Worley, Hamels Lead Phillies Past Giants for Eighth, Ninth Straight Wins
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The lines on Worley and Hamels speak for themselves — Fantastic! But it’s guys like John Mayberry Jr. (4 for 11 with 3 homers and 5 RBIs in the last 4 games he was a part of), who started on Friday at 1st base (giving Ryan Howard some rest), who have carried hot bats through the big win streak. Mayberry and centerfielder Shane Victorino both homered on Friday amidst the Phils’ fourth inning onslaught of Jonathan Sanchez. The Phils added a run in the fifth and 3 more in the sixth before Pence put the icing on the cake with his 2nd homer as a Phil. 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval, the only hot bat the Giants have, gave them a short-lived first inning lead with a sacrifice fly RBI to centerfield. Catcher Eli Whiteside solo homered in the fifth for the Giants’ only other run in the one-sided Phillies rout.
Friday’s game got heated in the sixth when the Giants took issue with shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ stealing 2nd base, after singling in 2 runs off of Ramirez with 2 outs, with the Phils holding an 8-2 lead. The result was that after 3rd baseman Placido Polanco singled, Ramirez hit Victorino with a pitch. Ramirez, Victorino and Whiteside were all tossed as Mayberry Jr. was switched into centerfield, replacing Victorino and Howard, who pinch-ran (What??!!??) for Victorino came on to finish the game at 1st base.
Relievers Michael Stutes and David Herndon replaced Worley and tossed one inning each shutting down the Giants. AP’s game recap for Yahoo sports provides more notes on Friday’s game.
Saturday’s AP game recap provides these notes on Hamels’ 2nd complete game of the season:
Hamels made a pair of first-inning runs hold up as the Phillies, with the best record in the majors, defeated the Giants for the third straight day.
Two days after Lee threw a shutout, Hamels (13-6) blanked the Giants until Pablo Sandoval’s two-out home run in the ninth inning. Hamels struck out five and faced five batters more than the minimum while dominating the defending World Series champs.
Hamels had only one victory in his previous four starts and lost to San Francisco 2-1 on July 27 despite pitching into the eighth inning and allowing only two runs and six hits.
He was even stronger in the rematch and got better results.
“I was one out away from a shutout,” Hamels said with a grin. “Cliff just got one. We’re all trying to compete against each other.”
Hamels, who hadn’t won since July 22, faced the minimum through three innings, then gave up back-to-back singles in the fourth. He quickly worked out of the jam, striking out Carlos Beltran on three pitches before Sandoval grounded into a 4-6-3 double play in the first pitch.
San Francisco didn’t get another runner until the seventh, and had two on with two outs in the eighth but failed to score each time.
All but three of the 27 outs recorded by the All-Star left-hander were made by the infield. Philadelphia also backed Hamels with two double plays in a game that took 2 hours, 14 minutes.
Jimmy Rollins doubled high off the wall in right-center leading off the game, and after Chase Utley drew a one-out walk and Howard struck out, Hunter Pence hit a bloop single to right to drive in Rollins.
Utley tried to take third on the play and appeared to be out following a strong throw by Nate Schierholtz, but Sandoval bobbled the ball, allowing Utley to reach safely. Three pitches later he scored on a passed ball to make it 2-0.
For all of Friday’s and Saturday’s scores and recaps, click here and here.
The Phillies hope for a four game sweep of the Giants as Roy Oswalt returns to the active roster and makes his first start after a 5 week stint on the disabled list with back woes. He is opposed by Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum. Next stop after San Francisco is Los Angeles where the Phils play 3 games with the Dodgers before getting their first day off in 20 games on Thursday.
For all of Sunday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.
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