Phillies Blank Nationals, Take Sole Possession of 1st Place in NL East
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The Phillies’ All Star ace lefthander Cole Hamels was magnificent in easily the biggest game of his major league career. lst baseman Ryan Howard pounded his 45th homer, a two run opposite field shot to leftfield, shortstop Jimmy Rollins drove in two runs, 2nd baseman Chase Utley had a two hit day and centerfielder Aaron Rowand made an incredible, sliding, backhanded catch of a sinking liner to centerfield with a man on in the 7th inning as the Phils shut out the Washington Nationals by a 6-0 score in the opener of their series.
The win put the Phillies in sole possession of 1st place in the NL East as the Mets were rocked again, this time by the Florida Marlins by a 7-4 score as Mets lefthander Oliver Perez was manhandled for 6 runs on 6 hits in 3 2/3 innings in the opener of their 3 game regular season-ending series.
The Mets also now trail the San Diego Padres by two games in the NL wild card race with two games remaining. The Padres defeated the Milwaukee Brewers by a 6-3 score.
Although the Phillies and Nationals were scoreless up until the Phillies 5th inning when the “Phightins’” put 3 runs up on the board against losing pitcher Tim Redding on a 2 run single by Jimmy Rollins followed by an RBI double by Chase Utley, the story of this one was Hamels.
The blossoming star lefthander, who sat on the DL for a month with elbow strain, put together an awesome performance for 8 innings in his 3rd start since returning to the active roster. He tossed 116 pitches in 8 innings while striking out 13, walking one and spreading out 6 hits.
AP reporter Rob Maaddi adds more emphasis to the extent of Hamels’ overpowering performance for Yahoo sports;
Hamels (15-5) shut down the Nationals with a combination of an overpowering fastball and a nasty curve mixed in with his trademark changeup.
Hamels survived one jam, that being in the 3rd inning when the Nationals loaded the bases on 3 singles with an out sandwiched in between. But Hamels got opposing pitcher Tim Redding to ground into a shortstop to 2nd to 1st doubleplay to evade trouble. The only other possible touchy situation for Hamels was in the 7th inning when he issued his lone walk to lead-off hitter leftfielder Wily Mo Pena. With one out, catcher Jesus Flores lofted a sinking liner to centerfield which was snared in spectacular style by Aaron Rowand who came out of nowhere after a long run with the sliding, backhanded catch.
In the meantime, Hamels also drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder in the 6th inning and Howard drove in two runs in the 7th with his 45th homer. His RBI total stands at 132.
Reliever Clay Condrey closed out the win with a clean 9th inning.
AP’s Maaddi also reports on the Phillies’ magic number and on comments by Phils manager Charlie Manuel;
The Phillies’ magic number to clinch the East is two.
“You don’t have nothing until you have it,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Do we smell it? Of course we smell it, and we want it.”
AP reporter Jay Cohen reports on the Met’s predicament, also for AP sports;
Everything looked rosy for the Amazin’s when they held a seven-game lead on Sept. 12 with 17 games left, but it’s been mostly downhill from there. They’re on the brink now of an unthinkable collapse: No major league team has blown such a big lead in such a short time at the end of a season.
The Mets aren’t exactly in a good position in the wild-card race, either. They are two games behind San Diego and tied with Colorado.
They have two games left against Florida at Shea Stadium but they might be better off on the road. The Mets are in the midst of their longest losing streak at Shea since they dropped nine in a row in 2004. The Marlins have won seven of their last nine at the Mets’ home.
“It doesn’t feel real good right now but we’ve still got to get a win so we can have a chance,” manager Willie Randolph said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen down the pipe but we have to take care of ourself first.”
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on this all of Friday’s games, click here.
On Saturday, erratic Adam Eaton, whose start was pushed back from Wednesday, is opposed by rookie lefthander Matt Chico. In Sunday’s regular season finale, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer goes for hs 14th win vs Jason Bergmann who held the Phillies to 2 runs, 4 hits in 6 innings in his last start against them.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on all of Saturday’s games, click here.
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