PHILLIES NEWS

The Phils returned to the Bank tonight to begin a series with the Houston Astros. Cole Hamels got the start and for a night the Hamels September mystique wore off a bit, as Houston touched him up for 6 runs on 9 hits in 6 and 2/3rd's innings. The Phils actually had the early 1-0 lead on a sac fly by Chase Utley in the 1st but Houston was ahead 3-1 by the 6th inning. The Phils made a final charge there, as "the Flyin Hawaiian", Shane Victorino, doubled and scored on a balk to cut the lead to 3-2. Ryan Howard then worked a walk and stole 2nd, to put the tying run in scoring position for Jayson Werth. Werth worked the count to 3-1 but could only produce an inning ending flyout. Houston then put up 5 runs in the 7th inning and that was about all she wrote. Even though the bullpen managed to keep it at 8-2 the rest of the way, the Phils just couldn't come up with anything in the last few innings. Victorino did triple in the 8th, but a Ryan Howard strikeout ended that threat. The Phils also managed to put 2 on with just 1 out, in the 9th, but Greg Dobbs grounded into a double play to end that threat. The bullpen performed admirably on this night, allowing just 2 runs in the final 2 innings. It was simply an off night for the Cole Hamels that did the Phils in tonight. They also left another 8 men on base, which didn't help much either. Tonight was just a down night for the Phils in more ways than one. Anyway so the Phils drop to 90-66 overall and now just 4 games in the NL East as the magic number remains 3.