Cole Takes Lumps: Diamondbacks 7, Phillies 4

by dajafi on Apr 24, 2010 12:51 AM EDT

The mystery of Cole Hamels 2010 deepened Friday night. Through three innings, the Phillies starter was in complete control, holding the Diamondbacks scoreless on one hit while fanning four. Then he cratered, allowing four homers over the next two innings as a 2-0 Phils lead turned into a 6-2 deficit. With the Phils unable to do much against not-quite-former-teammate Kris Benson, Hamels wound up on the losing end of a 7-4 loss in Phoenix.

The lineup's feebleness against Benson was perhaps even more baffling than Hamels' inconsistency. Tattooed for 23 runs (21 earned) in 22.1 innings for Texas last season after spending 2008 with the Phils' triple-A team, Benson allowed just two runs in six innings in his first start of 2010 against the Padres last weekend, but his four walks against one strikeout bode well for a Phils lineup that had effectively worked counts against three superior Braves starters in a just-completed series win at Atlanta. The discipline deserted them tonight, however, as Benson earned his first win of the season while allowing eight hits and three runs, two earned, in six innings. He struck out five and walked none, as the Phils' hitters consistently chased offspeed offerings out of the strike zone. It has now been five full games since the last Phillies home run, hit by Jayson Werth in the ninth inning of Saturday's 5-1 loss to the Marlins.

The unearned run Benson allowed, which briefly gave the Phils a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, came on an extremely rare four-base error. Werth seemed to fly out to deep center field--but as Arizona's Chris Young transferred the ball from his glove to his throwing hand, it squirted free and rolled away. Werth had barely finished circling the bases when Arizona manager A.J. Hinch came out to argue, ultimately getting ejected. Perhaps this was what energized the D'backs offense: in the bottom of the fourth, Justin Upton blooped a single in front of Mark Reynolds' game-tying homer to left field. Adam LaRoche immediately followed with a solo shot to right; after Young singled and Cole Gillespie struck out, Hamels gave up a third home run of the inning to #8 hitter Chris Snyder. Kelly Johnson stretched the lead to 6-2 leading off the fifth; later, he would greet J.C. Romero in the lefty reliever's season debut with his second homer of the game and season.

The series continues tomorrow as Nelson Figueroa makes an emergency start in place of injured J.A. Happ against Arizona's Ian Kennedy.

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Comments

bah, the plate discipline was bad tonight after three games in a row of some patient approaches. 1 walk, from Ibanez! all game.

On the other hand, a lot of the outs were pretty hard-hit. Frustrating game.

by Wet Luzinski on Apr 24, 2010 1:49 AM EDT reply actions

That’s true, and I probably should have mentioned it in the recap. Perhaps that’s how I expressed my frustration.

by dajafi on Apr 24, 2010 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions

M-80s and stuff to blow up is the best remedy

by j reed on Apr 24, 2010 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I think the D-backs were equally energized by the nutritious meatballs Hamels and Joker C(a)esar Romero served.

by j reed on Apr 24, 2010 9:09 AM EDT reply actions

Always loved the “Not even trying to hide it” mustache.

As if an archvillain would go to the effort to resemble a clown but not shave the damn lip hair.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Apr 24, 2010 9:11 AM EDT up reply actions

Maybe that was in Romero’s contract: no stachie, no workie. In every picture I’ve seen of him he has a moustache with or without face paint. Perhaps it was is his trademark moustache?

by j reed on Apr 24, 2010 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions

and therefore, to avoid the hassle of regrowing it in between the handful of appearaces on the show, refused to shave it off

by j reed on Apr 24, 2010 9:39 AM EDT up reply actions

It took me a minute to realize that you were referring to C. Romero, not J.C.

by dajafi on Apr 24, 2010 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions

He was fantastic.

by Wet Luzinski on Apr 24, 2010 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions

guess it was a good night to miss the game. I got to hear the 8-9th innings on the radio on my way home.

I wonder if one of the reasons that Hamels seems ‘unlucky’ based on his BABIP or FIP (i understandBABIP, but not FIP) is that he seems to give up so many long balls, since they don’t get fielded and count. Is there no middle ground for him? It’s either whiff, dribbler, or into the seats?

by Bilzo on Apr 24, 2010 9:10 AM EDT reply actions

Home runs aren’t factored into BABIP — it only takes into account those balls that can be fielded.

by zfg on Apr 24, 2010 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions

correct…which is why I’m saying that if his BABIP makes his ERA look unlucky it could be from all the unfielded balls hitting the bleachers.

by Bilzo on Apr 24, 2010 11:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Hamels home run rate went down slightly from 2008 to 2009. It didn’t make his BABIP go up, because it’s not a ball in play in the first place. The difference between 2008 and 2009 was singles.

by Matt Swartz on Apr 24, 2010 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions

In More Detail

Here are the things that were statistically equivalent in 2008 and 2009:

—K/PA
—BB/PA
—HR/PA
—HR/ofFB (outfield fly ball = ofFB)
—XBH/PA
—GB/BIP
—LD/BIP
—ofFB/BIP
—ifFB/BIP
—Balls hit to the infield
—Contact rate
—Swing rate
—Swinging strikes per pitch
—Foul balls per pitch
—Fair balls per pitch
—Pulled balls per fair ball
—Ratio of OPS with men on vs. bases empty (actually relatively worse with bases empty in 2009)
—Average distance in inches between Hamels’ pitches and the corner of the strike zone (a bit over five inches both years)

Here is what was different

—Infield hits per ground ball
—Outfield hit per ground ball
—Singles per line drive
—Singles per fly ball

I just don’t buy singles as evidence of failure. And I certainly don’t think a high HR per outfield fly ball on a sample of 24 outfield fly balls is cause for concern when that statistic shows no persistence barely at all and you need 500 fly balls to even begin to get evidence of a HR/FB problem.

by Matt Swartz on Apr 24, 2010 11:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Hamels

I still have confidence Hamels can pitch well this year. But, this jekyll and hyde pitching has got to go. I wonder if someone like Halladay can help figure out the inconsistencies for Hamels.

by PhilsForever on Apr 24, 2010 1:56 PM EDT reply actions

Figueroa

Looks like this will be Nelson’s first start for the Phillies since August 31, 2001, a 5-1 loss to the Expos at a time when the Phillies were running neck and neck with the Braves for the NL East lead. After a brief run of success in midsummer made it look like the Curt Schilling deal might not turn out that bad for the Phillies, he had a couple of rough starts and spent the rest of the season in the bullpen, where he didn’t fare any better. Apparently he was given his release during spring training 2002 and was picked up on waivers by the Brewers.
I listened to a radio interview he did after his win over the Nationals last week and he sounded very pleased to be back in Philadelphia, and seemed to be an articulate ball player, which made for a good interview.

By the way, interesting to see that one of Nelson’s old teammates from the 2001 team, Bruce Chen, is back on a major league roster with Kansas City. I’m amazed that he is still in his early 30’s. I can still remember that period for the interesting names of the pitchers – Wolf, Byrd, and Person were my favorites, with Duckworth not far behind.

by phillyinportland on Apr 24, 2010 4:40 PM EDT reply actions