Hamels, 3 Homers Lead Phillies Past Braves
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Phillies lefthander Cole Hamels was impressive against Atlanta in winning his 1st game of 2009 after being hobbled by minor elbow problems during spring training, being hit in the back of his left ahoulder by a batted ball and then turning his ankle one start later. The offense put enough runs on the board against Braves starter Jo-Jo Reyes for Hamels and the Phillies to beat the Braves by a 10-6 score on Friday.
With the Phillies, Mets and Florida Marlins all winning, the Phils maintained their NL East first place lead over the Mets and Marlins. And in the Dodger’s watch post Manny Ramirez suspension, the Dodgers lost their 2nd straight losing on Friday by a 3-1 score to the San Francisco Giants.
AP sports writer Rob Maaddi recapped Hamels performance and the game for Yahoo Sports:
The ace lefty looked like his old self against the Braves, mixing a sharp fastball with his trademark changeup. Hamels retired the first 11 batters before Chipper Jones reached on an infield single in the fourth.
“I really wanted to go somewhat deep in the game,” said Hamels, who lowered his ERA to 6.17.
The Phillies scored four unearned runs on just one hit off Reyes in the second, taking advantage of a pair of errors. Pedro Feliz reached safely when shortstop Yunel Escobar booted his two-out grounder, putting runners at first and second. After [Chris] Coste walked to load the bases, Hamels hit a slow roller that Reyes fielded near the first-base line. But Reyes’ throw sailed into right field, allowing two runs to score.
“He didn’t cover up an error,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said of Reyes. “You’ve got to be able to cover a mistake.”
Jimmy Rollins followed with a two-run double to center for a 4-0 lead. [Jayson] Werth ripped a two-run shot after Ryan Howard hit a ground-rule double to make it 6-0 in the third.
Coste’s solo homer [in the fourth] made it 7-2. [Chase] Utley, who struck out swinging his first two at-bats, drove one into the second deck in right field his next time up [in the fifth inning] for his ninth homer.
After 3rd baseman Chipper Jones broke Hamels’ consecutive out string with a 2 out single in the fourth inning, another single and a double loaded the bases for the Braves. Catcher Brian McCann followed with a 2 run single to get the Braves on the board.
Hamels then retired the next 5 Braves in order before he walked shortstop Escobar and 3rd baseman Chipper Jones with 1 out in the sixth. But Hamels was able to get the next 2 Braves to ground out to end the inning and left the game with an 8-2 lead. Hamels’ line for his 6 inning outing was 95 pitches, 2 runs on 3 hits while walking 2, striking out 7 and keeping the ball in the park.
Lefthanded reliever Jack Taschner retired the Braves with little difficulty in the seventh inning. But 2nd baseman Omar Infante posted the Braves 3rd run in the eighth inning wih a leadoff homer off of reliever Clay Condrey to narrow the lead slightly to 8-3 Phillies.
The Phils came back in their eighth inning with 1 out scoring 2 runs
off of reliever Jeff Bennett on an RBI double by 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz and an RBI single by pinch hitter Greg Dobbs. Good thing too, because closer Brad Lidge got in trouble in the ninth and gave up a none out 3 run homer by 1st baseman Casey Kotchman before retiring the next 3 Braves, 2 of them on strikes, to end the game.
8 of the Phillies 10 runs scored against losing Reyes whose line was 5 innings, 8 runs, 4 of them earned, on 5 hits while walking 2, stiking out 6 and giving up 3 homers.
By the way, centerfielder Shane Victorino’s hitting streak came to and end at 16 games. The “Flyin’ Hawaiian” went 0-5 on Friday.
For all of the results of Friday’s games, click here.
On Saturday, Joe Blanton hopes to carry the momentum of his excellent outing against the Cardinals on against the Braves. He is opposed by Javier Vazquez.
In Sunday’s series final, Brett Myers tries to find the acceleration and placement that marked his 2008 second half. He is opposed by 33 year old rookie Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami.
For all of Saturday’s and Sunday’s games, click here and here.
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