Saturday, August 14, 2010

Feast Or Famine

One measly night after pounding a succession of good Dodger hurlers in a dramatic comeback win, the Phils wasted another outstanding performance from Cole Hamels in succumbing to the Mets 1-0. It was the Phils' second straight 1-0 loss with Hamels on the mound. Clearly, Cole, you are going to have to pitch no-hit ball if you want to win again this season.

Facing knuckle baller R.A. Dickey for the third time this season and second time in a week, the Phils showed all the patience and plate discipline of an Arizona Fall League team. The only hit of the game? By Cole Hamels, naturally. The message was, you had to pitch no-hit ball, Cole, not get the only hit!!

Dickey has been pretty successful this year but the Phils made him out to be Hoyt Wilhelm, Phil Niekro and Tim Wakefield all rolled into one.

While everyone including yours truly are focused on the back end of the rotation and the entire relief corps, it is the offense that has consistently failed to perform consistently. In the Spring I and nearly everyone else on the planet predicted the Phils' juggernaut offense would overcome some obvious shortcomings on the mound. Naturally, all of us assumed the juggernaut would have the services of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino throughout the season. Still, the truth of it is most of these guys have been together sufficient time and they still deliver get shut out or shut down frequently. This was the fourth straight time the Phils were shutout by the Mets in New York over the last few months.

Four games without scoring a run against a struggling team with one bonafide ace, who, incidentally, they never faced in any of these outings.

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