Phils Waste Hamels Stellar Outing

Phils reliever Tom Gordon gave up a walk-off grand slam to the Marlins' Dan Uggla in the bottom of the 9th to give the Marlins a 6 - 2 win.

The loss overshadowed a great pitching duel between Cole Hamels and the Marlins' Andrew Miller. Cole Hamels made two mistakes the whole game. The only problem is that both of them ended up as Jorge Cantu homers. The Phillies could only cobble together one run off of Andrew Miller, who kept the Phillies off balance all night. Miller was so good, he got Utley out twice via strikeout before Utley touched him up for an RBI single in the 7th inning.

Down 2 -1, the Phils managed to scratch out a run off of Marlins closer Kevin Gregg. The money play in the inning was a steal of 3rd by pinch runner Eric Bruntlett on an attempted sacrifice. From there, Bruntlett scored on a Chase Utley fielder's choice to tie the game at 2.

In the bottom of the 9th, Tom Gordon promptly loaded the bases on two walks and a single (from Cantu) before serving up the game ending meatball on a 3 -1 BP fastball to Uggla.

The Phils will look to salvage the last game of the series with Old Man Moyer going up against Scott Olsen. CSN-TV....7:10pm.

Did You Notice?

- Hamels retired 17 straight batters between Jorge Cantu's homers in the 1st and 7th innings. Hamels was truly dealing last night, striking out 13 and walking only 1. Hats off to Andrew Miller, who also pitched a helluva game.

- Know what I could have done without last night? The post game interview with Jorge Cantu. In high definition, no less. Yikes! Cantu had more craters and acne than the 15 year old on the french fry machine at the McDonald's on Rt. 70. Cantu seemed like a nice, upbeat kid, but get him some Proactiv or something.

Cantu's facial issues reminded of that story where someone asked a young Larry Bowa to describe what Mike Schmidt looked like and Bowa replied that it looked like someone was using Schmidt's face for an ashtray. Ouch.

- The rare 3-6-1 double play the Phils turned in the Phils? Nice play by Hamels getting over to first to complete the play.

- This was the 2nd straight game where Victorino lined out sharply into a double-play. I wonder if that frustration played a part in Victorino arguing balls and strikes in the 9th inning of the game last night.