It appeared the season went down the toilet yesterday afternoon when Cole Hamels gave up 9 runs (4 earned) in the 4th inning. And, then something happened in the 5th inning which for now has saved the Phillies' season.
They had to win this game yesterday for two reasons. One, their ace was going up against a pitcher in Mike Hampton who hasn't pitched in nearly 3 years. Two, they have to win this series.
The Braves are a team that's 5 games below .500 and ready to be a seller in the trade deadline market while the Phillies are fighting for their lives in the NL East. For a team that was once 14 games above the .500 mark, they are now playing to the level they've been at in season's past. Forget about them running away with the division; it's not happening. They will have to fight tooth and nail to grab the division from the Mets, who appear nowhere close to slowing down.
This series is hardly a turning point for this team. We know they can and should beat the Braves. Heck, they've won 9 out of the last 11 against them.
Yesterday was an oddity for sure. Most of the offense occurred in back-to-back innings. The top of the order delivered with 7 hits in 19 at-bats. And, Chris Coste had 3 hits. It seems that the Phillies either have offense when their pitching sours, or can't hit a tree with a tank when their pitching is on.
Today at 1:35 Joe Blanton takes the hill against Jorge Campillo, who isn't a bad pitcher (2.83 ERA and 65 k's in 92 innings).
----------------------
Andrews has emotional problems?
According to G Cobb, he can't quite put his finger on it, but the impression he's getting after talking to people in the Eagles organization and players is that Andrews has some sort of emotional problem.
----------------------
Prized free agent acquisition gets hurt
Haven't we seen this before? Philadelphia team gets a prized free agent and then that player gets hurt and is never the same again.
Hopefully this doesn't portend a bad future, but Asante Samuel's preseason certainly got off on a bad note yesterday when he pulled up lame during a one-on-one drill and injured his hamstring.
According to Ike Reese he said that Samuel was fine after practice, but he will still have to get tests done to find out the extent of the injury.
No comments:
Post a Comment