On October 19, 2010, Matt Cain went seven strong innings against the Phils, backed up by a scoreless eighth from Javier Lopez and a scoreless ninth from Brian Wilson as the Giants topped the Phils 3-0 in game three of the NLCS. It was more of the same last night as San Francisco topped the Phils 2-1 behind more good pitching from Cain, Lopez and Wilson.
Hamels was great in the game for the Phils, pitching into the eighth and holding the Giants to just two runs. Less great was the offense, who managed just one extra-base hit, a double by Martinez, and scored one run, which came with the help of a dropped popup and a bad hop ground ball to first. The top of the order has struggled over the last six games — Rollins and Martinez have combined to go 5-for-48 (.104) with four walks.
Last night the defense wasn’t real good, either. Domonic Brown has produced offensively in recent games, but has been miserable in right. In last night’s game, the Giants led 1-0 in the seventh with runners on first and second and nobody out when Nate Schierholtz lined a ball to right. Brown misplayed it, overrunning it and then diving back the other direction and missing. The ball rolled past him, Schierholtz was given a double and the runner scored from second, giving the Giants their second run of the game on a night they would only need two.
The Phillies are 65-38 on the year after falling to the San Francisco Giants 2-1 last night. The teams have split the first two games of the series.
Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk. Four of the hits went for extra-bases, three doubles and a triple. He struck out six.
He set the Giants down in order in the first.
Aubrey Huff led off the second and put a pretty bunt down the first base line. Hamels ran over, scooped the ball with his glove to Howard and Howard bare-handed the ball for the first out. Fantastic plays by both Hamels and Howard on a very good bunt by Huff. Hamels struck Jeff Keppinger and Cody Ross out behind Huff.
Eli Whiteside singled with one out in the third. The pitcher Matt Cain was next and tried to bunt him to second, but struck out trying for the first out. Aaron Rowand hammered a 1-1 pitch into the right field corner with Whiteside racing around to score and put the Giants up 1-0. Rowand took third as Utley cut Brown’s throw from right and went home and was given a triple. Mike Fontenot grounded to second to leave Rowand at third.
Hamels set San Francisco down in order in the fourth.
With one out in the fifth, Schierholtz hit a ball to first that Howard didn’t handle for an error. Hamels struck Whiteside out behind him for the second out and got Cain to ground to short to end the frame.
Pablo Sandoval singled to left with two outs in the sixth, but Hamels got Huff to fly to center for the third out.
Keppinger doubled to center to start the seventh and Ross walked behind him. Schierholtz was next and lined a ball into right that eluded a diving Brown and rolled past him, scoring Keppinger to make it 2-0 and moving Ross to third. Hamels hit Whiteside and the bases were loaded. The pitcher Cain popped to Utley with the runners holding for the first out. Hamels got Rowand to ground into a double-play to keep the Giants from getting any more.
Brown is a butcher out there. Good job by Hamels — that could have been a whole lot worse after the Giants loaded the bases with nobody out.
It was 2-1 when Hamels started the eighth. He got the first two before Huff doubled to right. Lidge took over for Hamels and Brandon Belt ran for Huff at first. Lidge walked Keppinger on a 3-2 pitch in the dirt, putting men on first and second. He got Ross swinging at a high 2-2 pitch to leave the runners stranded.
Lidge wasn’t throwing real hard and didn’t look real good, but he kept San Francisco off the board.
Bastardo struck out Schierholtz and Whiteside as he set the Giants down in order in the ninth.
Second good outing in a row for Bastardo after getting hit hard by the Padres on Saturday.
The pen goes 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Twelve pitches for Bastardo and 11 for Lidge.
The Phillies lineup against righty Matt Cain went (1) Rollins (2) Martinez (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Victorino (6) Ibanez (7) Brown (8) Ruiz. Tim Lincecum again doesn’t start the game with the flu, replaced this time with Cain. Mayberry on the bench against the righty despite two extra-base hits in game one of the series and a 313/340/667 line in 50 plate appearances in July. I think it was the right decision, I just think it’s unfortunate there’s not a good way to get him at-bats against righties.
The Phils went in order in the first.
Ibanez singled softly to left with two outs in the second and moved to second when Brown followed with a walk. Ruiz grounded to third to end the inning.
The Phillies were down 1-0 when they hit in the third. Martinez doubled to left with two outs, but Utley flew to right to leave him stranded.
Only extra-base hit of the game for the Phils.
Victorino singled with one out in the fourth. Ibanez was next and grounded to second with Victorino moving up to second. Brown struck out swinging 3-2 to leave Victorino stranded.
The Phils went in order in the fifth and again in the sixth.
They were down 2-0 when Victorino led off the seventh with a popup out in front of the plate. Whiteside and Cain both tried to catch the ball with Whiteside knocking it out of Cain’s glove for an error. Victorino had stopped running at first and the ball rolled way away from Cain and Whiteside, but Victorino could only take second. Ibanez popped to short for the first out before Brown hit a ground ball to first that took a bad hop and went off Huff’s glove and into right field for a single. Victorino scored and it was 2-1. Ruiz grounded into a double-play to end the inning.
Way to make the most of a popup out in front of the plate and a ground ball to first.
With Gload still on the mound, Gload hit for Hamels to start the eighth and reached on catcher’s interference. Valdez ran for him at first and lefty Javier Lopez came in to pitch to Rollins. Rollins bunted, but Lopez fielded and threw to second where Valdez was forced for the first out. Martinez flew to right before Rollins stole second. Utley flew to center to leave Rollins at second.
Good idea to bring in a lefty to face Rollins. He came into the game hitting 229/268/314 against lefties for the season.
Brian Wilson got Howard, Victorino and Ibanez in order in the ninth.
Rollins was 0-for-4 in the game and is 1-for-his-last-24.
Martinez 1-for-4 with a double. 2-for-his-last-16 and on-basing .264 for the season. I don’t see him as an ideal two-hitter. He’s on-basing .175 against lefties for the year.
Utley 0-for-4. 286/400/619 in 50 plate appearances since the All-Star break.
Howard 0-for-4. He went 2-for-25 in his first 28 plate appearances after the break, but is 6-for-his-last-18 with four extra-base hits (333/333/778 over 18 plate appearances).
Victorino 1-for-4. 359/457/564 in 47 plate appearances in July. 1-for-7 with a walk in the series so far.
Ibanez 1-for-4. 6-for-his-last-15. He has two walks in 81 plate appearances in July. For the year, he’s walked 22 times in 390 plate appearances, which is about 5.6%. His walk rate for his career is about 8.6%.
Brown 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. 7-for-his-last-18 with five walks. He’s really scary out in right.
Ruiz was 0-for-3. 333/433/491 so far in July.
Kyle Kendrick (5-4, 3.45) faces righty Tim Lincecum (8-8, 2.90) tonight. Lincecum has allowed one run or less in five or his last six starts, throwing to a 1.66 ERA with a 1.13 ratio over those six outings. Kendrick is 3-2 with a 3.97 ERA and a 1.30 ratio in his nine starts on the year.
July 28th, 2011 on 10:21 am
Tough loss for the Phils. I’m sure Hamels is used to that kind of night.
On a different note, I got to watch Oswalt last night pitch for the Pigs which was fun. Four IP, 72 pitches, 1 H (HR), 1 ER. A solid rehab start but I thought he was a bit wild. Again, just a rehab start so probably trying different things to see how its working. Fastball was around 88-91 on the field radar gun. Either way, it was awesome to watch one of the Aces pitch from four rows back behind the dugout. And he helped the Pigs get a win which they need as they hope to win their division. If you normally check out the Pigs, you know being in first place is a new things for them since their existance. haha.
July 28th, 2011 on 10:43 am
I only saw the highlights of Oswalt’s start, but the line looks good and I was glad to see him strike out four in four innings. 72 seems like a lot of pitches to throw in four frames, but it’s tough to argue with allowing a run on a hit and two walks. Will be nice if we can get Kendrick out of the rotation and back into the pen, cause there are some guys out there now who make me a little nervous.
July 28th, 2011 on 2:04 pm
With you there. If Little Roy can come back, he would represent a heck of a pitching addition to the second half of the year. And Kendrick is better than Herndon, that is for danged sure.
Tentative “Yippee” on Lidge so far. Better than I expected after two appearances.
Now, in light of the Giants’ new acquisition, and the Braves’ focused hunt for the Big Righty Bat, how about that right handed five hole hitting corner outfielder?
July 28th, 2011 on 3:26 pm
Sounds good to me on the right-handed bat.
Lidge looked shaky to me last night. I hope he can contribute. The bullpen makes me pretty nervous, and by that I mean Herndon, Carpenter, Perez and Stutes. Did you guys know Perez is still on the team. He is. Looked it up myself just to be sure. Ditto Herndon. He and Perez have combined to get one out in the last nine days. Perez turns 33 in September — I had forgotten he is that old.
On the plus side, the pen hasn’t been charged with a run in seven of the last eight games.
July 28th, 2011 on 4:20 pm
Herdon and Carpenter make me get cold sweats. I still cannot get what they see in Carpenter that he is still in our system, but they keep bringing him up, hoping. Herndon’s being here is just a mystery in search of an answer.
Had completely forgotten Perez. He is THIRTY THREE? Geez. I thought he was mid-20s. When he is hot, though, he is filthy. too bad he isn’t reliable. I bet he feels the same way.
Stutes makes you feel queezy, huh? Interesting. I assume that is because he is so new to the Bigs and you’re afraid that will catch up with him. But he sure has been pretty so far, hasn’t he. I have started to relax when he comes into games, like I am expecting good things down deep. I have a hunch we will find out about him on the post season. Big stage. Young guy.
The other thing that makes me queezy is that the Giants have their Bat now and the Braves sound like they will have theirs too, no matter what they have to sacrifice. It is now that I wish RAJ would surface with something magical. I admit that I really like John Mayberry. I just like how he handles himself in the field (he and Vic are really good out there). And he keeps looking better at the plate. But I know that I like him more than he merits so far. And both the Braves and the Giants, if they increase their run production by not-all-that-much, will pose real threats to us getting to the Series. Watching our guys against Matt Cain yesterday gave me flashbacks and really, reeally bad dreams and cold sweats in the dark of night last night. RAJ needs to pull another rabbit outta his hat. And yes, I would trade Brown to make a Hunter Pence happen.
July 28th, 2011 on 4:29 pm
I like Mayberry a lot more than I thought I was going to. The power is pretty awesome. I think that a guy with power has hopes to learn to walk and a guy without power who has never walked doesn’t, so maybe he will. If he did, he would be a really good hitter.
I still think Stutes can be good. But I don’t have a lot of confidence in him right now and don’t think the Phils will be giving him the ball in big games they need to win. We’ll see.
I’d be disappointed if the Phils traded Brown in a deal to get Pence.
July 28th, 2011 on 5:03 pm
Yeah? You think Brown has that kind of upside? Interesting.
I have tried to be as excited about him as everyone else has been; I have been psyched to see these five tools just burst out all over the place. His long suit seems to be his eye and what seems to be remarkable patience at the plate. I do not have the stats, but my sense is that he sees more pitches than anyone else on the team, and I include Polly in that. Reminds me of Werth in that way.
I do not expect him to be accomplished with the bat at this point. But as of now that long swing of his will always make him vulnerable to off speed pitches. (Just what teh Phillies need.) He seems to have power somewhere, though I would like to see flashes of it from time to time. He is fast, though, really fast; plus speed is for sure. I like speed LOT.
But in the field. OhMyGod, he is awful. His arm is all over the place; no one will ever be afraid to run on his arm. And he cannot catch worth a damned, nor keep the ball in front of him. These are the things that ought to be in place by now if he is a real 5 tool guy. He is clumsy out there like a Saint Bernard puppy, looks far too casual given his errors, has lousy instincts, and regularly costs his team runs by his play. I frankly doubt he will ever be the player that Pence is and if we want the Series this year, we cannot afford to wait to find out.
But having said all of that, I will be absolutely blown away of RAJ moves him, and someday I am sure I will have to eat my words. I just hope that not getting Pence does not cost us this years Series. Given his fielding, keeping Brown just might.
July 28th, 2011 on 5:08 pm
Brown for Pence feels a lot better than Brown for Beltran. At least you’re getting a long-term, in-his-prime option back. It’s Worley (for Pence or anyone else) that I think should be completely untouchable right now.
July 28th, 2011 on 6:24 pm
Gillick: “Reuban has a lot of lines in the water. He’ll get one of them”.
July 28th, 2011 on 6:45 pm
Jim, I’m kinda on your page.
July 28th, 2011 on 9:13 pm
Sigh. 7th inning. No offense again. Or at least so far. Kendrick does ok. Looks like the LCS last year.
July 29th, 2011 on 11:05 am
I totally agree about it feeling like the NLCS from last year. The Phils win one game in the series, but I would really feel a lot better if that had shown they can do anything against Lincecum, Cain and the SF pen other than plate two unearned runs in two innings.