Francoeur hits walk-off homer as Phillies sweep Marlins

Giles would take over Papelbon’s closer role if the Phillies grant the veteran pitcher his wish and trade him.

Francoeur’s four home runs since June 28 lead the club, while his 10 RBIs are second behind Ryan Howard (12).

Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that the Dodgers need to acquire at least one reliable starting pitcher before July 31st in order to shore up the rotation and compete with Washington, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and the hack-eyed St. Louis Cardinals come October. In the weekend series against the Marlins, the 31-year-old made the most of his opportunities, going 3-3 with two home runs and five RBIs.

The Phillies are 3-0 since the All-Star break, including an 8-7 Sunday over the Marlins, Francoeur belting the game-winning home run. He expressed an interest in being traded prior to the season and the rebuilding Phillies reportedly have been holding out for top prospects.

Hamels gave up a 5-2 lead by allowing three runs in the third.

When Pete Mackanin was named the Phillies’ interim-interim manager, there was no downtown press conference, no spin around the warning track in a convertible, barely a screaming newspaper headline. “We’ll see the Cole Hamels we’ve seen before”. Ruben Amaro Jr. might well expect a premium over what the Red Sox were willing to give him in the offseason, and even if not, there’s no way he’s willing to come down on his price in a market with more desperate buyers just because of two bad starts. The offense scored five runs in the second inning to take a three-run lead, and though Cole Hamels coughed up the lead the next inning as the Marlins tied the game, the Phillies did enough to pull out the win. 500 with three extra-base hits and nine RBIs. His.

“One of the best things that happened to me was going back to Triple-A previous year and playing every day and working my butt off, ” Francoeur said in an interview after yesterday’s game.

Bad pitches all, Hamels said late Sunday afternoon. Christian Yelich, Adeiny Hechavarria and Gillespie had run-scoring hits. Philadelphia will keep its fingers crossed that he looks much more like himself in that outing and that other teams will brush off his previous bad starts as an aberration. It marked his third career walk-off home run and he’s now homered in back-to-back games. I’d like to believe that hasn’t affected him. He said there isn’t any relief that the trade deadline is less than two weeks away because no player is really safe from getting dealt until he’s retired or has a full no-trade clause.

Fernandez, 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA coming in, allowed only a first-inning single by Franco and a Domonic Brown walk in the fifth.

Phillies: RHP Chad Billingsley saw a doctor on Sunday after experiencing right elbow soreness on Saturday night when he pitched five scoreless innings in a 3-1 win over Miami. Billingsley missed nearly two full seasons following two elbow operations before returning this season with the Phillies. The Marlins next travel to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks in a three-game series starting Monday.

The shorthanded Miami Marlins (-170) open the second-half of the season with a visit to Philadelphia and a meeting with the last place Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. LHP Matt Moore (1-0, 7.07) starts for the Rays.