Rod Barajas Fails to Beat Phillies

This game was shaping up to be one of those games that Rod Barajas inexplicably homers to break up a shut out and transforms every Phillies fan into swearing, weeping emotional messes.  Luckily Cole Hamels threw baseballs and stuffed them up the proverbial asses of the collective Los Angles Dodgers line up.

Cole even held former Phillie and current wang Rod Barajas to a 1-3 day.  Why the hell do middle of the road catchers that used to play for the Phillies pound the living shit out of the team?  It did not happen today, so I think maybe I will save that question for a day that Mike Lieberthal comes out of retirement and hits five homers off of Halladay.

Cole Hamels was the story of the game tonight.  He threw eight shut out innings and apparently has been flexing in front of Charlie Manual who commented on his physique in his post game press conference.  Cole had the Dodgers flailing at his change up like minor leaguers on his way to nine strikeouts.  He cruised through the first six innings, but hit a little bit of a snag in the top of the seventh inning.  Hamels was tagged for a double by Andre Ethier followed by a single from Matt Kemp.  This left runners on first and third with no one out.  Cole bad assed his way through the inning, getting Juan Uribe to pop out and striking out Marcus Thames.  Hamels threw great pitches to Rod Barajas and escaped the inning without allowing a run.  See you in hell Rod Barajas.

Hey everyone!  Do you remember when the Phillies used to hit home runs?  Well, they hit one tonight.  Ryan Howard, who has not homered in quite some time, connected off of Hiroki Kuroda in the bottom of the sixth inning.  Kuroda has absolutely owned Howard in his career as Ryan to only three hits in his sixteen at bats against the Japanese right hander.  Ignoring how terrible he has been against Kuroda, Howard lined an inside fastball out to right field.  Thank God.  This was all that a dominant Hamels needed.  The Phils tacked on an insurance run in the seventh when Dom Brown scored Shane Victorino on a contact play after Shane tripled.  Barajas could not make the tag at the plate.  Where has we heard that before?

Ryan Madson entered the game in the top of the ninth and notched his fourteenth save in fourteen opportunities.  The Phils only managed two runs, but they got their eighth shutout of the year, so the offensive struggles are lost in the joy of victory.

Tomorrow Kyle Kendrick saunters to the mound to face the struggling Chicago Cubs.  Here is to hoping that the bats show up tomorrow because Kendrick is fucking horrible.