Cole Hamels Returns

Cole Hamels’ first batter faced in 2014 was Yasiel Puig.  One thing was certain by the end of that first exchange, Hamels changeup is still fierce.  The first one he threw teased the outside corner and Puig couldn’t resist.  He swung over top of  it, looking like Bartolo Colon (LINK).  With the count 2-2, Hamels pulled the string on another changeup, striking out the first batter he faced in 2014. The fiery Puig nodded his head in respect, grinning.  He knew he had just been bested by the filthiest changeup of a generation.

Early, Hamel’s signature pitch looked unhittable, and he pitched no where near the middle of the plate.  His fastball reached 94 and his cutter had heavy movement.  In 17 innings for class A Clearwater, Hamels allowed four runs, struck out 12, and walked only one batter.  There was no

Apposing Hamels was former Cy Young winner, Zack Greinke (3-0, 2.42 ERA).  To little surprise, the game ended up a tight contest.

After a 1-2-3 first, Hamels second inning began with two straight hits.  A sac fly made it 1-0 Dodgers.

In the top half of the third, Hamels got the first Phillies hit.

In the bottom half, he received some assistance from right fielder Marlon Byrd who made a difficult basket catch over the railing, just out of reach of a fan’s outstretched arm.

In the fourth, a Ryan Howard rbi single gave Hamels his first run support of the night, tying the game.  Hamels allowed another hit in the bottom half, but stranded him on second.

To begin the fifth inning, Hamels struck out two batters than allowed a hit.  Next came a big no-no, a walk yielded to the opposing pitcher, even worse, it moved the runner into scoring position.  Puig redeemed himself for his two swinging strikeouts with a go ahead rbi single to left field.  Hamels escaped the inning with no further damage.

Trouble came knocking again in the 6th.  A lead off double to Hanley Ramirez quickly turned into a man on third base after a sac fly.  Hamels bore down, inducing a dribbler in front of the plate and a weak roller to short to end the threat.

After seven innings, it was clear Cole Hamels was not the only one with an elite out pitch.  Pitching ahead in the count most of the night, Greinke and his fierce curve ball put away 11 hitters by way of the K.  He allowed just four hits through his first seven.

Hamels night was finished after six.  Greinke’s was not.  At bat with two out in the seventh, Greinke doubled down the left field line followed by Puig, continuing his redemption with a triple off the right field wall, 3-1 Dodgers.

Top eight, the Phillies struck back with a Jayson Nix homer, chasing Greinke, making it a 3-2 affair.  The Dodger pen retired the next three hitters.

In the bottom half of the eighth, the Dodgers doubled down, scoring twice to take the lead to three.

The Phillies went down in order in the top of the ninth, ending the game 5-2.

Despite a nice outing, Hamels didn’t have enough to beat one of the hottest pitchers in the league, Zack Greinke.  Granted there was little help from the Phillies offense, Hamels got behind in the count, walked the pitcher and ceded too many hits.  All those factors created difficult situations, making innings that were almost a breeze more of a battle.  All told, Hamels went 6 innings, allowed 6 hits, 2 earned runs and struck out 5.

The bullpen allowed 3 runs in 3 innings of work, pushing their ERA as a group to 5.54 (38 runs in 61.2 innings), the second worse bullpen ERA in baseball.

The Phillies are now 10-11.  A win tomorrow night still means a series victory for Philadelphia who took the first two games earlier this week.   Kyle Kendrick (0-2) faces off against Dan Haren (3-0) before the Phillies head to Arizona for three games this weekend.