Game chat: Opener secondary to dumb melodrama

Cole Hamels was suspended five games for admitting to hitting Bryce Harper with a pitch intentionally Sunday night.

Beerleaguer: Animals. And those are just the people tweeting about it all day. Call me an old-fashioned cromag, but Hamels did everything by the book except the most important part: he didn't keep his mouth shut about it. If you subscribe to baseball's macho credo, you'll understand why plunking Harper was the right move, and it was incumbent upon the reigning division champs, and a veteran like Hamels, to do it, right then and there. It doesn't have the same meaning if, say, Dillon Gee does it. It's neanderthal. I get it. But somebody needed to welcome a brash, young punk like Harper to the bigs with a fastball to the rear end. Unfortunately, this should have became a non-issue the moment Jordan Zimmerman plunked Hamels with a retaliatory pitch. Each party moved on, Hamels pitched a great game, Harper took it to the Phils, and when the subject was raised afterward, Hamels should have kept quiet. Meanwhile, Harper, to his credit, handled the situation gracefully: he didn't say a word and was complimentary toward the Phillies. Nationals GM Mike Rizzo? Not so much. All the suspension means is that Hamels' start against San Diego gets pushed to Sunday and he has to cut Major League Baseball a check.

Notes: Tonight begins an eight-game homestand in which the Phillies can hopefully gain back some ground against some weaker teams. Roy Halladay (3-2, 3.40) tries to rebound from one of his worst starts as a Phillie. Jon Niese (2-1, 4.08) goes for the Mets. Lineup: Rollins SS, AAAberry LF, Victorino CF, Pence RF, Wigginton 1B, Ruiz C, Polanco 3B, Galvis 2B, Halladay P.

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Comments

[Jack]

Clout: "For me, there's a helluva lot more drama, subtlety and gamesmanship in a 3-2 game than a 12-11 game."

The 1-0 pitchers' duel between Cliff Lee and Matt Cain was absolutely fantastic. That beats a 12-11 game anytime. Watching this time score 2 runs against Jonathan Niese couldn't be further from that.

It's all about *quality*. If you think the Phillies are scoring 3 runs a night because they're involved in games against top-notch pitchers every night, and not just because they suck at hitting, I'd like some of whatever it is you're smoking.

[GTown_Dave]

That was as disgusted of a Phillies crowd as I've seen since ... well, since last October. It's becoming so obvious now that they're rooting for a bad, $170+ million team that they don't even bother talking back to the loudmouthed Mets fans in attendance. I mean, what's to say? The Phillies continue to get their asses handed to them in humiliating fashion by a seemingly neverending series of mediocre teams. Everyone just leaves, sullen & angry. The games this team has been losing don't have a sense of drama so much as they reek of sickening inevitability.

[goody]

The replay on TCN is in the bottom of the 7th for those that just can't get enough of this team. Or those like me who had to listen on radio. I probably qualify for the first sentence also.

[Bubba]

goody- let us know how it turns out.

[kuvasz]

Along with Jack, it is apparent that this team, which for the past several seasons whose performance was akin to a Savile Row suit, is now looking like it came off the discount rack at Mens Warehouse.

Previously, the team's talent could hide coaching mistakes, now with the plunge to mediocrity the lack of in-game coaching excellence is clearly visible.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Not all losses are created equal. Even after Papelbon got to 25 pitches and gave up a double to a AA no-hit catcher, I was still shocked by the bomb hit by Allejandro Saltpetre. They've had enough bad losses to last a year. It's a true group effort, too.

[bay_area_phan]

"For me, there's a helluva lot more drama, subtlety and gamesmanship in a 3-2 game than a 12-11 game."

Ah, yes. The drama of Michael Schwimer trying to keep the scored tied and get us to the 13th inning; the subtlety of Juan Pierre slapping a single to left field, then getting thrown out trying to steal 2nd; the gamesmanship of having your two hottest hitters intentionally make outs, and leave the game in the hand of Freddie Galvis and Erik Kratz. What could be better?

[Bubba]

bap- Your well to over rested closer giving a rookie on the Mets team the thrill of a lifetime by serving up a 3 run game winning HR?

[GTown_Dave]

Having now finished subjecting myself to the final 3 innings of tonight's game for the 2nd time, I fail to find so much as a single mitigating factor which might even partially excuse this latest travesty.

As such, I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile & stupid gesture be done on somebody's part. The Phillies should to fire someone. Charlie. r00b. The Phanatic. All but the 2 or 3 Ball Girls who don't have faces that could stop a clock. Whatever. Somebody needs to go.

[Dragon]

What can one say? That one was brutal.

[Luis]

they wont fire uncle cholly during the season if they fail to make the playoffs i can see Rube making that move and using him as a scapegoat to a extent. If it gets real bad Cholly may even just retire...

[EastFallowfield]

Yo, new thread

[dave]

"Notes: Tonight begins an eight-game homestand in which the Phillies can hopefully gain back some ground against some weaker teams." Seems like an ignorant comment to me...like football, the mlb and all other major sports are "what-have-u-done-for-me-lately" leagues...to call the mets mediocre does not make much sense. They are sitting ahead of the phils in the standings with a better record and have already taken 2 of 3 at cpb before this series started....think some phillies fans should get off their high horse, stop living in the past and realize this isn't the same team featured in 08-09-10....need to face the music and realize the roster is getting much older and the offense is anemic. we can't overlook any oppponent.