Hamels Loses

(originally posted 5/22/07)
That game didn't go according to plan. With Future Cy Young Award Winner Cole Hamels facing the Marlins, chances seemed good for a Phillies win tonight. Sure, Phillies Manager did his best to diminish those chances, by not starting either Greg Dobbs or Shane Victorino. But Cole doesn't really need that many teammates to win games. Give him a mediocre catcher (See Barajas, Rod.) and a couple of fielders (Yep. Two is sufficient. We'll go retro here and choose Steve Jeltz and Joe Millette.) and he usually has enough to win. He'll just strike out the side every inning, and have the Mediocre Three move him along with sacrifices after one of his many two-base hits, to score the only run needed. Simple formula for success.

But, at least until the Phillies implement my formula, Phillies' wins in Cole's starts are not 100% certain. Tonight's game started very optimistically, with Jayson Werth hitting TWO HRs, and staking Philadelphia to an early 3-0 lead in the 3rd. I was not too pleased that Werth was starting over Victorino, but I guess that move worked out pretty well. (Exhibit #3533 that I don't know what I'm talking about.) The Marlins' crowd of 48 looked to be in for a long night.
(With promotions like "Disco Night With Gloria Gaynor AND Tavares!", it's somewhat inexplicable that the Marlins don't draw better.)

Hamels took a 3-1 lead into the 6th, but then the wheels fell off. (Speaking of Wheels, MLB.TV had the Marlins announcers tonight, and I was glad to get a night off from Wheels and Senior.) CF Aaron Rowand misplayed a ball into a triple, the Marlins hit a bunch of doubles, and it was suddenly 5-3 Marlins after six innings. Cole left the game at this point, allowing six hits, five earned runs, with eight (!) strikeouts in his outing. He is now 6-2, 3.67 and leading the NL in K's.

Ryan Madson, fresh off the DL, held the Marlins scoreless in the 7th and 8th. (I was surprised that he was allowed to throw 24 pitches over two innings in his return from the DL- seems that maybe he should have been held to one inning in his first game back?) But three random Marlins bullpenners named Pinto, Lindstrom , and Gregg (all of whom have excellent ERAs and would look good in the Phils pen) held Philly scoreless the rest of the way.

The Phillies play Florida again Wednesday, with Freddy Garcia (1-3, 4.86) facing old Sox Pal Byung-Hyun Kim (2-2, 7.15). With two mediocre, five-inning pitchers starting, we should get a chance to see a lot of action from the bullpens. Not usually a good thing when the Phils are involved.