Great Pitching; Tough Loss

The match-up of Cole Hamels and Johan Santana tonight had potential to be a very tight pitcher’s duel.  And that is exactly what happened; the two pitchers were fairly even through 6 innings.  Santana did not allow a hit until Placido Polanco broke through in the 6th with a single.  Hamels scattered 6 hits but also struck out 11 batters.  The only scar on the line for Hamels was a solo homer from Jeff Francoeur in the 7th.

Hamels reached 99 pitches by the end of 7 and was pinch hit for in the bottom of the inning.  Chad Durbin pitched the 8th and had a very scary outing.  With the bases loaded, he nearly walked a run home.  Luckily for the Phils, Francoeur was done with the home run hitting.  He went fishing for a high fastball that would have been ball four and struck out.

With the score still 1-0 in favor of the Mets going into the bottom of the 8th.  The Phils had an exciting inning with a few singles and a walk.  But with the bases loaded and 2 outs, Ross Gload grounded out after a very good battle at the plate.

In the 9th inning, the Phillies still could not get anything done.  They ended up with only 5 hits in the loss, went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base.  While it was a disappointing loss, overall it was a good game because of the pitching.  Hamels was outstanding so it hurts to see him not get the win…again.  Poor guy.

The final game with the Mets is tomorrow afternoon at 1:35pm.  Roy Halladay will pitch :O)  The Alumni Batting Challenge will also take place before the game with 3 teams; Kevin Stocker with Ricky Bottalico, Jim Eisenreich with Mitch Williams and Darren Daulton with Dickie Noles. 

I will return with photos from both the pre-game event and the Halladay domination of the Mets – yes, I fully expect Halladay domination.  J-Roll Smurf, our official Phillies Phollowers mascot, says it will be so.  He is in charge of the voodoo and I believe him.  J-Roll Smurf has been practicing his voodoo bat attack all day long, so expect results.  Go Phillies!