Hamels gets tossed in Phillies loss

TORONTO - Charlie Manuel recently compared himself to a dam about to burst, frustrated by watching the Phillies drop nearly every game for two weeks. After tonight's debacle, he finally reacted.

The Phillies did not just lose to Toronto, 6-1, at the Rogers Centre. They lost for the 11th time in their last 13 games. They lost their ability to hit for six innings. They lost another start by their ace. They may have lost another reliever, Chan Ho Park, to injury, and they seemed to lose their collective composure.

The Phillies' clubhouse remained closed for roughly 20 minutes after the game, about twice the usual length. Finally, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. made a brisk exit. For the first time this season, Manuel refused to meet with reporters after the game.

The locker room was quiet and nearly empty. A scowling Ryan Howard pushed a folding chair out of his way while leaving. Cole Hamels, the losing pitcher, passed through the room several times before saying, "I can't gather my thoughts to say anything good right now," and promising to answer questions today.

Finally, Shane Victorino spoke.

"Whether we're trying too hard to make things happen, I don't know," he said. "I can't put my finger on it. What do you do? You just keep playing . . . we're not going to make any excuses. Maybe we need to relax. Maybe we need a gut check."

After several more minutes of silence, while players kept their eyes on the floor while leaving, Chase Utley appeared in front of his locker.

"Right now, we're not playing very good baseball," he said. "There's no one thing we're doing bad. We're just not playing together as a team."

The bottom of the fifth inning exemplified the bad energy that has grown around the Phils. The team turned to its ace for a needed lift, and instead watched him unravel. Hamels pitched well for three innings, but allowed one run in the fourth and came apart in the following inning.

After Hamels had surrendered three runs, he stomped off the mound, pacing on the turf and yelling into his glove. When he did deliver a pitch to Adam Lind, the batter chopped it to first. Hamels stumbled while scampering to the bag, and Lind was safe.

Kevin Millar stepped in and took two quick strikes, and Hamels delivered a curveball that home-plate umpire Mark Carlson ruled a ball. Hamels, appearing increasingly frustrated, motioned to Carlson in disagreement. Two pitches later, Millar lined a fastball to third; Pedro Feliz leaped to snag the ball, but it popped out of his glove.

Manuel walked to the mound to retrieve Hamels, who shouted to Carlson while leaving. As Hamels walked slowly toward the dugout, his barking intensified, prompting Carlson to make him the first Phillies player to be tossed from a game this season. Manuel lingered for several minutes himself, yelling in Carlson's face.

The ugliness seemed to have climaxed by the time Park got Alex Rios to ground back to the mound for the third out, but as the Phillies trotted off the field, Park fell to the turf, grimacing and clutching his knee, which he appeared to fall on while fielding the grounder. The Phillies later termed the injury a right-knee bruise.

The injury may prove serious, but it seemed like a footnote for this confused team.

"To be honest," Victorino said, "we're still trying to figure it out ourselves."