5/15/13
It was a beautiful day for baseball. There were blue skies and
the sun was shining. Could the Phillies shine as bright as the weather was
today? They won the first of this two game series against the Indians. They won
6-2 and it was due to good pitching and a solid offensive performance by John
Mayberry Jr. and Domonic Brown. The Indians changed their starting lineup.
Instead of having Michael Bourn and Michael Brantley in center and left field,
Drew Stubbs moved from right field to centerfield. Ryan Raburn replaced
Brantley in left. Nick Swisher, who played first base last game, played in
right field. Mark Reynolds played third base last game and played first base
today. Mike Aviles played today and started at third base. Chase Utley was back
in the Phillies lineup after having the last game off. Mike Adams was still
unavailable for the Phillies and may have suffered a setback with his back
injury. He will have an MRI on Thursday to see if this back injury will put him
on the 15-Day disabled list. Cole Hamels started for the Phillies and Corey
Kluber started for the Indians. Were the Phillies going to lay an egg like they
usually do when Hamels takes the mound or would they give Hamels some run
support, which sounds like a foreign idea this year?
The Indians demolished the Phillies. Reynolds started the
scoring by lining a two run double in the third inning that dropped just short
of the left field wall. Jimmy Rollins put the Phillies on the board in the home
half of the third inning by lining an RBI single into right field that scored
Mayberry Jr. In the next inning, Aviles
hit a solo homerun into left that just cleared the fence to make it a 3-1 game.
Swisher hit a two run homerun in the fifth inning to make it 5-1. In the home
half of the fifth inning, Rollins was up at the plate again and he lined a
double into right field that scored two runs to make it 5-3. The Phillies
stopped scoring until the ninth inning. The Indians continued their scoring
barrage. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two run single into center that made it 7-3.
Jason Kipnis put the icing on the cake as he launched a three run homerun into
right centerfield to make it a 10-3 game. The Phillies got a garbage run at the
end of the game when Carlos Ruiz hit an RBI double into right field that scored
Delmon Young. The Phillies lost 10-4.
Cole Hamels had an abysmal game. His location was off all
game. The Indians got into his head with having a patient approach at the plate
and fouling off a lot of pitches. This was one of his shortest outings since
the beginning of the season. Hamels pitched five innings, allowed six hits,
five runs, walked two, and struck out four batters. He hasn’t had this bad of a
box score since the home opening series against the Kansas City Royals. The
bullpen wasn’t any better. The Phillies have decent late inning relievers, but
poor middle inning relievers. Chad Durbin, Jeremy Horst, and Raul Valdes are
terrible relievers. Those three relievers combined allowed the other five runs.
Phillippe Aumont on the other hand, has gotten better throughout the season and
had a clean seventh inning.
Corey Kluber pitched a strong game. He made the Phillies
hitters look silly. He pitched six quality innings, allowed six hits, three
runs, and struck out five batters. Other then Matt Albers allowing the fourth
run in the ninth inning, the Indians bullpen had a solid game.
Overall, this kind of game didn’t surprise me. The Phillies
usually have these kinds of games when they score a lot of runs one game, and
score very little runs the next. I feel badly for Hamels because he should have
a few more wins than what his record currently states. He’s 1-6 this year and
leads the National League in losses and walks. There’s talk that he could be
pitching hurt. I don’t think that’s the case because his velocity did not dip
significantly a la Roy Halladay. Could it be a mechanical problem he’s dealing
with? I think so. He didn’t have a high leg kick when he winds up and he short
armed his pitches to the plate. Any tiny thing such as the release point, arm
slot, or leg kick can mess up a pitchers’ rhythm. Maybe this is what Hamels is
dealing with right now. He did have some shoulder soreness during the offseason
and downplayed the severity of the injury. Could he be pitching hurt? We don’t
know. Maybe he hates pitching against American League teams. Then again, Hamels
is a terrible pitcher when he pitches in day games. He’s a better night game
pitcher in his career. I do have to say that it was nice to see Rollins have a
big day at the plate as he drove in three of the four Phillies runs. Now stop
swinging at the first pitch and popping up. Wait for your pitch to come.
Will the Phillies be
prepared to take on the Reds this weekend? Sound off and stay tuned until next
time…
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