Philadelphia Phillies’ offence backs up Cole Hamels to beat Colorado Rockies 2-1 - Part 1
Philadelphia Phillies’ offence finally backed up their pitcher Cole Hamels as they defeated Colorado Rockies 2-1 at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 18.
The Philadelphia Phillies are probably more than happy to be back home given that their homecoming also marked the end of their season high consecutive four loses. They finally managed to get a win on their side as they defeated the Colorado Rockies. Their
road trip was anything but encouraging for the Phillies, as they went 3-5 on the road trip and were swept effortlessly by the St. Louis Cardinals in a two game set.
Even the world class pitching aces in their line-up couldn’t manage to bag them any wins. Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt all suffered defeats one after the other which is alarming given that they are the best pitchers in all of Major League Baseball
at the moment.
"It is frustrating," Phillies’ third baseman Placido Polanco said on the club's website. "Every time you lose it's frustrating. But what can you do about it? You keep battling and keep fighting."
The National League leading team’s offence has been heavily criticised since the season began due to the ability of the Phillies’ pitchers to carry a match on their shoulders. The severity of the lack of run output did not hit the Phillies until this road
trip. The pitchers needed back up in the form of runs from their team, but they could not get it and that alone is the cause of many of the losses suffered.
To say the Phillies’ offense is stagnant, will not be an exaggeration. They barely managed to score seven runs in the duration of their four game slide.
Cole Hamels, the pitcher for the match doesn’t have the best of records against the Rockies. He lost two matches against them in the 2007 and 2009 post-season as well as the one in April of the 2009 regular season. That one was a particularly humiliating
defeat that a pitcher of Hamels calibre had to suffer, as he was ripped for seven runs and eleven hits in the duration of three and two third innings.
Colorado just picked up the lead in the National League West by half a game after defeating the reigning World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants after sweeping a two game set against them. Before that they had been successful in winning three out
of five games.
Philadelphia managed to win six out of seven games against Colorado almost a year ago.
As for the Rockies, they haven’t been doing too well in their series given that they lost six back-to-back games.
Previously, ace pitcher Cliff Lee had struggled but in this particular match Hamels dominated the mound and owned the field. In the eight innings that he pitched he let a mere five hits pass him by along with a single run for the Phillies’ 2-1 victory.
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