Friday: Hamels Wins 13th as Phillies Edge Braves in Opener

Phillies’ young All Star Cole Hamels and Atlanta’s Chuck James each gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning before they both recovered to battle each other for the next 5 innings, neither giving up another hit for the duration of their outing, before Hamels narrowly won the battle of lefties on points as the Phillies edged the Braves in their series opener by a 5-4 score.

With the win, the Phillies took over the see-saw battle for 2nd place by 1/2 game over the Braves and picked up a game on the Mets who were edged Friday by the Florida Marlins by a 4-3 score.  The Phils are now 3 games behind the Mets for 1st place in the NL East race and 1 game behind the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card race.  The Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds in extra innings, getting 5 runs in the 12th inning to win by a 12-7 score.
 
The AP report for Yahoo sports recaps what was a wild first inning at Citizen’s Bank stadium;

Both teams sent nine batters to the plate, had five hits and scored four runs in the frame.

Matt Diaz started a string of four consecutive hits with a solo homer to left — his ninth of the season and fourth in six games.  Mark Teixeira singled home Chipper Jones, and after [Jeff] Francoeur singled, Brian McCann roped a two-run double to left-center to give the Braves a 4-0 lead.

Philadelphia wasted no time answering against James.

Jimmy Rollins and Tadahito Iguchi had back-to-back singles and Pat Burrell delivered an RBI double.  Ryan Howard followed with a sacrifice fly and, one out later, [Wes] Helms hit a two-run homer off the left-field foul pole to tie the game at 4. It was Helms’ fifth of the season.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said he played Helms because he’d had success against James (3-for-6), and because he liked the number on Helms’ back. No. 18 was the same number that the late John Vukovich, inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame before the game, wore in his coaching days.

“I thought having the number 18 in the game was big,” Manuel said.

Windy conditions played havoc throughout the contest.

In the first, [Mark] Teixeira, second baseman Kelly Johnson and James lost a fly ball on the infield before it fell harmlessly into foul territory — 15 feet from any of the three players.

After the first, both hurlers settled down and were dominant for the remainder of their outings.   AP reports;

Hamels (13-5) tossed six good ones after that, retiring 17 of his last 19 batters and allowing just two baserunners — one on a walk and one on Wes Helms’ fielding error. Neither reached second base, as Hamels walked two and struck out two.

James didn’t allow another baserunner, retiring the final 16 batters he faced before leaving for a pinch-hitter. James struck out five and walked one over six innings, giving up four runs and five hits. He threw 89 pitches.  Reliever Peter Moylan took over for James to begin the 7th inning. 

Rightfielder Jayson Werth led off the inning with a single to leftfield and advanced to 2nd base on catcher Chris Coste’s sacrifice bunt.  Gregg Dobbs, pinch hitting for Hamels, singled into the hole at shortstop.  AP reports the sequence that led to the Phillies’ winning run;

[Yunel] Escobar made a fine backhand play but threw the ball wide of first base. The play was ruled a single and a throwing error, allowing Werth to score the decisive run.

“It was a tough play,” Cox said. “Not many shortstops would have gotten to that ball. If we catch the ball at first base, it’s an out. But it was an impossible hop — just a tough play.”

Moylan, who was charged with the loss, then got the side out.  Tyler Yates pitched in the Phillies’ 8th inning and went clean striking out the side.

The Phillies bullpen took over for Hamels in the 8th inning giving up a hit and a walk over the final two innings while holding the Braves off of the board.  Reliever Tom Gordon pitched the 9th inning, walking one, and was credited with his 6th save.

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Saturday: Eaton Chased in 4th Inning, Phillies Lose to Braves

Phillies starter Adam Eaton has proven a huge disappointment being pounded in yet another start, this time failing to get an out in the 4th inning. 

But after getting to Braves starter Lance Cormier for a solo homer by shortstop Jimmy Rollins in the 3rd inning, and 3 no-out runs in the 5th, the Phillies’ bats went to sleep for the remainder of the game, except for centerfielder Aaron Rowand’s solo shot in 8th inning as Atlanta slipped by the Phillies by a 7-5 score. 

With the loss, the Phillies dropped to 3rd place again, 1/2 game behind the Braves lost no ground to the Mets who were again edged on Saturday by the Florida Marlins, also by a 7-5 score.  The Phils remain 3 games behind the Mets for 1st place in the NL East race.  In the NL Wild Card race, they trail Atlanta by 1/2 game, and remain a game behind the San Diego Padres.  San Diego was pounded by the Cincinnati Reds by an 8-3 score.

The Braves got on the board in the 1st inning against Eaton on 3rd baseman Chipper Jones’ sacrifice fly RBI.

AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston writes about losing starter Eaton’s travails for Yahoo sports;

The Braves were the latest team to tee off on Phillies starter Adam Eaton, who continues to be a huge disappointment in the first year of a $24.5 million, three-year contract. Manager Charlie Manuel said before the game that Eaton (9-8) needed to start pitching deep into games if the Phillies are to have a chance at making the playoffs.

While Manuel stopped short of saying Eaton could get bumped from the rotation, this outing couldn’t have helped his cause. Eaton failed to get out of the fourth — giving up a pair of homers, six runs and eight hits — while his NL-worst ERA swelled to 6.36.

Eaton has pitched at least six innings in only one of his last six starts, and poor first innings continue to be a problem. Chipper Jones hit a sacrifice fly in the first, making it the 40th earned run scored off Eaton in the first this season.

He retired the first two batters in the third before he completely fell apart. Willie Harris doubled and Johnson followed with his 13th homer. Jones and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back triples — Teixeira’s smacked off the heel of Pat Burrell’s glove in front of the 374-foot sign in left — for a 4-0 lead.

[Jeff] Francoeur hit the first pitch of the fourth into the left-field seats, then two more singles and that was it for Eaton. Manuel earned a huge ovation for one of the few times this season when he gave the right-hander the hook, and Eaton, walking slowly to the dugout with his head down, was booed all the way.

Eaton has allowed 94 earned runs in 133 innings this season and has one win in his last six starts.

With the score 6-1 in the 5th, the Phillies narrowed the gap to to 6-4 on 2nd baseman Tadahito Iguchi’s 2 run double to rightfield and Pat Burrell’s RBI single to rightfield to narrow the gap to 6-4, all with none out.  The Phils’ bats fell silent against the Braves’ bullpen for the remainer of the game except for Rowand’s 8th inning hmer.

Reliever Clay Condrey took over for Eaton and was effective in the 4th and 5th innings.  Jose Mesa took over in the 6th allowing two hits but striking out the side.  The final 3 innings were an adventure as the Phils were lucky to escape by being touched for a single run as lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero gave up a leadoff single in the 8th and J.D. Durbin replaced him and was greeted with an RBI double by centerfielder Andrew Jones for the Braves final run.  

Durbin then got himself in heap big trouble in the 9th walking the bases load with no outs.  But he was saved by 1st baseman Mark Texiera’s bunt which led to a catcher’s double-play and got the final out groundout to 2nd base.

Reliever Ron Mahay, who retired the side in the 5th inning after replacing Comier, was credited with the win.  Closer Bob Wickman, who pitched the 9th inning, recorded the save.

For the scores, boxscores on these and all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.

In Sunday’s finale, a must game for the Phillies, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer faces Buddy Carlyle.

For the scores, boxscores on all of Sunday’s games, click here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 12th, 2007 at 7:03 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
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