One of those rare pitching match-ups that lives up to the billing unfolded last night at Citizens Bank Park. Both Adam Wainwright and Cole Hamels were superb. And both catchers, Yadier Molina and Carlos Ruiz, featured large in the game. The Phillies scored in the 7th on a sac fly by Ruiz which plated Raul Ibanez, who had led off the inning with a triple. With the game at 1-0, Hamels came out for the 9th. Just as he was about to throw his first pitch, some jackass ran onto the field. As Adam Wainwright said afterwards, it gets tired fast. This jerk had tweeted to his buddies to tune in to watch. (Yes, Virginia, Twitter is for birdbrains.) He was quickly caught and led away to crowd chants of Taser, Taser, Taser.
Did the incident affect Hamels? He said no but Wainwright thought that the timing had to have thrown off Hamels' mojo. Whatever, he then gave up two hits, including the game-tying single to catcher Yadier Molina, who has been a defensive wrecking crew in both games so far. Hamels left to be replaced by Brad Lidge, who also looked like his old self finishing off the inning.
Jose Contreras, pitching with his mother in the stands, a first in his major league career, struck out the side in the 10th. Then up came Chooch in the bottom of the inning. He promptly hit a ringing foul to left. Two pitches later he smacked the ball straight into the left field seats. The moment Ruiz hit the ball, Hawksworth was heading for the dugout, Jayson Werth was jumping the rail, and the Phillies had an exciting 2-1 victory.
Tonight it's Kyle Kendrick v. Brad Penny. Brad Penny, as I recall, has some kind of ridiculous lifetime ERA vs. the Phillies, like 0.59 or something. I remember the shutout game he threw against them last year at the Zen when he was with the Giants. Kyle Kendrick will be the sacrificial lamb opposing him.
One other thought from last night: Thank heavens the Braves traded Wainwright, originally in their system, to St. Louis in the J.D. Drew deal some years ago. He's a super pitcher but I'd much rather watch him from afar.
