Thursday, July 23, 2009

Phillies Recap: Phillies-9, Padres-4

Game Recap:
Behind a solid game from Cole Hamels, the Phillies won their 15th game out of 17, beating the Padres in their makeup game from April.

What went right?

Jimmy Rollins was 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Chase Utley went 1-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Ryan Howard was 1-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Raul Ibanez was 1-5 with two RBI.

Jayson Werth went 3-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Pedro Feliz went 3-5 with an RBI.

Carlos Ruiz was 1-4 with a home run.

Cole Hamels pitched seven strong innings, allowing three runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out six.

What went wrong?

Andrew Carpenter didn't exactly impress in his return from the minor leagues, allowing a run on two hits while recording only one out.

The Phillies placed both Chad Durbin and J.C. Romero on the DL.

Game Analysis:

After an ugly loss to the Cubs yesterday, the Phillies needed a bounce back game, and they got just that against one of the worst teams in baseball. Cole Hamels looked sharp, and the offense was on point again for a good win over San Diego, which is exactly what the Phils needed.

For the second straight start, Cole has looked more like himself, only this time, he was able to pitch deep into the game. While he did have trouble in the fourth inning, the offense was able to get those runs right back, and he didn't have a problem for the rest of the time he was in the game. His control still wasn't at 2008 levels, but seeing him pitch well again for seven innings is a very good thing, especially during the second half of the season.

You've got to love how the Phillies bounced back on offense today after a slow day yesterday. After wasting a ton of chances against the Cubs, the Phils managed to drive in nine runs today and looked much better doing it. Raul Ibanez drove an outside pitch to the leftfield corner for two runs, while the rest of the heart of the Philadelphia lineup did what they had to do, and gave Cole more than enough runs. Yes, the Padres are one of the worst teams in baseball, but the Phillies need to win games like this just the way they did, so I'm not going to complain. Beating up on bad teams is what pads the records of good teams. Sorry, Padres.

Tomorrow, J.A. Happ (7-0, 2.68 ERA) looks to continue his season of ass kicking, as he faces off against the St. Louis Cardinals and Joel Pineiro (8-9, 3.09 ERA). I don't know why Pinerio loses so many games with such a low ERA, but I hope the Phils can keep that trend up.

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