As unlucky as Cole Hamels was on Friday, Phillies starting pitching was due a little favorable fortune. And, after four straight scoreless outings at Citi Field, their offense was due some runs. Baseball karma (or the law of averages) is about the best reasonable explanation we can pin on last night's Phils win.
Three Mets errors led to three unearned runs, and on the Phils lone earned run, their starter had to do some work at the plate for the second straight night. On Friday, it was Cole breaking up the RA Dickey's no-hitter bid. Last night it was Roy Halladay singling and scoring after hits by Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco. Oh and, like Hamels, Halladay was dominant from the mound, throwing eight shutout innings. Halladay struck out seven and walked none.
With only one counted RBI in their last 18 innings at the plate, the Phils will either need to remedy their mini power outage, or Kyle Kendrick better be ready to grab a bat and throw a shutout.
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After three straight very good outings, KK turned in a clunker against the Dodgers last start. He allowed five earned runs while not making it out of the fourth inning, and the Phils dropped a 24-run marathon by a 15-9 count. Nine runs when the other team puts up 15... and Cole Hamels had to break up a no-no while allowing only one run. Meanwhile, Kendrick has as many wins as does Mr. Hamels. Cruel sport, this.
In his only start against the Mets this season (4/30), Kendrick was knocked around for three homers and four earned runs over five innings. His career numbers against the Mets aren't bad though (3.34 ERA). Kendrick will face Mike Pelfrey, who is coming off a seven-inning shutout of the Rockies. The win was his first since late June, and only once in July did he allow fewer than four earned runs.
So a few things are due tonight, whether you believe in karma, statistical correction, or just good prevailing over evil. The Phils are "due" to score a pile of runs sometime soon, and they're due to beat Pelfrey at Citi (he's 3-0 vs. PHI there). Of course, the Mets have also had a rough go of it. Just like the Phillies, they too have chalked up only one earned run in the past two games. And of course there are the weather gods to contend with. So who knows.