Call it June 31st: Braves 11, Phillies 1

by dajafi on Jul 1, 2009 10:04 PM EDT

Not much to see here. Cole Hamels struggled to keep his composure early, allowing a third-inning bloop single to opposing pitcher Jair Jurrjens and some close calls that went against him from home plate ump C.B. Bucknor to spiral into a three-run frame that put the Phils in a 3-0 hole. After the team got one run back in the fourth inning on a Jayson Werth walk, a two-base error on a Jurrjens pickoff attempt and a Greg Dobbs sacrifice fly, Hamels totally fell apart in the fifth: a walk to Gregor Blanco, a single to Martin Prado, a two run double by Larry Jones Jr., a run-scoring single by Brian McCann, and Cole's night came to an early and ignominious end with the Phillies trailing 6-1. Reliever Tyler Walker surrendered two home runs and three more runs in all before escaping the inning.

After that, the only drama was how close Jurrjens would come to no-hitting the Phillies. He was seven outs away when Paul Bako singled to end the bid; Shane Victorino later added another single. That was it for the Phillies offense on the evening. The Braves later added two more runs off reliever Jack "Why Am I Still on the Roster?" Taschner.

With the Mets and Marlins also winning earlier, the Phillies' lead in the NL East is now just a half-game, and they could be a bad weekend away from fourth place. Most immediately, J.A. Happ will try to avoid a sweep in Atlanta tomorrow night against Braves starter Javier Vazquez.

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Enough is enough

Hexes, black cats, saying “He’s pitching a no-hitter.” Wearing your lucky Phillies shirt and not changing seats in the middle of a rally. Whatever the superstition, it doesn’t hurt to play along, right. I will return my work computer password to its previous words, including 2008 Phillies.
Why? Before leaving work on June 11th I had to change my password. The Phillies had just beaten the Mets and were 35-23. Under the new password, which does not have a world championship Phillies name in it, the Phillies went 4-13. Tomorrow I change the password back. We’ll see what happens.

by phillyinportland on Jul 2, 2009 2:55 AM EDT reply actions

so YOU’RE to blame.

Damn you.

by Wet Luzinski on Jul 2, 2009 5:43 PM EDT up reply actions

important

In light of the team’s recent performance, and our coverage thereof, I feel like we should issue a press release of some kind stating that no, we have not turned into a masochism fetish blog.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 2, 2009 8:31 AM EDT reply actions