Another stumbling block

I had to do some midday driving this afternoon and turned on the Phillies game just in time to hear Prince Fielder crack one off of Cole Hamels' shoulder.

The broadcasters lamented that Hamels was pitching like Cole Hamels again. I'll take their word on it because other than the six strikeouts his line didn't impress me: two earned on four hits through 3 1/3 innings.

What's the over/under on Hamels first ace-like start of the year? I'll say May 20th. Over/under on 10 wins? I'm not ripping him, it's just that sometimes playoff heroes can't get it together for the encore.

Officially, Todd Zolecki reports Hamels has a bruised shoulder and expects to make his next start. We'll see.

All you need to now about the Phillies offense today is that Matt Stairs hit a mammoth pinch-hit home run in the 8th to ruin the shutout and no-hitter for Dave Bush in a 6-1 loss to the Brewers. The Phillies haven't been no-hit since 1978.

Red Sox: While the team had a day off preparing for its first showdown against last year's playoff runner-ups, the front office was busy with a bunch of little moves. Little-used Chris Carter was optioned to Pawtucket with no word on his replacement, and Kason Gabbard was re-aquired from the Rangers, probably for cash.

Gabbard's demotion from the Rangers made for an amusing story yesterday.

One more to go

The Phillies offense is so bad right now, they've figured out how to erase runs from the scoreboard. After a maddening game in which the umpires didn't call any strikes for Jamie Moyer and the hitters continued to make us yearn for Brett Myers in the batters box, the Phils finally showed some life in the 9th inning.

Trailing 4-1, they loaded it up with no outs against Brewers closer Salomon Torres. Of course, Pedro Feliz swings at the first pitch, grounding right to the third baseman, who turns the 5-4-3 double play. At least, I thought, a run was in and the potential tying run would be at the plate. But no, the umpires ruled Shane Victorino interfered at second base. How can you be charged with interference if the double play is turned? So a run came off the board, and the runners went back to second and third bases. Carlos Ruiz then meekly grounded out, so in the grand scheme of things, that ruling only meant the final was 4-1 Brewers instead of 4-2. Phils still lead the series 2-1.

Our Sunday just got a lot more hectic. The Phillies and Joe Blanton will try to wrap it up in the afternoon and avoid a classic Cole Hamels vs. CC Sabathia winner-take-all matchup. At night, Josh Beckett will try to finish off the Angels. We were hoping the Phils wouldn't need four games so we could tend to some errands in the afternoon, but they couldn't get it done.

The great outings by Hamels and Myers and a few clutch hits in the first two games masked the fact that the offense has disappeared. The Phillies are now hitting .234 with a .339 on-base percentage for the series. They're supposed to be a world-class offense playing a team whose pitching staff consists of a Cy Young award winner and then a bunch of slop. The Phils took out Sabathia, but got shut down by Dave Bush and a bunch of castoffs and roiders in the bullpen.

In 10 2/3 innings, the Brewers bullpen has allowed no runs, four hits and four walks with nine strikeouts. That's disgraceful for the Phillies.

With numbers like that, let's hope the Phillies build an insurmountable lead off Jeff Suppan tomorrow or that he gets a complete game loss.

I have to go now and stop Christine from throwing out our NLCS tickets. See you tomorrow with better news, I hope.

[Photo credit: Associated Press]