Philliesflow.com

The Phillies have played more than a quarter of the 2013 season and won one game of the ten started by Cole Hamels. They’re 11-4 when Kendrick or Pettibone start and 8-18 when they start Hamels, Halladay or Lee. Last night, Hamels pitched well again, but the offense provided a single run and the Phils fell 5-1 to the Marlins.

The Phillies have scored one run or less in four of the last six games that Hamels has started. Last night they faced Alex Sanabia, who came into the game having thrown to a 5.00 ERA in his eight starts this year while opposing batters posted a 316/400/531 line against him.

The Phillie bullpen continues to be miserable, allowing three runs over two innings last night. They have a 5.26 ERA and a 1.65 ratio over the last 19 games with 59 hits allowed in 49 2/3 innings.

The Phillies are 21-24 on the season after losing 5-1 to the Miami Marlins last night.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, a double and a triple. He struck out ten and didn’t walk a batter.

Hamels struggled in each of his first two starts this season, but has thrown to a 3.12 ERA in his eight outings since. His walk rate is still up — over his last eight starts he’s walked about 3.3 per nine inning. Coming into 2013 he had walked about 2.2 per nine for his career.

He has made seven quality starts in his last eight appearances.

Adeiny Hechavarria singled to right to start the bottom of the first. He stole second with one out and went to third on an infield single by Derek Dietrich. It brought Marcell Ozuna to the plate with one out and runners on the corners. Ozuna singled into center, scoring Hechavarria (1-0) and moving Dietrich up to second. Justin Ruggiano grounded into a double-play to end the inning.

Hamels allows three singles and a stolen base in the inning, but holds the Fish to a single run with the help of the double-play.

It was 1-1 when Chris Coghlan tripled over the head of Revere in center to start the bottom of the second. Hamels kept him from scoring, though, getting Nick Green to foul out to third, Jeff Mathis to pop to short and pitcher Alex Sanabia swinging for the third out.

No run for Miami after the leadoff triple.

Hamels threw a 1-2-3 third.

He struck out the first two men in the fourth before Coghlan singled to left. Coghlan took second on an errant pickoff throw by Hamels before Green struck out swinging to leave Coghlan at second.

Young should have handled the throw from Hamels, which was wide of the base, but catchable.

Hamels struck out Mathis and Sanabia in a 1-2-3 fifth.

Placido Polanco singled to center to start the sixth. Hamels struck Dietrich and Ozuna out before Ruggiano doubled off of the wall in right, scoring Polanco to make it 2-1. Coghlan went down swinging to leave Ruggiano at second.

Justin De Fratus pitched the seventh. Mathis reached on a throwing error by Galvis with one out, but De Fratus got the next two to leave Mathis stranded.

Polanco singled to left off of De Fratus to start the eighth. Horst came in to pitch to the lefty Dietrich and got him on a fly ball to center for the first out. Aumont took over to face the righty Ozuna and Ozuna singled to left, moving Polanco up to third. It brought Ruggiano to the plate and he singled into center, scoring Polanco (3-1) and moving Ozuna up to second. Aumont struck Coghlan out swinging for the second out, putting men on first and second for Green. Green blooped a ball into shallow center field, just in front of a diving Revere. The ball was in the air a long time and with two outs, both runners were running and both scored. 5-1. Aumont struck Mathis out to leave Green stranded.

Green’s ball was in the air a long, long time. Not sure why Revere was playing him so deep, but I was surprised the ball wasn’t caught.

De Fratus faced five men in the game. He got three outs, one reached on an error and the other singled. The singled came in to score after he left the game, so he winds up allowing a run on a hit over one inning. He was pitching on back-to-back days for the first time this season and has now allowed a run in 3 1/3 innings over five appearances.

Horst faced one batter and got an out. He has gotten a single out in each of his last four outings. He hasn’t been charged with a run in any of his last seven appearances, but has allowed four walks and a hit over four scoreless innings.

Aumont faces five batters in the game, allowing three singles and striking out two. The first two singles were traditional, but Green’s ball was a popup that stayed in the air a long time. His ERA rises to 4.15 with the outing, but he’s been a lot worse than that. 2.08 ratio. Ten walks in 13 innings. Opponents are hitting .309 against him for the season. Over his last two appearances he’s been charged with three runs on five hits in one inning.

Overall the pen went two innings in the game, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out three. De Fratus threw 15 pitches in the game and has thrown two days in a row.

The Phillie lineup against righty Alex Sanabia went (1) Rollins (2) Revere (3) Michael Young (4) Utley (5) Brown (6) Delmon Young (7) Galvis (8) Kratz. Michael Young plays first with Galvis at third and Howard sidelined with his knee. Kratz catches with Ruiz on the DL.

Rollins singled to start the top of the first, but Rollins grounded into a double-play behind him and Michael Young struck out looking.

The Phillies were down 1-0 when they hit in the second. With one out, Brown hit the first pitch he saw from Sanabia out to right, tying the game at 1-1. Delmon Young and Galvis went down behind him.

Eighth homer of the year for Brown and his fifth against a righty. 237/291/398 against right-handed pitching for the season.

Rollins doubled to right with two outs in the third. Revere flew to center to leave him at second.

The one and two hitters in the Phillie lineup end the day on-basing .306 and .291 for the season.

Michael Young singled to left to start the fourth, but Utley grounded into a double-play behind him. Brown followed with a single to left and stole second before Delmon Young struck out swinging to end the frame.

The Phillies went in order in the fifth.

Michael Young doubled to center with two outs in the sixth and Sanabia hit Utley behind him. Brown was next and drove a ball to left, but Coghlan made a nice running catch to leave both runners stranded.

The Phils trailed 2-1 when they hit in the seventh. Galvis walked with one out and moved up to third when Kratz followed with a single to right. Nix hit for Hamels and righty Ryan Webb came in to face him. Nix popped to shallow right with the runners holding for the second out. Rollins grounded to second to end the frame.

No run for the Phillies after putting runners on the corners with one out. Nix gets to hit against the righty and can’t bring the runner home from third with the second out.

Hamels had only thrown 89 pitches in the game. He gets pulled for Nix. Nix doesn’t get the job done and neither does the pen after the exit by Hamels.

Righty AJ Ramos walked Utley with two outs in the eighth. Utley was caught stealing with Brown at the plate to set the Phillies down.

Second caught stealing for Utley this season. He hasn’t been caught more than twice in a season since 2006. Since the end of 2006 he has stolen 89 bases and been caught eight times.

Righty Chad Qualls threw a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Delmon Young and Galvis to lower his ERA on the year to 3.63 and his ratio to 1.15.

Rollins was 2-for-4 with a double. 326/362/558 over his last 48 plate appearances.

Revere 0-for-4. Couldn’t come up with the bloop hit by Green, which sure seemed like it was in the air a long time at a big moment in the game. 11-for-his-last-28 with three walks and two doubles (393/452/464 over 32 plate appearances). 361/425/417 in May after hitting 200/234/222 in April.

Michael Young 2-for-4 with a double. 5-for-his-last-19.

Utley 0-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. 2-for-his-last-16.

Brown 2-for-4 with his eighth home run. Hit the ball well in the sixth with two men on, but Coghlan tracked it down. He hasn’t drawn a walk in 70 plate appearances in May.

Delmon Young was 0-for-4 and struck out twice. 0-for-his-last-11 and hitting .192 for the season in 61 plate appearances.

Galvis 0-for-3 with a walk and an error. 6-for-his-last-15 with a home run.

Kratz 1-for-3. He’s 5-for-18 with a home run in May.

Cloyd (0-0, 2.84) faces righty Jose Fernandez (2-2, 3.48) tonight. Cloyd was good in his only start of the year for the Phils, pitching into the seventh against the Diamondbacks on May 10 and allowing a pair for runs on two hits and three walks. Fernandez has already faced the Phillies twice this season, allowing three hits and three walks over 13 scoreless innings in his two starts combined.

Philliesflow won’t be updated again until next week.

And is it going to be a problem if we need to you pitch like you did in 2004? Every day?

The Phillies used five pitchers yesterday and four of them were awful. Phillippe Aumont allowed a single in a scoreless seventh, but Hamels struggled in his start and Durbin, Horst and Valdes were awful behind him as the Phils lost 10-4. Valdes and Durbin have been especially miserable this year and I would be surprised if the Phillies weren’t thinking about how their roster spots could be better used.

The Phillies haven’t had a lot of success winning without good pitching this year. They’ve won one game on the season in which they allowed more than three runs. They beat the Mets 9-4 on April 27. 1-16 for the year.

The Phillies are 19-22 on the year after losing 10-4 to the Cleveland Indians yesterday afternoon. The teams split the two-game set. The Phillies have won three of four and lost four of seven.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went five innings, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks. Five of the hits went for extra-bases, three doubles and two home runs. He struck out four.

The Phillies are 1-8 in games started by Hamels this season. His hit rate is fine, but he’s walked 24 in 56 2/3 innings and allowed eight home runs to the 176 right-handed batters he’s faced. That’s about 4.5% of the right-handed batters he’s faced that have homered. 2.9% for his career coming into the year.

Asdrubal Cabrera singled with two outs in the top of the first, but Hamels got Nick Swisher on a fly ball to left to end the frame.

With two outs in the second, Hamels hit Ryan Raburn with a pitch. Mike Aviles followed with a walk that put runners on first and second for the pitcher Corey Kluber. Kluber hit the ball well into left-center, but Brown took it at the warning track after a run to leave the runners stranded.

Hamels had thrown 51 pitches through two innings. He threw 24 in the first, including a 10-pitch at-bat for Jason Kipnis before Kipnis flew to center. He used 17 on Aviles and Kluber in the second — nine to walk Aviles and eight to get Kluber on the ball handled by Brown.

Kipnis doubled to center with one out in the third. Cabrera walked behind him and Mark Reynolds followed that with a double to left, scoring both runners and putting the Indians up 2-0. Carlos Santana grounded to short for the third out.

Hamels started the fourth with the lead cut to 2-1. Mike Aviles homered to left with one out, extending the lead to 3-1. Hamels got the next two hitters behind him.

Kipnis doubled to left to start the fifth and scored on a one-out homer to left by Swisher. 5-1. Hamels got Reynolds and Santana behind Swisher.

Durbin started the sixth with the lead cut to 5-3. He got the first two before walking the pitcher Kluber. Drew Stubbs was next and reached on an infield single that moved Kluber up to second. Horst came in to pitch to the lefty Kipnis and walked him, loading the bases Cabrera. Cabrera singled into center, scoring Kluber and Stubbs to make it 7-3 with two down and men on first and second. Swisher grounded to third to end the frame.

Again Durbin and Horst fail to get the job done in the middle innings. With two down, no runs in and the pitcher coming to bat you would hope to be able to get out of the inning without runs.

Durbin faced four batters in the game, getting two outs while allowing a hit and a walk. He’s allowed eight hits and a walk over 4 2/3 innings in his last four appearances and has a 7.30 ERA for the year. Opponents have hit 306/390/592 against him for the season.

Horst faced three hitters, allowing a walk and a single and getting one out. The two runs that scored while he was on the mound were charged to Durbin, but he didn’t pitch well. Opponents are hitting 299/382/463 against him for the season.

Aumont pitched the seventh. Santana singled to right with one out, but Aumont got Raburn to ground into a double-play behind him.

Three batters for Aumont, allowing a single before getting a double-play. Drops his ERA to 2.25, but he’s been nowhere near that good. Twelve hits and ten walks in 12 innings gives him a 1.83 ratio. Lefties are hitting 429/520/476 against him for the year after the single by the switch-hitting Santana.

Valdes pitched the eighth. Walked the lefty Brantley with one out and Brantley moved up to third when Stubbs followed with a double. It brought Kipnis to the plate and the lefty hit a 3-2 pitch out to right-center. 10-3. Valdes got the next two.

Valdes walks the lefty Brantley to get things started and then gives up a three-run homer to another lefty. Durbin, Horst and Valdes are a big part of what’s been wrong with Phillie pitching this season — in this game they combined to allow five runs in three innings.

Valdes was back to throw a 1-2-3 ninth with the lead cut to 10-4.

Valdes goes two innings, allowing three runs on two hits and a walk. He’s allowed six runs over 7 1/3 innings in his last three outings. All three runs he gives up come on the Kipnis homer, which was the fifth that Valdes has allowed this season. Opponents are slugging .588 against him for the year, righties .627. He, Durbin and Hallady all have a home run per nine innings rate higher than two for the season. That trio has combined to allow 14 home runs in 66 2/3 innings.

Overall, the pen was atrocious. Four innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks. Horst has pitched two days in a row. Valdes threw 38 pitches in the game.

The Phillie lineup against righty Corey Kluber went (1) Rollins (2) Utley (3) Michael Young (4) Howard (5) Delmon Young (6) Brown (7) Ruiz (8) Mayberry. Mayberry plays center against the righty coming off of a three-hit, three RBI night in game one with the lefty Revere on the bench. Delmon Young keeps hitting fifth, despite coming into the game hitting .216 for the year in 44 plate appearances.

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

Delmon Young and Brown both struck out in the second.

The Phils were down 2-0 when Mayberry singled with one out in the third. Hamels bunted him to second with the second out and Rollins singled to right, scoring Mayberry. 2-1. Utley popped to short to set the Phillies down.

Two-out hit for Rolllins gets the Phils a run.

The Phillies were down 3-1 when they went in order in the fourth. Howard and Delmon Young both struck out.

It was 5-1 when Ruiz and Mayberry singled back-to-back with one out in the fifth. It put runners on first and third for Hamels and Frandsen hit for the pitcher. He fouled out to Swisher for the second out, but Rollins was next and brought both runners home with a double to right. 5-3. Utley grounded to first to end the inning.

Second two-out hit for Rollins in two chances gives him all three Phillie RBI for the game.

The Phils were down 7-3 when Delmon Young singled with two outs in the sixth. Brown grounded to second to leave Young stranded.

Righty Cody Allen set the Phils down in order in the seventh. Nix hit for Aumont and struck out swinging for the third out.

Lefty Nick Hagadone pitched the eighth with a 10-3 lead. He walked Michael Young with two outs, but Howard flew to center to leave Young at first.

Young’s walk was the only one of the game for the Phillies.

Delmon Young singled off of righty Matt Albers to start the ninth. He took second on a wild pitch before Brown struck out swinging for the first out. Ruiz brought him home with a double to right, cutting the lead to 10-4. Mayberry grounded to third for the second out. Galvis hit for Valdes and lined to short to end the game.

Second extra-base hit of the season for Ruiz. He came into the game with one double in 47 plate appearances.

Rollins was 2-for-4 with a double and drove in three runs. 3-for-8 with a walk in the two-game set. 255/304/382 for the season. He’s on-basing .286 against left-handed pitching.

Utley 0-for-4 in the game and in the series. 10-for-his-last-28 (.357) with three doubles and a home run. 281/335/500 for the year. 158/238/316 against left-handed pitching for the season.

Michael Young 0-for-3 with a walk. 0-for-6 with two walks in the series. 10-for-his-last-50 (.200) with four doubles. 296/383/378 for the season. In 7,396 plate appearances from 2000 to 2011, Young had an isolated power of .147. In 2012 it was .093. So far in 2013 it’s .081.

Howard 0-for-4 with a strikeout. 1-for-7 with a walk in the series. 128/190/205 over his last 42 plate appearances with 19 strikeouts and one walk that was not intentional. 245/284/434 for the year.

Delmon Young 2-for-4 and struck out twice. 2-for-8 in the series. 7-for-his-last-18 (.389) with two walks and two doubles. 244/313/390 in 44 plate appearances for the season.

Brown was 0-for-4 and struck out twice. 2-for-8 with a home run in the set. 250/298/429 on the year. 229/289/371 against right-handed pitching.

Ruiz 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. 3-for-7 with a walk and a double in the series. 234/294/277 in 51 plate appearances.

Mayberry 2-for-4 and scored two runs. 5-for-8 with a double and three RBI in the two-game set. He came into the series 3-for-his-last-21 with three singles. 253/317/421 for the year.

The Phillies are off today and play the Reds tomorrow.

This article from the Phillie web site is headlined, “De Fratus emerges as clutch late-game reliever.” De Fratus has gotten two outs this season.

Cole Hamels held the Diamondbacks to two runs over six innings last night, but it wasn’t enough as the Phils fell 2-1 for their fourth loss in six games.

The Phillies had six hits in the game, five singles and a double. Arizona started Patrick Corbin, making it the third time in four games the Phils had faced a lefty. They’re hitting .216 against lefties for the year with Utley, Howard and Brown all on-basing .250 or less against them. The guys who don’t hit left-handed aren’t getting the job done either. Rollins is at 244/262/366 against lefties and Mayberry 222/276/444. Michael Young is at 258/395/323.

The Phillies are 16-20 on the season after losing 2-1 to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night in the first game of a four-game set.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and five walks. Three of the hits went for extra-bases, all doubles. He struck out three.

The Phillies are 1-7 in the eight games that Hamels has started this year. He was hit hard in each of his first two starts on the season. Since then, he’s made six starts in which he’s thrown to a 2.41 ERA with a 1.07 ratio. The Phillies are 1-5 in those games and have scored a total of ten runs, five of which came in the one game they won.

He allowed a one-out double to Didi Gregorius in the bottom of the first, but got the next two to leave Gregorius stranded.

Martin Prado singled to right with one out in the the second. Gerardo Parra was next and dumped a ball into the left field corner that landed near the wall. Brown took an odd angle to the ball, then misplayed it off the wall. Parra had a double, but Prado rounded third aggressively and then was held. Brown got the ball into third and Prado was tagged out trying to get back to the bag. Cliff Pennington popped to Utley to set the Snakes down.

Bad base-running by Arizona helps Hamels get a big out. Brown didn’t play the ball well, but second and third with one out it a whole lot worse for the Phils than two down and a runner on second.

Hamels threw a 1-2-3 third.

He walked Paul Goldschmidt to start the fourth, but Goldschmidt was picked off with Howard throwing to Rollins to get the first out. Hamels got the next two.

Two outs on the bases for Arizona in three innings.

Prado and Parra singled back-to-back to start the fifth, putting men on first and second for Pennington. Pennington went down on a ground ball handled by Hamels for the first out with the runners moving up to second and third. The pitcher Patrick Corbin was next and grounded to short for the second out. Both runners moved up a base, though, with Prado scoring to put Arizona up 1-0 with Parra on third. Hamels walked the next two batters, loading the bases for Goldschmidt, but Goldscmidt grounded to short to leave them loaded.

Hamels issues back-to-back walks on ten pitches to AJ Pollack and Gregorius after the RBI-ground out by the pitcher. Corbin’s ball was slowly hit and Prado was going on contact. Rollins didn’t have a chance to get him at home and made a nice play to get the out at first.

Cody Ross doubled to start the sixth and Miguel Montero walked behind him, putting men on first and second with nobody out for Prado. Prado grounded to short with Montero forced at second for the first out. With runners on the corners, Parra bunted a ball hard to the right of Howard at first. Howard came off the bag to field the ball and tossed to Utley covering to get the second out at first, but Ross scored (2-0) and Prado moved up to second. Pennington was walked intentionally to pitch to the pitcher. Hamels got Corbin on a ground ball to short to end the inning.

Hamels walks four in the fifth and sixth innings combined, including the intentional walk to Pennington.

Aumont started the seventh with the lead cut to 2-1. Gregorius singled to center with one out and moved up to second on a ground out by Goldschmidt. Ross was next and Aumont walked him on four pitches, putting runners on first and second. Horst took over to pitch to the lefty Montero and walked him as well, loading the bases with two down. Prado popped to short on a 3-2 pitch to leave them loaded.

Aumont faced four batters in the game, allowing a single and a walk. He dropped his ERA on the year to 2.45 with the outing, but he’s been nowhere near that good. Ten walks in 11 innings and two of the five runs he’s allowed have been unearned. Didn’t strike anyone out last night, but he has struck out 12 in 11 innings. There’s close to no way to be a successful reliever if you walk 8.2 batters per nine innings like he has this season. The way to look like a successful reliever is to get lucky and not pitch a lot of innings.

Horst was back for the eighth. Walked Parra to start the inning and Pennington bunted him to second with the first out. Lefty Jason Kubel hit for the pitcher David Hernandez and struck out swinging. Pollack grounded to short to end the inning.

Horst faced six men. Walked two and got four outs, one of which came on a bunt. He’s walked four in 3 1/3 innings over his last three appearances. The Phillies have lost 13 of the 14 games in which Horst has appeared this season. Lefties are on-basing .480 against him for the year.

Both Aumont and Horst were pitching for the second day in a row. Horst threw 28 pitches in the game Aumont 14. I would guess they try to avoid using Horst tonight.

Overall the pen went two scoreless innings in the game, allowing a hit and three walks.

The Phillie lineup against lefty Patrick Corbin went (1) Rollins (2) Utley (3) Michael Young (4) Howard (5) Delmon Young (6) Brown (7) Ruiz (8) Revere. Howard and Brown back in the lineup against the lefty after sitting against a lefty in game three of the set in San Francisco. Revere, hitting well in May, starts in center with lefty on the hill. The righty Mayberry on the bench.

The Phils went in order in the top of the first.

Delmon Young singled to right with one out in the second, but was thrown out going for two. Brown struck out swinging for the third out.

Young is really slow. His ball was hit near the first base line and sure looked like it should have been a double to me. Took him a long time to get to second and a look into right field probably slowed him down.

Ruiz was hit by a pitch to start the third, but the Phils went in order behind him.

The Phils went in order in the fourth.

Brown singled to center with one out in the fifth. Ruiz and Revere went down behind him on a pair of fly balls.

The Phils were down 1-0 when they hit in the sixth. Utley walked with two outs and took second on a wild pitch with Michael Young at the plate. Behind in the count 3-0, the lefty Corbin put the righty Young on intentionally to pitch to Howard with two outs and men on first and second. Howard struck out swinging 0-2 to leave both men stranded.

Ideally you wouldn’t see anyone walking people to pitch to your cleanup guy with two men on in a one-run game. Howard is hitting 176/200/412 against left-handed pitching.

The Phillies were down 2-0 when Delmon Young reached on an infield single to start the seventh. Brown was next and grounded to short with Young forced at second for the first out. Ruiz moved Brown up to second with a single into center, putting men on first and second for Revere. With the lefty Corbin still pitching for the Diamondbacks, Mayberry hit for Revere and lefty Matt Reynolds came in to pitch to him. Mayberry singled softly to left and the bases were loaded for Hamels. Frandsen hit for Hamels and blooped a ball into right. Mayberry didn’t read it right. The ball dropped, but Mayberry had hesitated. The right fielder Parra threw to second in time to force Mayberry for the second out. Brown scored to cut the lead to 2-1 and Ruiz moved up to third. Rollins popped to short to leave runners at the corners.

Don’t quite understand why righties Mayberry and Frandsen got to hit against the lefty Reynolds, especially given that righty David Hernandez pitched the eighth for the Snakes. Mayberry got a hit and Frandsen should have had a hit.

The righty Hernandez got Utley, Young and Howard in order in the eighth. Howard grounded out to Pennington in right field to end the inning. It wasn’t even shallow right field. Nice play by Pennington and a strong throw to get Howard.

Still don’t understanding using the righty Hernandez to face the lefties in the eighth after using a lefty to face the righties in the seventh. Worked out pretty well for Arizona.

Righty Heath Bell started the ninth with a one-run lead. Brown doubled to right with one out, but Ruiz flew to right behind him for the second out. Nix hit for Mayberry and grounded to short to end the game.

Rollins was 0-for-4. 204/262/286 over his last 107 plate appearances.

Utley 0-for-3 with a walk. 114/205/257 against left-handed pitching on the year.

Michael Young was 0-for-3 with a walk. He’s oddly hitting just .258 and slugging .323 against lefties. 313/365/469 against left-handed pitching for his career.

Howard 0-for-4 and struck out twice. Had a hit taken away from him in right field. 3-for-his-last-18 with ten strikeouts.

Brown 2-for-4 with a double, which was the only extra-base hit of the game for the Phils. He came into the game 1-for-his-last-18.

Ruiz 1-for-3. 3-for-his-last-12. 1-for-22 against right-handed pitching so far this season.

Revere was 0-for-2 in the game, but is hitting 368/465/421 in 22 plate appearances so far in May.

Tyler Cloyd makes his 2013 debut tonight against righty Ian Kennedy (1-3, 5.19). Cloyd went 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA for the Phils in six starts in 2012. He was really good against righties (224/244/421), but lefties hit him hard (314/397/588) and he allowed eight home runs in 33 innings. He threw to a 6.30 ERA over his last four starts. He made six starts at Triple-A this season, throwing to a 5.40 ERA with a 1.49 ratio. The Snakes have dropped four of the last five games that Kennedy has started. He’s walked a lot of right-handed hitters for the season, about 11.3% of the righties he’s faced. Righties are hitting .263 against him for the year, but on-basing .365.

The Phillies lost again last night, falling 4-3 to the Cardinals as they dropped their fourth straight.

The Phils got a solid start from Cole Hamels and twice tied the game late, once at 2-2 in sixth and again at 3-3 in the seventh. Carlos Beltran homered off of Mike Adams in the eighth to put the Cards ahead again. The Phils failed to score in the ninth after putting runners on first and third with nobody out.

The Phillies have not scored more than three runs in a game in any of their last seven games, averaging 1.86 runs per game over those seven. They haven’t drawn a walk in the last four games.

Charlie Manuel started a switch-hitting backup infielder in left and a righty in right last night, leaving two left-handed outfielders on the bench against a right-handed starter for St Louis. He used one of the lefties on the bench to pinch-hit for the right-handed starting outfielder against a right-handed pitcher with two outs in the bottom of the eighth and the Phillies down a run. I’m having some trouble making sense of those decisions.

The Phillies are 6-10 on the year after losing 4-3 to the St Louis Cardinals last night. They have lost four in a row and five of six.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. Three of the hits went for extra-bases, all doubles. He struck out eight.

Hamels has been solid in his last two starts after allowing 13 runs in 10 2/3 innings over his first two starts to begin the season.

Carlos Beltran singled with one out in the top of the first, but was thrown out trying to steal as Matt Holliday struck out to set St Louis down.

Yadier Molina singled to right with one out in the second and moved up to second when David Freese followed with a walk. Hamels struck Jon Jay out looking before Molina and Freese pulled off a double-steal. Pete Kozma grounded to third to leave the runners stranded.

Hamels threw a 1-2-3 third.

He walked Holliday to start the fourth. Alan Craig was next and lined a ball to right. Mayberry slipped and it went for a double, which moved Holliday up to third. Molina followed and lined a ball into the right-field corner for another double, clearing the bases and putting St Louis up 2-0. Hamels struck out Freese and Jay behind Molina and got Kozma on a ground ball to Utley to leave Molina stranded.

Hamels set the Cardinals down in order in the fifth and again in the sixth.

It was 2-2 when Freese doubled to right to start the seventh. Jay bunted him up to third with the first out. Kozma was next and flew to right. Freese tagged and scored to put St Louis up 3-2. Hamels struck the pitcher Adam Wainwright out to end the frame.

Adams started the eighth with the game tied at 3-3. He struck Matt Carpenter out for the first out, but Beltran was next and he hit a 2-1 pitch out to left, putting the Cards up again at 4-3. Adams got Holliday on a ground out to short before Craig walked and moved up to second on a Molina single. Hamels got Freese swinging 2-2 to leave both runners stranded.

Adams faced six batters in the game, allowing a single, a walk and a home run while getting three outs. He’s allowed four hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings over his last two times out.

Papelbon threw a 1-2-3 ninth.

Papelbon has throw five scoreless innings over his last five appearances, allowing one hit and one walk.

Overall the pen goes two innings in the game, allowing a run on two hits and a walk. Adams threw 22 pitches and Papelbon 11.

The Phillie lineup against righty Adam Wainwright went (1) Rollins (2) Galvis (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Young (6) Mayberry (7) Revere (8) Kratz. Brown on the bench after hurting his back the previous day. Revere drops to seventh in the order with Rollins leading off. Galvis starts in left, making his first career appearance there, with Nix and Carrera on the bench. Mayberry in right against the righty. Freddy Galvis is a pretty atrocious guy to start in left. The lefties Nix and Carrera watch against a righty while the switch-hitting non-outfielder Galvis starts in left? Huh? That’s terrible. Freddy Galvis has 2,179 plate appearances in the minors and 223 career plate appearances in the majors. They’ve demonstrated he’s a really, really poor offensive player. He really shouldn’t be starting in left field for you. If you have two left-handed outfielders on your team that you don’t prefer to start in the outfield over a light-hitting utility infielder, you might want to consider replacing them.

Galvis singled to right with one out in the bottom of the first, but Utley hit into a double-play behind him.

Howard singled to start the second, but the Phillies went in order behind him.

The Phils went in order in the third.

Down 2-0, Utley singled with one out in the fourth and moved up to second on a single by Howard. Young grounded into a double-play to end the inning.

Second GDP for Young in two games and third in the last five.

The Phils went in order in the fifth.

They got back-to-back doubles from Rollins and Galvis with one out in the sixth, cutting the lead to 2-1. Utley followed Galvis’s double with a single into center that scored Galvis and tied the game at 2-2. Howard and Young both grounded out to set the Phillies down.

The Phillies trailed 3-2 when Mayberry led off the seventh and dribbled an infield single to third. Revere bunted Mayberry to second and Mayberry took third on a wild pitch. Kratz singled into left and Mayberry scored, tying the game at 3-3. With the righty Wainwright still pitching, Brown hit for Hamels and grounded to second for the second out. Rollins flew to right to leave Kratz stranded.

Big hit for Kratz, who has just had a miserable start to the season. He didn’t have an RBI in his last 25 at-bats coming into the game. Second hit of the game for Galvis drives in Rollins.

The Phils trailed 4-3 when righty Trevor Rosenthal started the bottom of the eighth for the Cards. Howard and Young singled back-to-back with two outs, putting men on first and second with one down for Mayberry. Carrera ran for Howard at second and righty Edward Mujica came in to pitch for St Louis. Nix hit for Mayberry and struck out swinging 0-2 to leave both runners stranded.

Huh? No, really. You want Nix hitting against a righty with the game on the line but Mayberry (and Galvis) starting against a righty? You want it enough to take Mayberry out of the game and put Carrera in it (Carrera took over in right in the ninth). I don’t get it.

Revere singled into center off of Mujica to start the ninth with the Phils still down a run. Kratz was next and moved Revere up to third with a soft single into right. Frandsen hit for Papelbon and grounded to short. It probably would have been a double-play ball, but Kozma didn’t handle it cleanly and then went to first to get one out. Revere was not going on contact and held third. It brought Rollins to the plate with one out and runners on second and third. Mujica struck him out swinging 2-2 for the second out. Lee ran for Kratz at second and Galvis grounded to second to end the game.

Second big hit for Kratz in the last three innings, but the Phillies don’t score after putting runners on first and third with nobody out. Huge strikeout for Rollins with one out and runners on second and third. Revere doesn’t score from third on the ground ball to short with nobody out.

Rollins was 1-for-5 in the game with an enormous strikeout in the ninth inning. He’s 2-for-his-last-23.

Galvis was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. He’s 7-for-his-last-17 with two walks, a double and a home run. He’s a bad, bad, bad hitter, though. If you let him hit long enough, he’ll put up bad, bad, bad numbers.

Utley 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Howard 3-for-4. He’s 12-for-his-last-31 (.387).

Young was 1-for-4 and left four men on base. 7-for-his-last-24 with seven singles.

Mayberry 1-for-3. He has an impressive 286/394/536 line for the season.

Revere 1-for-3 with a big single to start the ninth. He’s on-basing .246 for the year without an extra-base hit. Still leads the team in plate appearances.

Kratz 2-for-4 with two big hits and an RBI. That’s the first multi-hit game of the season for Kratz.

Halladay (1-2, 7.63) faces lefty Jaime Garcia (1-0, 1.86) tonight. Halladay was terrible in his first two starts of the year before holding the Marlins to a run over eight innings in his most recent start. Garcia has been pretty good in all three of his starts this season. He’s walked nine in 19 1/3 innings, but opponents are hitting just .208 against him.

John Lannan is on the DL and could miss 6-8 weeks. Joe Savery has been called up.

The 2013 season started for the Phillies last night and it didn’t start well. Cole Hamels made his first Opening Day start and came up with a klunker, allowing three home runs as the Braves scored five runs charged to him in five innings.

Michael Young didn’t play very well at third and Chad Durbin’s first outing of the year was a dud. Durbin faced three hitters and all three reached base as he was charged with two runs without getting an out.

What did go well was the offense, which plated five runs, and especially Chase Utley. Utley was fantastic at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three RBI. He homered off of righty Tim Hudson in the fourth and tripled off of lefty Eric O’ Flaherty in the seventh.

The Phillies are 0-1 on the season after losing to the Braves 7-5 last night.

Hamels got the start for the Phillies and went five innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk. Five of the hits went for extra-bases, two doubles and three home runs. He struck out five.

He walked Jason Heyward with one out in the bottom of the first. Justin Upton was next and Hamels struck him out swinging 3-2, but Freddie Freeman followed and blasted a 2-1 pitch out to right, putting Atlanta up 2-0. BJ Upton went down on a ball hit hard back to Hamels to end the inning.

The lefty Freeman had some success against Hamels in the game.

Dan Uggla led off the bottom of the second. Uggla got ahead 3-0 and then hit the fourth pitch of his at-bat out to left. 3-0. Hamels got the next three.

Two of the first six batters that Hamels faces on the year homer. Uggla’s was the only one of the three long balls that Hamels actually turned to look at to see if it would leave the yard. On the other two he just hung his head on the mound when the pitch was hit.

Andrelton Simmons doubled to left to start the third. Hamels got the next two hitters before Freeman lined a single to right, scoring Simmons to put Atlanta up 4-0. Upton flew to center for the third out.

Again the lefty Freeman gets the lefty Hamels. Three RBI in two at-bats for Freeman for the season at that point.

Chris Johnson singled with one out in the fourth and the Atlanta lead cut to 4-1. It brought Gerald Laird to the plate and Laird hit a ball hard down the third base line and off the glove of a diving Young. The ball rolled into foul territory and Young chased — Johnson wound up on third and Laird was at second with a double. The pitcher Tim Hudson was next and grounded to Rollins with the runners holding for the second out. Simmons was next and grounded to third to end the inning.

Generous of the home town scorer to call Laird’s ball on the misplay by Young a double. Hamels puts up his first zero of the year after Atlanta scores in each of the first three innings. The Phils get lucky that it’s the pitcher coming to the plate with one out and men on second and third after the Laird double.

The Atlanta lead was cut to 4-3 when Hamels started the fifth. He got Heyward on a fly ball to right before Justin Upton hit a 1-2 pitch out to left center. Hamels got ahead of him 0-2, but Upton just crushed his 1-2 offering to make it 5-3. Hamels got the next two to set the Braves down.

Third homer of the game for Atlanta. Two to righties (Uggla and Justin Upton) and the other to the lefty Freeman.

Durbin started the sixth for the Phillies and walked the leadoff man Uggla on six pitches. Johnson was next and doubled into left on the first pitch of his at-bat, sending Uggla to third. It brought Laird to the plate with nobody out and men on second and third. He was swinging at the first pitch as well and blooped a single into left-center. Brown charged and mishandled the ball, but Revere was right there to pick it up and get it into the infield. Uggla scored on the play to make it 6-3 with one out and runners on the corners. Lefty Juan Francisco hit for the pitcher Luis Avilan and Horst came in to pitch to him. Righty Reed Johnson hit for Francisco and hit a ball back up the middle, off the edge of Horst’s glove to Rollins. Rollins went to second for the first out and Utley relayed to first for the second. As the throw went to first to complete the double-play, Johnson came home from third. Howard took the throw at first and threw home, but his throw was not handled and Johnson would have been safe anyway. 7-3. Simmons popped out to first to end the inning.

Much confusion about whether or not Manual made an error around bringing in Horst before the lefty Juan Francisco was announced as the pinch-hitter or not. Francisco was definitely in the on-deck circle when Horst came in, but announcers on the TV broadcast indicated the he had not been announced and therefore the righty Reed Johnson was hitting for the pitcher Avilan and not the left-handed pinch-hitter Francisco. The box score on the MLB.com web site shows that Francisco actually hit for Avilan. I don’t know. Either way, Horst faced the righty Reed Johnson and got him to hit into a double-play.

Not a good start for Durbin. He faces three batters in the game, allowing a walk, a single and a double without getting an out. Durbin pitched for the Braves last year, which makes it a little more interesting that both Johnson and Laird were swinging first pitch on their hits.

Nice job by Revere to be right on the ball and prevent Johnson from scoring when Brown mishandled the bloop by Laird. Didn’t wind up mattering as Johnson scored on the double-play, but it was a nice play.

Horst was back for the seventh. Freeman blooped a single to left with two outs, but Horst struck out BJ Upton to leave Freeman at first.

Freeman’s bloop was a little odd. It stayed in the air for a long, long time and Brown wasn’t close to getting there. Looked like he was playing really deep in left given the left-handedness of the hitter.

Horst goes two scoreless innings in the game, striking out two and allowing a bloop single on a ball that might have been handled.

Aumont pitched the eighth. He walked Johnson with one out. Laird was next and hit a ball hard to third. It probably would have been a double-play ball if Young had handled it cleanly. He didn’t, but picked it up and threw to first. The throw was in the dirt, but Howard did a nice job to scoop it for the second out as Johnson moved up to second. Switch-hitter Ramiro Pena hit for the pitcher Jordan Walden and grounded to first to end the inning.

Aumont goes one scoreless inning in the game, striking out one and allowing a walk. Last year he walked nine for the Phillies in 14 2/3 innings and walked 34 in 44 1/3 innings in the minors. That’s too many walks. The Phillies should have turned a double-play on the ball hit by Laird.

Overall the pen goes three innings in the game, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out three. Horst pitched great. Durbin did not. Aumont threw a scoreless innings but needs to walk fewer hitters. Horst threw 17 pitches, Aumont 14 and Durbin eight. All three seem likely to be available for game two of the set given the off-day today.

The Phillies lineup against righty Tim Hudson went (1) Revere (2) Rollins (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) M Young (6) Brown (7) Mayberry (8) Kratz. Two of the nine players the Phillies start were also in the lineup for game one in 2012 (Rollins and Mayberry). Kratz starts behind the plate with Ruiz suspended. Brown in left with the righty Mayberry in right and the lefty Nix on the bench. Mayberry comes into the game with good numbers against Hudson — 4-for-13 with two home runs. Revere leads off against the righty with Rollins hitting second. One of the things that does is prevents three lefties two through four in the lineup from Revere to Howard (if Revere were hitting second). Revere and Michael Young make their Phillie debuts. Erik Kratz enters the game with zero career plate appearances in April and seven career plate appearances in March, April, May or June.

The Phillies went in order in the first.

They were down 2-0 when they hit in the top of the second. Young walked with one out and moved up to second when Brown followed with a single to right. It put two men on for Mayberry and Mayberry grounded into a double-play to set the Phillies down.

Mayberry hits into a lot of double-plays. So far, this year is no exception.

Revere singled to left with two outs in the second and the Phils down 3-0. He stole second before Rollins grounded to second to leave him stranded.

The Phillies were trailing 4-0 when Utley started the fourth with a home run to center. 4-1. Howard grounded out to Uggla in shallow right field for the first out and Young struck out swinging for the second before Brown drew a walk. Mayberry struck out looking to leave Brown at first.

With one out in the fifth, the Phillies loaded the bases for Utley on singles by Hamels and Rollins and a walk to Revere. Utley singled to right, scoring Hamels and Revere to cut the lead to 4-3 and taking second as the throw came in to third. It put men on second and third with one down for Howard and lefty Luis Avilan came in to pitch to him. Avilan quickly got ahead of Howard 0-2 and struck him out swinging for the second out. The righty Young was walked intentionally to load the bases for Brown. Brown grounded to second to leave them loaded.

Second big hit for Utley in two innings after the homer in the fourth. Howard comes up empty in a big spot, striking out with one out and men on second and third. Intentionally walking Michael Young so your lefty can pitch to Domonic Brown in the fifth inning is a poor idea, but it worked out well for the Braves in this case. I don’t think that’s in the best interest of your team in the long run, however.

The Phils trailed 5-3 when they hit in the sixth. Mayberry and Kratz went down for the first two outs. With the lefty Avilan still on the mound for the Braves, Frandsen hit for Hamels and singled into center. Revere grounded to short to end the frame.

Avilan pitched well in the game for Atlanta, holding the Phils to a single (by the righty Frandsen) and an intentional walk (to the righty Young) over 1 2/3 innings.

Atlanta led 7-3 when lefty Eric O’ Flaherty started the seventh for the Braves. Utley tripled with one out and scored on a Howard ground out, cutting the lead to 7-4. Young grounded to third to set the Phillies down.

Utley triples off of the lefty after homering off the righty Hudson earlier in the game.

Mayberry doubled to left off of righty Jordan Walden with one out in the eighth. He took third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Kratz single to cut the lead to 7-5. Nix hit for Horst and Kratz took second on another wild pitch before Nix flew to left for the second out. Revere struck out swinging to leave Kratz stranded.

Righty Craig Kimbrel set Rollins, Utley and Howard down in order in the ninth.

Revere was 1-for-4 in the game with a walk and a stolen base. Made a nice defensive play to be in the area when Brown mishandled the single in the sixth.

Rollins 1-for-5.

Utley 3-for-5 with a triple, a home run and three RBI.

Howard 0-for-5 with an RBI. Struck out with one out and men on second and third at a big moment in the fifth.

Young didn’t look good defensively at third. He was 0-for-2 and walked twice (once intentionally).

Brown 1-for-3 with a walk. Less than outstanding in left. Mishandled one ball while charging but was backed-up nicely by Revere. Queerly was nowhere close to catching Freeman’s bloop single in the seventh.

Mayberry 1-for-4 with a strikeout and grounded into a double-play. He hit 229/291/335 against right-handed pitching in 2012. So it’s not a good sign if you’re starting him in one of your corner outfield positions against a righty on Opening Day.

Kratz 1-for-4 with an RBI.

The Phillies don’t play today. Game two of the season and the series is tomorrow night.

More strong pitching for the Phillies yesterday as they topped Detroit 4-1. Hamels, Durbin and Bastardo combined to throw five scoreless innings for the Phils, who have allowed a total of two runs in their last two games.

Fantastic pitching on back-to-back days sets the stage for Roy Halladay’s final spring start, which will come this afternoon against Toronto. Halladay has had a miserable spring training coming off of a 2012 in which he threw to a 5.28 ERA over his last 20 starts.

Michael Young drove in two of the four Phillie runs, going 1-for-3 with a double and two RBI. He’s hitting 264/304/361.

Mayberry was a much-needed 1-for-3 with a walk and a double, which ups his line to 200/263/286.

Revere 2-for-4 with two singles and two stolen bases. He has nine steals on the spring. Nine stolen bases in 87 plate appearances is a lot — it would put him on pace to steal about 52 over 500 plate appearances.

Inciarte started in left and went 2-for-4 with an RBI. He also stole his second base. 286/375/321 in 33 plate appearances. The Phillies need to make a decision about what to do with him by the end of the weekend.

Orr started at second and was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, dropping his line to 267/267/533. He’s walked in about 3.6% of his plate appearances for his career and exactly 0% of his plate appearances this spring.

Kevin Frandsen has a sore left wrist after being hit by a Justin Verlander pitch in the third inning.

Hamels started the game for the Phillies and went three shutout innings, allowing a hit and a walk, both of which came in the bottom of the first. He threw a 1-2-3 second and a 1-2-3 third.

0.95 ERA and an 0.79 ratio for Hamels in 19 official spring innings. He hasn’t allowed a home run. He, Aumont (6 1/3 innings pitched) and Adams (7) are the Phillies who have thrown at least five official spring innings without allowing a home run.

Durbin followed Hamels, setting the Tigers down in order in the fourth.

5.56 ERA and a 1.41 ratio for Durbin. Opponents have hit .310 against him.

Miner pitched after Durbin, allowing a run over two innings to drop his ERA to 8.36.

Bastardo struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh. He has 11 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings, a 3.86 ERA and a 1.07 ratio.

Brandon Erbe and Chris Nichols combined to keep the Tigers off the board for the last two innings.

Halladay today as the Phils face the Blue Jays.