September 23, 2007 Phillies 5, Nationals 1

If only the Phillies played like this all season, it would be a much different story. Cole Hamels is dominant again in evening his record at 10-10, striking out 10 Nats and until the 9th allowing only 3 baserunners, with one being a Ryan Zimmerman homerun. After a walk and a single with two outs in the 9th, Tom Gordon comes in to record the final out and get the save. This is the 8th straight win for the Phillies, which ties their longest winning streak of the year. For the Nationals, it is their 10th straight loss. That will tie them for the 2nd longest losing streak in the majors this year with the Astros, the Pirates (who started the season 0-10), and a previous Nationals 10 game losing streak back in August. The longest is a 12 game slide for the Milwaukee Brewers. As for the NL side of the playoffs, bound to be some excitement for the final week of the season. In the East, the Braves (who play the red-hot Phillies next) just won game number 100 and stand 4 1/2 ahead of the Mets. In the Central, the Cardinals and Cubs are bound to go down to the wire as St. Louis currently leads by 1 1/2 games, both teams around the .500 mark. In the West, the Giants still sit 3 1/2 ahead of the Padres with a huge three game Padres-Giants series coming up in San Francisco that will most likely decide the division. Meanwhile, not only are the Mets and Padres battiling for their divisions, they are battling each other in the wild card race as the Mets lead the Pads by three games. Three of the four teams (Braves, Mets, Giants and Padres) will be in the playoffs, along with whoever emerges from the NL Central pile of shit dogfight.

Strat-O-Matic Report

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BOXSCORE: 2007 Philadelphia Phillies At 2007 Washington Nationals   9/23/2007
 
  Phillies           AB  R  H RBI AVG     Nationals          AB  R  H RBI AVG
  J.Rollins SS        3  1  1  0 .287     D.Jimenez SS        4  0  1  0 .204  
  C.Utley 2B          2  1  0  0 .333     R.Belliard 2B       3  0  0  0 .257  
  A.Rowand CF         4  2  1  0 .301     R.Zimmerman 3B      4  1  2  1 .287  
  R.Howard 1B         4  0  1  2 .290     A.Kearns RF         3  0  0  0 .226  
  G.Dobbs 3B          5  1  2  1 .282     T.Batista 1B        3  0  0  0 .208  
  J.Werth RF          3  0  0  0 .264     J.Flores C          3  0  0  0 .229  
  C.Ruiz C            4  0  1  2 .275     J.Maxwell LF        3  0  0  0 .455  
  M.Bourn LF          4  0  1  0 .247     N.Logan CF          3  0  1  0 .262  
  C.Hamels P          4  0  0  0 .136     J.Hanrahan P        1  0  0  0 .222  
  T.Gordon P          0  0  0  0 .000   A-C.Guzman PH         1  0  0  0 .302  
                                          W.Abreu P           0  0  0  0 .000  
                                          M.Bowie P           0  0  0  0 .100  
                                        B-W.Pena PH           1  0  0  0 .249  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      33  5  7  5                 Totals      29  1  4  1
 
A-Pinch Hit For Hanrahan In 6th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Bowie In 9th Inning
 
Phillies........ 0 1 2  0 0 0  2 0 0  -  5  7  0
Nationals....... 0 0 0  1 0 0  0 0 0  -  1  4  2
 
Phillies (75-81)         IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
C.Hamels WIN(10-10)       8 2/3   4   1   1   2  10   1 106   4.85
T.Gordon SAVE(11th)       0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   2   5.92
Totals                    9       4   1   1   2  10   1
 
Nationals (60-96)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
J.Hanrahan LOSS(1-6)      6       5   3   2   3   8   0  94   5.23
W.Abreu                   1 2/3   2   2   2   3   2   0  43   6.48
M.Bowie                   1 1/3   0   0   0   2   1   0  27   4.21
Totals                    9       7   5   4   8  11   0
 
ATTENDANCE- 8,437 DATE- Sunday, September 23rd 2007 TIME- Day WEATHER- Bad
T- 3:05
LEFT ON BASE- Phillies:11  Nationals: 3
DOUBLE PLAYS- Phillies: 1  Nationals: 1
ERRORS- D.Jimenez-2
DOUBLES- R.Howard(36th), G.Dobbs(21st)
HOME RUNS- R.Zimmerman(27th)
STOLEN BASES- J.Rollins(36th)
CAUGHT STEALING- J.Rollins, N.Logan
WALKS- J.Rollins-2, C.Utley, A.Rowand, R.Howard, J.Werth-2, C.Ruiz, R.Belliard,
       A.Kearns
HIT BY PITCH- C.Utley-2
STRIKE OUTS- J.Rollins, R.Howard-3, G.Dobbs, J.Werth-2, C.Hamels-4, R.Belliard,
             R.Zimmerman-2, A.Kearns, T.Batista, J.Flores, J.Maxwell, N.Logan,
             J.Hanrahan, W.Pena
GIDP- A.Rowand, T.Batista
 
Third baseman Greg Dobbs had 2 base hits and Cole Hamels dominated striking
out 10 Washington batters as the sizzling Philadelphia Phillies defeated the
floundering Washington Nationals 5 to 1 at RFK STADIUM.
 
Hamels(10-10) put on a good performance.  He allowed only 4 hits and 2 walks
in 8 and 2/3 innings lowering his ERA to 4.85.  Philadelphia had 7 hits for
the afternoon while Washington had 4.  
 
Tom Gordon was credited with his 11th save.  The loss was charged to Joel
Hanrahan(1-6).  He surrendered 3 runs and 5 hits in 6 innings.  
 
Hamels was asked about his big strikeout performance, 'Well, it's a little odd
when you rack up these numbers on the road - instead of cheers and a running
tally in the stands, everything gets real still and quiet.  Just strange -
but it's nice to be able to take the crowd out of the game.'

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