Hamels Brilliant, But Phillies Bats Snooze, Lose to Nationals
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After a mediocre spring, Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels was ON in his regular season debut, pitching one of the finest games of his young career on Wednesday in Citizen’s Bank Park against the Washington Nationals. He pitched 8 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 6 and issuing 2 harmless walks.
But with the Phillies offense in three-sheets-to-the-wind mode and backed by Ryan Zimmerman’s sixth ining solo homer, his 2nd in 3 games, Nationals starter and winning pitcher Tim Redding was a tad better than Hamels. Redding pitched seven shutout innings and combined with relievers Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch to toss a 1-0 one hitter at the Phillies in a classic pitching duel reminiscent of the great duels of the 1950s and 1960s where names like Roberts, Newcombe, Spahn, Drysdale or Koufax come to mind.
The Phils’ lone hit was a 2 out, second inning single by 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz. Redding walked 3 and struck out 2 tossing 93 pitches in 7 innings, only 54 were for strikes. Hamels tossed 103 pitches in eight innings in a losing cause, 71 were for strikes.
I harken back to the Phillies’ recent late spring doldrums and to the poster on the wall in manager Charlie Manuel’s office “It’s not a light bulb. You can’t turn it on and off.” The offense needs awakening and must exploit performances like Hamels’ on Wednesday. A repeat of last season’s 4-11 start would be disastrous. It is not every year that a team charges back from 7 games down in the last 12 games of the season. And looking at the recent Phils’ finishes prior to last season, it’s evident that poor Aprils resulted in numerous season-ending near misses.
The Mets, by contrast were big-time hitterish on Wednesday pounding the Florida Marlins by a 13-0 score as lefthander Oliver Perez and the bullpen combined to hold the Marlins scoreless on but 6 hits.
Inquirer staff writer Todd Zolecki reports commentary from Hamels and shortstop Jimmy Rollins on the game and on Zimmerman’s solo shot;
“I think if I can keep doing that, I definitely think our team will win a lot of ball games this year,” Hamels said. “Giving up one run, we’re going to win the game 99 percent of the time.”
It marked the first time the Phillies had been one-hit since July 2, 2003, in a 1-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
The Phils never had a runner reach second base, a rarity for a team that led the National League in scoring the last two seasons.
“That’s the only thing that frustrates me about tonight,” shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. “You know you’re going to win some, you know you’re to going to lose some. But to get a performance like that from Cole where he only gives up one run and you can’t find a way to score, it’s definitely a wasted effort.”
Hamels made one bad pitch: a 1-2 fastball to Ryan Zimmerman in the top of the sixth inning.
Hamels wanted to get the ball up in the strike zone. He did not get it up enough. Zimmerman hit the pitch into the second row of seats just inside the right-field foul pole to score the only run.
“I was trying to go away and he was chasing pitches up, so I was trying to go up,” Hamels said. “It was out of the strike zone, but with the type of power he has, he’s capable of hitting them over the fence.”
In the ninth inning, Chad Durbin and lefthander J.C. Romero combined to close out the Nationals. Nationals’ closer Rauch notched a save.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps of Wednesday’s games, click here.
On Thursday, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer faces Jason Bergmann for the Nationals as the Phillies hope to avert a Nationals sweep of the season’s first 3 games.
On Friday, the Phils are entertained by the Cincinnati Reds for a 4 game series trough Monday with young Kyle Kendrick opposed by Josh Fogg for the Reds in Friday’s opener.
For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps for Thursday’s and Friday’s games, click here and here.
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