A Diamond from Cole: Phillies 5, Red Sox 3
by dajafi on Jun 13, 2010 4:51 PM EDT
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PrintSomewhat lost in the roughly month-long meltdown that has threatened to wreck the Phillies' season has been Cole Hamels rediscovering the form that made him a Philadelphia hero two Octobers back. Hamels has thrown quality starts in five of his last six outings, the exception being that miserable game against the Braves when he allowed a three-run homer in a downpour, then didn't come back after an hour-plus rain delay. He was at his best again today against a Red Sox team that had absolutely pummeled teammates Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton through the first two games of the series, allowing just one run on five hits and two walks in seven innings while striking out eight.
Hamels made one early mistake, a poorly located cutter on an 0-2 count to Adrian Beltre leading off the second inning that the third baseman hit over the Green Monster to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Otherwise, he was marvelous, popping the radar gun at 95 and 96 deep into the game and spotting his change and curve effectively. Hamels survived late trouble in fine style; after Dustin Pedroia led off the bottom of the sixth with a ball down the right field line that clanked off the glove of Jayson Werth (it was scored a double) and Victor Martinez worked a walk after an epic 15-pitch battle, Hamels recovered to strike out Beltre, induce a fielder's choice from David Ortiz on a fine play by Chase Utley, and get a flyout from Mike Lowell. An inning later, already over 100 pitches, he walked J.D. Drew to lead things off but popped up Darnell McDonald and got a 5-4-3 double play from Daniel Nava.
Hamels did all this with a 4-1 lead, thanks to that rarest of occurrences: a crooked number put up by the Phillies lineup. Tim Wakefield, who stymied the Phils at Citizens Bank Park last month, looked on pace to do the same today after escaping a bases-loaded, no out first inning jam on a shallow flyout from Ryan Howard and a Werth double play. But Howard doubled with one out in the fourth, and Werth drove him in with a single. Raul Ibanez followed with a two-run homer, Ben Francisco doubled, and Juan Castro singled him in to plate the fourth run. Wakefield did retire the next 11 hitters and worked into the eighth, but the damage was done.
After Jose Contreras escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam with another double play to end the eighth, Werth created an insurance run on a walk, two steals and a Francisco sacrifice fly. It turned out to be important, as Ortiz greeted J.C. Romero with a leadoff double in the home ninth, got to third on a Lowell flyout and scored on a passed ball. Romero then walked Drew, prompting Charlie Manuel to wave in Brad Lidge. The comebacking closer struck out McDonald, but surrendered a run-scoring single to Nava that made it 5-3 before popping up Marco Scutaro to end it.
Following tomorrow's off-day, the Phils head to New York for a three-game World Series rematch with the Yankees. Roy Halladay takes on CC Sabathia in Tuesday's opener.
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The Phillies finally take one, but given their usual interleague woes, I think they’ll probably go 1-2 vs the Yankees.
They’ll do it in true Philadelphia phorm however, losing Doc’s start 2-1 or so, then winning Kendrick’s start as he somehow miracles up another “quality start” out of thin air and incredible defense behind him.
The only good match up is Halladay. Blanton’s been roughed up by the Yankees, Moyer massacred and Kendrick, I’d have to spend 5 weeks popping peyote buttons before I’d lay any money on him to survive the Spankees line-up from hell.
winning percentage
6-14 over the last 20. With a 1-2 against Boston, the Phillies increased their wp over the period. Yay?
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on Jun 13, 2010 5:24 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Take away – far away – the 0-5 stretch with four shutouts that started this whole mess and the record of 6-9 since then iscertainly not abysmal. The three-game sweep by the Braves hurt but the Braves were at their hottest that week. A good series against the Yankees could turn things around pretty quickly.
by phillyinportland on Jun 15, 2010 3:28 AM EDT up reply actions
So am i gonna get yelled at again for saying "Good series?’
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by bestbostonsports on Jun 13, 2010 6:30 PM EDT reply actions
Completely off topic, but I just did I really awful thing. I looked at Cliff Lee’s stats. What a dumb idea.
by philsandthrills on Jun 13, 2010 7:00 PM EDT reply actions
Championships don’t come easy. There is an element of risk involved. I’m still not convinced the Phillies made the right move. Perhaps time will tell, but with the offensive problems they’ve been having, one more ace in the rotation probably would not have been the cure-all. All that adds up to is an enigma of a team. Which way do they go from here?
Until any of those prospects perform, I’m gonna count it as a clearly wrong move. Even then, just the though of him still here will leave me wondering what could’ve been.
by philsandthrills on Jun 13, 2010 8:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I keep doing that and regretting the whole trade. I know that even if we kept him for this season, we probably would have lost him at the end of the year. And I know that he is a pitcher, and would not solve our offensive woes— and may have just created a third day in the rotation of hard luck losses. But, watching (or gamedaying) Cupcakes, then looking at his stats makes me nauseous. I don’t know that we would have scored more had Cupcakes not blown it… and I don’t know that any other pitcher would have been able to make a two run lead hold for 7 1/2 innings. But I do know that I miss him— he is wonderful to watch, and would have been an asset to this team.
as Ortiz greeted J.C. Romero with a leadoff double in the home ninth, got to third on a Lowell flyout and scored on a passed ball
I didn’t get to see today’s game, but crap like this drives me nuts. While I also read that Werth pulled a walk/steal/steal/SF (!), I just don’t get why the Phils are so bad at manufacturing runs when other teams can do it with the likes of David “the rhinoceros” Ortiz.
This isn’t me complaining about the Phils hitting too many homers.
They didn’t really manufacture anything. Ortiz lead off the inning with a double. He advanced to third on a flyout. He was standing there when Romero threw a pitch about 5 feet over Chooch’s head.
I focus some of my attention for this on Perlozzo, who strikes me as woefully conservative, and consistent at it too, even in the midst of this slump. Yesterday’s first inning with Victorino shying away from Drew was another case in point. But really, Perlozzo is a bit player here. From all that I’ve seen/read, the runners get the avg times to the plate from Lopes, and then are on their own. And they’ve pretty much stayed put. Werth doubled his season total in stolen bases yesterday (2 to 4).
Defensively, besides Werth, the Phillies have no decent arms in the outfield. I was going back last week through some ST posts and Victorino did have a shoulder injury I forgot about. I’m guessing this continues to nag. So other teams will take extra bases.
by Wet Luzinski on Jun 14, 2010 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions
It was irritating, but to be fair the Lowell flyout was pretty deep down the RF line. Werth still nearly got him at third—the throw was terrific.
On the larger point, I agree—if Victorino had stolen early in Polanco’s AB in the first inning after reaching on a HBP, he would have scored on Peanut’s single. And with the Wakefield/VMart battery, he would have made it so long as his shoelaces weren’t tied together.
I would love to see this team do a little of both— if they have the runners on base, try to create runs out of them— steal smartly, etc. I know that small ball will not win every game, but I see no problem with being very smart in that area and letting it get you a few more runs to go with the power hitting ones.
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