The Phillies could do nothing with lefthander Brandon Webb’s nasty,  “hellacious” sinker.  And when they finally put up some offense for 2 runs in the ninth, it was too little, too late.  The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, broke a 2-1 game wide open, lighting into Brett Myers for a 4 run fourth inning while coasting to an 8-3 win over the Phils for a series split in Thursday’s final.

Webb, undefeated this season, tossed his first complete game of the season and the 13th of career in carrying a 1 run, 3 hitter into the ninth when the Phils finally rallied for 2 runs on 3 hits.  It was his 8th win in eight starts.  Webb, who got 17 of 27 outs on ground balls, struck out 4 and issued no walks.

In losing, the Phillies dropped to a game behind the  NL East leading Florida Marlins and hold 2nd place by only 1/2 game over the Atlanta Braves who both won.   The 4th place Mets, 1 full game behind the Phils, had an open date.

Leadoff hitter centerfielder Shane Victorino opened the game with a single past 1st base and advanced to 2nd base on a ground out.  He took 3rd base on a passed ball and scored on 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s sacrifice fly to centerfield as the Phils took a short-lived 1-0 lead. 

The Phils would have only 4 men reach base against Webb between the second and eighth innings. They would not get another hit off of Webb until shortstop Eric Bruntlett’s 2 out single to centerfield in the sixth, although he was also hit by Webb pitch leading off in the fourth inning.  Catcher Chris Coste singled to left centerfield in the eighth but was quickly rubbed out on  Brad Harman’s doubleplay grounder to 2nd base.  Harman replaced Utley at 2nd base to start the sixth inning.

With a runner on in the D’backs first, centerfielder Chris Young (6 for 18 for the series) went yard to leftfield with one out for his 2nd homer in two games and Arizona led 2-1.

Myers seemed to have things under control in the second and third innings retiring 5 D’backs in a row, including a doubleplay in the second with runners on 1st and 2nd base.

But in the fourth inning, things unraveled on Myers.

MLB.com’s Ken Mandel examined the fourth inning and Myers’ performance;

Lower velocity wasn’t an issue….  According to Myers, it didn’t matter whether the pitches he threw were good or bad.

“I made some good pitches and they hit them. I made some bad pitches they crushed,” said Myers, who allowed six earned runs in five innings. “I didn’t give us an opportunity to be in the game. I can’t put together back-to-back good starts and I don’t know what the problem is. It’s frustrating.”

To isolate the problem, one should refer to the fourth inning that began with walks to Justin Upton and Stephen Drew. Mark Reynolds followed with a broken-bat roller to short, with the bat and ball reaching Eric Bruntlett at the same time. Bruntlett avoided the bat, but couldn’t fire the slow roller fast enough to retire Reynolds.

[Catcher] Chris Snyder doubled hard to left field, driving in two, then another run scored when [1st baseman] Chris Burke lined a single off [3rd baseman] Greg Dobbs’ glove. An error on a feed from Bruntlett set up another run that scored on [2nd baseman] Augie Ojeda’s sacrifice fly.

Chris Young… finally ended the fourth by popping out.

“It’s frustrating,” Myers said. “I just have to keep battling. It’s definitely not fun going out there and feeling really good, then getting beat up. I wouldn’t change anything because I felt like I had good stuff today, I just got hit around.”

Up 6-1, the Diamondbacks added single runs in the fifth inning on 3rd baseman Reynold’s one out RBI single to shallow center, the final run off of Myers, and on rightfielder Upton’s leadoff homer off of reliever Clay Condrey in the seventh.

The Phillies finally strung some hits together in the ninth off of Webb as Victorino led off with a single to rightfield and promptly stole 2nd base.  Bruntlett followed with a single to center scoring the “flyin’ Hawaiian” as both players had 2 hit games.   Carlos Ruiz pinch hit for Condrey and grounded to 3rd base moving Bruntlett to 2nd.   Ryan Howard, hitless in the game til now, singled to rightfield scoring Bruntlett.   But the rally came up far short as Webb got rightfielder Geoff Jenkins to ground into a game-ending doubleplay.

Myers went five innings giving up 7 runs on 9 hits while walking 3, striking out 5 and giving up Young’s 1st inning homer in absorbing his 3rd loss against 2 wins.  Condrey took over in the sixth and finished the game striking out 1, issuing no walks and only allowing Upton’s homer.  

AP Sports Writer Bob Baum notes this about Webb’s start this season for Yahoo sports;

The easygoing Webb (8-0) became the first pitcher to win his first eight starts since Jon Garland of the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and the first in the NL since Pedro Martinez for Montreal in 1997, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

For all of the scores, boxscores and recaps on Thursday’s games, click here.

The Phils travel to San Francisco for a 3 game weekend series with the Giants, and the return of MVP shortstop Jimmy Rollins, followed by an open date on Monday, May 12.  A pair of young lefthanders start in Friday’s opener as ace  lefthander Cole Hamels opposes Patrick Misch.  In Saturday’s game two, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer faces Tim Lincecum and in Sunday’s final,  Adam Eaton opposes young lefthander Jonathan Sanchez.  On Monday, the Phils have an open date before returning home Tuesday for 6 games; 3 against Atlanta and 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays and the beginning of interleague play.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s and Saturday’s  games, click here and here.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

It is a wonderment how a closely fought ballgame can suddenly, inextricably break wide open in what biblical scholars/baseball fans have for generations cited as the “BigInning.”

Just such a game took place on Wednesday between two heretofore hapless AL teams; the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers.

The cellar-dwelling AL West Rangers battled the AL Central 4th place Tigers for five innings with the Tigers holding a narrow 7-6 lead, although Ranger pitchers were being pounded hither and fore with no one pitcher lasting more than 2 1/3 innings through the entire game.

For the Tigers, the dirt-ball specialist, veteran lefthander Kenny “the Gambler” Rogers lasted 3 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs on 9 hits, walking 3 and striking out none.

But lo, the Tigers bullpen allowed but two Rangers to reach base over the last 5 1/3 innings, single base hits in the seventh and eighth innings, while the Detroit offense proceeded to produce utter chaos to the tune of 11 runs off of the two Rangers relief pitchers of the sixth inning; 5 runs on 3 hits off of reliever Jamey Wright and 6 runs on 6 hits off of Wes Littleton. Wright fell victim to a 3 run clout by dh Miguel Cabrera amidst the onslaught.

For good measure, the Tigers added a 19th run in the seventh inning off of Rangers reliever Joaquin Benoit who had difficulty finding the plate, issuing the run on four bases-on-balls.

For more on the Tigers’ sixth inning explosion, click here.

The win went to Tigers’ lefthanded reliever Clay Rapada who held the Rangers at bay in relief of Rogers. The loss was charged to Rangers’ reliever Frank Francisco who coughed up the Tigers’ lead 7th run on a bases loaded walk in the fourth inning.

This was not the only citing of The BigInning in April. Baseball Library cites that nine seasons ago, on April 23, 1999, the St. Louis Cardinals, down 2-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers after two innings, exploded for for 11 runs in the third inning to go on to defeat the Dodgers by a 12-5 score at Dodger Stadium.

According to Baseball Library, quite a few MLB records were set in this game;

3B Fernando Tatis set a major league record by hitting 2 grand slams in a single inning. His 2 homers came in St. Louis’ 11-run 3rd inning. He also sets a record with 8 RBIs in the inning‚ while LA P Chan Ho Park becomes the 1st pitcher this century-and only the 2nd ever-to surrender 2 grand slams in a single frame. Bill Phillips of the Pirates did so in 1890. Park became the 36th major-leaguer to serve up two slams to the same player in his career.

Note: According to the Baseball Almanac, the name of the Pittsburgh team in 1890 was the Alleghenys.

Tatis, by the way, went on to have his only career season in 1999 with 34 HRs, 107 RBIs and a .298 BA, although he played with 4 teams over his 8 season career.

Finally, Baseball Library notes that on April 13, 2003, 5 years ago, the Phillies‚ who were locked in a scoreless tie with the Cincinnati Reds after three innings, exploded to score all 13 of their runs in the 4th inning to trounce the Reds‚ 13-1. Remarkably, there was only one homer in the inning, centerfielder Ricky Ledee’s 2 out, 3 run shot off of reliever Scott Sullivan.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Baseball Library records that on April 18, 1964, in a game with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati pitcher Jim Maloney tossed six innings of no-hit ball before going down with a pulled muscle.  It is not recorded what muscle was pulled although the Library’s bio on Maloney notes that he retired in the early 1970s’;

A damaged Achilles tendon and a shoulder injury shortened his career.

Reliever John Tsitouris came on and held the Dodgers hitless for 2 2/3 innings until rightfielder Frank Howard finally broke up the no-hitter by beating out an infield single.  The Reds won the game 3-0.

However, Maloney’s opposing pitcher, Dodgers’ Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax struck out the side in the third inning of the game on 9 pitches. It was the second time in Koufax’s career that he accomplished the feat, having previously done so on June 30, 1962 when he struck out the first 3 Mets he faced.  Only 2 other pitchers have twice struck out the side on 9 pitches.

One was Lefty Grove who completed the feat twice late in the 1928 season; on August 23 in the second inning and September 27 in the seventh and  Nolan Ryan who did so once in each league; with the Mets on April 19, 1968 in the third and with the Angels on July 18, 1972 in the second.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

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.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Just when Phillies fans started to get a little nervous after another set of shaky pitching performances by lefthander Cole Hamels and second year starter Kyle Kendrick, Brett Myers and young prospect Andrew Carpenter turned the New York Yankees hitters upside down, inside out, round ‘n round combining for a four hit 4-0 shutout.  

With just a four days and a few hours left before opening day,
Myers, who appears primed for a break-out season, closed down the Yankees totally.  He surrendered but two hits and walked two while striking out three in five innings in his final tune-up before his opening day start against the Washington Nationals on March 31.

Then Carpenter came on in the sixth inning and closed the Yanks down, for the remainder of the game, despite a ninth inning threat. 

The AP game recap for Yahoo sports notes;

Myers might have been trumped by a 22-year-old prospect who doesn’t even have a locker in the major league clubhouse.

Andrew Carpenter, who won 17 games at Class-A Clearwater last summer, was added as an extra man before the game and responded by pitching four scoreless innings of relief.

“He did very good. He had good command, he threw a good changeup and he located his fastball very good,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “He pitched with a purpose.”

Carpenter struck out the side in his second inning of work and escaped a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the ninth with a foulout and two strikeouts. He allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out six.

The line of zeros in this game marked unquestionably the finest Phillies’ pitching performance of the spring.

Rightfielder Geoff Jenkins went 3 for 4, leftfielder Pat Burrell went 2 for 3 and shortstop Jimmy Rollins knocked in two runs as all of the Phils’ scoring took place in the second inning off of Yanks’ starter Chien-Ming Wang.  Wang, who was less than sharp in his final spring tune-up, went five innings giving up four runs on six hits. The Yanks’ bullpen then shut down the Phillies through the rest of the game.

The Phillies’ next face the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

For related previous blog posts about Brett Myers, click below;

Phillies: Exhibition Season Update

Lighter Side of Spring Training: Kendrick “Traded” to Japan

Phillies Win NL East With Win Over Nationals, Mets Lose to Florida

Masterful Complete Game for Myers, Utley, Burrell Homer, Phillies Beat Cubs

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

Nine days ago, I wrote about how the the Oakland A’s demolished the San Francisco Giants by a 23-5 score in the most lopsided spring training game that I can recall.

However, 41 years ago on this date, March 16, 1967, the Boston Red Sox scored 10 runs in the 9th inning to come back from a 5 run deficit to beat the hapless New York Mets by a 23-18 score in one of the all-time wildest spring exhibition games on record.

Baseball Library reports;

Boston outhits the Mets 23 to 17 and Jim Lonborg is the eventual winner over Jack Hamilton.

Lonborg went on to post the best season of his career in 1967, a 22-9 mark to lead Boston to the AL pennant.  However Boston, still afflicted with the “curse of the  Bambino”, fell in the World Series to Bob Gibson and the  St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games.  Lonborg went on to have some fine years with the Phillies in 1974, 1976 and 1977 in the same rotation with Lefty  Steve Carlton.

Hamilton, however, was a mediocre at best, journeyman pitcher who began his career with the Phillies in 1962.  There is some debate as to whether Hamilton was actually tagged with the loss.  The above Baseball Library caption indicates that Hamilton apparently was the losing pitcher, while Baseball Almanac indicates that Hamilton was 2-0 with the Mets before going to the then-California Angels where he compiled a 9-6 mark; a combined 11-6 for the season.

While Boston went to the 1967 World Series, the lowly Mets finished dead last in the NL, 40 games behind the Cardinals, despite the 16-13 Rookie of the Year performance by Tom Seaver.  Hall of Fame righthander Seaver would go on to win 311 games over his 20 year career with four teams.

                           Related Blog Post;

               SF Giants Pounded by the Oakland A’s

June 15, 1977; The Day the Mets’ Traded Seaver, The Phillies Acquired Bake McBride

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |