Cole Hamels and the Phillies hope to even their series with Washington this afternoon and finish off their 11-game road trip on a positive note.
Hamels (1-0, 2.65 ERA) earned his first career win last outing in an impressive showing against Arizona. Shawn Hill (0-1, 2.77) will make his third start of the season for the Nationals.
Pat Burrell was the hero in yesterday's game. His two-run homer in the eighth led to a five-run rally against Livan Hernandez, who had been tough on the Phils this year.
The Phillies will go with a lineup of starters for today's game.
Hey, at least today's game is on TV. Hooray for the 21st century!
Posted by: dmac | Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 12:59 PM
A Beerleaguer telegram:
Crashing halt to otherwise decent road trip. Stop. Hamels gets hammered for the first time. Stop. Series with Mets looms large. End.
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 04:21 PM
Nice effort, guys. How's that Saturday night club scene in D.C.?
Posted by: J. Weitzel | Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 04:43 PM
3 fricken hits...that's it, 3 damn hits?! I'm sorry, and you can argue with me all you want, but the Nationals just aren't that good of a team. The Phillies crapped the bed during this 4 game series. And now I'm watching the Mets kills the Diamondbacks 3-0 in the 1st inning. WE WILL NEVER CATCH THE METS THIS SEASON!!! Our best hope is wild card, but the current Phillies team just doesn't have what it takes, too many holes. Some holes can be compensated for, but this team simply has too many!
Posted by: Book | Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 04:57 PM
What a way to ruin a weekend, drop 3 of 4 to the lowly gNats! Even Hamels loses! Boo-hoo!
Next weekend is fathers day. They better win on that day.
Posted by: Lake Fred | Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 11:37 PM
Meet the Mets! Greet the Mets! I can't wait to watch your pitching crumble under the weight of the Mets offense. They just ran up a tab of 37 runs on the Diamondbacks, while allowing 9. Time to feast on Madson, Brito, and Myers!
Posted by: Orange. Blue. White. | Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 11:50 PM
Brito's in triple-A, flunky. Go feast on your own drool instead.
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 12:37 AM
Your Fithy little team is done for. After the Mets sweep your asses, the 9.5 games back will be unsurmountable. Your Pitching is a joke, your offense is streaky, and your team character is nonexistant. There's no hope next year either, The Mets are going to be ruling the NL East for many years to come. Let's Go METS!!!
Posted by: DavidWrightisaGod | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 01:12 AM
Oh, I forgot with the Mets coming to town we'd have to suffer through a week of trash talking dumbasses. Yeah, the Mets are the better team...so fricken what, go knob job your buddies on your own blog!
Posted by: Book | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 07:12 AM
The upcoming series should be a fun one. Unlike my mets friend above im not so confident as him. Both teams are good this year and since we are not playing at home we could lose these next few games. The nats scare me though. Did bonds give that team some cream and clear? And just look at the braves......I hate those f_ckers. 10 games back like they should be. I say 17 games back by seasons end
Posted by: NY METS | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 08:31 AM
LET'S GO METS!!!
Posted by: MrMet | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 09:12 AM
Thursday: "team plane lands at 2:30 AM"
Friday: "rain delay plays havoc with pitcher's routine"
Sunday: "last game of a long road trip"
EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES
And after a poor homestand, it'll go something like: "be glad to get on the road, we play more relaxed away from home".
Phils continue to be victims of their own success. After every successful stretch, the team goes cold again. It seems like, after a hot streak, they really believe they have a very good team and can turn it on at any moment. Then it happens again - a series loss to a less talented teams like the Nationals.
It's mid-June, they're falling out of the division race and are slowly falling behind in the wild card. (It's a good thing they are not in the AL).
Where is the sense of urgency? Do we have to wait until mid-August again?
Posted by: voice of reason | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 10:53 AM
Great post, VOR.
Posted by: J. Weitzel | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 11:02 AM
To be fair, Mr. Reason, those were Marcus Hayes' excuses. I didn't read one quote from anyone related to the team that cited anything concerning these circumstances.
I believe the team generally is playing with a greater sense of urgency that they showed in the first half of last season, yesterday excepted. I think they're where they are because they just aren't good enough to be any better. You can't say last year's team underachieved and I don't think you can say it about this year's team, either.
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 12:22 PM
hey, lets try to keep a little perspective here. Before this 11 game road trip, it was all doom and gloom, they managed to come out of it with a better then 500 record, the Muts have been hot, but they won't be winning at this clip all season. If they are, then it won't be the Phillies fault that the Muts will win the east.
If we had droped the first 5 on the trip, and won the last six we'd all be cheering like mad. If Wolf and Lieber come back and give us nothing, then start scouting the Eagles, but right now we are in this race, and we should enjoy it.
Posted by: yt | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 01:37 PM
RSB, I didn't intend to attribute the quotes to any player in particular, just trying to point out the lack of urgency and the absence of a "stand-up guy" (or guys) to take accountability for their poor showing in DC.
(BTW, CM did mention the rain delay and the effect on his starter on Saturday afternoon's pre-game show.)
"I think they're where they are because they just aren't good enough to be any better"
You may be right but so far I remain unconvinced. With the exception of 2 or 3 teams, the Phils are as good as, if not better than, the rest of the NL.
The bullpen has been very good, the starters have struggled (Lieber has definitely underachieved) but they still have managed to win their share of games after poor starts by Madson, Floyd, etc., and their starting lineup (at least 1-6) is as good as any team in the league.
Two things that stand out are
1) low avg. w/ RISP, and
2) tendency to shut down the offense after scoring runs in bunches. Exhibit A: 18 consecutive outs to end the game after taking the lead with a 5-run 7th in Friday's 12-inning loss.
Don't know if the poor RISP is due to underachievement, lack of "clutchness", or just an anomaly that will even out over the course of the season.
As far as shutting down the offense, I just get the feeling that after a big inning or two, they tend to think scoring will be easy, become overconfident, and, as a result, are shut down by mediocre middle relievers. (Just my opinion).
So, again, I'm still not convinced they are what they've shown to date - your average 85 win team. I still believe they have the talent to contend.
Posted by: voice of reason | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 01:38 PM
Same old Phillies. Steaky hitters, bad starting pitching. 85 wins.
Posted by: Tony | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 02:35 PM
Given this team's starting rotation is it realistic to expect more than 85 wins? Outside of Myers, it's basically a collection of 4th and 5th starters. Also, I find it odd that they'd bring up the finesse lefty (Haigwood), who has a slim margin of error, rather than the hard thrower (Gonzalez).
Posted by: clout | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 03:29 PM
Just too many holes to fill. If they contend, then great. If they don't, not a surprise. Let's see what Gillick can do during the offseason when he gets out from under some big contracts. By the way, Met fans are like airborne viruses. They go anywhere to hear themselves talk. What vermin!
Posted by: SamDracula | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 04:32 PM