Atlanta’s  Jair Jurrjens flirted with a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Wednesday before Phillies 3rd string catcher Paul Bako broke up the attempt with a 2 out single, 1 of only 2 hits the enemic Phils offense would register for the game.  Meanwhile, after 2 1/3 easy innings, the Braves, spurred by Jurrjens 1 out single, lit into lefthander Cole Hamels for 3 runs in the third inning and another 4 runs in a fifth inning where Hamels retired noone with the Braves scoring 2 more in the inning off of reliever Tyler Walker.  The Braves pummelled the Phillies by an 11-1 score on Jurrjens’ 7 inning 1 hitter.

With this latest ugly debacle and having lost 16 of their last 20 games, the Phils now-tenuous lead in the NL East division shrunk to a mere 1/2 game over the 2nd  Florida Marlins who again beat the hapless Washington Nationals and to 2 games over the 3rd place Mets who beat the  Milwaukeee Brewers by only 1-0.  And as the Phils have skidded into free-fall, those Braves find themselves in the midst of the NL East race at 3 games back.

After retiring 7 of the first 8 Braves he faced through 2 1/3  innings, Hamels fell apart in a heap in the third.  The lefthander who won MVP in the 2008 post-season giving up but 7 runs in 6 division, league and World Series outings gave up 7 runs into a fifth inning where he was pulled having retired none. The Phillies offense was dead-and-buried in this one. For those who are into masochism, the pitch-by-pitch on this bummer can be viewed by clicking here.  But for the rest of us who want quick and speedy closure, Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr offers a quick and concise recap:

Jair Jurrjens, the Braves starting pitcher, started with a soft hit to right field.  Gregor Blanco and Martin Prado did serious damage to the Phillies pitching staff on Tuesday and continued today. Blanco followed Jurrjens with a single and Prado doubled them both in.

Cole Hamels was lifted in fifth inning, but not before  Chipper Jones and Brian McCann each drove in runs. A couple inherited runners scored, finishing off an ugly performance by Hamels.

The only thing worse than Hamels’ performance was the offense. The lone run came without a hit, on a sacrifice fly. It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Phillies recorded their first hit, a single by Paul Bako. Just days after a near no-hitter by the Blue Jays’ Ricky Romero, Jurrjens threw 6.2 hitless innings.

For the scores of all of Wednesday’s games, click here.
 
The Phillies hope to salvage Thursday’s final after Wednesday’s brutal debacle as young lefthander J.A. Happ, who pitched a brilliant 5 hit, complete game shutout of the Toronto Blue Jays in his last start, takes the mound.  He faces Atlanta’s veteran Javier Vazquez.

For all of Thursday’s games, click here.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 2:44 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
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