Phillies out to even series against Mets behind Cole Hamels

Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies and A.J. Burnett fell behind early to the New York Mets, led by Bartolo Colon, and despite a 9th inning rally eventually lost by a score of 5-4.

Tonight, Philadelphia will send Cole Hamels to the mound, a man who the Cubs apparently wanted to pick up from waivers, but once again the reported asking price from Amaro Jr. was too high. Despite owning a 2.42 ERA on the season, Hamels has struggled in career starts against the Mets, with a 4.19 ERA against New York over 30 starts. However, a week and a half ago he held the Mets scoreless through 8, striking out 8 and giving up just 6 hits without a walk. In his last start, Hamels limited Washington to 1 unearned run in 7 innings in a 4-0 loss.

New York will send Dillon Gee to the mound (4-4, 3.73 ERA), who has been solid so far this season. Remarkably, Gee’s night-game ERA is 3.45 points higher at 5.44 compared to 1.99 during day games, and he has struggled since the All-Star Break, going 0-3 with a 6.85 ERA over 22.1 innings. He has struggled against lefties this year, with the .252 opponent average a whole 52 points higher than the .200 against righties, and the ERA at 5.11 against left handed hitters compared to 2.60 for right handers. In his last start against San Francisco, he got a no-decision after giving up 2 runs on 5 hits over 5.2 innings.

Chase Utley will enter the game hitting .285 for the season, as well as possessing a 4 game hit streak. He collected 3 hits last night including a double, and in his last 16 at-bats he has 7 hits, meaning an average of .438 over the last 4 games for Chase, with just the 1 RBI.

Another man who continues to hit is Marlon Byrd. He managed 3 hits last night also, stretching his hitting streak to 3 games. His average during night games is 31 points higher than during day games, at .283 compared to .252, and through the month of August Byrd is .308 over 26 at-bats with 8 hits.

Dominic Brown is back in the starting lineup for the first game since July 29th. He hasn’t hit as well as his All-Star season last year, going .228 through 355 at-bats this year, with a .278 OBP. In his last 10 games Brown is 4-for-18, giving him a .167 average with just 1 RBI.

Lineups 8/9:

Phillies

Revere CF, Rollins SS, Utley 2B, Howard 1B, Byrd RF, Brown LF, Ruiz C, Asche 3B, Hamels P

Mets

Granderson RF, Murphy 2B, Wright 3B, Campbell LF, Duda 1B, d’Arnaud C, Lagares CF, Flores SS, Gee P