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Hamels blanks Griffey, Reds as Phillies roll

Jun 5, 2008 - 9:46 PM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Ken Griffey Jr. finally appeared in the starting lineup for the Cincinnati Reds. But his presence ultimately helped Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Griffey had one of three costly errors that led to three unearned runs while Hamels pitched a three-hitter Thursday afternoon, leading the Phillies to a 5-0 victory over the Reds.

One homer shy of 600 for his career, Griffey was not in the lineup for the first three games of this four-game series due to "general soreness." He made a pinch-hit appearance in each of the last two games, walking both times.

"(Griffey's still) struggling a little bit," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "He has a lot of miles on that body."

In this contest, Griffey went 1-for-4 and almost hit his 600th career home run in his second and fourth at-bats. He settled for a double when his deep drive to left-center took one hop off the fence in the third and flied out to deep center in the ninth.

"I tried to make good solid contact (against Hamels)," Griffey said. "He's been tough on everybody since he came up. You just try to get a pitch you can hit and hit it hard. I hit pretty good, (but) I didn't hit them high enough."

Coming into the game, Griffey had only batted against Hamels three times previously. He struck out twice and walked.

"Growing up, I was always a really big fan (of Griffey)," Hamels said. "It was one of those things if I would have given up (his 600th home run), I just would have been on a really long list with a lot of people.

"I'm glad he missed by inches instead of it going 500 feet over the fence."

The Phillies were leading, 1-0, in the fifth when with one out, Reds starter Homer Bailey (0-1) committed an error when he threw wildly past first on an infield single by Pedro Feliz, who advanced to second.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Eric Bruntlett hit what appeared to be an inning-ending flyout to Griffey in right field. But at the last instant, Griffey flinched and dropped the ball, allowing Feliz to score and make it 2-0.

"I tried to move away, (but) I lost it in the lights," Griffey said. "I tried to keep from getting hit in the lip."

Griffey appeared to lose the ball in the lights, which were on due to cloudy conditions. Chase Utley followed with an RBI single that made it 3-0. Geoff Jenkins added a solo home run and Ryan Howard had an RBI single to complete the scoring.

The run support was more than enough for Hamels (6-4), who recorded his second career shutout. The lefthander walked three and struck out four, rebounding nicely from a two-start stretch in which he allowed 13 runs.

"The past couple of starts, I really didn't feel like myself just because of the amount of runs I was giving up," Hamels said. "(I used) the past couple of days to gather myself. I'm not a power power pitcher who throws 98 (miles per hour).

"You can't stay up in the zone with fastballs, and that's something where I was getting in trouble with a lot. In this game, I was trying to work down in the zone."

Bailey did his job in his season debut by holding the potent Philadelphia offense in check. The righthander went 6 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs - two earned - and four hits.

"It's tough losing games like that," Bailey said. "A couple of tough plays for our defense didn't work out. Stuff like that happens. I don't care if it's daylight or not, those lights are pretty bright. I kept seeing green, little dots."

"It was a pretty good outing actually," Baker said. "(Bailey) threw strikes. His pitch count was down. We gave (Philadelphia) the first three runs."

Philadelphia scored its first run when Cincinnati rookie shortstop Paul Janish dropped a popup by Jimmy Rollins with two outs in the third.

Rollins, who only made it to first base on the error, was pulled from the game an inning later by Phillies manager Charlie Manuel for not hustling on the play.

"(Manuel) has two rules - be on time and hustle," Rollins said. "I broke one today. It's my fault."

The Phillies took three out of four games from the Reds and completed their 10-game homestand with an 8-2 mark. The last time Philadelphia went 8-2 during a homestand was in August 1995.

"It's huge for us to establish what we want to do this summer," Hamels said.