Sunday chat: Phillies turn to Hamels to end funk

The Phillies, who've scratched out seven runs during their four-game losing streak, send left-hander Cole Hamels to the hill in hopes of salvaging a game against Jered Weaver and the Angels.

For new readers checking in from the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Phoenix and ESPN Insider, with hopes of reading this serious, honest and well-versed sports analysis everyone seems to be talking about, you picked a fine time. This team stinks.

Following their 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Angels, their fourth in a row and eighth in their last 11, that’s how it feels, even though the standings prove otherwise. The Phils (42-34) still cling to a one-game lead over the Marlins in the National League East, which will disappear entirely if they continue to showcase this latest brand of baseball. Last night featured more light hitting and sloppy all-around play, compromising a rather nice start by struggling right-hander Brett Myers.

Pundits said this week would be revealing, and indeed it has. Inside the bubble, the Phils looked good; they could overrun the Rockies, the Nationals, the Reds, the Braves. Since then, the schedule lined up a crescendo building up to the class acts in baseball, and they’ve fallen flat. Readers view the situation with guarded optimism.

"The trend will end, and I think there's an excellent chance that it'll end today with a favorable pitching matchup (forget the Hamels-day game jinx; he pitched a shutout last time he made an afternoon start),” writes RSB. “This four-game losing streak has been the polar opposite of the stretch when they were playing Colorado and everything was dropping in and going their way. They've played poorly, but they also haven't been able to buy a break - everything's been going against them. It won't last. It never does, either way. I anticipate the Phillies being able to steady themselves soon enough, and get back to being the decent, moderate team they were over the first two months. That should be enough to get them in the playoffs, if only because the divisional competition is so stilted this season. Odds are they won't get far if they do reach the post-season, but you never know. No one thought this was going to be some dominant, gangbusters kind of team, and it's not. It's a good team in a weak division that'll probably finish first."

Comments

[clout]

And allow me to repeat my response to RSB:

I have an alternate explanation to luck and sloppy play: The great play and luck against Colorado was because the Rockies are an 11-game under .500 team. The weak play against the Angels is because the Angels are 15 games above .500.

[Dave X]

There's a bit of a power outage going on with the team now - .332 SLG in the last week. Utley, one of the few players who would still be rather valuable in a HR slump, is going through an even rougher patch. Once some of those flyballs start going out of the park the offense will pick up again, but not likely until then.

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

I have thought about clicking on the Kris Benson news link, but my instincts tell me that I'm not going to like what I see.

[Dave X]

Also, the CD picks got taken down. I don't know when this happened but maybe its the source of the current Philly troubles.

[Tom G, ballssticksstuff.com]

It's easy to get a little too high and a little too low as fans of this game, let alone this team. The fact of the matter is, they aren't the World Series caliber team we thought they were two weeks ago and they aren't as bad as we think they are right now. As RSB said, they're a good team, not great. That said, they need a win in a big bad way today.

[Ribbies]

Um, can we get this guy - AP: Sabathia homers, strikes out 10 in Indians’ win

[Ribbies]

Chollie mixes up the lineup - Dobbs hitting 2nd, Vic at 6th.

[chris]

Anyone know why the game isn't on Extra Innings?

[JCD]

No idea why it's not on Extra Innings. Earlier in the season one of the games appeared not to be on but showed up about ten minutes late. Hope something similar happens today.

[Dave X]

Cholly is obviously following the 2 leadoff hitters theory by putting his weakest hitter in the 8-hole.

[RSB]

clout: yeah, there's that, but also it's more than that. In those games in the last homestand, it seemed every break was going their way - balls dropping in or being dropped by fielders, kicking up dust on the chalk lines. Now it's the other teams which are finding all the holes and hitting every mistake, while the Phillies are hitting into some tough luck.

I'm not saying it's all about luck, not at all. The Phillies were playing great early in the month, and lousy now. But there's been some noticeably good and poor fortune to go along with these respective stretches.

[EastFallowfield]

It's not scheduled to be on Extra innings.

[RSB]

I like what Manuel did with the lineup today.

[redeard]

double steal!

[RSB]

Just remember: strikeouts are just the same as any other outs.

[NCPhilly]

Strikeouts: such costly outs.

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

Well, crap. I wish I could watch the game. Any insight into how those K's went down? I saw that Howard saw 11 pitches. Burrell 4.

[curt]

3-4-5 just awful yet again.

[Tim Malcolm]

Howard gave a great at bat, but fouled off a couple ball fours. The strikeout pitch he just was a bit late on.

Then Burrell struck out pretty easily.

This is just sad.

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

Did Utley make decent contact or was it weak?

[Tim Malcolm]

Reached out on a low changeup and hit it off the end of the bat for a standard fly to left. Didn't look like he was on the pitch at all.

[RSB]

Utley had the bat knocked out of his hands and cried all the way back to the dugout. He'll be announcing his retirement at the end of the fifth inning.

[KoolEarl]

Howards AB great? Ummm, he struck out. Howzabout getting full wood on one of those half-dozen or so foul balls and putting it into play

[Brian G]

If Howard goes to second with the throw, which he had plenty of time to do, then the game is still 0-0.

[curt]

That's how it's done.

[fuzzycopper]

Hamels must be taking pitching lessons from Myers. *sigh*

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

I just read an article on ESPN.com about how Guerrerro was on the downside of his career, and struggling mightily. No better way to revitalize your career than to face the Phillies pitching staff.

[Brian G]

Or not.. this sucks.

[curt]

This team can't sink any lower. One hopes.

[IceMan]

If they blow this game, my blind optimism I've carried from April until now will be gone. I'm sick of this POS team playing like All-Stars for a month, then going into the tank in June. What is it about June -- the weather is perfect, the sun is always shining, etc. etc.

What sucks the most is that the division is ripe for the taking, yet we're looking at a team that's going to manage to keep at least two other teams in it until September -- and that's the best case scenario. Pathetic. Manuel's due to throw an ice-cream social to lift everyone's spirits.

[RSB]

Yeah, I'm hard-pressed to see any difference between the hitter Guerrero was as an Expo and the hitter he is now. His durability may have declined, but it's not like he's lost his pop.

[Jeremy]

Why is Victorino hitting behind Burrell? That totally negates his speed (even though he is leading off the 2nd).

[curt]

Jenkins is still an idiot.

[J. Weitzel]

Is Jenkins some sort of idiot? Is this his rookie season?

[redeard]

jenkins stinks

[curt]

I'd rather see Werth 6-7 days a week. He's athletic enough that he ought to improve v. righties given the chance. Not to mention the upgrade in RF & on the bases.

[fuzzycopper]

If this inning goes any longer, Victorino is likely to end up with a pulled hamstring with as many times as he's taken off for 2nd...

[stevo]

Note to Jenkins: watch your pitcher at the plate. You saw one pitch and Hamels saw like eight. The key to this game and every game these days is wearing down the other pitcher by making him throw tons of pitches. You're a hack.

[J. Weitzel]

78 OPS+ coming into today for Jenkins. You could make a strong case to add LH outfield help to the list at the trade deadline. Won't happen, but still.

[fuzzycopper]

Taguchi and his 47 OPS+ makes a case for RH outfield help, too :)

[fuzzycopper]

Nice play by Ruiz & nice tag by Howard.

[redeard]

nice pick off. finally, something to cheer for ruiz.

[RSB]

At least they seem to be playing with a little fire today.

[stevo]

Is Ruiz Tony Pena reincarnated? He's even setting up like Pena used at times, with the right leg extended to the side. He also loves those snap throws catch runners astray.

[Reed]

maybe the up-and-in to Vlad shows some balls we haven't been seeing. it would great to look back on that as what snapped them back into gear.

[J. Weitzel]

How about someone like Jody Gerut from the Padres? I'm sure he could be had. LH, some speed, 107 OPS+.

[fuzzycopper]

Bout time!

[redbeard]

utz!

[bay_area_phan]

Obviously, we've been playing good teams, in the Cardinals, Sox, and Angels. But 2-7 (or, if they somehow come back to win this game, 3-6) is just unacceptable. The Cardinals have taken the first 2 games in their series against the RedSox. The Mets and Braves just won 2 of 3 in their series against the Angels. This is baseball, where the better team only wins 55% to 60% of the time.

At some point, when they start facing mediocre pitchers, the Phillies' hitters will undoubtedly get hot and they'll start winning some games again. But, even if they reel off a 10-game winning streak, I won't easily forget this recent stretch. They reached the tough part of their schedule & had a chance to really put a stranglehold on NL East race. Instead, they came up as small as a team could possibly come up.

[joe l]

Holy crap, what just happened?