Hamels Remains Luckless, Winless
Cole Hamels can't catch a break. Phillies hitters can't get a big hit. That's a bad combination.
Hamels Remains Luckless, Winless
Todd Zolecki
Cole Hamels should stay away from AC and Vegas until further notice.
His luck is terrible right now.
He allowed five hits, two runs and two walks in last night's 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. He left with a lead, but Chad Durbin allowed a run in the eighth to tie the game and J.C. Romero allowed the game-winning run to score in the ninth. Hamels is winless since July 3, when he allowed a run in 8 2/3 innings against the Braves in Atlanta. Since then he is 0-3 with a 3.60 ERA in seven starts.
Feel like tearing your hair out, Cole?
"No," Hamels said. "I think that was probably about three weeks ago. I think I've learned to overcome. I can't affect that sort of outcome. All I know is that I can go out there and throw one pitch at a time. Wherever they hit it, so be it. Just try to limit the runs. I felt I definitely did a good job of it. I had the tough sixth inning. I had to bear down and I wasn't able to get Manny out."
The Dodgers had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth, when Manny Ramirez, who has been a huge hit in LA since he joined the Dodgers, singled to center to score a run. Hamels threw his first four pitches inside then worked him away before Ramirez took the sixth pitch of the at-bat to center field.
"I think when I was in Philly I was able to get him," Hamels said. "I wasn't able to get my foot down in time where I was able to get that control I needed. I couldn't get that last pitch in there where I wanted it."
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Romero on the pitch that Andre Ethier hit to left field to score the winning run in the ninth: "In different circumstances he would have rolled over on it. He stayed through it and hit a jam shot over the shortstop. What am I going to do? Sometimes you need a little luck."
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But while it might be easy to pick apart the eighth and ninth innings, the Phillies had just one hit after the third inning. It seems like that's been happening a lot over the last two months.
Especially to Hamels. He has been a victim of poor run support throughout the season. He entered last night ranked 51st out of 60 pitchers in the National League in run support, receiving just 4.27 runs per game. The Phillies have been shutout three times when Hamels has been on the mound: a 1-0 loss to the Washington Nationals on April 2, a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on July 8 and a 3-0 loss to the Florida Marlins last Thursday.
"It all evens out," Pat Burrell said. "If he keeps pitching the way he's doing we're going to score some runs. It's unfortunate because he's had tough luck."
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In the Phillies Notebook: Tom Gordon, Brad Lidge, Pedro Feliz and more.
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Immediately got a few e-mails from fans about So Taguchi being in left field instead of Burrell. Taguchi's throw to the plate arrived late. Understand the frustration, but we're really not going to blame the loss on Taguchi's arm are we? Again, the Phillies had one hit after the third inning.
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Chase Utley hit his 30th homer of the season in the first inning. He became the sixth player in franchise history to have 30 doubles and 30 homers in the same season at least twice. He joined Chuck Klein (four times), Mike Schmidt (three times), Greg Luzinski (three times), Del Ennis (twice) and Bobby Abreu (twice).
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Shane Victorino doesn't think his lower back stiffness is serious. Read the previous post for what he had to say.
TODD...I have to agree with Rockinrob, Godouble, and Gary. Taking Burrell out was the wrong move...AGAIN. First of all, as previously mentioned above, with Victorino out we were already down an outfielder. Second, substituting for Burrell has not worked in our favor at any time this entire year that I can recall. There have been several times where the other team has come back to either tie the game or take the lead and we've been caught wishing Burrell's bat was still in the lineup. Last night we wished his arm was still in the field. You are right, we can't put all the blame for last night's loss on Taguchi, but we can put a good chunk of it on Manuel. Last night is not the first time Manuel has gotten burned by substituting for Burrell. I understand why he wants to do it BUT you cannot continually make the same decision over and over again when it continues to not go in our favor. Manuel can't get caught up in "playing the percentages" or managing "by the book" in this case when it rarely, if ever, works out for us. Eventually, he's got to come around to managing based on what is actually happening on the field. By now, Manuel should certainly be well aware that we are struggling to score runs. As a result, I would expect him to be maximizing our chances to put runs on the board. That means Burrell over Bruntlett and Taguchi. It also means Dobbs over Bruntlett at 3b. Our "high powered" offense is not affording us the luxury of subbing defense for offense. On the contrary, we need to pretty much sell out for offense and take our chances on the defensive end.— bski- You can blame the relievers, but the offense only scored three runs. Victorino, leading off, was 0 for 4 with two stikeouts. The team had six hits and was scoreless during the last six innings. They can't get people on base, and if they do, they can't drive them in. This is the root of the problem.— JayW
bski: Great minds...— bobby- Over on Dave's blog there is a discussion about Sheffield being on waivers. Even at 14 million a great pick up over Junkins, and then Werth can be the late inning replacement for Pat (if the idiot managing the team insists on taking him out) ANy thoguhts?— jeff gross
- Bobby...Back at you.— bski
- Jeff...Sheffield is a bit to cancerous for me. One major potential problem is that he wants to play every day. The thing is should we commit to having him play every day, because that's what we would be doing. If we bring him here and he is not playing every day for whatever reason, we are asking for a boatload of trouble.— bski
- From what I understood, he was unhappy being a DH. Perhaps he would be willing to play acording to his performance. If he gets hot, he' plays all teh time, if not, he plays part time. Worth checking out though. Anything to get rid of Sowhat and Junkins— jeff gross
- Geoff Jenkins was a horrendous addition. He hasn't hit for average in years, and he adds K's to an already K ridden line-up, but hey, he was on-sale. Nice work Gillick!!!— ematusko
- This line-up needs a "contact" hitter. 11K's last night?? Against a 12 year-old Pitcher? This roster will need a shake-up at the end of the season-too many Hackers in this line-up.— Casey
- Why do they keep Ryan Howard in the clean up spot against lefthanded pitching when he is hitting .186 against lefties and has struck out 88 times in 188 at bats against them. He render the offense all but impotent against lefthanded pitchers. The Burrell defensive move has become a cruel joke that is ruining the season. After Burrell has been pulled we have seen from his replacements drop balls by Taguchi and Bohn, to a trip up by Werth and now last night the noodle arm throw by Taguchi that actually may have cost them a game. What was ironic Burrell is tied in the league in outfield assists in throwing out runners. Only last night early in the game did he committed his first error of the season on a bobbled ball in left. All we can do with Charlie is wonder how two major league organizations actually hired this guy to manage MLB teams!— Dull
- I used to think Utley, Rollins, and Victorino were contact hitters who were balanced nicely by the power guys, Howard and Burrell. What happened?— bobby
- Jeff...You are right that Sheffield does not want to DH. However, he DOES want to play every day. He has said as much himself. As far as him being an every day player, look at this quote from espn.com: "Leyland put Sheffield in left field three months ago when Jacque Jones was cut. Sheffield played left field for six games during May 5-16 with poor results because his right shoulder was not 100 percent after having offseason surgery." Now, check out these quotes from Leyland: "I tried to play him in the outfield. It didn't work," Leyland said. "He couldn't throw in from the outfield." and Dombrowski: "If he's found out he doesn't like it(DH), well, that's the only role we have for him at this time," Dombrowski said. "He has not shown from a health perspective that he's been able to play every day in the outfield. He just has to perform the task that's asked of him.".....That doesn't sound like a guy I want as an every day starting outfielder, let alone even having him on my team.— bski
- bski: At this point in time, with this offence (and I use the term with great reluctance) we need to shake things up. can his arm be worse then Sowhat's? we need to do something soon to stay in this race, even if we are leading at the momment— jeff gross
This team is physically and mentally burnt out, thanks to Gillick and Charley. The bullpen pitchers are overused and now spent with more than a month to go thanks to Charley overusing them in short stints. Since there is no bench on this team thanks to Gillick, the regulars play every day, as Charlie has no other options. Baseball's current iron man is Ryan Howard of all people. When will his knees give out? Ever notice how the Marlins put a different lineup out there just about every game? A day off once in awhile helps keep a player fresh, which could be the ultimate difference in the end between us and them.— RAS- Someday will all sit down and tell the story about a left fielder, his name was Greg Luzinski, rather portly young fellow. slow a foot. Another yong man in the story, Jerry Martin. very good glove and outfielder,fleet-footed. And the bad guy in the story was a old old mgr Danny Ozark. So children go ask your gran-pops and elders to finnish the story. Then you might understand why Charlie takes Burrell out for defensive purposes... We must learn from history or we are doomed to repeat it....— pat h
