PHILADELPHIA — Although he had the job for a brief period last year when Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson were both injured and even though he’s had the job through the first two-plus weeks of the 2011 season, Jose Contreras officially became a closer yesterday.
The long-time starter-turned-reliever-turned ninth-inning man had the hearts of 45,716 people jumping in the final minutes of a 3-2 win over the Florida Marlins.
“The last few years I’ve seen that a lot, haven’t I?” manager Charlie Manuel said grinning afterward. “There are a lot of closers in that game who do that. Stop and think about it.”
Contreras recovered from two walks — including a cardinal sin, lead-off-the-ninth-inning walk — to record his third save in as many chances this season and help the Phillies (10-4) avoid losing two in a row for the first time all season. Carlos Ruiz’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly accounted for the game-winning run.
But more than getting his official introduction to the high-wire act that is major league closing, however, Contreras was also the most recent Phillies pitcher to succeed in a high-risk, no-margin-for-error situation that is the result of low run support.
After exploding for 56 runs in their first eight games, an average of seven per game, the Phils have averaged less than half of that in their last six. Yesterday’s three-run total marked the fourth time in the last six games that the Phils have scored just three runs; in the other two games, they’ve scored four.
“We need to score more runs than what we’ve put on the board,” said Manuel, an unabashed, offensive-minded manager. “I think we got off to a pretty good start, had some games where we scored some runs and got a lot of hits. Right now, we’ve got our timing off. The balance in our lineup is not what I call real good.”
Manuel made a point to say he didn’t want to sound negative following defeat: “Anytime you win, it’s a positive.”
But he came into the season concerned with his bats, especially without the punch and patience of former middle of the order cogs Jayson Werth and Chase Utley. The concern was temporarily put side when the Phils broke out the bats in the first week of the season.
In the second week, the Phils have looked more like the team that got shut out 12 times in 2010 and was held to three runs or less in an astounding 79 of 171 games.Continued... 1 2 See Full Story
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“We get guys on, (but) we’re not getting enough guys on where we can hit,” said Manuel, who also brought up the loss of home run hitters Pat Burrell and Werth, to go along with Utley’s absence. “We can talk about small ball, big ball or whatever you want to talk about. But to give up 170-180 home runs, I think that kind of hitting would help our lineup.”
The good thing for the Phillies is their ace-stacked rotation may be better equipped to handle whatever offense their teammates contribute on a nightly basis more than any other group of starters in baseball. Among the 92 major league pitchers that qualified for the ERA title in 2010, Cole Hamels (5.35 runs of support per game, 73rd lowest in MLB), Roy Halladay (5.24, 76th), Cliff Lee (5.09, 80th) and Roy Oswalt (4.12, 89th) finished in the bottom 20 of run support.
Hamels was as effective in handling his job in the first seven inning of yesterday’s win as Contreras was at the end of it. While the Phils scratched out two runs in the first inning, Hamels hurled five shutout innings to set the tone for the afternoon.
After giving up two runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly in the sixth, Hamels escaped a tricky seventh by getting a double ply ball from Omar Infante with Hanley Ramirez looming on deck. Hamels, who has received a grand total of seven runs of support in three starts this season, handed over a 2-2 game to the bullpen.
“Any time it’s a tight game, it’s just kind of the same way that the approach I’ve taken even last year, just try to minimize… focus and bear down,” said Hamels, who pitched in eight games last year when the Phils score one run or less. “You have to make your pitches, and if you make a mistake, you don’t want to make it up.”
Hamels allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out seven and walking two in seven innings. After Ryan Madson shut out the Marlins in the top of the eighth, the Phils eked out their third run in the bottom of the inning.
Ryan Howard hit a ball to left that Logan Morrison couldn’t get to — curiously ruled an error — to begin the inning and moved up to second when Ben Francisco followed with a single. After Raul Ibanez moved Howard to third on a fielder’s choice, Ruiz lifted a fly ball into straight-away center.
Although it snapped his eight-game hitting streak, Ruiz’s sacrifice fly brought home the go-ahead run. Three was enough yesterday, even if the manager wanted a few more.
“You want to go out and try and score as many runs as you can,” Howard said in defense of the offense. “Everyone has got to realize you’re not going to go out and score seven or 10 runs every night. Sometimes it will take three runs, sometimes it’ll take 10, you never know. For us, as long as we have more than they do, that’s all that matters.”
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