Game Recap:
Cole Hamels pitched seven scoreless innings, and the bullpen did the rest, as a groundout RBI by Carlos Ruiz was all the Phillies needed tonight to move to within a game of the Braves for first place in the National League East.
What went right?
Shane Victorino was 1-2 with the only run scored of the game. He also worked a walk.
Carlos Ruiz may have gone 0-3, but his RBI groundout in the second inning was enough for the Phils to win.
Cole Hamels was excellent once again, keeping the Brewers from scoring in seven innings of work. He allowed three hits, walked three and struck out seven.
The bullpen duo of Jose Contreras and Ryan Madson did the rest of the work, keeping Milwaukee from even getting another man on base. Contreras worked a perfect eighth inning, and Madson worked the ninth for his fifth save of the year.
What went wrong?
There's too many 0-fers tonight, so let's just say the Phillies only had four hits off of the Milwaukee Brewers. That's good enough.
Game Analysis:
Yep, Cole Hamels is back. There's no doubt about it now, not after another outing where he kept the opposing team from even scoring a run. In his last two starts, both Phillies shutout wins, Hamels has gone 15 innings, allowing just seven hits and three walks while striking out 13. I've said it time and time again about Hamels this season, but this is the effort that the Phillies need to get back to the playoffs again. Tonight, it was more of the same, as Cole was simply brilliant, and the Phillies pulled to within a single game of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
With Roy Oswalt and Roy Halladay each pitching at the top of their games right now, it's only fitting that Cole Hamels raises himself back to his 2008 level as well. Hamels was great again tonight, that's all there is to it. No Milwaukee batter even made it to third base, and the few times that the Brewers did manage to get men on base, Cole retired them with a double play or fielder's choice that ended the inning. He had his pitches moving well tonight and the Brewers didn't have an answer, just like almost every other team that he's faced in the second half of the season. With the exception of a five run showing against the San Francisco Giants back on August 19, Hamels has allowed eight earned runs in his last six starts, and two of those were 1-0 losses to the New York Mets. If Cole had gotten even a little run support during this season, he'd be in the Cy Young conversation, and he'd have almost as many wins as Roy Halladay does right now.
It doesn't matter at this point, though. At the moment, Hamels is getting run support, even if it was just a single run tonight. That was all the Phillies needed to win, so it's just fine. It doesn't matter if the Phillies score a single run or 12 runs. If Cole keeps pitching like he is right now, then the Phils are going to win. It's that simple. You try and score off of Hamels, Halladay or Oswalt. Go ahead, tell me which one of those three you want to face in a best of five or best of seven playoff series. That's what the Phillies have going for them right now. They boast the best 1-2-3 punch in the National League, and might only have the Yankees to counter their punch. Now if they could only get their offense going each and every night, it would be a perfect situation.
The less said about the offense tonight, the better. Chris Capuano is not a good pitcher anymore, but the Phillies couldn't get anything going against him. The only time that they mounted a sustained threat was in the bottom of the fourth inning, when they loaded the bases with no one out. Instead of adding to the lead, Raul Ibanez struck out, and then Carlos Ruiz lined into a double play to end the inning. Luckily, Ruiz did all that needed to be done on offense in the second inning, when he got Shane Victorino home with a groundout. At the time, the Brewers were more than willing to trade a run for an out, but in the long run, it turned out to be the only run of the game. At least it came on the side of the Phillies tonight.
This offense really needs to find its stride soon. Just as I said last night, one 12 run game in Denver means nothing if they can't keep the run going. Tonight, the Phils only managed a single run off of a man with an ERA over 5.00. That's not what they're going to need if they make it back to the playoffs again. There's only so many shutouts that this pitching staff can throw. They're lucky that this team has three aces right now, because if they didn't, it would be a big problem. Of course, there's still that big chance that the offense just catches fire like they've done in the past three Septembers, and then there's nothing to worry about. If it doesn't, though, then the bullpen comes into play, and that's just something that I don't want to see in the late innings of a playoff game.
For now, the Phils have to take everything in stride. They've won seven out of their last eight games after being swept at home by the Astros, they've cut Atlanta's lead in the division down to a single game, and they have the lead in the Wild Card. At the moment, everything that they need to have happen is happening, but there's still a full month of baseball left to play. Anything can happen, but right now, my gut is telling me that things are going to end well for the Phils.
Tomorrow, the Phils go for their second straight win over the Brewers. For the moment, it looks like Roy Halladay (16-10, 2.27 ERA) looks to end his two game losing streak as he faces Dave Bush (7-11, 4.71 ERA).
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