Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels bested Marlins lefty Scott Olsen over the first 5 innings as rightfielder Jayson Werth drove in 3 runs on 2 homers; in the 1st and 3rd innings. 

But Hamels was clubbed in the 6th inning for 4 runs as the Marlins beat the Phils by a 5-3 score and the Phillies blew yet another chance to go over the .500 mark.

Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Todd Zolecki reports on the 6th inning that undid the Phils;

The Phillies have had the opportunity three times in the last week to surpass the .500 mark for the first time this season. They have failed each time. But their latest effort, a 5-3 loss last night to the Florida Marlins at Dolphin Stadium, seemed the toughest to take because Cole Hamels had a two-run lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning and couldn’t hold it.

“You need to get out of the hole if you want to be a team that contends for the World Series,” Hamels said in a quiet visitors’ clubhouse. “When you have the breaks in front of you, you have to take them. You can’t keep falling back in the hole.”

The Phillies (22-23) spread the blame everywhere.

Hamels (6-2) blamed himself for the pitches he left up in the strike zone in the sixth.

“I didn’t get the pitches down,” he said. “I know in the sixth I left three [change-ups] up. That’s definitely not what you’re supposed to do if you want to get out of the inning unscathed.”

Aaron Rowand blamed himself for a ball he misplayed in the sixth. The Marlins had a runner on second with no outs when  Miguel Cabrera hit a change-up off the end of his bat to left-center field. Rowand charged in, but the ball carried farther than he anticipated. He adjusted too late and missed the ball by no more than four inches.

That allowed a run to score, and as Cabrera cruised in for a triple, Chase Utley threw errantly to third. Cabrera scored to make it 3-3 as the ball rolled into the visitors’ dugout.

“It’s my fault,” Rowand said. “I feel like it’s my fault we lost this game, not Cole or anybody else. I’ll take responsibility for it.”

But pitching and defense were not all that did the Phils in for this one.  Zolecki continues;

The offense shouldered the blame, too. Jayson Werth provided the only punch. Remember Werth? He had played just twice in 12 games since May 7. He had hit just once since May 13.

Only three-month-old bread could have been staler. But Werth, who missed the entire 2006 season with a wrist injury, hit a 3-2 pitch from Marlins lefthander Scott Olsen (4-3) to right field for a home run in the first. It was Werth’s first home run since Aug. 29, 2005.

He wasn’t finished. Hamels led off the third with a double, and Werth hit a 1-2 pitch for a two-run homer to left-center to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead.

The Phillies didn’t get another hit out of the infield.

 In the 6th inning with after Cabrera scored on Utley’s throwing error to tie the game, leftfielder Josh Willingham followed with a double to left-center. Hamels struck out rightfielder Jeremy Hermida and catcher Miguel Olivo but walked 1st baseman Aaron Boone.  Jason Wood, who pinch hit for Olsen, followed with a double driving in 2 more runs to make it 5-3.

Winning pitcher Olsen pitched 6 innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6.  The Marlins bullpen closed out the Phillies on but one hit over the final 3 innings. 

Losing pitcher Hamels pitched 6 innings giving up all 5 Marlin runs on 6 hits, walking 3 while striking out 8.  Reliver Ryan Madson, just back from a stint on the disabled list, finished out the final 2 innings in perfect style striking out 2 and setting the Marlins down in order.

AP sports writer Steve Wine reports these two tidbits for Yahoo sports;

Cabrera is batting .467 (14-for-30) against the Phils this season. … Werth’s two-homer game was the third of his career.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps of this and all of Tuesday’s games,  click here.

On Wednesday, the Phils hope to even up the series as Freddy Garcia faces Marlins’ Byung-Hyun Kim.   1st baseman Ryan Howard went 2 for 3 hitting a game-winning homer in a Class A rehab start in Lakewood and seems on schedule to return to the lineup on Friday giving the Phils a huge shot in the arm for the upcoming series with the Atlanta Braves.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps of this and all of Wednesday’s games, click here.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.