The Phillies handled the Miami Marlins fairly well this series, until Saturday night that was. The Phils had a very close game thanks to Cole Hamels who was on the mound for the Phils, he gave up two home runs on the night, but the Phillies offense couldn’t respond and the team lost to the Marlins, the second to worst team in baseball, as they were in a tie for that title with Houston as the night started.
The Phils have been climbing up the ladder to make .500 on the season, but took a step backward on Saturday night as the Phils fell to 14-17 with the loss against the Marlins.
The victory was the first ever by Miami Marlins pitcher, Jose Fernandez, who came here to the USA to pitch in the MLB at 20 years old from Cuba. Fernandez was starting his 7th game of the season and had been 0-2 prior to getting his first win. It has to be a memorable win for Jose, he struck out 9 Phillies and allowed only 1 hit (7 innings pitched) as Miami’s bullpen was very effective in saving this game for him.
It’s hard to believe that the Phillies bats have went silent but they did it again in game 3 of this series, the Phils now have a 4-2 season record against the Marlins and face them again on Sunday afternoon for a rare 2:35pm start on Sunday, this because of a run on Broad Street. The Phillies face the Marlins again after this series on May 20th then in early June and then not again until September.
Cole Hamels drops to 1-4 on the year and he got tagged with the loss in a game that was probably a bit frustrating for him as the Phillies could only manage to get 1 hit on the night. The Phils are now 8-9 at home so far this year, and being home hasn’t been all that of an advantage for them so far.
The National League East has been changing though as the Phillies have been gaining a little ground on the top running Braves and the second place Nationals, who have free fallen to just a game above .500 with a win against the Pirates on Saturday.