Notes From The Phillies’ 6-1 Loss To Washington

The Philadelphia Phillies lost the final game of their series with the Nationals, falling 6-1 on Sunday afternoon. Their record drops to 24-26.

• Cole Hamels did his best to hold up his end of the bargain. Hamels started out the game strong, holding the Nationals scoreless through six innings. Unfortunately the lefty couldn’t hold the Nationals at bay forever, and suffered an implosion in the seventh inning.
• Hamels began the inning by allowing two base hits, and then walking the bases loaded. He gave up a two-runs on a play to Jhonatan Solano that was botched by Michael Young and Humberto Quintero, and then two runs came around to score thanks to an error by Delmon Young. Hamels was charged for five runs (four earned) in the inning, and suffered his eighth loss of the year.
• The Phillies lineup had no chance against Stephen Strasburg today. They managed just three hits while the game was close.
• Michael Young is giving the team nothing right now. Young gave the team another hitless performance, and grounded into a double-play in the sixth inning to retire one of the team’s only threats. The veteran is in a serious tailspin right now, and over the last couple of weeks his average has fallen from over .300 down to the .260’s.
• In addition to his costly error, Delmon Young went 0-4 with two strikeouts.
• Kevin Frandsen got the start at first base, and was ejected early in the game. Laynce Nix replaced him and went 0-2.
• Ben Revere went 2-3 with a couple of singles. Revere scored the team’s only run on a balk.
• Ryan Howard made an appearance as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and grounded into a double-play.
• Justin De Fratus came on and got the final two outs of the seventh inning.
• Chad Durbin gave up a run on three hits in the eighth inning.

Final Thoughts

I don’t agree with the team’s decision to give Ryan Howard the day off today. I understand that the Phillies want to be cautious with Howard’s knee, but this game was not the time to sit him down.

Today’s match was such an important game for this team. In today’s game alone they had a chance to get back to .500, move themselves into second place, knock the Nationals’ confidence down another notch, get Cole Hamels on a roll, and really send the season rolling in the right direction.

With Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz already out of the lineup, how can the Phillies justify keeping one of their top bats on the bench against Stephen Strasburg? Especially when they’ve got a lineup filled with struggling hitters like Michael Young, Ben Revere, and Delmon Young? Where were the runs supposed to come from today?

This is the heart of the order that Phillies sent to battle Strasburg today: Freddy Galvis (.263, 3 HRs, 8 RBIs), Michael Young (.269, 1 HR, 10 RBIs), Delmon Young (.217, 3 HR, 4 RBIs).

Now Howard could have started today, and he might have gone 0-4 with four strikeouts and made no impact at all. But he’s got a much greater chance to change the outcome of a game than most of the hitters on this team. The fact that he was on the bench today was an absolute joke.

Even though he once again didn’t receive any run support, it was disappointing that Cole Hamels was unable to match Strasburg blow-for-blow. This was a game that Hamels needed to make a statement in, regardless of how his offense was performing. He needed to come out and shut this team down. It looked as though he was going to do that for a little while, but then his poor seventh inning completely nullified everything that he had accomplished until that point.