Apr 19, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies fans cheer as Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay (34) leaves the field after pitching the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Phils raced the scheduled rain.  Doc took the mound with far less regalia than the past few weeks; partially because his last start wasn’t a disaster, partially because plenty of more important things to discuss this week.

And, against a team that wasn’t the Marlins, he hit his spots, he induced ground balls, he hit 92 mph with measured consistency, he threw 1-2-3 innings, and best of all, he shouted at Matt Carpenter for trying to squeeze a walk out of him.  If someone got a hit, he appeared furious.  He’s still 0-for-9 at the plate with nine K’s, but that matters so little somebody would only include it because the backspace button is all the way over there.

Six strikeouts through seven innings, only two hits and two earned runs allowed (pair ‘o dingers from Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday).  He gets a complete game, too, as it was canceled due to the opening of the heavens.

Earlier this year, Ruben Amaro stupidly said, “I don’t care about walks. I care about production.” CSN Philly analyst Ben Davis made similar sentiments prior to the game.  This sort of ignorant spew is probably one of the main reasons the Phillies will probably stall out over the next few years.

But in the first inning tonight, we got to see just how unproductive walks are.  After not walking in four straight games, the Chase Utley drew a walk with two outs.  Seemingly innocent, just prolonging the inning.  Certainly not being productive.

Apr 19, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley (26) heads to first base after drawing a walk during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Turns out, Utley started a five-run scoring effort, all with two outs.  Every example of a walk’s value had a turn: John Mayberry doubled, and because a walk allows you to be on base, you are more likely to score.  Because Utley hadn’t just shrugged and gotten out, Kevin Frandsen was able to hit after Mayberry and reached on a throwing error by Ty Wigginton (Get on, see what happens).  Then Ben Revere tripled.  Then Humberto Quintero doubled.

It was 5-0 at the end of the first inning, all because of a walk.

Quintero finished the night 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Jimmy Rollins had a two-hit night as well.  Freddy Galvis couldn’t summon a hit, but socked one pitch pretty hard and had a couple of stellar defensive plays in left.

Did I mention Ryan Howard was out with a sore groin?  Michael Young hit clean-up, and it was all too easy to identify this change as the explanation behind an extended inning with two outs.  As small a sample size as it is, it is all too easy to see RyHo striking out on three pitches after Chase’s walk, or, if he did get on base, end the inning with his lack of momentum on the bases.

Whatever.  Doc’s ERA is back down to 6.04.

When it all went right

Chase’s walk, man.  This ain’t a science fair project.  You get it.

Hero

DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC DOC D

Villain

Carlos Beltran, your consistent ownership of Doc’s fastball is quite obnoxious.

TBOH’s thoughts

Man why are we so bad we shouldn’t be so bad **GLARING FUNDAMENTAL FLAW IN TEAM PHILOSOPHY** man i just can’t figure it out.

— Justin Klugh (@TBOHblog) April 19, 2013

SO WHAT HALLADAY ONLY THREW 7 INNINGS OF A SHORTENED GAME HE’S STILL BAD WHY DID MY PARENTS HATE ME

— Justin Klugh (@TBOHblog) April 20, 2013

“The Phillies are just the fourth NL team since 1935 to play four consecutive games without a walk.”

–Todd Zolecki, Phillies.com

The Phillies proved that the entire series in Cincinnati wasn’t a fluke as they continued to not hit (timely), score, or walk to much success in game one of a four-game home series with the Cardinals.

Cole Hamels threw his first good game of

Apr 18, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels (35) delivers to the plate during the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. The Cardinals defeated the Phillies 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

he season, going seven strong innings, allowing three runs, five hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts.  Mike Adams relieved him in the eighth and allowed *another* home run, a la Carlos Beltran, breaking a tie game with the eventual winning run.  Papelbon pitched a depressing scoreless ninth.

The Cardinals did not hit much, notching seven against the Phillies’ 13.  They were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, but still scored four runs.

Youthful Freddy Galvis, not quite gassed and complacent like the rest of this lineup looks, was 2-for-5 for the Phillies with an RBI double in the fourth, and was himself knocked in by Chase Utley.  At the time, this tied the game (In the fourth, Yadier Molina doubled in Matt Holliday and Allen Craig off Hamels).

Both teams scored in the seventh; a sac fly by Pete Kozma in the top of the inning and an RBI single from Erik Kratz in the bottom.  Then came Beltran’s home run, and the Phillies summoned just enough life in the bottom of the ninth to leave runners stranded at second and third.  Ground out-strikeout-ground out can be carved into the epitaph.

John Mayberry fell down and rolled around on the ground while trying to catch a fly ball.

“In order to win ballgames, you have to be great all the time.”

–Cole Hamels

Awesome.

When it all went wrong

I’ll stretch this as far as J-Roll’s strikeout in the bottom of the ninth.  He goes down swinging – giving the even more futile look to his out – and the rally is now one out away from being totally killed.  Demoralizing.

Hero

Thanks for trying, Freddy.  Though you were the last out of the game.

Villain

Beltran’s dinger broke it up, but he also had a stupid, slightly jumping catch to steal extra bases.

TBOH’S thoughts

Nice swing by Beltran. And sadly, I don’t know if we have a single player on the roster who can do what he just did.

— John Stolnis (@FelskeFiles) April 19, 2013

Hilarious that #phillies fans think having a guy that throws 100 mph especially in the 8th is amazing. It just isn’t something the phils do

— Ben Horrow (@Summerpastime) April 19, 2013

Daniel Solzman of Redbird Rants helps inform us of all the reasons why it’s not really like a win at all.

The Phillies have been following the tried-and-true formula this season of “Failing to score any runs, creating a situation where the other team can score runs even if they weren’t currently trying to, failing to score any runs in response to the other team scoring runs.”  How do the Cardinals hope to penetrate this system?

Getting hits and using the base path smartly.  If you are on a team that opposes the Cardinals and try to steal a base, you will be thrown out immediately.