Philliesflow.com

Some fans have surely been hoping that the additions of Carlos Ruiz and Delmon Young to the lineup may be enough to save the Phillies. It still might, but it wasn’t last night. The Phillies played their first game with both Young and Ruiz in the lineup and got pounded 14-2 by the Indians.

Roy Halladay was terrible in the game and so was the bullpen. Halladay allowed eight runs in 3 2/3 innings and the pen gave up six more over 4 1/3 after he left. Again, a big part of the problem is Halladay, but another big part of the problem is that the Phillies bolstered their pen this off-season by fixing the back of it. It’s the middle that’s awful. Horst, Valdes and Durbin all have an ERA of 5.91 or worse for the year and have combined to throw to a 7.08 ERA in their 26 appearances.

The Indians hit more home runs before the end of the fifth inning last night than the Phillies had hits in the game. They hit six in the first five innings and the Phils had five hits for the game.

The Phillies are 12-15 on the year after losing 14-2 to the Cleveland Indians last night. The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Phils.

Halladay got the start for the Phillies and went 3 2/3 innings, allowing eight runs on nine hits and two walks. Three of the hits went for extra-bases, all home runs. He struck out three.

The Phillies are 2-4 in the games Halladay has started. In three of his six starts he’s gone four innings or less. Opponents are hitting just .240 against him, but he’s allowed eight home runs and 13 walks over 32 innings. In 2011, Halladay pitched 233 2/3 innings for the Phils and allowed ten home runs and 35 walks for the season.

Jason Kipnis singled with one out in the first and stole second before moving up to third on a ground out by Asdrubal Cabrera. It put a man on third with two outs for Carlos Santana and Santana hit a 2-1 pitch out to right, putting the Indians up 2-0. Jason Giambi followed with a walk before Mark Reynolds homered to right-center, extending the lead to 4-0. Lonnie Chisenhall went down on a ground out to Utley to set Cleveland down.

Two home runs off of Halladay in the inning. Cleveland scores four after having two outs and a man on third with no runs in.

It was 4-1 when Halladay set the Indians down in order in the second.

Kipnis singled to start the third, but was caught stealing for the second out after Cabrera popped out for the first. Santana drew a two-out walk, but was left at first when Halladay struck Giambi out swinging 2-2.

Reynolds singled to right to start the fourth and scored when Chisenhall followed with a home run to right. 6-1. Ryan Raburn and Drew Stubbs followed with back-to-back singles, putting runners on first and second. Raburn moved up to first when Michael Brantley flew to center for the first out. Stubbs stole second before Kipnis grounded to first for the second out with the runners holding second and third. Cabrera was next, though, and he delivered a two-run single into right. 8-1. Durbin took over for Halladay and struck Santana out looking to end the inning.

Durbin pitched the fifth, allowing four more runs on four hits, a single, a double and two home runs. 12-1. Both of the home runs were two-run shots, one by the righty Raburn and the other by the lefty Brantley.

Durbin went 1 1/3 innings in the game, allowing four runs on four hits, two of which were home runs. He came into the game having not been charged with a run over his last six appearances, but his ERA for the year is up to 7.00 with the outing. Walks didn’t hurt him last night, but he has a 2.00 ratio for the year, in large part due to the seven walks he’s allowed in nine innings.

Coming into last night’s game, Durbin had not allowed a home run since August 13, 2012, when Chase Headley hit one off of him while he was pitching for Atlanta. He had faced 105 batters since that game. Last night in the sixth he allowed two home runs in a three-batter span.

Valdes pitched the sixth with the lead cut to 12-2. He walked Santana with one out, but got Giambi to hit into a double-play behind him.

Valdes struck out the first two men he faced in the seventh before Raburn and Stubbs, both righties, homered back-to-back. 14-2. Brantly struck out swinging for the third out.

Valdes strikes out four in two innings, but allows two runs on two hits and a walk as both of the hits are solo homers. He has 18 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings, but a 7.98 ERA and a 1.57 ratio. Opponents are hitting .310 against him.

The only other time in his career in which Valdes has allowed two home runs in a game was June 30, 2010. He was pitching for the Mets and Miguel Montero and Kelly Johnson got him in a four-batter span in the sixth.

Aumont pitched the ninth and allowed two singles and a walk, but managed to keep the Indians off the board when Yan Gomes hit into a double-play with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Aumont has a 3.52 ERA for the year thanks to a whole lot of good fortune. Opponents are hitting .281 against him and he’s walked seven in 7 2/3 innings. Righties have hit just .176 against him, but lefties are hitting .400. He hasn’t allowed a home run, which is the way to go if you’re going to walk more than eight runners per nine innings and have a 3.52 ERA. In 27 appearances with the Phillies over two years, Aumont has walked 16 in 22 1/3 innings. There’s close to no chance he can be successful over a large number of innings if he walks batters at that rate.

Overall the pen went 4 1/3 innings in the game, allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out five. They gave up four home runs.

Valdes threw 38 pitches in the game and Durbin 26. Aumont 17. Nobody has thrown more than one day in a row thanks to the off-day Monday, but Valdes seems unlikely to be available tonight and probably Durbin as well.

The Phillie lineup against righty Zach McAllister went (1) Rollins (2) Michael Young (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Delmon Young (6) Brown (7) Ruiz (8) Mayberry (9) Revere. Delmon Young debuts with the Phils at DH. Mayberry in right against the righty.

The Phillies went in order in the bottom of the first.

They were down 4-0 when they hit in the second. Howard struck out swinging for the first out before Delmon Young hit a 1-1 pitch out to right-center. 1-1. Brown and Ruiz went down behind Young.

Nice first at-bat of the year for Young.

The Phillies went in order in the third and again in the fourth.

Delmon Young led off the fifth and was drilled in the back by a 1-2 pitch. Brown followed with a walk and the runners moved up to second and third on a ground out by Ruiz. Mayberry was next and grounded back to the mound with the runners holding. Revere grounded to short to leave them stranded.

No run for the Phils after putting runners on first and second with nobody out. No RBI for Mayberry with one out and runners on second and third.

Delmon Young gets drilled after homering in his first at-bat.

The Phillies trailed 12-1 when they hit in the sixth. Utley hit a 3-1 pitch out to right-center with two outs to make it 12-2. Howard followed with a double and Delmon Young moved him up to third with a single, but both runners were left stranded when Brown flew to center.

Mayberry singled with one out in the seventh, but Revere grounded into a double-play behind him.

They were down 14-2 when lefty Nick Hagadone started the eighth for Cleveland. Galvis and Michael Young walked back-to-back to start the frame, but the Phillies were turned away when Frandsen grounded into a double-play and Howard grounded to short.

Righty Matt Albers set Delmon Young, Brown and Ruiz down in the ninth.

Rollins was 0-for-3 in the game. He’s hitting 240/305/373 against right-handed pitching for the year.

Michael Young 0-for-3 with a walk to drop his line on the year to 341/412/418. He came into the game 7-for-his-last-11. He’s 19-for-his-last-59 (.322) with 19 singles.

Utley 1-for-3 with his fifth home run. 27 games divides nicely in 162 — multiply everything by six to get his on-pace numbers. He’s on pace to hit 30 home runs with 114 RBI.

Howard 1-for-4 with a double. He came into the game 5-for-his-last-14 with nine RBI. He’s walked three times this season and is on pace to walk 18 times in 606 plate appearances for the season with 18 home runs and 96 RBI. It didn’t matter last night, but he’s hitting 160/192/360 against left-handed pitching. Given the addition of two right-handed bats in Delmon Young and Ruiz, it will be interesting to see how long Howard plays first base against left-handed pitching. Pretty sure the answer is a long, long time. Think 2016.

Delmon Young 2-for-3 with a home run and a hit-by-pitch. Didn’t cost the Phils a thing defensively, but he can’t DH forever.

Brown 0-for-3 with a walk. He came into the game hitting 286/364/464 over his last eight games. 224/316/343 against right-handed pitching for the season. That there’s a problem if you want to be a bad defensive corner outfielder who’s primary contribution is being able to hit right-handed pitching.

Ruiz 0-for-4 with a strikeout. 1-for-8 with a double since his return.

Mayberry 1-for-3. He was hitting 316/409/553 for the year before going 4-for-his-last-28. Now he’s hitting 242/324/470. He’s actually been good against righties, 255/340/447, but has gone just 4-for-19 (211/286/526) against lefties. Will be interesting what the Phillies do in both left and right against lefties with Delmon Young back. I think what they will do is play Delmon Young in right and Brown in left. Offensively at least, I think you could argue that it leaves their best hitting option against left-handed pitching on the bench in Mayberry. Also, Brown and Young are bad defensive players. Young is definitely terrible and Brown is at least bad and maybe terrible.

Revere 0-for-3 and hit into a double-play, dropping his average on the year to .200. He’s 6-for-his-last-40 (.150) with a triple and no walks (.150 on-base percentage). Among 218 players across both leagues with 70 plate appearances for the season, his wOBA of .206 is 214th. The Phillies really have no other choices in center. Mayberry can’t handle it defensively, despite starting three straight games there against the Mets. It’s not a good option, but I think the Phillies might start to play Mayberry in center against lefties regularly with Revere struggling so badly, assuming Young is going to play nearly every day.

Lee (2-1, 3.03) faces righty Trevor Bauer (0-1, 5.40) tonight in game two of the set. Lee has allowed 17 hits in 12 innings over his last two starts and the Phils have dropped each of his last three outings. The 22-year-old Bauer was the third pick of the 2011 draft. He’s made one start this season, walking seven Rays in five innings while being charged with three runs. He has a 2.50 ERA and a 1.17 ratio in three starts at Triple-A in the International League with 24 strikeouts over 18 innings.

In this post I pointed out there was a difference of 187 total walks between 2007, when the Phillies had the best walk rate in the NL, and 2012, when they had the 15th-best walk rate. The first base and left field positions combined walked 141 fewer times in 2012 than they had in 2007.

At first base, the Phillies drew 56 fewer walks in 2012 than they had in 2007. In 2007, the 113 walks they drew at the position was second in the league. In 2012, the 57 walks they drew at the position was tenth.

Here’s how the plate appearances at first base broke down for the Phillies in 2012 and the walk rates of the players who got chances at the position:

Of the four groups, only one, Wigginton, posted a walk rate about the league average of 9.3% while playing first base for the Phillies last year. He had some other issues, though, like being not real good offensively or defensively. And high walk rate or not, he ended the year having hit .235 and on-based .314.

All of the four players in the “Other” category were under the league average of 9.3% with the exception of Thome. He walked in 3 of his 13 plate appearances while playing first base for the Phillies in 2013, which is about 23.1%.

The walk rates for Thome and Wigginton aren’t likely to help the 2013 Phillies much. As much as we might want to see Mayberry or Ruf get some chances at first against lefties, Ryan Howard is likely to be the guy there just about every day he’s able to play. And his walk rate is never going back to where it was in 2006 and 2007.

Howard finished fourth in the NL in walks in both 2006 and 2007. In those two years combined, he got 1,352 plate appearances and walked in 215 (about 15.9%) of them.

Howard’s walk rate in those years benefited from an enormous rate of intentional walks. In 2012, he had 25 total walks in 292 plate appearances. In 2006 he was intentionally walked 37 times and in 2007 he was intentionally walked 35 times.

His 8.6% walk rate in 2012 was the worst it has been for any year in his career in which he got at least 50 plate appearances.

In this post from January I pointed out that Howard has been pretty miserable against left-handed pitching in four of the last five years. His walk rate against lefties has also taken a plunge.

Over the last seven years, his walk rate against right-handed pitching has stayed high. Not so against lefties, where his walk rate has dropped three straight years and wound up at a miserable 4.7% in 2012:

2010 is the year of the last five in which Howard has been non-awful against left-handed pitching. His success that year had a lot more to do with the combination of good power and an average in the .260s against lefties than the walks he drew. In 2010, Howard hit 264/333/492 against lefties with 12 homers in 216 plate appearances. 2008 was probably second best — that year he delivered similar power against lefties and walked at a slightly lower rate, but hit just .224 again left-handed pitching. In five of the last six seasons, Howard has hit .225 or worse against lefties.

In 2010, his BABIP against left-handed pitching was .320. In 2011, Howard hit .224 against lefties despite a BABIP of .313 against them. In 2012 he was down to .173 against southpaws with a BABIP of .229. Granted, not being able to run at all probably hurt him some in 2012, but it’s tough to feel like things are going in the right direction for Howard, especially against lefties.

Ruiz feels bad about his suspension and wants to bring a championship back to Philadelphia.

Halladay suggests he doesn’t see himself pitching anywhere other than Philadelphia in the coming years in this article.

Yesterday’s post suggested that if you look at Young’s overall WAR numbers over the last five seasons, he doesn’t fare that well compared to the rest of the Phillies. That, in large part, is due to the fact that he’s been a pretty miserable defensive player of late, posting a negative dWAR in four of the last five years. Looking at the top five hitters by WAR on the Phillies over the last five seasons means he’s competing with players who accumulate significant value from their defense (Utley, Rollins, Ruiz and Victorino especially), which Young has not been able to do.

If you look just at the offensive numbers, Young’s bids to get into the top five among Phillie hitters in recent years improve quite a bit. Arguably, Young would have been the best hitter on the Phillies in 2011 among the players that got 400 plate appearances — 2011 wasn’t that long ago and it saw Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz, Raul Ibanez, Placido Polanco and Shane Victorino all get at least 400 plate appearances with the Phils.

The table below shows where Young’s oWAR for all Phillies hitters and wOBA (for hitters with at least 400 plate appearances) ranks among Phillies for the last five seasons:

Young has been really good offensively in two of the last five years, hitting 338/380/474 in 2011 and 322/374/518 with 22 homers in 2009.

By oWAR, he would have been in the top two among Phillie hitters twice in the past five years and in the top four in four of the five.

By wOBA, he would have been the best Phillie hitter with at least 400 plate appearances in 2011 and the third best in 2009.

In 2012 he was unarguably terrible, but his career wOBA of .344, had he produced that and not the actual .297 he did put up, would have been second best on the team behind only Ruiz.

Young has had four really good offensive years, only one of which has come in the last five seasons. 2004, 2006 and 2009 were all really good and 2005, when he put up a 331/385/513 line, was probably the best.

Bruce Springsteen. Sort of.

The table below shows, for each of the past five years, the four pitchers who have gotten the most starts for the Phillies that season and their WAR for the year as calculated by Baseball-Reference:

Important to note is that the WAR for the pitcher includes all of his appearances for the season, not just his starts. So, for example, Kendrick made 37 appearances in 2012 and only 25 of them were starts. His WAR for the year was 1.3 and that includes all 37 appearances, not just the 25 starts.

Again, the Phillies went to the World Series in 2008 and again in 2009 and they did it without outstanding starting pitching. This message will repeat. Happ (in 2009) and Hamels (in 2008) were the only two pitchers, starter or relievers, to post a WAR for the season better than 2.5 in either year.

Led by Hamels and Halladay, the top four was a lot better in 2010. Halladay, Hamels and Lee all had superb years in 2011.

Halladay was, as you may have noticed, way off in 2012. Hamels wasn’t as good as he had been in 2011 or 2010. Lee wasn’t as good as he had been in 2011, but the top for of the rotation were still better than they been in 2009 and a lot better than they had been in 2008.

It’s easy for some of us (by which I mean me) to forget that Lee didn’t throw a pitch for the Phillies in 2010. They Phillies have only had two years where Halladay, Hamels and Lee comprised the core of the rotation. One of those years was great for the Phillies until they were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round. The other was 2012, which is best forgotten if at all possible.

Halladay came into 2012 having not put up a WAR worse than 5.9 since 2008 — in ’08 he was an All-Star, finished second in Cy Young voting in the AL (losing to Indian and 22-game winner Cliff Lee) and seventh in WAR for pitchers across both leagues. Last year his WAR was 0.7, which is the worst mark of his career since he threw to a 10.64 ERA as a 23-year-old with the Blue Jays in 2000.

Rollins won his fourth Gold Glove.

The Phillies picked up the $5 million option on Ruiz and declined the $5.5 million option on Polanco. They will pay Polanco a $1 million buyout. The same article suggests that free agent Juan Pierre is not likely to be back with the Phillies.

This article suggests that Worley will stay in Philadelphia to rehab his elbow coming off of surgery.

This article suggests the Phillies have $135.35 million committed to ten players for next season, including Lee ($25 million), Halladay ($20 million), Howard ($20 million), Hamels ($19.5 million), Utley ($15 million), Papelbon ($13 million), Rollins ($11 million), Ruiz ($5 million), Kyle Kendrick ($4.5 million) and Laynce Nix ($1.35 million).

That’s $40 million committed to Halladay and Howard. In 2012, Howard’s Baseball-Reference calculated WAR was -1.2 and Halladay’s was 0.7.

This article quotes Amaro suggesting that that center field will have to be addressed externally. The writer goes on to list possible candidates, including Bourn, Pagan, Upton, Victorino, Hamilton, Cabrera, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dexter Fowler.

This article looks at potential corner outfielders, including free agent Juan Pierre, Nick Swisher, Cody Ross, Torii Hunter, Ryan Ludwick, Jonny Gomes, Rual Ibanez, Ichiro Suzuki, Delmon Young, Josh Willingham and Alfonso Soriano.

The playoff hopes (dreams? fantasies? Tough to find the right word there) and Ryan Howard’s season both came to an end this weekend as the Phils were mathematically eliminated from the post-season. Howard dropped something heavy on his big toe and the Phillies took two of three from the Fish. Two of three wasn’t enough, though, the Phillies would have needed to take about eight out of three to keep their chances alive. With three games left to play, the Phils are six out for the Wild Card.

Lee pitched seven strong innings in the opener, but the Phils managed just one run in the game and fell 2-1.

Halladay allowed four runs over five innings in game two of the set, but the Phils got enough offense to overcome yet another rough start from the ace and won 9-5. Utley and Ruiz combined to go 4-for-9 in the game and drove in five runs.

Hamels was very strong yesterday, allowing a run over seven innings and getting his 17th win of the season as the Phils topped the Fish 4-1. Ruiz had three more hits in the game.

The Phillies are 80-79 on the year after beating the Miami Marlins 4-1 yesterday afternoon. The Phillies take two of the three in the series and are in third place in the NL East, 16 games behind the first-place Nationals. They have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went seven innings, allowing a run on five hits and a walk. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, both doubles. He struck out eight.

Up 3-0, Hamels struck out Gorkys Hernandez, Bryan Petersen and Jose Reyes in order in the bottom of the first.

He set the Marlins down in order in the second and again in the third.

Petersen singled to center with one out in the fourth and moved to third when Reyes followed with a double to left. Giancarlo Stanton was next and hit a ground ball to third. Orr fielded and threw home. Petersen was tagged out for the second out. It brought Carlos Lee to the plate with men on first and second. The runners moved up to second and third on an error by Hamels on a pickoff attempt before Lee singled to right. Reyes scored, cutting the lead to 3-1, but Brown threw Stanton out at the plate to end the inning.

Donovan Solano doubled to left to start the fifth. John Buck was next and flew to center for the first out with Solano tagging and moving up to third. Gil Velazquez followed with a walk, putting runners on the corners for the pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. Eovaldi struck out trying to bunt Velazquez to second for the second out. Hamels struck Hernandez out looking to leave the runners on the corners.

With one out in the sixth, Reyes bunted looking for a hit. Hamels fielded and threw wildly to first for his second error of the day, which left Reyes on second on the error. Reyes stole third before Stanton popped to Rollins with Reyes holding. Lee struck out looking to end the inning.

No RBI for Stanton with one out and the speedy Reyes on third.

Hamels set Miami down in order in the seventh.

Bastardo started the eighth up 4-1. Righty Austin Kearns hit for the pitcher Ryan Webb and popped to Utley for the first out. Bastardo struck out Hernandez and Petersen behind him.

Papelbon started the ninth with a three-run lead. Stanton and Lee singled back-to-back with one out, bringing Solano to the plate as the tying run with men on first and second. Papelbon got Solano swinging for the second out and Buck swinging to end the game.

The Phillies lineup against righty Nathan Eovaldi went (1) Rollins (2) Pierre (3) Utley (4) Ruiz (5) Brown (6) Schierholtz (7) Ruf (8) Orr. Ruf plays first with Howard out for the season after hurting his toe. Ruiz catches. Pierre in left against the righty with Brown in right and Schierholtz in center. Orr at third against the righty.

Rollins was the first batter of the game and walked. Pierre was next and singled to right. Rollins took third and Pierre moved up to second as the throw went to third. Utley flew to left for the first out, deep enough for Rollins to tag and score, putting the Phils up 1-0. Ruiz was next and doubled to left, plating Pierre. 2-0. Brown lined to short for the second out before Schierholtz singled to right. Ruiz scored from second and the Phils led 3-0. Ruf moved Schierholtz to second with a single, but Orr struck out swinging to leave both runners stranded.

The Phillies went in order in the second and third. Ruiz and Brown struck out back-to-back to end the third.

Orr singled to right with two outs in the fourth. Hamels struck out swinging to leave him at first.

The lead was cut to 3-1 when the Phils went in order in the fifth as Eovaldi struck out Pierre and Utley.

Ruiz singled to start the sixth, but the Phillies went in order behind him.

Lefty Dan Jennings started the seventh. Frandsen hit for Orr and grounded to first for the first out. Hamels struck out for the second before Rollins drew a walk. Pierre flew to left to leave Rollins at first.

Utley and Ruiz singled back-to-back off of lefty Michael Dunn to start the eighth. It put runners on the corners with nobody out for Brown. Brown flew to center for the first out, deep enough for Utley to tag and score, which extended the lead to 4-1. Schierholtz singled to right, putting runners on the corners again. Righty Ryan Webb came on to pitch to Webb. Webb grounded to third. Ruiz was caught up between third and home and eventually tagged out for the second out. It left men on second and third with two down for Frandsen. Frandsen lined to second to leave them stranded.

Heath Bell set the Phillies down in order in the ninth. Nix hit for Bastardo and grounded to second for the third out.

Rollins was 0-for-3 in the game and walked twice. 4-for-11 with three walks in the series. 250/316/427 for the year. 287/376/537 in September.

Pierre 1-for-4 with a strikeout. 1-for-6 with a walk in the series. 310/354/374 for the year. He hit .375 in 67 plate appearances in September.

Utley 1-for-3 with a walk yesterday and 3-for-11 with a walk in the series. 266/374/445 on the season.

Ruiz 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. His double was the only extra-base hit of the game for the Phillies. 6-for-13 with two doubles in the set. 330/398/547 for the year. 278/348/479 over his last 161 plate appearances.

Brown 0-for-3 with an RBI. 1-for-7 with a walk and a triple in the series. 234/320/400.

Schierholtz 2-for-4 with an RBI in the game and 4-for-6 in the series. 248/313/391 for the year. 238/290/317 in 70 plate appearances with the Phillies. 175/206/238 against lefties for the year overall.

Ruf 1-for-4 with a single in the game. He started all three games in the set and went 3-for-12 with a double and four strikeouts. 8-for-25 for the year with two doubles and a home run. He still hasn’t walked yet. 320/308/520 in 26 plate appearances.

Orr 1-for-2 in the game. 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI in the series. 321/333/453 for the season.

Kendrick (10-12, 4.08) faces lefty John Lannan (4-0, 4.23) tonight at Nationals Park. Kendrick is not Cy Young and has been hit hard in two of his last three starts, throwing to a 6.59 ERA in those outings. He allowed three homers in two innings his last time out. Lannan started against Kendrick on September 26 and allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings.

Darin Ruf arrived on the Phillie scene last night, homering in his first career start as the Phils topped the Washington Nationals 6-3.

Ruf’s solo shot off of lefty Ross Detwiler tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second. Ruiz hit a three-run shot in a four-run fourth as the Phils pulled ahead 5-1. Hamels allowed a pair of runs on four hits in the fifth, cutting the lead to 5-3, but Brown hit the third homer of the game for the Phils in the sixth, a solo blast that put the Phils up to stay at 6-3.

For Ruf it was his 40th home run of the season and the first hit of his career above Double-A.

Hamels went just five innings in the game. Five relievers combined to throw four scoreless innings in which they allowed one single and no walks after he left.

Through July 6, the Phillie bullpen threw to a 4.84 ERA over 213 1/3 innings. Since July 6, the bullpen has thrown 178 1/3 innings in which they have posted a 2.88 ERA.

The Phillies are 78-76 on the year after beating the Washington Nationals 6-3 last night. They are in third place in the NL East, 15 games out of first and 5 1/2 behind for the Wild Card.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk. All seven hits were singles and he struck out six.

He struck Jayson Werth out swinging for the first out in the top of the first. Bryce Harper was next and singled to center. Ryan Zimmerman followed with a ground ball to third with Harper forced at second for the second out. Hamels struck Adam LaRoche out swinging to leave Zimmerman at first.

Hamels struck Michael Morse out swinging for the first out in the second. Ian Desmond flew to center for the second before Danny Espinosa walked. Espinosa stole second and scored when Kurt Suzuki singled into center, putting the Nats up 1-0. The pitcher Ross Detwiler grounded to short to set Washington down.

The game was tied at 1-1 when Hamels set the Nats down in order in the third.

Hamels started the fourth up 5-1. Morse singled to left with one out. Desmond flew to left for the second and Hamels struck out Espinosa for the third.

Suzuki led off the fifth with a single and Detwiler bunted him to second with the first out. Werth grounded to short for the second out with Suzuki holding. Harper was next, though, and he singled past a diving Rollins and into center. Suzuki scored, cutting the lead to 5-2, and Harper wound up at second as the throw came home. Zimmerman followed with another single, scoring Harper. 5-3. It brought LaRoche to the plate and he singled as well, putting men on first and second for Morse. Morse grounded to third to end the inning.

Harper winds up at second on his single cause Mayberry throws home and the ball goes off of Howard’s glove between the mound and second base. Mayberry had no chance to get Suzuki at the plate. It doesn’t matter if the next two hitters are going to single anyway, though. Would have mattered if the next one hitter was going to single.

Hamels allowed three straight hits after two outs and a man on second.

Lindblom set the Nationals down in order in the sixth.

Three up, three down for Lindblom, dropping his ERA with the Phils to 4.05. Opponents have hit just .189 against him in his 23 appearances since joining the team, but he has walked 15 in 20 innings.

De Fratus started the seventh up 6-3. He got switch-hitter Steve Lombardozzi, hitting for the pitcher Michael Gonzalez, for the first out and struck Werth out swinging for the second. Bastardo came in to pitch to the lefty Harper and struck him out swinging to end the frame.

De Fratus faces two hitters and gets them both. He’s been charged with one run in 7 2/3 innings over nine appearances with the Phils.

Bastardo faces one lefty in the game and strikes out Harper. He has an 0.84 ERA in 10 2/3 innings over his last 14 appearances with 23 strikeouts.

Aumont set the Nats down in order in the eighth.

Aumont handles Zimmerman, LaRoche and Morse without a peep. That’s two outings back-to-back without allowing a hit or a walk over two scoreless frames since three worrisome appearances in a row against the Astros and Mets.

Papelbon started the ninth. He struck Desmond out for the first out and Espinosa out for the second before Suzuki singled into center. Lefty Chad Tracy hit for the pitcher Zach Duke and grounded to second to end the game.

Third hit of the game for Suzuki.

Papelbon has an 0.63 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings over his last 29 appearances.

Overall the pen goes four scoreless innings, allowing a single and no walks while striking out five. Nobody has pitched more than one day in a row. Aumont threw 15 pitches in the game, Lindblom 13, Papelbon 12, De Fratus eight and Bastardo five.

The Phillies lineup against lefty Ross Detwiler went (1) Rollins (2) Mayberry (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Ruiz (6) Brown (7) Ruf (8) Frandsen. Ruf makes his first start for the Phillies, playing in left against the lefty. He was primarily a first baseman in the minors in 2012, but appeared in left 29 times for Double-A Reading. Mayberry hits second. He comes into the game 4-for-his-last-23 (.174) with four singles and no walks.

Utley singled to left with two outs in the bottom of the first. Howard struck out to leave him stranded.

With two outs in the bottom of the second and the Phils down 1-0, Ruf hit a 3-2 pitch from Detwiler out to left, tying the game at 1-1. Frandsen followed with a double to center and Hamels walked to put two men on for Rollins. Rollins popped to first to leave both runners stranded.

First career hit for Ruf and he makes it a big one. The Phils gave him the extended silent treatment in the dugout after the blast. Ruf got ahead in the count 3-0 before hammering the 3-2 pitch out to left.

Walks to Mayberry and Utley started the third, putting two men on for Howard. Howard singled to right, scoring Mayberry and moving Utley up to second with the Phils on top 2-1. Ruiz was next and he hit a 2-0 pitch out to left for a three-run homer. 5-1. Brown, Ruf and Frandsen went in order behind him.

Ruf struck out swinging for the second out for career strikeout number one. I think it’s safe to say there are more to come.

Ruf’s homer gets all the attention in the game, but the three-run homer by Ruiz is really the big swing of the day for the Phils.

The Phils went in order in the fourth.

The lead was cut to 5-3 when they went in order in the fifth.

Brown hit the first pitch from righty Craig Stammen out to right to start the bottom of the sixth, extending the Phillie lead to 6-3. Ruf followed with a single to right and Frandsen flew to center for the first out. Schierholtz hit for Lindblom and walked. Rollins walked as well and the bases were loaded for Mayberry. Stammen struck Mayberry out swinging 1-2 for the second out. Lefty Michael Gonzalez came in to pitch to Utley and got Utley on a ball hit hard to LaRoche at first to end the inning.

Big strikeout for Mayberry with one out and the bases loaded keeps the Phils from getting more in the inning.

They get one run on a homer, a single and two walks.

Lefty Zach Duke set Howard, Ruiz and Brown down in order in the seventh.

Brown grounds to second against Duke for the third out, which drops his line against lefties on the year to 150/261/275. 270/350/443 against righties at the end of the day after homering off of the righty Stammen in the sixth.

Duke got Wigginton, Frandsen and Schierholtz in the eighth.

Rollins was 0-for-3 with a walk. 0-for-his-last-13.

Mayberry 0-for-3 with a walk. 1-for-his-last-13. 5-for-his-last-30 with ten strikeouts.

Utley 1-for-3 with a walk. He has 15 walks in his last 78 plate appearances. 274/395/458 over his last 248 plate appearances.

Howard 1-for-4 with an RBI. He’s walked twice in his last 66 plate appearances, hitting .190 and on-basing .212.

Brown 1-for-4 with his fifth homer. 1-for-his-last-12.

Ruf 2-for-3 with a home run. 2-for-5 with a home run and a sac fly for the year. The sac fly means his on-base percentage is going to be higher than his average for a while — right now his line is at 400/333/1.000.

Frandsen 1-for-4 with a double off the lefty Detwiler. He’s hitting .404 against lefties for the year with a BABIP of .422.

Kendrick (10-11, 3.89) faces lefty John Lannan (3-0, 4.43) tonight. Kendrick has a 2.17 ERA and an 0.87 ratio over his last eight starts and the Phils have gone 6-2 in those games. He ended June with a 5.35 ERA. Since the start of July he has thrown to a 2.48 ERA over 18 appearances (11 starts) and opponents have hit just .211 against him. Opponent’s BABIP in 74 innings through the end of June was .332. Since the start of July it has been .241. Lannan spent most of the year in the minors prior to taking Strasburg’s spot in the Washington rotation. He’s made four starts on the year and threw to a 2.41 ERA over the first three before allowing six runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Dodgers his last time out.

I updated the Start Log so the Result column is green for wins and red for losses. It may be helpful in making it easier to figure out where things went wrong for the Phils this year (helpful hint: they went most wrong from about June 2 to July 13).