Sandberg On Phillies Record: 'We Haven't Gotten Hot'

By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Chris Stigall talked to Phillies Manager Ryne Sandberg following three consecutive games against the New York Mets that went to extra innings. The Phillies ended up only winning one of those games, on Friday night.

Sandberg said pitching has not been the problem recently, including from starter Cole Hamels.

"We've had some good pitching. We just played 39 innings in three days and a lot of zeroes were put up there by the bullpen and the starting pitching. Cole had good stuff yesterday and kept them down pretty good and pitched over a couple mistakes that we make in the sixth and seventh inning and had a good outing for us."

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He said that he is still waiting for the team to put a successful run together to jump back up into the race for the division.

"We've haven't gotten hot and we haven't had a streak of eight out of ten or something like that. I see the capability is there to put everything together for ten days or for two weeks or for three weeks. We've fallen short of that. We've been real choppy. We haven't had that streak, so that is something that we continue to strive for and push towards."

Sandberg reiterated that his relationship with General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is good and that he feels this team has the personnel necessary to win.

"We work hand in hand. He's the General Manager, I'm the Manager. We have communication. When we need a player, he gets the next guy available that we have and we work together on that. Other than that, I focus on the players. I focus on what we can do to get better."