Bats Disappear in Pitchers Duel
By: Mike Reisman
Well that was quick. After a mere two hours and thirty nine minutes the Phillies have completed game two of their current three game series. Let's just say the result was unfavorable. The Phillies lost tonight 1-0 on a night where both Johan Santana and Cole Hamels were on top of their games. The two combined for just one earned run, 14.1 innings pitched, and 17 strikeouts. In addition to these stats, Johan had a no-hitter for 5.2 innings until a Placido Polanco single broke it up.
The game started very slow, neither team able to get more than a total of two hits in a single inning for the better part of the game. However, it would only take one hit to change the game. On only the second pitch of the 7th inning, Jeff Francoeur just barley got a hit over the right-center field wall, to put the Mets up 1-0.
The Phillies had a chance to score in the bottom of the 8th when Ross Gload came to pinch-hit with the bases loaded and two outs. He was able to work the count full, but the next pitch Gload hit a weak grounder to Ruben Tejada to more or less end the Phillies game.
In reality this really is not fair. Honestly I am starting to feel bad for Cole Hamels. This is his 5th loss where he has allowed 3 or less runs in 7.0 or more innings. What would his record be if these losses were wins? 12-3. Ok, lets say these losses were just no decisions. Still his record would be an impressive 7-3. That is a whole lot better than his current 7-8 record. The worst part? Cole has a very good 3.45 ERA. Jamie Moyer had an ERA of 4.84, but a better record of 9-9. It seems the Phillies bats just don't like Cole Hamels.