Cole Hamels officially retires as Phillies lose 5-4 to NLCS nemesis Arizona
Former Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels soaks in the Citizens Bank Park love during a ceremony honoring his retirement Friday evening in South Philadelphia. (Matt Slocum/Associated Press)
Before the Phillies battled the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on a sweltering Friday night, Citizens Bank Park and Philadelphia fans celebrated 2008 NLCS & World Series MVP Cole Hamels. Hollywood Cole was given the pitching rubber and lineup card from his no-hitter in Chicago (his last start as a Phillies pitcher) and then gave a great speech. He was then presented a game ball by “Lefty” Steve Carlton and threw out the first pitch to former battery mate Carlos Ruiz.
A lot has been made amongst fans and media alike about the Arizona Diamondbacks returning to Philadelphia for a three-game series this weekend and I get it, I certainly do. This is Arizona’s first time returning since game seven of last year’s National League Championship Series. It was a Tuesday last October. That Tuesday was supposed to feature a National League pennant celebration for Philadelphia fans, a pennant fans saw written in the stars since they had gone up 3-2 in the NLCS. It was their destiny after losing the World Series to the Houston Astros the year before.
Here’s some game seven alliteration, Corbin Carroll caused chaos. Philadelphia managed one hit over five innings against Arizona’s bullpen and, if you don’t mind, we are just going to put the book down for the night.
On this Friday night in June, the Diamondbacks used a different tactic and got the same result. That Tuesday last fall Arizona had just one extra-base hit, a double by Ketel Marte, in their 4-2 win. Friday against Tajuan Walker, Arizona had three home runs, a solo shot by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the second, and back-to-back dingers by Gabriel Moreno and Joc Pederson in the third inning. The back-to-back homers were followed by a Christian Wlaker double and ultimately led to Walker’s final pitching line of 4IP 5H 4R 4ER 3BB 3K. Spencer Turnbull came on and gave the Phillies three nerve-shaking but scoreless innings of relief.
Meanwhile, for the Phillies, they struggled to get a rhythm offensively against left-handed starter Jordan Montgomery. He used every second, sometimes more, of the pitch clock and wasn’t in much danger other than the third inning. In the third inning, the Phillies split the deficit to 4-2. After Kyle Schwarber hit a two-out single, Trea Turner had his “welcome back to the lineup moment”. Turner yanked a 1-0 2-seamer deep into the left field seats for a two-run homer, Turner’s 3rd and Montgomery’s 8th given up to a righty on the year.
In the bottom of the 6th, the Phillies threatened again against Montgomery. Bryce Harper led off the inning missing a home run of his own by 3 inches, hitting the very top of the right field fence and settling for a double. The next batter, Alec Bohm, hit a deep drive to right that was caught up against the fence by Jake McCarthy. The inning then fizzled out behind a Nick Castellanos strikeout and Edmundo Sosa flyout.
In the seventh, the Phillies were back in business thanks to D-backs reliever Kevin Ginkel. After a strikeout of Brandon Marsh, he walked David Dahl and Rafael Marchan (hitters 8 and 9) before Joe Mantiply came on to replace him. He walked Kyle Schwarber and then gave up an RBI single to Trea Turner, everybody advancing a base. Then came the turning point of the game. Mantiply managed to get Harper to roll one back to him starting a rare 1-2-3 double play and ending the rally.
Seranthony Dominguez came on in the top of the eighth inning and got the first two batters before allowing a Blaze Alexander single and a steal of second. Gerardo Perdomo then punched a base hit off his hands and Arizona was back up two. Ryan Thompson was brought on in the bottom of the eighth and, after getting Alec Bohm to ground out, faced Nick Castellanos. Castellanos busted out the pitching wedge and golfed a ball deep to left field to make the score 5-4.
After the Diamondbacks went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, Paul Sewald came on for the save. He retired David Dahl and Rafael Marchan on fly balls before Kyle Schwarber grounded out to Christian Walker to end the game.
This Friday was not the Phillies night. This writer is not going to make any more out of it than I think it is, which is one game, for a team that currently stands at 49-26 through 75 games. Yes, it was against the team that knocked them out of the NLCS. That team is not in the Phillies division and currently sits 8.5 games back in the NL West. No amount of scoring tonight, or the rest of this series, would have put the Phillies in last year’s World Series. For fans, it is fun to say it is a revenge series. For the Phillies, it is about getting back to the winning ways they had cultivated before London. They have another opportunity tomorrow at 4:05 PM EST when Tommy Henry (2-2, 6.23 ERA, 28 K) opposes Zack Wheeler (8-4, 2.84 ERA, 99 K).
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