Phillies Swept on 3rd Straight Shutout by Mets
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Lefthander Cole Hamels looked again like vintage 2008 on Thursday but the moribund Phillies offense continued in shut-down mode despite 5 walks by Mets starter Mike Pelfrey. Shortstop and leadoff hitter Jose Reyes went 3 for 4 including a seventh inning 2 run double and leftfielder Jason Bay followed Reyes’ first inning leadoff single with a 1 out RBI double as the Phillies suffered through a 3-0 loss, a humiliating 0 for 27 straight inning shutout sweep by the Mets.
With the Phils’ 5th straight loss, 4 by shutout, the 2nd place Atlanta Braves crept to within 1 1/2 games of the NL East division leaders by beating Florida. The Mets crept into 3rd place, 2 games back, with the win. The Marlins dropped into a 4th place tie with Washington at 3 games back. The Nationals lost their game to San Francisco.
The Phillies losing streak is now at 5 games, 4 of those losses being shutouts as the previously potent offense has gone comatose. The sweep marked the first time since 1983 that Philadelphia was blanked three days in a row. Centerfielder an leadoff hitter Shane Victorino went 3 for 4 with leftfielder Raul Ibanez collecting the only other hit off of Pelfrey, who was not exactly a pillar of control issuing 5 walks. The Phils were wiped out 3 times on doubleplays, but still left 5 runners stranded and didn’t come through with 9 runners on base in another humiliating display of offensive underproduction and ineptness.
We could talk about the feat of the Met’s pitching staff holding the powerful Phillies off of the scoreboard for 3 straight games — a knuckle-baller, an odd delivery and Pelfrey’s sinker — that they mercifully missed facing Johan Santana. We could even talk about the perils of a long rain delay, which seemed not to bother either Pelfrey or Hamels.
The bottom-line, come what may after Charlie’s Wednesday team close-door, seems to be that when the offense is on a roll, on all cylinders — in a zone, they are torrid. When they are not, it seems that they are horrid and there seems to be little in-between in that area called “consistency.” They need shortstop, leadoff man and table-setter Jimmy Rollins back — badly. They need to cut down their strikeouts which are again mounting; 2nd baseman Chase Utley with 28 in 44 games, 1st baseman Ryan Howard with 49 in 46 games and rightfielder Jayson Werth with 43 in 46 games and they need to make consistent, solid contact with the ball. It’s as simple as that.
Click here for AP sports writer Ben Walker’s game recap for Yahoo, I haven’t got the stomach to continue on this one — this losing string is indeed ugly.
To view the scores of all of Thursday’s MLB games, click here.
It’s on to Florida where the Phils play a 3 game weekend set with the Marlins. Kyle Kendrick goes for the Phils in Friday’s series opener against Chris Volstad for the Marlins. On Saturday, ace Roy Halladay hopes to regain his groove after 2 straight losses. The Doc is opposed by Josh Johnson who has given up but 7 runs in his past 35 innings spanning over his last 6 starts, winning 4 of them.
To view all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
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