phrustrated philly phan

Cole Hamels had another frustrating start for the Phillies tonight as he was dominant through 5 innings striking out 12 but then gave up 5 runs in the sixth. The offense tried to rescue Cole but it was too big of a hole. As the season is all but officially over it is time to look for small victories inside the game. Cole strikes out 12 and impresses Bobby Cox who has seen his share of star pitchers. Charlie Manuel uses a different line-up. He sat both Rowand and Burrell tonight and instead started Victorino and Delluci. They went a combined 3 for 6 with 2 runs, 4 walks and only 1 strikeout. Howard continues to hit home runs at a astonishing rate for a player in only his first full big league season. He hit his 32nd home run to tie the league leader tonight. Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 24 games, the longest this season, with an overall great night at the plate. He went 2 for 3 with 2 runs and 2 walks. Last, David Bell continues his hot streak, his first as a Phillie, and it has come at the right time. Maybe some contender (Padres are you reading this?) will take a chance and give up a mid-level prospect hoping that Bell continues hitting this way the rest of the year. He hit his 6th home run tonight along with 3 more RBI's. The other lowlight tonight is how the offense continues to struggle with runners in scoring position leaving 11 runners on base tonight.

As a tribute to one of my favorite shows, The Colbert Report, I am going to boring Tip of the Cap/Wag of the Finger.

Tip of the Cap: Charlie Manuel for finally using a different line-up and giving playing time to both Shane Victorino and David Delluci

Wag of the Finger: Bobby Abreu for striking out looking with runners in scoring position

Coming Tomorrow: Ryan Madson and his inconsistency take the mound versus the Diamondbacks' Miguel Batista

Also checkback tommorrow for what I would do in the next week if I was Pat Gillick