The Philadelphia Phillies lost their second straight game on Friday night, falling to the New York Mets 4-3. Their record drops to 35-39.
- Cole Hamels turned in a mediocre start, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks over just six innings. Hamels got an early three-run lead from his offense, but slowly spit it up and turned it into a one-run hole. He suffered his 11th loss of the season, and his ERA stands at 4.50.
- Hamels allowed the Mets to slowly chip away at him. After allowing a double to Eric Young, he then gave up an RBI single to David Wright in the fourth inning. In the fifth, Hamels surrendered two runs on a single to Young. In the sixth, he gave the Mets the lead on an RBI double to Juan Lagares.
- The Phillies scored all of their runs in the third inning. Ryan Howard led off the inning with a double, and Domonic Brown drove him in with a double of his own. Ben Revere got an RBI on a fielders’ choice two batters later, and Jimmy Rollins also got a run home thanks to an error.
- Howard finished the game going 2-5 with two doubles. Howard may not have the home run power that he used two, but he’s still been able to find the gaps, he’s now got 20 doubles on the year.
- Domonic Brown went 2-3 with a walk.
- Chase Utley made his return to the lineup, but went 0-5 and left five men on base.
- Jimmy Rollins returned the lead-off spot, and Michael Young moved to three hole because of Utley’s return.
- Justin De Fratus pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
- Jake Diekman handled the eighth without allowing any more damage.
Final Thoughts
Cole Hamels is his own worst enemy right now.
Its not the opposing hitters, its not the Phillies’ lineup not getting him run support, the problem now is that Hamels just can’t shut any of these teams down. This isn’t even one of the top offensive lineups in the National League, this is the New York Mets, a bottom-feeding team with only one legitimate offensive in their lineup (David Wright). This is a team that a guy like Hamels should cruise against. We keep waiting for Cole to have that dominating effort where he tosses a complete game shutout, but even against a team like this he can’t make into the seventh inning. That’s very alarming, to say the least.
Now Hamels isn’t the only one to blame for tonight’s loss. There’s no doubt that the lineup failed to their job tonight as well. Even though they got a three-run lead early, they just shut down for the rest night. You’ve got to be able to keep tacking on runs throughout the game to put a team away, especially a sorry bunch like the Mets.
That being said, a three-run lead should be all that a $125 million dollar pitcher should need to earn a victory on a typical night. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for the guy who the Phillies thought to be their ace of aces this season.
You can’t say enough about how disappointing Hamels has been in 2013. He’s made almost no positive impact on this season. The Phillies have lost nearly every one of his starts. Think about that for a minute. Cole has made 16 starts, and the team has won only three of those games. If they could even manage to play .500 ball when he’s on the mound, they’d be neck and neck with the Braves for first place.
But Hamels hasn’t been the guy he was supposed to be. Even though the run support hasn’t been there most of the year, he’s had at least three games now where he’s blown three and four-run leads. That’s inexcusable and unacceptable. The Phillies need the former World Series MVP to step up, but he’s gone into a shell instead.
Awful effort all around. Cole is the first pitcher in 76 years to have 11 losses before July. He looks like he did in 2009 which is average.
I keep thinking this team is going to flick a switch and go on a tear, but this team flat out stinks. Blow it up and start over.
E-$$$$, none of this should be surprising to anyone. Only the delusional, enabling, excuse making, lemmings, still think this team has a prayer. They stay quiet for weeks, but only show their faces on here, when the Phils win a few meaningless games, to pump their chests out, & make imbecilic comments! This team is horrific, without a prayer, & the only reason why they ain’t 10+ games out, is because they’re in the worst division in MLB! This is the biggest bunch of unenergized, heartless, undisciplined, uncaring, stupid, waste of $$$, bunch of mutts, that have been assembled for this organization, since the late 90’s! Until Montgomery starts caring about winning again, & honesty caring about the fans (thinking we are all stupid), instead of pocketing $$$, by putting a sham on the field, insulting true knowledgeable fans intelligence, nothing will change, & we will have what we have. A mediocre, bunch of old, overpaid, has-beens & porous band-aids! Ruin 2morrow needs to go, his inept scouting staff needs to follow, & we need start trading assets! I’m sick of hearing, “It’s too early”, “They’re still in it”, “we ain’t blowing it up” blah, blah, blah!!!! They ONLY WAY, that we can possibly start the rebuild, is by trading assets we have, in Lee, Crapelbon, Rollins, & Utley. Release D. Young. DL Howard. Bring up Ruf & play him in LF/1B. Bring up Martin, & Morgan (when healthy). Move Brown to RF. Do everything you can, to get Stanton. Fire Manuel & Ruin 2morrow & replace them with Sandberg & Proefrock. But until our inept GM is fired, by our blind, inept, ill-advised, minority Owner Monty, we WILL NOT improve, rebuild, nor have a chance! Enough is enough! BTW, we don’t have “Warts”, we have a plague of toads! Get real!
Cole Hamels never was, never will be the ace, he’s ball less, that record is on him, that loss, also on him
Dcar, the phillies will still make a run in the second half and make it close if not outright winning the division, your rants are usually justified, but not this one, as Denny said, if this punk Hamels was .500 the Philllies are neck with the braves
jake, at 2-11, with a 4.50 ERA, I’m starting to agree with you on Hamels, & I love the guy. There is only so much you can blame on run support, when in half your games, you blow 2-3 run leads. BTW, if you think they’re making a second half run, with this dysfunctional, floundering team, in disarray, you have officially have drunk too many dogfish head beers, & need to commit yourself to the Betty Ford Clinic. Huge, wholesale changes, need to be made, before this team ever competes again! If you can name me 5-7 guys currently playing, who should & are worthy of being here, for a rebuild, you are good! I have Brown? Revere? Galvis? Hamels? Pettibone? DeFratus? Stutes?
Howard is immovable. Lee, Crapelbon, Rollins, should be traded, because of their value. Utley, Chooch, Nix, Halladay, & both Youngs are FA’s, & NONE SHOULD return, so get some young assets. We have no choice to rebuild, ASAP. I know it sucks to accept the reality, but it has to be done. This dreck is going nowhere fast.
I have some realistic, doable, trade possibilities-
Phillies LHP Cliff Lee- Texas Rangers 3B Mike Olt, OF Nomar Mazara, & RHRP Jose Valdespina.
Phillies Closer Jonathan Crapelbon & OF Lance Nix- Detroit Tigers 3B/OF Nick Castellanos, Closer Bruce Rondon, LHRP Matt Hoffman.
Phillies 2B Chase Utley- Baltimore OF LJ Hoes/ 2B Jonathan Schoop.
Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins- SF Giants IF/OF Juan Perez, RHP Juan Gregorio.
*Phillies SP Jonathan Pettibone, RHRP Philipe Aumont, C Sebastion Valle, 2B Cesar Hernandez, SS Roman Quinn- Miami Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton. RHP Ricky Nolasco.*
Dream trade^^ LOL!
I’ve stated a 1,000 times, Cole Hamels is not “Mentally Tough'”
To fight thru adversity like a Top Ace has to do, it’s just not in his make-up..
He doesn’t trust his stuff enough to challenge hitters often enough and gets too cute and waste’s too many Pitches and then get’s himself in trouble
His Arm in fine, but his Head is not, I have always stated he’s a good #3
Pitcher and not an Ace to or Top #1 or #2, he can’t handle the Pressure
Of being an Ace…