Good pitching + no offense = Phillies lose!

(AP Photo/Justin Maxon)

Yesterday the Phillies got a solid outing from Kyle Kendrick that led them to a win, today they got another solid outing from their starting pitcher, Cole Hamels, but this time they lost. The difference? The offense was MIA today against the Marlins, getting shutout in a 3-0 loss.

Hamels pitched well for the Phillies, going 6 and 2/3rds innings and only giving up 2 earned runs. He gave up 7 hits, but also struck out 7 batters to keep runs off the board. That effort should have been enough to earn him a win, something he hasn't done since July 3rd, but the Phillie offense hung him out to dry to drop his record to 9-8 on the season. That's right, Hamels, the Phillie ace with a 3.35 ERA and a WHIP of 1.07, has a record that is barely over .500. Hamels has had some rough outings this year, but he clearly isn't getting good run support, especially when you notice that Kyle Kendrick has a record of 10-5 and yet his ERA is 4.37 and his WHIP is 1.49.

The offense failed to show up, managing only 4 hits off Chris Volstad and the rest of the Marlins pitching staff. One of the hits was by Hamels, so really the offense can only be credited with 3 hits. They managed to walk 6 times, which was nice, but failed to actually drive anyone in once they got on base.

The loss means that not only did the Marlins win the series against the Phillies, they also cut the NL East gap down to 1.5 games. The Mets also won today, overcoming another terrible performance by their bullpen, to pull up to 2 games back. The Marlins and Mets will play each other this weekend, while the Phillies get the privilege of taking on the Pirates. If there was ever a time for the Phils to build a bigger lead, now is it. Sweeping the Pirates and letting the Mets and Marlins beat up on each other would make for a good weekend.