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May
09
2010
May 9 Game Recap: Phillies 5, Braves 3
Posted by at 11:12 pm ET 81 Comments

It wasn’t the prettiest line for Cole Hamels, but it got the job done.

One start after nearly going the distance against in a dominating performance against the St Louis Cardinals, Hamels went only five innings and allowed three runs in a win over the Atlanta Braves (13-18) to give the Philadelphia Phillies (19-12) the series win.

After being held in check on Saturday, the offense went to work on Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami early on in the contest. They put two on the board in the first after Jayson Werth was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and was followed by a sacrifice fly from Raul Ibanez.

Placido Polanco, Werth, and Shane Victorino also added solo shots, capping off the Phils scoring at five.

Back to Hamels.

For the first four innings, Hamels kept the Braves off the board, despite allowing four hits and two walks. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that he ran into trouble, when he walked Kenshin Kawakami to start the inning, followed by back to back singles to Omar Infante and Martin Prado.

Melky Cabrera followed with an infield single that glanced off Chase Utley’s glove, followed by a seeing-eye single from Troy Glaus that plated two, bringing the Braves to within one.

Hamels saw his way out of the inning with a strikeout and two groundouts, but saw his day come to an end after five.

The fifth inning for Hamels was a microcosm of his struggles in 2009. After four good innings to start the game, he hit a rough patch in the fifth that started with a walk to the opposing pitcher. That was followed by four four straight singles, none of which were hit particularly hard. In a nutshell, it was a mini-run of bad luck that Hamels couldn’t seem to work around.

Was it due to lack of talent or focus? Likely not. The strikezone wasn’t the most consistent, which resulted in a higher than usual amount of walks for Cole.

It wasn’t the dominant outing that he put up against the Cardinals, but it was more than enough to get the Phillies the win in the finale.

The bullpen stood out in this game, as they strung together four perfect innings to finish off the Braves. Chad Durbin pitched two innings and struck out four, while Jose Contreras pitched the eighth and Brad Lidge taking the hill in the ninth for his first save of the season.

The Phillies finished off the homestand with a flourish, defeating the Braves to go 7-3 at Citizens Bank Park, before heading out to Colorado for a three game series with the Rockies.

In game one of the series, Kyle Kendrick (1-1, 5.87) takes on Greg Smith (1-2, 6.35).

Cole Hamels (W, 3-2) allowed three runs in five innings, giving up eight hits and four walks while striking out five.

Shane Victorino went 1 for 4 with a homer (7) and an RBI.

Placido Polanco went 2 for 4 with a homer (5) and an RBI.

Jayson Werth went 1 for 3 with a homer (7) and two RBIs.

Brad Lidge (S, 1) pitched a perfect ninth inning for the save.

Kenshin Kawakami (L, 0-6) allowed five earned runs in 6 2/3 on seven hits and two walks. He struck out five.

Omar Infante went 3 for 5 with a double (4) and a run.

Troy Glaus went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

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  • Shep Trumbo

    Allow me to preempt Eric with a hearty

    SHUUUUUUUUUT THE FUUUUUUCK UUUUUUUUUUUUP

  • Heather

    “Was it due to lack of talent or focus? Likely not. The strikezone wasn’t the most consistent, which resulted in a higher than usual amount of walks for Cole.”

    It was also due to a lack of control on pitches; the ump bears some of the blame, bad luck another portion, but a good portion of the blame belong to Hamels himself as his control was spotty.

    Ball 4 to Kawakami looked ugly, at least on the TV. Nowhere near the strike zone. That’s the worst one I remember, but there were a few others where I thought to myself, “I hope that’s not where he intended to throw it.”

  • Brian

    Those hits off of Lidge were hard though.. not sure how much the wind did take that stuff but i thought they both were gone off the bat.

  • Eric

    I EAT COCK

  • http://www.twitter.com/JohnHotcakes Johnny Hotcakes

    Oh my, that Colbert Hamles is a regular character. That boy can throw a fit when he has a mind to, but he’s really a good kid. When he comes in lookin’ like a cat on a July morn, I whip up a bowl full of his favorite buttermilk silver dollar pancakes, and he’s alright. Ya see, he’s just a young ‘un, and them young guns run a little hot sometimes. One day, after talking to Charley during his normal brunch hotcake, I decided to impart a little bit of the smarts I’ve picked up over the decades. Yeah, I know he’s a base-ball pitching man and I’m a hotcake maker, but heck, I knew he needed some sense talked into ‘im. So I said to the boy, “Colin, when one of your team’s mates makes one of them errors, or when you walk a Brave or a Met or whatnot, don’t go stompin’ around like you just caught your best friend eatin’ your hotcake. Those boys are doin’ their darndest to help ya out there. Heck, when my son spills all the hotcake batter on the floor, do you see me hoppin’ around actin’ like some sort of non-hotcake-eating fool?” Well, he was right quiet for a while. I didn’t charge him for the silver dollar hotcakes, and he kinda just left without saying much of anything. But during his next start, I believe it was in the Nation’s Capital, you bet your bottom hotcake that Cone looked more relaxed out there.

  • Phils Phan

    @ Brian:

    Agreed. The box score doesn’t tell the whole story of Lidge’s 9th.

  • Jupiter’s Rings

    Maybe it’s me, but I feel like this season’s Hamels averages out to “meh.”

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    I think it’s you. He had a rough start today and lost his control, but he’s striking out more hitters right now than he ever has in his career. I think this will be a big season for him.

  • http://www.twitter.com/dmc0603 Danny

    I think his lack of control has to be somewhat concerning. his walk rate is pretty high so far, and he isn’t consistently going deep into games as a result.

    Those rates are above his career averages, so there is probably a good chance that those numbers come down. When the dude throws strikes, he is filthy and misses bats. When he is all over the place like today, he’s not very good.

    Clearly, it is the top subplot on this team and the difference between World Series champs and NL champs. Hopefully he can put a good string together. Historically, he has improved as the season goes along.

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    His walk rate is like .4 over his career average

  • http://www.twitter.com/dmc0603 Danny

    It’s about 1.2 what he had from 2007-09. not really including his rookie year because it looks like an outlier. It’s 1.3 over last year. Pretty significant.

  • http://www.twitter.com/dmc0603 Danny

    The 3.3 for this year is probably an outlier, too. It’s only 7 starts. He still has 24 more or so, so we’ll see.

  • http://briandolan17@facebook.com BD

    stats showdown cue tumble weed

  • TonyShalhoubFan69

    The only important question is this: what’s Cole Hamel’s Ultimate Zone Rating gonna look like this year?

  • http://twitter.com/lonettomb maxL

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWo__6Xn6Qs

    Figured it was appropriate.

  • http://www.twitter.com/dmc0603 Danny

    Ha, okay, how ’bout this…

    That fairy Cole Hamels needs to stop fucking walking so many batters and start getting them to either strike out, fly out or ground out. Stop being a goddamn idiot Cole and start pitching like an effing All-Star.

    If you don’t, I will boo you until you have to curl up into the fetal position. I don’t care if it hurts your fairy feelings.

  • Eric

    I’m the bad guy because I always tell you guys to stop talking shit about the Phillies.

    I wasn’t surprised that people were going to focus on Lidge’s 2 outs being hit hard. It’s easy for you guys to focus on that. Just forget the 4 innings of no-hit ball. Nothing to see here.

  • http://twitter.com/lonettomb maxL

    If it weren’t for the wind blowing in, those two fly-balls from Lidge take a big steaming shit all over those 4 innings of no-hit ball, so yes, there is a bit of focus laid on them.

  • Section118

    Werth is freakin’ on fire. Someone wants a nice payday next year… too bad it ain’t us.

  • Eric

    And you can’t remember any flyballs Utley hit that may have extended the lead and maybe not made it a save situation? Because I can!

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    . . . so?

  • Deej

    Wait guys, because we went 7-2 to start the season against the Nats and Stros, werent we supposed to not be able to play with the “good teams”? 7-3 homestand, suck it national media.

  • Dubee Dubee Du

    So??….So what he is saying is right if the wind isn’t blowing in all day as it was the Phils may have had 8-3 lead and those 2 would be taters given up by lidge don’t mean jack. Ease up on the panic button boys and girls that was only Brads 3rd game since coming back. Just as Heavy B needs to get back to form to go a good 7 or 8 innings so does Lidge need some rust blown off to get that slider going and to spot the fastball. Oh yeah and had the wind been a nonfactor Werths blast might have hit the roof of Harry the K’s

  • Dubee Dubee Du

    Off topic: Is it just me or does anyone else find that Obama’s new nominee to the Supreme Court looks like Kevin Spacey in drag? That chick is a man baby!!

  • Pat

    guys eric is just a victim here, leave him alone

  • MOAB

    “Werth is freakin’ on fire. Someone wants a nice payday next year… too bad it ain’t us.”

    wait, wut?

    so we don’t want a payday? :/

  • crazy4swayze

    i had no idea the braves were going to be this stinky. i mean, they totally smell. they eat a lot of butt and by the end of the season there probably won’t be any butt left.

  • Joe D

    Cole deserved a win like the one he got yesterday after the hard luck he encountered in his previous two starts.

    I spent most of this last series saddened by the fact that this will be Werth’s last year in Philly. The guy is an absolute monster. I can’t get over how much power he can generate with such quiet hands.

  • Jaison Worth

    Speak softly and carry a big stick…
    – T. Roosevelt 1901

  • will.H

    speak softly and wag your stick at strangers

  • redbeard

    encouraged by Lidge’s first save of the season, even though i thought the first two batters he faced hit homers (thanks wind). the pithching staff should be in place by the end of the month and we should get jimmie back at the same time. bye bye N.L. east

  • http://Genericshow.com GenericFanGroup

    Hey Eric,

    If you would have heard the postgame Lidge said that Chooch told him to just throw fastballs because the wind was gonna knock down anything in the air. But of course you know everything. How about instead of posting here you call WIP with your nonsense.

  • http://twitter.com/j_tee_r Jdashdog

    Why is all this hate directed towards Eric when it should be at Phylan and all the SABRnerds? They are the real enemy!

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    If that really was Chooch’s strategy, that’s kind of dumb, since a) the fastball is Lidge’s weaker pitch, b) fastballs result in more than just home runs, such as line drive doubles and whatnot, and c) well I don’t have a ‘c’ but damn that’s dumb

  • http://www.superfantabulousblog.blogspot.com maria

    I think he said throw strikes, not just fastballs.

  • Phan Stuck in nyc

    JDub also threw a nice one to Chooch snagging Infante at home. Saved a run. Sorry I might be the only one, but I think it would be stupid to not find the dough to keep him.

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    @maria oh well that makes more sense. I didn’t hear the interview in question.

  • BigMiles

    Eric man, I think you have made your point by now. There will always be people who are negative so there is no point in constantly pointing this out…it just creates more negativity.

    On a side note, we need JRoll back NOW. Valdez should just stand there until he sees three strikes when there are guys on base. I’m tired of seeing the double play happen in my mind before it actually goes down.

  • http://www.superfantabulousblog.blogspot.com maria

    It’s on the CSNPhilly website, the first video: http://www.csnphilly.com/pages/phillies

  • Eric

    BigMiles – my work is never done. One day Phillies fans will come here and think about pointing out something negative for the hell of it, but they won’t feel like having to deal with my illogical nonsense. Then, they will restrain themselves after that. Then, they won’t bitch and moan about Durbin only striking out 4 dudes and not all 6. And then the kids don’t grow up negative. So in about 25 years when there is a full generation of people not bitching about useless bullshit, then and only then will my work here be done. It’s gonna be good ride people.

    Happy Mothers day!

  • Fat Joe Blanton

    whats more interesting is why aren’t any of us working right now?

  • Watrick

    I’m not a fan of people being told not to post. It just seems silly, to me. So, I say Jdashdog and Eric can post all they want about each other. This ain’t the Mets blog, or philly.com that monitor the posts, and that’s the fun in it. Personally, I look at the commentator before I read a post, and I’d suggest people do that, too, so as to not get all grumpy about message board/comment section posts. You all sound like a bunch of Babies. I just look for posts from only a few people, and sometimes look at the other ones. I’m a big fan of will.H, maria, crazy4swayze, Phylan, Jdashdog, Eric, BigMiles, and all the other regular posters. They’re generally the reason why I don’t read other blogs.

  • 85

    BigMiles – So right about Valdez. He’s just been a human rally killer ever since that big double against the Cardinals. And it’s not even just the results; he doesn’t have any idea at the plate. More than once this weekend he came up where guys were on base due to walks, and the pitcher was having a tough time locating (once was Lowe, I believe the other was that Nuke LaLoosh rookie throwing 97 in no particular direction), and both times he swung at the first strike he saw, and both times hit into DPs. And he was up 2-0 in the count on one of them. They need to lock him in a room with Chooch so he can make Valdez understand what an 8-hole hitter’s job is. Get Chooch all hopped up on coffee ice cream and let the knowledge drop.

  • Watrick Hearts Maria

    just ask her out already

  • http://twitter.com/j_tee_r Jdashdog

    Watrick, for the record I like Eric. He has some spunk you just don’t find in many comment sections.

  • Jdashdog Hearts Eric

    just ask him out already

  • Uncle Cholly

    2 out of 3 against COL and 2 out of 3 against MIL? do we do it?

  • crazy4swayze

    what will the name of this new fightins dating website be? fightbook? f-date? meech-harmony?

  • Phylan

    I don’t know why Eric thinks I’m negative since I spend half the time defending guys like Hamels and Madson, and I was telling ya’ll not to panic when the offense was as cold as the Kuiper Belt. Whaaaatever

  • Phan Stuck in nyc

    Phylan chin up. You’re one of Watrick’s favorites.

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    Oh I know, it’s nice to feel somewhat tolerable.

    Anyway, where did the Toronto scoop post go?

  • Pat

    If by “spunk” you mean he’s a douche then yes.

  • http://twitter.com/lonettomb maxL

    @crazy4swayze

    Is HateFuck.com booked already?

  • The Killer Zs

    Amen Watrick. Now let us all sing koom-bay-ah cause the Rockies are meeting Philly-Roy tonight. heh heh heh heh.

  • mvptommyd

    “Anyway, where did the Toronto scoop post go?”

    I have a feeling that it isn’t true…..

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    @The Killer Zs Kendrick goes tonight, sad face

  • PHLPVD

    @The Killer Zs

    Unfortunately, we must wait until tomorrow to watch Doc again. On the bright side, we avoid Ubaldo this series.

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    Just a reminder of the best baseball headline of all time: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-118659749/angels-colon-absorbs-another.html

  • will.H

    hope the phils dont fly John Denver Airways.

    rocky mountaiiiiin hiiiiiiigh, coloradooooo. DEAD

  • TonyIsDynamic

    Pft. Advanced scoop my shapely backside…

  • http://briandolan17@facebook.com BD

    ahhh colorado the sunshine state

  • Dubee Dubee Du

    Poor meech. Hoisted by his own petard. Trying to outscoop the super scoopers.

  • Adam Eaton

    Uhh… why do posts keep appearing and then disappearing on the homepage? What is going on with this website?

  • http://www.thefightins.com meech.one

    I took it down, Adam. There were a couple reasons I had to pull it, but one was because I couldn’t get confirmation.

  • 85

    Confirmation? Pish, posh. This is The Fightins. Leave the “confirming” and “journalistic integrity” to sites that don’t giggle like idiots when Wheels says cock.

  • The Killer Zs

    Mea culpa re: Doc. Read an article about him pitching in his home state for the first time and forgot that Kendrick was up in the rotation first. Now I need to go find a blanket to hide under while Kyle the K pitches.

  • Joe D

    @Watrick…you aren’t a fan of me? Fine then. At least I still have my will.H poster hanging in my bedroom.

  • http://www.superfantabulousblog.blogspot.com maria

    I’m excited for Halladay tomorrow, but I’m can’t wait for Friday when they rock the old school, powder blue unis.

  • MOAB

    ^ ^ ^

    my pants are already off in anticipation

  • Phan Stuck in nyc

    Yeah the blue unis. But wasn’t Werth’s mother at the last Brewers game? Oh brother, close ups on Kim Schofield Werth, the ‘Hot Mama’.

  • Heather

    Can someone tell me the gist of the scoop post that was removed? I don’t care if it true or not, I just wanna know what it is.

  • Eric

    YOU GUYS LIKE ME?! YOU REALLY REALLY LIKE ME!

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    @Heather the Phils upcoming series against the Jays on June 25-27 may be moved to Philly because of the G20 summit

  • Heather

    Phylan, thanks. That would be nice. I was hoping for something like “Jamie Moyer attributes recent success to new cyborg arm,” or something. But another series in our ballpark would be good too. :-)

  • Morandini Turned Three

    I heard that the cyborg arm wasn’t really helping at all.

  • Watrick

    There were a lot of names I couldn’t think of, and that’s why I wrote, “and all the other regular posters.” Joe D, Phils Phan Stuck in NYC, and other names that didn’t pop into my head, and aren’t in this post to jog my memory, are also people that I like. Seriously, I read almost every post, so I didn’t mean for that to come off elitist or anything, I was just trying to steer the conversation away from bickering, and back to Phils related information.

    As for the moving the Toronto series here, that’s a rumor from the way back machine, like in January or February. I say, why not try to move it to Olympic Stadium, unless they imploded that. It would be nice for the Phils to get extra games and all, but the Jays shouldn’t miss out on the ticket sales, concession sales, and all the other monies that they gauge out of you. Keep the games north of the border.

  • http://www.firerubenamaro.net Phylan

    Yeah I agree with Watrick. Although if they move the series and keep the Jays as the home team, it would offer Lidge the rare opportunity to surrender a walk-off in his own stadium.

  • Joe D

    @Watrick….whatever man. You better watch your back.

  • Watrick

    I always enjoy looking for D’s…

  • Shep Trumbo

    You’re not a bad guy, Eric, just a fucking queen, so

    SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP

  • Phan Stuck in nyc

    Did someone say they liked Eric?

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R.I.P Harry Kalas