Posted on Fri, Aug. 8, 2008
ONE OF THE more fascinating and beguiling aspects of Cole Hamels' rise from hot-shot prospect to staff ace has been the fact that his run support seems to have decreased inversely. When he was a mid-year callup in 2006, the Phillies gave him an average of 5.78 runs per nine innings. Last year, when he won 15 games for the first time as a major leaguer, they averaged 5.32 runs.
And this year, thanks in part to a frustrating 3-0 loss to the Marlins yesterday in which they managed just four hits, the Phillies have averaged just 4.75.
But what to do about it?
"If you can figure it out," said manager Charlie Manuel, whose team has now lost three straight series – and a game in the National League standings – to the Marlins, "please come and tell me."
At this time of year, the term "big game" can get redundant, but the Phillies certainly would have liked to use this series against the second-place Marlins to extend the momentum they enjoyed when they entered as winners of seven of their last eight.
Instead, they dropped the series after being shut out for the seventh time this season yesterday, even though their ace gave them a strong outing. Though Hamels wasn't dominant - he got a big assist from reliever Ryan Madson, who worked out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the seventh caused in part by a throwing error by first baseman Ryan Howard - he pitched more than well enough to win.
Hamels scattered seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven while walking one.
Yet the Phillies lost, and Hamels' record fell to 9-8, even as his ERA improved to 3.35.
For the eighth time this season, Hamels picked up a loss or a no decision in an outing in which he allowed three runs or less.
"Of course we feel bad," said centerfielder Shane Victorino, who had one of the Phillies' four hits. "You want him to be 20-0, but there's nothing that we can do . . . It's definitely frustrating sometimes not being able to hit behind him . . . but it's part of the game. It's not like we're going out there not trying to hit and not trying to score runs. It just happens to be working out that way right now."
"Going out there I think with what's occurred, I tend to put a little more pressure on myself just knowing that every run I give up really does mean something," Hamels said. "You just have to minimize the damage. There have been times when I haven't been able to, and there have been times I have. Unfortunately I guess it hasn't showed much where it really counts, in wins and losses."
To be fair, there have been games when the Phillies' offense has picked Hamels up. On July 26 against the Braves, he allowed nine runs in 3 2/3 innings of a game the Phils eventually won, 10-9. And in a late-May game against Houston, the offense bailed him out after he allowed six runs in four innings against the Astros (the Phillies ultimately won, 15-6).
But yesterday wasn't one of those outings.
The Phillies were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, putting men on base in every inning except the fourth. On three occasions, the Phillies put a leadoff runner on base, but each time the runner never reached third.
Trailing 3-0 in the eighth inning, Victorino led off with a double to leftfield. But Chase Utley flew out to left, Howard grounded out, and, after a walk to Pat Burrell, Geoff Jenkins grounded out to first to end the inning.
"You just have to hit when it counts, and that's when you have a runner on," said shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who is hitting .319 with runners in scoring position, but had no such at-bats yesterday. "That's where you have to improve. Don't get me wrong, you have to hit to get on, but you definitely have to be a much better hitter with runners on in order to be a good offensive team. Anaheim, for example - nobody is having career years, but they get runners on and they just rake. That's where they do their damage, with runners on."
The silver lining, as it has been for much of the season, is that the Phillies are still a game-and-a-half ahead of the Marlins and two games ahead of the Mets in the National League East. They are 62-52, and hopeful that a weekend series against a struggling Pirates team will help launch another offensive run.
"We're inconsistent but at the same time we're still in first place," Manuel said. "And to me, we're still two games [ahead] in the loss column, and that's what counts. What can we do about it? We come out tomorrow and win tomorrow's game." *
For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.
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