Game Recap:
Cole Hamels pitched eight innings of one run baseball, and Carlos Ruiz hit a walk off home run in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Phillies a win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
What went right?
Raul Ibanez was 1-2 with two walks and run scored.
Carlos Ruiz had two of the five Phillies hits, including the walk off home run in the tenth inning. He also drove in the other run for the Phils on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Cole Hamels looked great, giving up just one run on eight hits in eight innings of work. He walked two and struck out eight.
Brad Lidge pitched the ninth inning after Hamels was pulled and did well, stranding the go ahead run on third base. He walked a batter intentionally and struck out one.
What went wrong?
Aside from Ibanez and Ruiz, the Phillies managed just two hits, and Chase Utley and Ryan Howard went 0-7.
For the second day in a row, some idiot fan ran onto the field. He wasn't tased tonight, but he decided to jump onto the field in the top of the ninth inning. Cole Hamels promptly allowed back to back doubles that cost him the win and the shutout.
Game Analysis:
Going up against Adam Wainwright, the Phillies were going to need Cole Hamels to pitch like he did back in 2008 in order to have a shot at winning tonight. Well, Hamels and Brad Lidge both looked like they had hopped into a time machine out there on the mound. Hamels pitched eight innings of shutout baseball before allowing back to back doubles to start of the ninth inning, but Lidge was there to keep the Cardinals from taking the lead.
Hamels was on point all night long. His pitches were lively and he actually used them all well to keep himself out of trouble. The few times he did run into some rough patches, he was able to avoid the big inning and get out of it without any damage, and man, was that nice to see. This is the Cole Hamels that the Phillies need backing up Roy Halladay in the starting rotation. Tonight, his ERA dropped almost a full point, and he looked great throughout the game. So far, Hamels has had decent starts, but hasn't been able to avoid that one big inning in several of his games. Against the Giants in his last start, it was the sixth inning that did him in, and the fifth inning was his undoing against the Diamondbacks before that. However, if you take those innings out of play, Hamels has been a shutdown type pitcher going back to his 2-0 loss against the Marlins in the middle of April. In his last three starts, he's struck out 25 batters and walked just six. While he's still giving up a few hits, that can also come down in time. Right now, he looks like he's getting back into a groove, and that's exactly what the Phillies need.
The same can be said about Brad Lidge tonight. After Hamels gave up back to back doubles to start of the ninth inning, Lidge was called out of the bullpen to keep the game locked at one a piece. He started out by getting Skip Schumaker to ground out to first, then he intentionally walked Colby Rasmus. Then came the vintage Lidge performance, as he struck Brendan Ryan out with a nasty, bending slider that looked like it had come straight out of 2008. Jon Jay finished the inning with a fly out into center, and just like that, it looked like the old Brad Lidge was back, at least for one night only. I'm not going to read too much into it, as it was only his third appearance of the year, but in each showing, he's gotten better and better. He's going to have to stay on this level, too. Ryan Madson had surgery on his broken toe today, and is going to miss at least eight weeks, according to CSNPhilly.com. With the bridge to Lidge out, Lidge is just going to have to get it done himself now. Tonight, he looked more than capable of doing that.
I can't talk much about the offense tonight, as they were shut down by Adam Wainwright. Wainwright pitched as well as he had all season, but the Phillies managed to get him for a run in the seventh and then struck against the St. Louis bullpen in the tenth when Carlos Ruiz hit a walk off home run to leadoff the inning. Against a pitcher like Wainwright and a team like the Cardinals, I don't care how the Phillies get it done, just as long as they do. Tonight, they got it done. It wasn't a pretty offensive game to watch, not by any means, but it ended the way the home crowd likes to see them end, and that's all that counts in the standings.
There's just one more thing I want to talk about tonight, and that's about the idiots that run out onto the field. Look, I know that someone got tased at last night's game, but that doesn't mean you should run out onto the field and press your luck. Was it a bit excessive to use that on that kid? Perhaps, but you have to remember that the security and players don't know what these guys might be on or what they're carrying. If you remember a few years back, a Kansas City Royals first base coach was attacked by two fans in Chicago who were carrying weapons. When you jump onto the field, you're trespassing and are subject to whatever means are necessary to remove you from the field. It's not funny, and it slows the game down. Tonight, it may have cost Cole Hamels a complete game shutout, as he had to wait for this moron to get grabbed by security and taken off the field. The fans did the right thing tonight by booing him, but this has to stop, now. Philadelphia fans get a bad enough reputation from the national media, but having idiots jumping onto the field at every game to see what's going to happen isn't going to make anything better. In fact, it's only going to make things worse. Just stop doing it, ok?
Tomorrow, Kyle Kendrick (0-1, 7.61 ERA) gets hopefully his last start to prove himself. He'll being facing off against Brad Penny (3-1, 1.56 ERA).
CSNPhilly.com: Madson to miss at least two months
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