They've finally done it. The Phillies are now tied at the top of the Wild Card standings. After that 4-11 start and all the injuries, they now "control their own destiny." And they did it last night they way they do it most of the time--with just enough pitching and a lot of hitting.
J.D. Durbin is pretty good, in my opinion. He has one of the two shutouts for the team this year. He has won four straight starts. He's no Cole Hamels, but he has been about as good as Kyle Kendrick. Isn't that what the Phillies want? Don't they want a guy who can go out and provide a quality start and let the National League's most powerful offense do its thing? I mean, Durbin himself said basically that same thing after the game, and he's right.
It's pretty standard that the entire offense (save for Ryan Howard) came out of the funk at once. I don't even know if it was a funk so much as it was the Nationals pitching staff. Those guys are real good, and they could be a scary team next year. So when the Phils got to face the Pirates the true tenor of their offense was allowed to shine through again.
It's a shame that all of that offense was necessary. The fact that the 9-3 laugher turned into a save situation is frightening, but that's a pretty good indication of the front end of the Phillies' bullpen. Truth be told, though, guys like Mesa and Condrey have pretty much only given up runs when it didn't matter, when the Phils were either up or down by a bunch. I'd much prefer that over the alternative, where they blow close leads or don't provide the team a chance to come from behind. So I'll take last night's performance in the grander scheme of things.
Now if only the Mets would lose! The Phillies have won 8 of 11 and haven't gained any ground on New York. At least the Braves lost, though that was bound to happen against Brandon Webb. His scoreless streak is up over 40 innings--I think he might make a run at Orel Herschieser's record.
Game ball: Pat Burrell. It's about time he gets another one, with his 3-for-3, 3 RBI, 2 extra base hit night.
Record: 65-56
Next Game: Game 2 against the Pirates has Jamie Moyer looking for his fifth straight victory, and the first Phils series win in Pittsburgh in 6 years.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Disabled List!
Breaking news on Philly.com: Adam Eaton is on the disabled list! This revelation surely makes Charlie Manuel's decision on who to pitch on Friday quite a bit easier. Looks like we've got J.D. Durbin for the next two weeks at least!
So let's talk about this disabled list thing:
In reality, I think this is one of the rare instances where the media (bloggers included) helped the team make a decision. No one wrote about how poorly Adam Eaton was pitching until after his last start. I mean, people mentioned it in the recap, but there was no daily update of his terribleness and his impending fate. Then, there was. A lot of it. In every paper. On every blog. "Who will pitch on Friday?" "When will Charlie make the move?" "How does Eaton feel about his job being in jeopardy?" There was so much buzz about it that it actually caused the team to do something. Either that or Eaton has a weird condition where when people talk about him, it's his shoulder that burns instead of his ears. Though throwing with his ear might explain his pitching lately...
One more thing--Russell Branyan. I remember at the beginning of last year Charlie Manuel saying how he wanted bench players to contribute to between 4-6 wins per season. If that's the case, then Russell Branyan has already filled his quota, considering he joined the team past the 2/3 mark of the season. If he can help once more, then he's considered a wildly successfull bench player, at least according to Charlie's book. Either way, he got real lucky and so did the Phils.
Game Ball: Branyan.
Record: 63-55
Next Game: Kyle Kendrick is making the job look easy, and the long article in the Daily News will back me up.
So let's talk about this disabled list thing:
- The Phillies have four decent outfielders and Jason Werth isn't doing anything for them. Then he goes down with a 'wrist injury' that's unrelated to his previous, season-ending wrist injuries. The day after the Phils lose both Shane Victorino and Michael Bourn to real injuries, Werth is back in the bigs looking just fine./li>
- Rod Barajas stinks and is useless, suddenly he's got a groin strain. Apparantly he's doing ok, but Chris Coste is batting over .300 in his stead and doling out clutch hits all over the place. And we all knew Coste deserved to be up here instead.
- Adam Eaton isn't worth any of the 2.4 billion pennies the Phillies signed him for, but he never complained about being hurt. But with the Phils in a playoff race and every one of Eaton's starts a real chance at a crushing defeat, he develops "inflammation" in his shoulder. The team says he's been showing signs of it for a month, but I think the only thing he's been showing signs of is "sucking."
In reality, I think this is one of the rare instances where the media (bloggers included) helped the team make a decision. No one wrote about how poorly Adam Eaton was pitching until after his last start. I mean, people mentioned it in the recap, but there was no daily update of his terribleness and his impending fate. Then, there was. A lot of it. In every paper. On every blog. "Who will pitch on Friday?" "When will Charlie make the move?" "How does Eaton feel about his job being in jeopardy?" There was so much buzz about it that it actually caused the team to do something. Either that or Eaton has a weird condition where when people talk about him, it's his shoulder that burns instead of his ears. Though throwing with his ear might explain his pitching lately...
One more thing--Russell Branyan. I remember at the beginning of last year Charlie Manuel saying how he wanted bench players to contribute to between 4-6 wins per season. If that's the case, then Russell Branyan has already filled his quota, considering he joined the team past the 2/3 mark of the season. If he can help once more, then he's considered a wildly successfull bench player, at least according to Charlie's book. Either way, he got real lucky and so did the Phils.
Game Ball: Branyan.
Record: 63-55
Next Game: Kyle Kendrick is making the job look easy, and the long article in the Daily News will back me up.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Game 117: Phillies 5, Braves 3
I am so glad when I get to watch a Phillies win on national TV. See, being in San Francisco means that I don't get to see very many games. I listen to almost all of them on Gameday Audio, but I can't afford to watch them on MLB TV (more because the games are on while I'm at work than financially). So to be able to watch a well played game from the comfort of my couch on a Sunday evening is second only to seeing the games live.
Right from the start of this game you could feel the buzz, and you could see the trend from this whole series against the Braves: scoring early. The Braves had scored twice before my microwave popcorn was ready, and it looked scary for Jamie Moyer in the early going. But he settled and found a nice groove. So that's both Moyer and Hamels who gave up multiple runs in the first inning against the Braves, sandwiching Adam Eaton and his early-game struggles. Naturally, the Phils won both games that the lefties started and couldn't handle Eaton's foolery.
I was pretty disappointed when I saw that single to right in the bottom of the first off of Jason Werth's bat. I mean, I was happy that one run was going to score, but I knew that Pat Burrell was going to be the final out of the inning. It was a full count, two-out situation where all the men on base running with the pitch--running being a relative term in Burrell's case. So there was no way Steve Smith can't send the guy home because he's basically already at third by the time the ball reaches the outfield. But combine the sharpness of that hit with Burrell's tortoise-like speed and there's no need for Jeff Francoeur to be in right, it could have been Tommy-John-surgery-outpatient Kyle Drabek out there getting Burrell by three steps.
At least Jason Werth made it interesting with his cat-and-mouse dance with Brian McCann when Francoeur threw him out in the fourth. Then the Braves rightfielder made some Phillies fans happy when he threw them a souvenier on the fly in the seventh. So Steve Smith got two out of three correct even though the Phils only got one run on plays at the plate--he probably shouldn't have sent Werth with one out in the fourth.
How about the bullpen? I mean, words don't do Antonio Alfonseca's drunken-robot dance justice. I haven't seen guys that excited to get outs since last October. These Phillies are really having some fun when they're winning, and so am I.
Game Ball: Jimmy Rollins. Two hits (including a triple) in three at bats, a walk, and three runs scored. He's doing it all right now.
Record: 62-55
Next Game: Look at the pitching matchups for this next series. These Nationals pitchers are looking pretty good since they dumped all their veterans. And they've been winning a lot too. Not a good time for the Phillies to go into Washngton.
Right from the start of this game you could feel the buzz, and you could see the trend from this whole series against the Braves: scoring early. The Braves had scored twice before my microwave popcorn was ready, and it looked scary for Jamie Moyer in the early going. But he settled and found a nice groove. So that's both Moyer and Hamels who gave up multiple runs in the first inning against the Braves, sandwiching Adam Eaton and his early-game struggles. Naturally, the Phils won both games that the lefties started and couldn't handle Eaton's foolery.
I was pretty disappointed when I saw that single to right in the bottom of the first off of Jason Werth's bat. I mean, I was happy that one run was going to score, but I knew that Pat Burrell was going to be the final out of the inning. It was a full count, two-out situation where all the men on base running with the pitch--running being a relative term in Burrell's case. So there was no way Steve Smith can't send the guy home because he's basically already at third by the time the ball reaches the outfield. But combine the sharpness of that hit with Burrell's tortoise-like speed and there's no need for Jeff Francoeur to be in right, it could have been Tommy-John-surgery-outpatient Kyle Drabek out there getting Burrell by three steps.
At least Jason Werth made it interesting with his cat-and-mouse dance with Brian McCann when Francoeur threw him out in the fourth. Then the Braves rightfielder made some Phillies fans happy when he threw them a souvenier on the fly in the seventh. So Steve Smith got two out of three correct even though the Phils only got one run on plays at the plate--he probably shouldn't have sent Werth with one out in the fourth.
How about the bullpen? I mean, words don't do Antonio Alfonseca's drunken-robot dance justice. I haven't seen guys that excited to get outs since last October. These Phillies are really having some fun when they're winning, and so am I.
Game Ball: Jimmy Rollins. Two hits (including a triple) in three at bats, a walk, and three runs scored. He's doing it all right now.
Record: 62-55
Next Game: Look at the pitching matchups for this next series. These Nationals pitchers are looking pretty good since they dumped all their veterans. And they've been winning a lot too. Not a good time for the Phillies to go into Washngton.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Game 114: Marlins 4, Phillies 2
I think it's safe to say that Brett Myers shouldn't pitch in a tie game. He shouldn't pitch in a game where the Phillies are down. He should only pitch in save situations. It is where he is effective. It is where he wants to be. It is really the only place that he seems to pitch well.
I realize that, at least on the pitching moves, Charlie Manuel did "the right thing" last night. He put his closer in for the ninth inning of a tie home game. The theory is that the closer holds the opponents and then the home team gets a chance to score off of someone who is not their opponents' closer. And so Myers entered (apparently to Outlaw's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" again). And he gave up two runs, Phillies lose.
This is similar to last Wednesday's game, when he entered the tie game in Chicago and had control problems, attitude problems, and wild-pitched the winning run in from second base. I don't think Myers has the right mindset when it's not a save situation. It's not that uncommon. Tom Gordon had some issues like that last year, and look at how much better Antonio Alfonseca started pitching as soon as he was inserted into the closer's role. And let's not even get started on Jose Mesa during his previous tenure in Philly.
There are some guys who are good when the game is tied. It's odd, but on the Phillies those guys have names like Romero and Condrey, not Madson or Myers. I used to think that each reliever having a specific role was overrated, but now I think it's of paramount importance. And so while you need your eighth-inning setup man and your ninth-inning closer, you should also have your late-inning tie-game pitcher and your late-game-down-by-one-run pitcher. Then a lefty specialist and a long man and one more jack-of-all-trades (see Madson) rounds out a decent bullpen. Of course it's hard to see how each pitcher will react to a role until you put them in it, so it can take the better part of a season to get to a good set. But about this time in the season, I think you know what you've got. It's just a matter of using them appropriately.
That's my opinion about bullpens, but no doubt everyone else has their own ideas, not to mention Charlie Manuel. Since he's the one telling Dubee to call the bullpen, we may not see my ideas get used anytime soon.
Now the Braves come to town, back ahead of the Phillies by a half game. If the Phils can take at least two of three, it would suggest that they're in it for real.
By the way, since I love Pat Burrell and Bill Conlin, I have to plug the latter's column about the former. Read it.
Record: 60-54
Next Game: Cole Hamels starts for the Phils in the opener against the Braves tonight.
I realize that, at least on the pitching moves, Charlie Manuel did "the right thing" last night. He put his closer in for the ninth inning of a tie home game. The theory is that the closer holds the opponents and then the home team gets a chance to score off of someone who is not their opponents' closer. And so Myers entered (apparently to Outlaw's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" again). And he gave up two runs, Phillies lose.
This is similar to last Wednesday's game, when he entered the tie game in Chicago and had control problems, attitude problems, and wild-pitched the winning run in from second base. I don't think Myers has the right mindset when it's not a save situation. It's not that uncommon. Tom Gordon had some issues like that last year, and look at how much better Antonio Alfonseca started pitching as soon as he was inserted into the closer's role. And let's not even get started on Jose Mesa during his previous tenure in Philly.
There are some guys who are good when the game is tied. It's odd, but on the Phillies those guys have names like Romero and Condrey, not Madson or Myers. I used to think that each reliever having a specific role was overrated, but now I think it's of paramount importance. And so while you need your eighth-inning setup man and your ninth-inning closer, you should also have your late-inning tie-game pitcher and your late-game-down-by-one-run pitcher. Then a lefty specialist and a long man and one more jack-of-all-trades (see Madson) rounds out a decent bullpen. Of course it's hard to see how each pitcher will react to a role until you put them in it, so it can take the better part of a season to get to a good set. But about this time in the season, I think you know what you've got. It's just a matter of using them appropriately.
That's my opinion about bullpens, but no doubt everyone else has their own ideas, not to mention Charlie Manuel. Since he's the one telling Dubee to call the bullpen, we may not see my ideas get used anytime soon.
Now the Braves come to town, back ahead of the Phillies by a half game. If the Phils can take at least two of three, it would suggest that they're in it for real.
By the way, since I love Pat Burrell and Bill Conlin, I have to plug the latter's column about the former. Read it.
Record: 60-54
Next Game: Cole Hamels starts for the Phils in the opener against the Braves tonight.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Game 113: Phillies 6, Marlins 4
Somehow, they Phillies manage to keep winning. Even though they have no right maintaining a winning record with their poor excuse for a pitching staff, they're powering forward. They're now seven games over .500 and they don't show any signs of slowing down. Since the All-Star break they're 16-9, which is good for a .640 clip. If they can keep that up they're going to be right there again at the end of the season.
And why shouldn't they be? Ok, their pitching is suspect, but it's been good enough. Somehow with all of the injuries to the offense they're still producing runs. Neither the Mets nor the Braves seem all that formidable, even with the Mark Teixeiras of the world. This race for the NL East is going to come down to whoever can beat the other teams in the division. And the Phillies seem to be picking up steam just in time for that.
Kyle Lohse...good job. Far better than Adam Eaton giving us another "Lidle start", Lohse gave the Phillies a "Kendrick start", which is basically about 6 innings and 3-4 runs (actually Kendrick rarely gives up more than three runs but it's a good guideline). That sort of outing will give the Phillies a lot of wins, because they score runs in bunches.
Somehow Jimmy Rollins is more productive from an RBI standpoing out of the leadoff hole than the three hole. Maybe that's because there's no one else who can get on base enough in the top spot for him to drive in, but I just think he needs to be there. It's cosmic forces. Or the fact that Phillies pitchers hit better than the White Sox. Either way, two RBI last night.
But Aaron Rowand is the big difference. I can't believe anyone thought about trading him, even as long ago as May. Ok, I thought his numbers were going to dip at some point, but they really haven't. He's still up around .320 and he's hitting more home runs than ever before. Half of me says "HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE" but the other half says who cares if he is on it. He's the reason a lot of these games are wins instead of losses.
Oh yeah, and the Brett Myers music thing--my vote is for "Midnight Rider" by the Allman Brothers Band. Myers is from the South, isn't he? No Metallica or AC/DC for him. It's still a good song about the end of the night..."And Ive gone by the point of caring / Some old bed Ill soon be sharing /
And Ive got one more silver dollar"...I dunno it says Myers to me.
Game Ball: Rowand
Record: 60-53
Next Game: Kendrick can make it a sweep if he throws down another patented quality start.
And why shouldn't they be? Ok, their pitching is suspect, but it's been good enough. Somehow with all of the injuries to the offense they're still producing runs. Neither the Mets nor the Braves seem all that formidable, even with the Mark Teixeiras of the world. This race for the NL East is going to come down to whoever can beat the other teams in the division. And the Phillies seem to be picking up steam just in time for that.
Kyle Lohse...good job. Far better than Adam Eaton giving us another "Lidle start", Lohse gave the Phillies a "Kendrick start", which is basically about 6 innings and 3-4 runs (actually Kendrick rarely gives up more than three runs but it's a good guideline). That sort of outing will give the Phillies a lot of wins, because they score runs in bunches.
Somehow Jimmy Rollins is more productive from an RBI standpoing out of the leadoff hole than the three hole. Maybe that's because there's no one else who can get on base enough in the top spot for him to drive in, but I just think he needs to be there. It's cosmic forces. Or the fact that Phillies pitchers hit better than the White Sox. Either way, two RBI last night.
But Aaron Rowand is the big difference. I can't believe anyone thought about trading him, even as long ago as May. Ok, I thought his numbers were going to dip at some point, but they really haven't. He's still up around .320 and he's hitting more home runs than ever before. Half of me says "HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE" but the other half says who cares if he is on it. He's the reason a lot of these games are wins instead of losses.
Oh yeah, and the Brett Myers music thing--my vote is for "Midnight Rider" by the Allman Brothers Band. Myers is from the South, isn't he? No Metallica or AC/DC for him. It's still a good song about the end of the night..."And Ive gone by the point of caring / Some old bed Ill soon be sharing /
And Ive got one more silver dollar"...I dunno it says Myers to me.
Game Ball: Rowand
Record: 60-53
Next Game: Kendrick can make it a sweep if he throws down another patented quality start.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Off Day: What a weekend
So, I go camping, and the Phillies have three crazy games to come back and try and assimilate. Kendrick pitches as well as he has yet and the Phils lose. Pat Burrell homers. Then Cole Hamels pitches OK but leaves with a lead and the Phils lose. Pat Burrell homers. Then Adam Eaton stinks up the place, the Phils enter the ninth down by five, Jason Werth homers, and the Phils win in 11.
Frankly I'm glad I missed all those games, because I would have been painfully depressed after the first two and I probably would have turned off the last one well before the euphoria.
So the Phillies, even though they went 3-4 against the best in the NL Central, still lost a game and a half thanks to the Mets going 4-2 against the same teams. The Braves springboarded in front of them and now they're in third. How does this bode for the team?
Well how does the whole month bode for the team? They've lost half of their offense to injury and the other half (save for Burrell) seems completely clueless without them. They're fighting, but that may not be enough. They need some pitching. They need to tank Adam Eaton and bring back J.D. Durbin to be the fifth starter, behind new fourth starter Kyle Lohse. Is this really what this is coming to? I'm suggesting that the Phils use two rookies and a lame trade-deadline acquisition as their three righthanded starters. That, of course, after they start the season with four viable righthanders trying to fit into those three spots. None of whom are healthy, effective, or still starters.
So once the allegedly-wife-beating Julio Mateo pitches for the Phils (soon, very soon) they'll have tied the dubious franchise record for most pitchers used in a season. And then when Scott Mathieson comes back from Tommy John surgery in September, they'll make a new record. This isn't really their fault, it's all the injuries. Or is it their fault? Remember last year when the Yankees fired their new strength & conditioning coach after a bunch of regular players all hurt themselves? Do we think there could be some issue with the pitchers not getting the right kind of treatment or stretching programs? Don't you think it's weird that Brett Myers and Ryan Madson, both relatively healthy pitchers throughout their careers, developed the same shoulder injury? I do.
Let's now talk about Pat Burrell. It's not a secret that I really like Burrell and I want to see him do well. And he's been playing quite well over the last few weeks. He hit over .400 in July. In case you didn't know, that's hard. What's even harder is that he's kept it up for another week, batting .412 so far in August. Look, I know he is a black hole in the lineup for a good portion of every season, but when he's hot, he's white hot. Remember a couple years back when he had something like 18 RBI in the first two weeks of the season? He can still be a big run producer. And as far as his contract, I don't have a problem with it. Yes, it's huge, but he signed it after that great 2002 season (.282/37/116) as a contract extension. The Phillies were locking up someone who could be a huge factor in their offense for a long time. If he went into free agency after 2002 (or even 2005, when he basically matched those numbers) he would have easily gotten a 4 or 5-year contract worth about $10 million a year, so the Phillies did what they should have at the time. Let's just let him be and allow him to help this team offensively then get out of the way at the end of games like he's been doing so well this season.
Record: 58-53
Next Game: The Phillies have to play the Marlins for three games. I wonder if they're going to get to see Scott Olsen...
Frankly I'm glad I missed all those games, because I would have been painfully depressed after the first two and I probably would have turned off the last one well before the euphoria.
So the Phillies, even though they went 3-4 against the best in the NL Central, still lost a game and a half thanks to the Mets going 4-2 against the same teams. The Braves springboarded in front of them and now they're in third. How does this bode for the team?
Well how does the whole month bode for the team? They've lost half of their offense to injury and the other half (save for Burrell) seems completely clueless without them. They're fighting, but that may not be enough. They need some pitching. They need to tank Adam Eaton and bring back J.D. Durbin to be the fifth starter, behind new fourth starter Kyle Lohse. Is this really what this is coming to? I'm suggesting that the Phils use two rookies and a lame trade-deadline acquisition as their three righthanded starters. That, of course, after they start the season with four viable righthanders trying to fit into those three spots. None of whom are healthy, effective, or still starters.
So once the allegedly-wife-beating Julio Mateo pitches for the Phils (soon, very soon) they'll have tied the dubious franchise record for most pitchers used in a season. And then when Scott Mathieson comes back from Tommy John surgery in September, they'll make a new record. This isn't really their fault, it's all the injuries. Or is it their fault? Remember last year when the Yankees fired their new strength & conditioning coach after a bunch of regular players all hurt themselves? Do we think there could be some issue with the pitchers not getting the right kind of treatment or stretching programs? Don't you think it's weird that Brett Myers and Ryan Madson, both relatively healthy pitchers throughout their careers, developed the same shoulder injury? I do.
Let's now talk about Pat Burrell. It's not a secret that I really like Burrell and I want to see him do well. And he's been playing quite well over the last few weeks. He hit over .400 in July. In case you didn't know, that's hard. What's even harder is that he's kept it up for another week, batting .412 so far in August. Look, I know he is a black hole in the lineup for a good portion of every season, but when he's hot, he's white hot. Remember a couple years back when he had something like 18 RBI in the first two weeks of the season? He can still be a big run producer. And as far as his contract, I don't have a problem with it. Yes, it's huge, but he signed it after that great 2002 season (.282/37/116) as a contract extension. The Phillies were locking up someone who could be a huge factor in their offense for a long time. If he went into free agency after 2002 (or even 2005, when he basically matched those numbers) he would have easily gotten a 4 or 5-year contract worth about $10 million a year, so the Phillies did what they should have at the time. Let's just let him be and allow him to help this team offensively then get out of the way at the end of games like he's been doing so well this season.
Record: 58-53
Next Game: The Phillies have to play the Marlins for three games. I wonder if they're going to get to see Scott Olsen...
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Game 107: Cubs 5, Phillies 4
Well this was bound to happen. After winning nine of ten games by plating half a dozen men per contest while having an ERA under 3, you knew the Phillies weren't going to play like that all year. And so they went back to their old ways of mediocre starting pitching and maybe some decent hitting.
The hitting nowadays is a bit suspect, without huge top-of-the-lineup people in Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, and even Michael Bourn. Have you noticed that Ryan Howard hasn't been the same hitter since Utley went down? Just having those two guys back-to-back in the order scared opposing pitchers into getting knocked around. Now Howard is all by himself. Even with the 'protection' of Jimmy Rollins before and Aaron Rowand after, pitchers can still throw Howard junk and he's swinging at it. He has six strikeouts in the last two games! He's got to calm down and learn to take walks if he is to get hot again.
The pitching, oh my. Ok, here's the deal. I don't care if Tom Gordon is hurt or not, you don't put your closer on the mound with a tie game when you're the visiting team. Put out one of those other bodies, because if you can manage to get one scoreless inning and then score yourselves, you've still got to hold the other team for another frame. What was Charlie Manuel going to do if the game went to extras? Stick in J.D. Durbin and hope for the best? Might as well have done it in the ninth and saved your just-off-the-DL closer's shoulder the trouble of throwing two wild pitches to give up the winning run. That first pitch that Myers air-mailed looked eerily like the one he hurt his shoulder on in the first place.
That's all I can bitch about now. Crappy starting pitching=crappy games, especially when most of your offense is hurt.
Record: 56-51
Next Game: Kyle Lohse makes his Phillies debut today. Pray for rain.
The hitting nowadays is a bit suspect, without huge top-of-the-lineup people in Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, and even Michael Bourn. Have you noticed that Ryan Howard hasn't been the same hitter since Utley went down? Just having those two guys back-to-back in the order scared opposing pitchers into getting knocked around. Now Howard is all by himself. Even with the 'protection' of Jimmy Rollins before and Aaron Rowand after, pitchers can still throw Howard junk and he's swinging at it. He has six strikeouts in the last two games! He's got to calm down and learn to take walks if he is to get hot again.
The pitching, oh my. Ok, here's the deal. I don't care if Tom Gordon is hurt or not, you don't put your closer on the mound with a tie game when you're the visiting team. Put out one of those other bodies, because if you can manage to get one scoreless inning and then score yourselves, you've still got to hold the other team for another frame. What was Charlie Manuel going to do if the game went to extras? Stick in J.D. Durbin and hope for the best? Might as well have done it in the ninth and saved your just-off-the-DL closer's shoulder the trouble of throwing two wild pitches to give up the winning run. That first pitch that Myers air-mailed looked eerily like the one he hurt his shoulder on in the first place.
That's all I can bitch about now. Crappy starting pitching=crappy games, especially when most of your offense is hurt.
Record: 56-51
Next Game: Kyle Lohse makes his Phillies debut today. Pray for rain.
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