SCORES TWICE AFTER A PUCK TO THE FACE
Cole Hamels served up a two-run homer to Prince Fielder in the eighth to give the Brewers a 5-4 lead. Hamels started the inning with 110 pitches, but was absolutely cruising to that point. Hindsight is always perfect, but with Brad Lidge most likely unavailable because he had pitched four of the previous five days, I'm sure Charlie Manuel wanted Hamels to try to get through Fielder (at least) before bringing in J.C. Romero for the eighth and Tom Gordon for the ninth. I'll get an explanation afterward.
It's funny, anytime Manuel pulls a pitcher after he has thrown just over 100 pitches people complain that he babies them. "It's not like when Robin Roberts or Steve Carlton pitched!" But then he keeps them in and the pitchers blows it, those same people say, "Look at the pitch count! They should have taken him out!"
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I should have put money on it. The Polish sausage went wire-to-wire to win the infamous sausage race. The Polish has won four of 10 races this year. I'm taking him (it? she?) again tomorrow.
Cole Hamels has settled nicely since the first inning. He has allowed two hits and one walk and has struck out eight in the five innings since.
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Pat Burrell stays hot. He hit a solo homer to left in the sixth to hand the Phillies a 4-3 lead. It's quite obvious that Burrell and Chase Utley are in competition to win the Triple Crown, no?
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Greg Dobbs just crushed a 3-1 pitch for a two-run homer to right field in the fifth to make it 3-3.
In an unrelated note, I'm picking the Polish sausage to win the Sausage Race today. But as a Polack, I always take the Polish. Always.
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Cole Hamels hasn't had the best luck at Miller Park (5.40 ERA in two starts here), and that luck continued in the first inning. He allowed a two-run homer to Prince Fielder as the Brewers took an early 3-0 lead. But Chase Utley hit a solo homer to center in the third to make it 3-1. Utley has homered in six of his previous seven games, and leads the majors with 10 homers.
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Here's tonight's lineup against the Milwaukee Brewers: 1) Jayson Werth 2) Greg Dobbs 3) Chase Utley 4) Ryan Howard 5) Pat Burrell 6) Geoff Jenkins 7) Carlos Ruiz 8) Eric Bruntlett 9) Cole Hamels.
Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.
This is Brookover’s second stint writing about the Phillies, having joined the coverage team after seven years as an Eagles beat writer. Brookover was hired by The Inquirer in 2000 as the Phillies beat writer after spending 13 years writing about the team for two suburban newspapers. While on the Eagles beat, Brookover, who had covered just two winning Phillies teams in 15 seasons, saw the Phillies move into a cash-cow new ballpark and begin playing a brand of the game he found unrecognizable. Follow him on Twitter here.
Gelb is in his third season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He has also covered baseball at The Star-Ledger and Cape Cod Times. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.
To submit a question for Matt Gelb's Phillies mailbag, click here.
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