The Phillies (47-40) completed a four-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds today, winning 1-0 for the second game in a row and that's the first time that's happened for the Phillies since the 1910's. Philadelphia won despite being outhit by the Reds 6-4, thanks to a superb performance by Phils starter Cole Hamels.
Hamels arguably had his best start of the year as he went 7.2 innings, allowing six hits and no earned runs while striking out three. Cole hasn't had a start this season in which he's given up fewer than one earned run. The last time coming on June 13th when he pitched against the Boston Red Sox, when Hamels went seven innings and gave up one earned run at Fenway Park in a game the Phils won to avoid a three-game sweep.In the process, Hamels lowered his ERA under 4.00 for the fourth time this season, Cole's ERA is now 3.78 and he evened his record at 7-7.
The offense struggled for the second day in a row as pitching ruled once again. The hero of last night's game, Jimmy Rollins came through today with the game's only RBI as he batted in Carlos Ruiz to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
Rollins had two hits in the win and the only other hits logged on the day by the Phillies was by Jayson Werth and Carlos Ruiz.
Speaking of those two hits, they were doubles that could've easily been home runs. Both plays were challenged by the Phillies as fans interfered in both plays. In the case of the Werth "double", the fan clearly reached over the wall. Jayson's had a bad week when it comes to fans, but that's another story for another day.
The Reds left eight men on base in today's game and went 0-5 with runners in scoring position. Cincinnati didn't get a base runner until the third inning and had a great opportunity to score in the top of the fourth when they loaded the bases with no outs.
Hamels then forced a ground out from Jonny Gomes and got Jay Bruce to line into a double play to end the threat for the Reds.
That was the only real scoring chance for the Reds until the eighth when Joey Votto doubled to left field to end Hamels' day.
Contreras came in to relieve Hamels and walked Scott Rolen before forcing Gomes to ground out to end the inning.
The only remaining drama on the afternoon was the decision by Charlie Manuel to take out J.C Romero after he struck out Jay Bruce on four pitches. Manuel went to his closer Brad Lidge, a decision which was met with a mixed reaction from the sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park.
Lidge validated Manuel's decision by getting two easy outs to pick up his sixth save of the season.
The Phillies also improved to 27-18 at home this season as they gained a game in the NL East today with the Braves losing to the Mets. Philadelphia now sits 4.5 games behind Atlanta going into the All-Star break. It's not going to be much of a break for Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay and Charlie Manuel as they will now travel across the country to take part in All-Star Game festivities in Anaheim, California.
Hopefully the National League can finally win an All-Star game and return home field advantage for the World Series to the NL. All Charlie needs to do Tuesday night is have Ubaldo Jimenez start and pitch three innings, then hand duties off to Tim Lincecum for the next three, followed by Roy Halladay for a couple and have Josh Johnson close. That's a winnning forumla, but noooooooooo, everybody has to play in the All-Star Game. What a joke of an "unwritten" rule.
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