Phils let their least-favorite Fish off the hook

MIAMI - It would have been doubly satisfying: beat the Marlins to move over .500; beat Marlins starter Scott Olsen, whom the Phillies despise.

One wind-aided fly ball, and neither came to pass.

Miguel Cabrera reached out and pulled a Cole Hamels changeup to left-centerfield. Centerfielder Aaron Rowand didn't expect it to carry as far as it did.

Rowand angled in, then adjusted, but he still missed it, he said, by 6 inches. Cabrera legged out a triple, then scored when Chase Utley's wild relay throw went into the Phillies' dugout.

That was the second of four runs the Marlins scored in the sixth inning of their 5-3 win, one especially painful for the Phils.

They failed to crest .500 for the fourth time.

They failed to beat Olsen, a talented hothead whose disparaging remarks at the end of September, combined with his hitting of Abraham Nuñez earlier in the month serve to make him a target of ire in the Phillies' clubhouse.

Olsen last year said, "I hate the Phillies," when they visited late last year, preparing for a possible playoff-clinching celebration. He reiterated his opinion this year.

Then, Olsen got irate with Utley in the third inning last night. Utley wanted to make him pay.

"When there's a guy that doesn't necessarily respect everyone, it adds fuel to the fire," Utley said.

"You're playing against a pitcher who's not on everybody's good side for our team," said Hamels, who failed in his quest to be National League's first seven-game winner. "You want to win. Especially against him."

They didn't.

They wasted Jayson Werth's two homers. Battling wrist issues for 2 years, Werth hit a solo shot in the first that was his first homer since Aug. 29, 2005. His two-run in the third drove in Hamels, who led off with a double.

It also served to rile Olsen.

With two out in the third, facing an 0-2 count, Utley stepped into the box, looked up - and saw Olsen already in his windup. Not wanting to be quick-pitched, Utley asked plate umpire Alfonso Marquez for timeout, and got it.

Olsen nevertheless fired a sizzler over Utley's head.

"As a batter, you want to be ready. I wasn't ready," Utley said. "Most pitchers understand that." Utley struck out in that at-bat.

However, when Olsen walked Utley in the sixth, Olsen petulantly motioned with his glove toward Utley, as if to say, "Go ahead, take the base, whatever, big deal."

"He definitely didn't look happy. I don't know what his deal was," said Utley, who simply looked at Olsen, bemused.

Pat Burrell, the next batter, took a couple of steps toward Olsen, who immediately was lectured by umpire crew chief Rick Reed.

Nothing came of it.

In fact, the fireworks started in the bottom of the inning.

Trailing, 3-1, the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez led off with a double. Cabrera followed with the triple - a shot that Rowand could not believe went as far as it did.

"[Bleep]," Rowand began. "It just kept going."

Rowand said he knew that the ball was carrying, that he saw the outside pitch come off the end of Cabrera's bat.

"I should have taken a deeper route. I misjudged it," Rowand said. "I feel it was my fault we lost this game."

Perhaps.

If Rowand made that catch, Josh Willingham's double would have scored Ramirez, but Willingham might have been stranded when Hamels struck out the next two batters, and maybe the inning ends 3-2. Instead, pinch-hitter Jason Wood doubled in two more runs after Hamels' strikeouts.

Hamels is willing to share the burden with Rowand.

"He's a great teammate," Hamels said. "I didn't get the pitches down. Leaving that pitch up . . . letting Cabrera hit it . . . It's unfortunate it was misplayed. I can't let him take all the [blame] for that."

The Phillies managed only four hits off Olsen (4-3), then got one more off three Marlins relievers, including Kevin Gregg, who collected his fourth save.

Hamels (6-2) struck out eight to move his total to 78. He entered the night one behind league leader Jake Peavy, who started for the Padres last night.

Heading into the sixth with a two-run lead and the young ace on the mound, Hamels and his teammates felt pretty good.

The way Hamels sees it, a strikeout of Ramirez or Cabrera and Rowand is off the hook, the Phillies are over .500 and Olsen is miserable.

Not necessarily in that order. *