Defs lose 2-1 this afternoon as the offense could

muster only three hits; a infield single by Steve Holm in the fifth, and a couple of Mark Mincozzi hits was all the support starter Ben Cox (0-4, pictured) got. Cox, like Nick Pereria was last night, struggled with his control issuing four walks along with six hits in 4.2 IP. He gave up both runs, the first unearned.

In the fourth Mike Garciaparra, Nomar's brother, singled with one out and stole second. The batter at the plate hit a twisting foul ball the Travis Ishikawa caught after a long run and fell partially into the seats. Great catch. Garciaparra seeing Travis had his back to him and in the stands, tagged up on the catch. Travis recovered but threw the ball wide of third baseman Simon Klink allowing Mike to continue on home for the first run. of the game.

In the fifth Reading's aggressiveness on the basepaths paid off again as a single, a stolen base putting the runner in scoring postion, and another single made the score 2-0 Phillies.

Connecticut finally broke thru with an unearned run of it's own in the sixth. Jake Wald walked, moved to third an infield error and came around on John Bowker's SF. Connecticut would then get a single from Mincozzi to put runners on first in second with one out, but Travis would strike out and EME (back after missing 7 games) also fanned to end the inning.

Connecticut threaten again in the eight getting a pair of runners on but could not push across the tying run.

Misc fan notes: Defs worn the pink jersey tops in support of breast cancer awareness. Not bad looking actually. Should have been more folks in the yard today.