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Hamels, Phillies fall to Nationals

WASHINGTON - With a surplus of players on his roster following September call-ups and his best starting pitcher on the mound, Ryne Sandberg opted to rest a few of his regulars and put his best defense on the field Sunday.

Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels. (Alex Brandon/AP)
Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels. (Alex Brandon/AP)Read more

WASHINGTON - With a surplus of players on his roster following September call-ups and his best starting pitcher on the mound, Ryne Sandberg opted to rest a few of his regulars and put his best defense on the field yesterday. And, as he said afterward, a better lineup to take on lefthander Gio Gonzalez, too.

Darin Ruf started for Ryan Howard at first. Freddy Galvis played second base in place of Chase Utley. In the outfield, Tony Gwynn Jr. started in center and Grady Sizemore was in left.

The blueprint worked behind a less-than-dominant Cole Hamels. Sizemore and third baseman Maikel Franco were particularly strong behind the pitcher.

But Matt Williams' game plan worked out, too. Per usual, he slotted little-used reserve Scott Hairston into his lineup against Hamels.

Six days removed from his combined no-hitter, Hamels gave up his share of hard-hit balls, two that resulted in athletic, running catches by Sizemore at the wall.

But on the latter one, a Hairston sacrifice fly, Ian Desmond scampered home from third base to give the Nationals their first lead of the game, a lead they would hold onto en route to a 3-2 win over the Phillies.

"Cole wasn't as sharp with his command, and just controlling the ball," Sandberg said. "A couple of pitches over the plate . . . The balk kind of came into play, getting the runner over to third base. Questionable. Questionable call."

The balk came after Desmond began the sixth-inning rally with a one-out double, his second in three at-bats against Hamels. It was the first time Hamels had been charged with a balk since 2012, and just his sixth balk in 271 career games spanning nine seasons.

"When I spin, my cleat sometimes gets caught and causes a little jump," Hamels said. "I'll keep doing it, and if they keep calling it then I guess I have a problem. That was the first time. I've been doing the same move ever since I got to the big leagues. It happens. If I did it, I did it . . . It's unfortunate because the run scored."

The loss prevented the Phillies from pulling out their second three-game sweep over first-place Washington in the last 2 weeks. Beginning on the last homestand, the Phils entered yesterday having won nine of their last 12 games, prompting the media relations department to point out the team was 7 1/2 games out of the National League wild-card race with 21 games remaining, not dissimilar to the seven-game deficit with 17 to play in 2007, other than jumping over seven other teams, too.

A three-city road trip that saw the Phillies take five of nine games from divisional opponents, sending some in the traveling party into a case of Wild-Card Fever, ended with a loss and the reality that the 2014 season, like the two that have preceded it, very likely will not be a winning one.

Following yesterday's loss, the Phillies (66-76) are 14 1/2 games behind Washington and . . . and, well let's not even update the wild-card race since the Phillies haven't been able to escape the basement of their own division during their plucky 2-week run.

"It was fun," Hamels said. "We played two teams [Washington, Atlanta] battling for the postseason, so they are playing their hearts out. To pitch against the Nationals, especially with how hot they were on their last road trip, it probably was the toughest game I've had in a long time."

Hamels, who threw six innings (and 108 pitches) of the Labor Day no-hitter with teammates Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon, retired the Nationals in order in the first. But in the second, any thoughts of repeating the feat faded away when Adam LaRoche launched the first pitch he saw into the Washington bullpen.

Two innings later, LaRoche again led off with a game-tying solo home run.

"He's swinging a hot bat," Sandberg said of LaRoche, who has four home runs in his last four games and 10 in the last month.

LaRoche hit more home runs off Hamels in three at-bats yesterday (two) than the Phillies lefthander had allowed to fellow lefthanders in 123 at-bats over 25 games (one) all season entering the day.

With that in mind, the Nationals sat Bryce Harper in favor of the righthanded-hitting Hairston. Hairston has made just 11 starts this season; four of his last six have come when Hamels has been on the mound.

"I guess I'll be happy the day he retires," Hamels said.

Hairston entered the day hitting .391 (18-for-46, five home runs, five doubles) off Hamels in 50 plate appearances in their respective careers.

"I don't know - I really can't tell you," Hairston said of his success off Hamels. "I see the ball pretty good against him. He has great stuff. He is pitching at I think a 2.6-clip ERA, last I checked. I think this is the best I have ever seen him this year . . . He kept his changeup down for the most part, and the fastball I think got up to 96 [mph] today. When he has his velocity and his changeup to go with it, as well as a cutter . . . He has two types of cutters, one thrown like a slider and one that has a sharp cut to it. When he is doing all that he is pretty tough to hit. But thank goodness we had Adam LaRoche in the lineup."

Hairston didn't collect another hit off Hamels, despite sending two balls to the warning track. Instead, he settled for a game-winning sacrifice fly. "I got lucky with Hairston not hitting a homer," Hamels said, "because I know that would've been 85 rows deep at our field."