Monday, April 1, 2013

Phillies Drop Season Opener to Braves

    The Phillies 2013 season kicked off tonight, although things did not go as they would have liked as they dropped the game to the Braves 7-5.  Cole Hamels made his first Opening Day start of his career and continued a streak of ugly first starts to the season he has had the past few years.  Hamels went five innings while allowing 5 earned runs and 3 home runs.
    Chad Durbin took over for Hamels and was even worse, allowing 2 runs without even recording an out, leaving him with an infinite ERA.  Jeremy Horst came on next to pitch two innings while allowing only a single hit and striking out 2.  Phillippe Aumont pitched the eighth for the Phillies, tossing a scoreless inning while recording 1 strikeout and 1 walk.  The Phillies pitchers allowed 10 hits in all, but the Phillies hitters collected 10 hits of their own on the night.
    Ben Revere led things off for the Phillies tonight, going 1 for 4 on the night with a walk, a run scored, and a stolen base.  The Phillies lead off hitter from previous seasons, Jimmy Rollins had a 1 for 5 evening at the plate.  Dom Brown, John Mayberry Jr., Erik Kratz, Cole Hamels, and Kevin Frandsen each collected one hit respectively in the game, but the Phillies efforts were led by Chase Utley.
    After missing the start of the last two seasons, Utley got off to a hot start tonight.  Utley went 3 for 5 on the night collecting his 200th career home run and falling only a double short of his first career cycle.  He collected 3 RBI's and scored 2 runs in the game as well.  Perhaps the best sign from Utley was his heads up base running that got him to second on the throw when he hit his single, showing that he may finally be healthy and ready for a bounce back season.
    So the Phillies drop their first game of the season, but there is nothing to be upset about as the offense showed some good signs and there are 161 more games to go.  The Phillies will be back in action Wednesday night against the Braves as Roy Halladay looks to get on track after a rough Spring Training.

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