso Marte gave up a walk, sacrifice flies by Polanco and Ryan Howard, and another walk before Chan Ho Park allowed an RBI double by Ibañez.

The inning ended only when Ben Francisco's grounder hit Ibañez between second and third for an automatic out.