GAME RECAP: Brewers Top Phillies 4-3
The Brewers found an interesting way to win, 4-3, Tuesday night at
Citizens Bank Park. Or it could be said the Phillies found an interesting way
to lose. Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz called time
on a 0-2 pitch to Carlos Gomez
with two outs in the eighth inning, which Gomez swung at and missed. Ruiz's
call for time extended Gomez's plate appearance against Phillies right-hander Ken Giles. Gomez singled and the inning continued
from there as the Brewers scored twice to take a one-run lead, then stranded a
slew of Phillies runners to complete Milwaukee's sixth victory in eight games. "It's
a good win," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "It's a win you
feel like you kind of snatched from them a little bit." The Phillies'
eighth-inning meltdown wasted
another fine start from Phillies left-hander
Cole Hamels, who allowed just two runs in seven
innings. "It's tough," Hamels said about Ruiz calling time and Giles'
subsequent struggles. "Sometimes it works to your advantage. Sometimes it
doesn't. It's part of the game. You know you have to get the next guy. I think
that's what I've had to learn. Bad situations where you think you have the guy,
but you have another pitch and you have to get the job done. It just teaches
guys in general that you just have to bear down a little bit more
sometimes."
OTHER
NOTES FROM THE DAY:
- Giles appeared to have the eighth
inning over when he threw a 0-2 pitch to Gomez, who swung and missed. But
Ruiz's call for time kept the Brewers alive. Gomez followed with a single
to left field to put runners on first and second. Aramis Ramirez
then singled to score Ryan Braun to tie
the game. Giles imploded at that point, walking Gerardo Parra in
an 11-pitch at-bat and pinch-hitter Adam Lind to force
in the go-ahead run. "I think he
knows what he did," Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin said about
Giles. "He made a couple of bad pitches after that. But Kenny has
done so well for us. He's going to be part of the future."
- Lind stayed in the game to play first
base and saved the Brewers' lead with his glove. Milwaukee reliever Jeremy Jeffress
inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam and induced a double-play grounder
to third base off the bat of Darin Ruf, with
Lind making a terrific scoop of second baseman Scooter Gennett's
one-hop relay throw. "We made plays at the end," Counsell said.
"The double play was huge. It was good all the way around, all three
guys. Scooter with a nice turn, Adam with a nice pick, [Jeffress] getting
the ground ball."
- If Hamels wants contending teams to
step up to the plate to acquire him, he will need more nights like this
before the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline. He allowed five hits, two
runs, one walk and struck out seven in seven innings, putting a
disappointing start last week against the Yankees (five runs in five
innings) behind him. But once again, he did not get the win. He is winless
since May 23.
- Ruiz homered for the first time since
Sept. 5, 2014, in the sixth inning to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead. It
snapped a run of 244 plate appearances without a home run.
- Braun collected four more hits and
boosted his lifetime average at Citizens Bank Park to .438 (42-for-96).
The only player with a higher average in 40-plus at-bats here is Brewers
teammate Lucroy, at .479 (23-for-48).
- Brewers
manager Craig Counsell is among the many who have taken notice of the
month Phillies rookie third baseman Maikel Franco has been having.
Counsell said that though Franco might have "flown under the
radar" compared to other hyped rookies such as Cubs third baseman
Kris Bryant or Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson, he thinks Franco has
"played as well as any of them so far."
- Just
as Lohse has struggled in recent weeks, so too has Phillies slugger Ryan
Howard. That being said, their matchup will be an interesting one. Howard
has batted below .200 since June 10, but is a lifetime 12-for-31 with
three home runs and 11 RBIs vs. Lohse. The only players who have more RBIs
off Lohse than Howard are Carlos Beltran, Magglio Ordonez and Alfonso
Soriano, each of whom have at least 25 more plate appearances against
Lohse than Howard.
- Outfielder
Khris Davis, who the Brewers placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 31,
will begin a rehab assignment at Class A Wisconsin Wednesday. He has been
sidelined with a right knee injury.
NEXT
GAME:
Two veteran
right-handers who endured forgettable Junes will look to reset on July 1, as
the Phillies' Aaron Harang and Brewers' Kyle Lohse will start Wednesday's third
game of a four-game series in Philadelphia. Over five June starts, Lohse
allowed 19 earned runs in 29 1/3 innings for an ERA of 5.83. Harang's month was
even rockier. The 37-year-old allowed 24 earned runs in 29 2/3 innings (a 7.28
June ERA), raising his 2015 ERA more than 1.50 points. Both pitchers have
losing records, with Lohse at 4-9 and Harang at 4-10, but Harang has been more
of a hard-luck loser -- his 3.56 ERA is almost half of Lohse's 6.28.
PHILS PHACTS:
Finding New Ways To Lose – The Phillies found a unique way to lose,
4-3,
Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, and the Brewers could not have been
happier about it. Phillies right-hander
Ken Giles had not allowed a run since May 30,
striking out 18 in 12 scoreless innings, when
Carlos Gomez stepped into the batter's box with a
runner on first and two outs in the eighth inning. The Phillies had a one-run
lead, but a series of missteps turned a win into an improbable loss. "It's
a win you feel like you kind of snatched from them a little bit," Brewers
manager Craig Counsell said. That is because the comeback started with Giles
appearing to strike out Gomez swinging on an inning-ending 0-2 pitch. Except …
wait a minute. Phillies catcher
Carlos Ruiz called time before the pitch, which meant
the strikeout never happened. Gomez had a second life and he took advantage. He
fouled off the next pitch before singling to left field to put runners on first
and second. "I don't know if I heard 'timeout' or 'balk,' so that's the
reason that I swung. I didn't lose anything," Gomez said. "If it's a
timeout, it's a free swing. If it's a balk, maybe I put on contact. The big thing
is we won the game." Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin said Ruiz
called time because he was concerned about
Ryan Braun at first base. "Part of holding a
runner is varying your delivery to the plate," Mackanin said. "Braun
is the kind of guy that will try to time the pitcher so he can get a jump.
Sometimes you come set, you pitch. Sometimes you count to two and you pitch.
Sometimes you hold it a little longer. [Giles] just held it longer than Chooch
wanted to, basically." Braun has nine stolen bases this season, but
shouldn't have Ruiz just forgotten about him, considering Giles has been almost
unhittable for a month? "You might say he should have done that, but I
don't have a problem with it," Mackanin said. "Because if you don't
pay attention to that runner and he gets a jump and steals and gets in scoring
position, you don't want that, either. It happens."
Aramis Ramirez followed Gomez and stroked a 0-1
fastball to center field to score Braun to tie the game. Giles punched his
glove behind the plate as Braun crossed home. He had the inning in hand, but
suddenly everything seemed to spiral out of control. Did the 0-2 pitch to Gomez
affect Giles? Nobody could say. Not even him. He left the clubhouse almost
immediately. Ruiz left almost immediately, too. "Regardless of whether he
did or not, I still have a lot of confidence in him," Mackanin said, asked
if Giles let the sequence with Gomez unravel him. But the inning got worse for
Giles. He walked
Gerardo Parra in an
11-pitch at-bat to the load the bases. Giles thought he had Parra struck out on
a 3-2 slider, which hit the top of the strike zone, according to MLB Gameday.
Home-plate umpire Mike DiMuro thought differently. Giles then walked
pinch-hitter
Adam Lind on four
pitches to score Gomez to give the Brewers the one-run lead. "It was kind
of a crazy inning with a lot of possibilities," Counsell said.
"Aramis had the big hit, and then we made plays at the end."
Hamels Continues To Be Solid – As the frustration mounts,
Cole Hamels knows the only way to stay sane is to
stay optimistic. "It's something I've learned to control and learned to
get over," Hamels
said
after the Phillies' 4-3 loss
to the Brewers Tuesday night. "Just try to focus and be positive for the
guys." Hamels tossed seven innings and allowed two runs, striking out
seven Brewers in an effort where his name was left off the win column. It was
the 10th time this year Hamels threw at least seven innings and allowed two or
fewer runs. It was also the fifth time he had done that and didn't get a win to
show for it. Hamels, who is 5-6 with a 3.22 ERA and a WHIP of 1.15, was in line
to earn the win at one point as he left the game with a one-run lead, but that
lead and the Phillies' chances for victory slipped away in the eighth inning.
Since he threw 111 pitches and he'll have to make his next two starts with no
built-in rest day, Hamels said he didn't think he could've trotted back to the
mound for the eighth. And with the game out of control, Hamels said all that
was left for him was to root for his teammates and hope for the best. As small
of a cushion as one run may have been, three runs of support is still more than
he's been accustomed to this season, especially as of late. Coming into
Tuesday, the Phillies had scored three runs in the last 33 innings he had
thrown and just 27 runs in all of his starts combined. That averages out to 1.8
runs per start, and that is without factoring out the outlier of when the
Phillies scored eight runs in one game. That number rose to 1.875 runs per
start after Tuesday. The runs Hamels did allow came early. The 31-year-old gave
up two runs on two singles and a walk in the first inning. Both of the RBIs
came off one swing, as
Aramis Ramirez took
advantage of a poorly placed 2-2 cutter to plate
Jonathan Lucroy and
Ryan Braun. "The cutter just stayed straight and
Aramis hit it," Hamels said. "It's probably more of a frustration
pitch because I know I've been able to throw that pitch successfully nine out
of 10 times. That was the one time it didn't work out, and with two guys on it
makes it tough, especially to put your team down early." One of the
logical assumptions to make is that Hamels' early struggles were a result of
the one-hour, 19-minute rain delay that preceded the game and the fact that it
messed with his warmup schedule. Hamels didn't think so, however, because of
the entertainment on the team's video board. "I thought it was awesome,"
Hamels said. "I got to watch the [U.S. Women's National Team] soccer game.
So at least I got to watch some soccer with the fans. That was kind of
enjoyable."
Mackanin To Remain For Remainder – General manager
Ruben Amaro Jr. announced Tuesday that the Phillies will retain Pete Mackanin as
interim manager through the rest of the season. Mackanin took over as interim
manager Friday after former manager Ryne Sandberg resigned from his post. At
the time, Amaro and team president Pat Gillick said that Mackanin would hold
the post at least through the homestand before a decision on the rest of the
season was made. Now, with the security of 83 more games to manage, Mackanin
said he will be able to do what he and Amaro feel is best for the organization.
"Because I have priority players that are young players that we want to
try to develop, I'm just going to continue to try to develop them as much as
possible and try to get them to where we think they can be and move on to the
future," Mackanin said. But despite Mackanin pledging to make
future-minded moves, Amaro said that this job does not guarantee Mackanin a
managerial job any later than October. "I think it's pretty clear, this
does not necessarily mean that he's a candidate to take the job beyond the year
by any stretch of the imagination," Amaro said. "I think we're going
to have basically a clean slate to make that decision. Pete may or may not be
part of that decision-making process, and Pete understands that." Amaro
said that though there were some internal candidates to take over aside from
Mackanin, he did not believe this was the time to interview outside candidates
for any jobs. The factors that differentiated Mackanin from other Phillies
coaches with managerial experience, such as Larry Bowa and Juan Samuel, was
Mackanin's history as an interim manager -- this is his third time doing so --
and his overall demeanor. To offset the gap on the coaching staff Sandberg
left, special assistant director of player personnel Jorge Velandia will take
over as a coach. Mackanin said that he will not be given a specific position
but will use his rapport with the players to aid Samuel, Bowa and the rest of
the staff.
Will Utley Be The Next Pipp? Now that Pete Mackanin is the Phillies' interim manager the
remainder of the season, he will be making some important decisions the rest of
the way. Like, who plays second base once
Chase Utley returns from the disabled list? Mackanin
had no update Tuesday afternoon on Utley, who was scheduled to have a cortisone
injection in his right ankle last week. But he said
Cesar Hernandez is earning the right to play more the
rest of the season. "I would like to think that Cesar has proven that he
deserves a chance to be the everyday second baseman," Mackanin said.
"That remains to be seen. I don't know. I don't want to get ahead of
myself. Let's just wait to see when Chase is healthy and how he feels and we'll
go from there." Hernandez has hit .436 (17-for-39) with four doubles,
seven RBIs and a 1.016 OPS in his last 10 games. He was hitting .277 with 10
doubles, one home run, 16 RBIs and a .730 OPS in 172 plate appearances entering
Tuesday. Utley is hitting .179 with seven doubles, one triple, four home runs,
25 RBIs and a .532 OPS in 249 plate appearances. Utley also has a $15 million
club option for 2016 that automatically vests if he reaches 500 plate
appearances. But depending on how much time he misses, the option might no
longer be an issue upon his return. "When you see part-time players and
perhaps at times they're not doing as well as you'd like them to do, you can
see now the benefit, obviously, of playing on a daily basis," Mackanin
said about Hernandez. "Cesar has been fantastic. We always felt he had it
in him. It's been a long process. I think he's making a good statement for
himself in the future." Said Hernandez: "When you play every day, you
kind of get used to seeing things. Now that I am playing every day, I am
staying comfortable."
Changing The Business Model – The Phillies formally introduced Andy MacPhail, who has had
success as an executive with three franchises, as their next club president
Monday. At first glance, it looked like a safe, conservative decision. A tee
shot down the middle rather than trying for the green with a more risky drive
over a water hazard. A second glance, to MacPhail's immediate right on the dais
at Citizens Bank Park, disproved that assumption. There sat John Middleton, a
member of the ownership group. That's a big deal. It was the first outward and
visible sign that the way the Phillies now conduct their business has changed
significantly. And it's not just that Middleton revealed that the Phils will
jump headfirst into advanced analytics for the first time when their own
proprietary computer program -- to be called PHIL -- comes on line in
September. For the last 34 years, the Phillies' partnership agreement gave new
meaning to the concept of silent partners. The team president, first Bill Giles
and later Dave Montgomery, had the final say on all decisions and spoke for the
group. The investors remained unseen and unheard, and that's just the way it
was. No more. Middleton said he believes it's important that the president
represent the organization for baseball-related issues after Pat Gillick steps
aside and MacPhail ascends at the end of the regular season. But the
60-year-old billionaire also made it perfectly clear that he isn't going to be
content to passively sit in the shadows and root, root, root for the home team.
"I foresee it being more of a public role when it deals with more
significant ownership-level kinds of decisions," Middleton said. Middleton
owns just under half of the Phillies' stock, as do cousins Pete and Jim Buck.
He certainly can't be faulted for wanting to have a more active role in looking
after his investment. Middleton has been exerting more influence for a while
now, attending the quarterly Owners Meetings, for example. Now that involvement
is out in the open. Monday's unveiling of MacPhail was his coming-out party as
well. This isn't to say that the Phils didn't want to win before. The fact that
they've had one of the highest payrolls in baseball for years demonstrates
that. Still, the emphasis being placed on success has never been stated quite
this bluntly and specifically. "When we were interviewing Andy, we made it
clear to him that we expected him to devote the majority of his time to the
baseball side of the business," Middleton said early in his preamble.
"To improve the farm system and ultimately the Major League team. Every
other consideration was secondary to that goal." Turning to MacPhail:
"The pledge Jim, Pete and I made to you when we extended the offer is that
you will have access to whatever resources you need to succeed." During
the question-and-answer portion of the news conference, Middleton was asked
directly if his presence signaled a change in approach from ownership. "I
think the single most important thing an ownership group does is hire the
person in charge of the business," he said. "And I think when you
made a decision of that magnitude, the ownership group has to come forward and
make sure that people understand that they are the ones who made the decision.
Jim, Pete and I had the conversations. Jim, Pete and I had the deliberations
privately. Jim, Pete and I reached out to different people. "This is not a
decision that we delegated, much less abdicated. We own this decision. That's
an important part of the accountability that we think we had." Middleton
went on to dispute any notion that his goal is to gain a majority ownership
stake in the team. "I'm very happy where I am now," he said. Where
Middleton is now is front and center, although he joked that he hopes he
doesn't have to appear about hiring a new president any time soon. But he
conceded that there's been a significant change in the way the Phillies do
business, partly because many of the original owners have sold their shares. "There's
been an evolution within the franchise over the last several years,"
Middleton said. "As the ownership group has shrunk, the Bucks and my
family have had an increasingly larger position. And with that comes a
responsibility that's a little different from what it was 25 years ago, and you
have to kind of step up. "Pete, Jim and I have been much more involved with
the issues at an earlier stage than we were five years ago, for example. And
that's not going to change. We're going to be there asking questions. You don't
want us making baseball decisions, trust me. But I think we need to be asking
hard questions of the people who are involved in that process. We need to be
comfortable that they're crossing all their T's and dotting all their
I's." And, if need be, nudging the organization along. It's not just a
coincidence that there will be more of an emphasis on sabermetric analysis in
the future. Middleton shook his head when asked if he was surprised at how the
Phils have lagged in that area. "No, because I was aware enough with what
was going on in previous years to kind of know where we are," he said. And
why has that changed? "Because I'm in the position to make a hiring
decision and make that happen," Middleton said without hesitation. Make no
mistake. Hiring MacPhail is hugely significant with possible longlasting
repercussions. But it only begins to suggest the way the Phillies are now a
different operation than they've been.
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies are starting the season as expected and are now at the bottom of the
NL east at 27-52. Given the departures, aging stars,
injuries, and performance so far this season, this could end up being the
worst team in franchise history! All time, the Phillies are 56-57-0 on
this day.
