Yankees headed to ALCS ….
Posted: October 10, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 2010, ALCS, ALDS, Atlanta, Braves, Fox, Giants, H2O, Minnesota, New York, NLCS, NLDS, Philadelphia, phillies, post season, Rangers, Rays, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, TBS, Texas, Twins, Umpires, World Series, Yankees 4 Comments
The
road to the LCS takes another step today, with at least two teams hanging by a
thread, hanging onto that glimmer of hope that they can turn it around and win
the remaining games of the LDS series they are in.
The Twins lost all hope yesterday, when once again the Yankees
crushed their hopes of getting beyond the first round of the post season. That
is what happens in all sports when you are involved in a knock out style
tournament, the losing team is ousted and the winning team moves on. Lets face
it last year everyone claimed the Yankees high dollar line up gave them the edge
and eventually gave them the ultimate team status in baseball, World Champions
2009. This year after a few tweaks in the off season, they still maintain the
highest salary, but they aren’t clear cut favorites, in fact a month ago they
weren’t even favored to reach the post season. So to all those Twins fans and
fans of clubs that didn’t reach the post season, this year any claims that the
Yankees brought and paid for the wins are unfounded, they won the Twins series
with quality baseball. Well done Yankees for clinching a spot in the ALCS
again.
No I haven’t turned into a Yankees fan, I still hate the smirk
on Swishers face whenever he seems to be on camera, I still have no intention of
ever giving A-Rod a free pass, but along with those things I also know that
Jeter is a true ball player, that Phil Hughes will be a legit ‘Ace’ one day and
that Granderson always seems like he’s had way to much caffeine. As I said not a
Yankees fan, but a baseball fan, almost every team has players like these, ones
with similar attributes.
The Tampa Bay Rays, shocked the crowd in Texas as they hit their
way to a win in the Rangers home ball park. This was supposed to be a
celebratory home coming for the Rangers, but the Tampa Bay Rays have been one of
the strongest road teams all season long, ending the regular season with the
best record on the road, so it shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone that they
were able to win an all or nothing game on the road.
Today is a crowded day for baseball, with 3 games scheduled, the
Rays v. Rangers at 1 PM ET, Giants v. Braves at 4:30 PM ET and finally the
Phillies v. Reds at 8 PM ET. The Rays need a win to even the series and take it
back to Tampa, the Rangers need a win to clinch and meet the Yankees in the ALCS.
The Giants or Braves need to win just to get the series lead and put the other
team on a must win Monday. The Phillies need to win to clinch their 3rd NLCS
playoff spot, where as the Reds need to win just to stay alive in the post
season.
Moments in time:
October 10th, 1582 If you lived in Italy, Spain, Portugal or
Poland this day did not exist.
In 1971 the biggest souvenir from Great Britain was purchased
by an American Tourist. London Bridge was a tourist attraction, a working bridge
that spanned the river Thames in London, this day in 1971 it was sold, then
dismantled and shipped to Arizona where it was rebuilt and opened in Lake Havasu
City.
GO PHILLIES….
Phillies Win, Reds Lose, TBS Sucks ….
Posted: October 9, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 2010, Atlanta, Braves, Fox, Giants, H2O, Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, phillies, post season, Rangers, Rays, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, TBS, Texas, Twins, Umpires, World Series, Yankees 3 Comments
It
was the ‘O’ from H2O that took the mound on Friday night for the Phillies facing
off against the Reds in game 2 of this NLDS match up. The stage had been set by
Halladay’s amazing no hitter on Wednesday, the anticipation of what could game 2
give us to rival game 1.
Roy Oswalt was not at his best Friday night, far from it in
fact, giving up a homer in the first at bat seemed to set the stage for his
performance, it certainly gave the TBS commentators added reason to praise the
Reds.
It’s bad enough that TBS and Fox don’t give us local
commentators, but when they give you competitors commentators it’s just a slap
in the face to fans. TBS thought it fitting to put Brewers and Braves
commentators in the booth for game 2, and it was clear that they were very
anti-Philadelphia, right from the introductions to the final pitch.
Things seemed to be going the Reds way, thus the commentators
were able to praise them and tell us all the stats that made the Reds the better
team, especially after Utley made a couple of errors, we heard how the Reds and
Padres had the least errors, etc etc.
Then
came the 7th inning, if these commentators had put Chapman on any higher pedestal
he would have needed oxygen for the altitude. They told us how he went through
an opposing team with 8 pitches in an inning, told us how his fast ball was
un-hittable. Told us his idol as he was growing up was Contreras, whom had just
shut down the Reds 1,2,3 in the top of the 7th.
There is no question this kid has some good stuff, but did the
Reds throw him into the fire too early, did the overwhelming atmosphere at
Citizens Bank Park effect him any, were the Reds fielders expecting no one to
hit a ball. Who knows, but this type of thing could effect a young players
mental attitude going into his next appearance.
It all started with the first hitter he saw, Chase Utley and of
course the commentators who had attacked Utley earlier for his 2 errors, were
quick to attack him again, when his actions indicated….
….he was hit by the 101 mph fast ball that was up and
in, the umpire awarded him first base. It wasn’t enough that they were accusing
Utley of cheating, they then called his action ‘Jeter Like’. Way to go, attack
a guy that isn’t even playing in this game.
It didn’t stop there, Utley got to 2nd on a ground ball by Werth,
the fact that TBS had lousy camera angles for plays that normally are clear to
the camera, or they just didn’t want to show the truth in what happened, but
again they accused Utley of being out.
Still not the end of it, first pitch swinging, Rollins hit a
line drive into right field where the Reds players where sleeping, thus driving
in Utley and Werth, the commentators chose to accuse Utley of not touching the
base has he rounded third, it didn’t matter that the replay clearly showed his
foot hit the bag, they still accused him of being a long way from third.
The bottom line the Phillies scored on some fielding errors, but
more importantly the raving of Chapman didn’t seem to affect the Phillies who
hit him like any other pitcher, Ibanez and Sweeney both hit his fastball, which
forced Baker to remove him from the game.
We now have to wait till Sunday to see how the 3rd phase of H2O
performs.
In San Francisco the Giants allowed one to get way from
them by giving up 3 runs in the 8th and then the game loser in the 11th, the
Braves take 1-1 series tie back to Turner Field where they were almost
unbeatable during the season.
We have ALDS games today, which could make the ALCS picture
clearer, however for now 3 postseason teams hang on to a life line…
A moment in time: October 9th, 1919 the Cincinnati
Reds clinched the World Series title surrounding the Chicago White Sox or ‘Black
Sox’ as they were to be known for the part they played in the fixing of the
games. All involved players were banned for life, which also included ‘Shoeless’
Joe Jackson, even though any participation he may or may not have had was and is
under controversy.
GO PHILLIES….
Rays and Twins on Post Season Life Support ….
Posted: October 8, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 2010, Atlanta, Braves, Giants, H2O, Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, phillies, post season, Rangers, Rays, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Texas, Twins, Umpires, World Series, Yankees 4 CommentsThursday was a day off for the Phillies, a day to reflect on the
near perfecto by Halladay, a day for the grounds crew to perfect their grooming
of…
…Citizens Bank Park in time for game 2 of the NLDS between the
Phillies and Reds on Friday.
Thursday afternoon saw the Tampa Bay Rays, picked apart by a
Texas Rangers pitcher, the Rays went down 6-0 and now must head to Texas down by
2 games, knowing that every game is a life line to the post season, one more
loss and it’s back to booking tee times instead of next round travel
arrangements.
The Minnesota Twins played game 2 of their ALDS series against
the Yankees in their new home. It seems they may be psychologically hampered by
the previous loses in post season to the Yankees, because it doesn’t seem to
matter what they do they can’t get a break. Okay so the umpire made a bad call
on Berkman, but that didn’t lose them this game, it’s their own actions. With
Gardenhire ejected, probably for renaming the home plate umpire, but we’ll just
believe it was for arguing balls and strikes. He shouldn’t feel bad with Maddon
getting ejected in the Rays and Rangers game it’s probably a day for ejections.
The Twins now head to New York with each game a life line to post season, which
means they probably will be with the Rays, booking tee times before Wednesday.
The first game between San Francisco and Atlanta played out at
AT&T Park with the Braves hoping to give Bobby Cox a final season to
remember and the Giants hoping to just get out of the Bay area without a loss,
this could have been the first game into extras if not for the iatrical part the
umpires played in the 4th inning, and ultimately the hit that Ross managed to
squeak out of Lowe to drive in Posey. Giants take a 1-0 game lead into today’s match up.
It seems Halladay set the standard for post season pitching,
with both Lincecum for the Giants and Wilson for the Rangers pitching 2 hit shut
outs Thursday. This post season is definitely shaping up to be in the top few
all time great post seasons and seems to be following the theme of ‘Year of the
Pitcher’.
In addition to the Giants and the Braves game 2 today, we will
also see the ‘O’….
…. of the H2O Phillies post season rotation trio take to the mound
against the Reds. The Reds will be trying to get back on an even keel with the
Phillies or at the very least go back to Cincinnati with a hit, while the Phillies will be looking to go 2 games up before heading
to Ohio this weekend.
GO PHILLIES….
A walk away from Perfection II …
Posted: October 6, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 2010, game 1, H2O, Halladay, NLDS, No Hitter, perfection, perfet game, phillies, post season, Reds 7 Comments
Philadelphia,
is experiencing ‘Doctober Halladay’s’, Yes I know another cheesy play on names,
but it seems to be the preferred expression at the moment. It was his first post
season game, it would have been shear magic had he just won it, but the fact
that he won it with style was more than magic, it was history being made right
in front of our eyes as Halladay throws a no hitter in game 1.
I am sure the statisticians will be able to tell us how many
pitchers have thrown a no hitter in their very first post season game, I am sure
they will be able to tell us how many have thrown that no hitter in the post
season the same year they threw a perfect game. Yep there’s no taking your shoes
and socks off to add them all up.
Once again Roy Halladay gave most of the credit to Chooch
(Carlos Ruiz), for his outstanding performance, and emphasized the team winning
game 1 as the real story.
Game 2 for the Phillies is Friday, and phase II of the H2O trio,
Roy Oswalt, takes the mound. The question is, how does one follow Halladay’s
show, simply with a winning performance.
GO PHILLIES….
WTF Award for September goes to….
Posted: October 5, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Award, Bauer, Braves, David Beckham, Fans, Giants, HGH, In Touch, Irma Nici, MLB, phillies, Rangers, Rays, Reds, RSBS, Twins, Umpires, WTF, Yankees 8 CommentsThere has been plenty of drama during the final month of regular season play, the drama even continues into the few rest days
before the 2010 post season gets underway. Today I have decided to issue the final WTF Award of the season for the month of September, there will be too many other things to bitch, complain, praise even be in awe of, during the post season to worry about which moment is the most deserving to get the WTF Award, it would probably be an umpire for a lack of judgment or an over analyzed split second decision.
September like other months gave us a lot of great action, lots of highs and lows, depending on which team you were supporting. One thing I have learned this year is that it is difficult to sit back and reflect on the month and remember every action, re-action or inaction that may deserve a mention or ultimately the award. Initially it was my intention to check out stupid things that players, coaches, umpires or even non-baseball people did that would make almost everyone except that person say WTF.
This award was supposed to entail a ‘light hearted poke’ at dumb things people do, it turned out that it wasn’t just stupid, inconsiderate things that made us go WTF, there are many non-stupid things that can cause that reaction, so I found myself having to include great accomplishments too, of which there seemed way too many to mention them all, in fact as much as we find things to complain about with the teams we follow and the umpires who try to keep order between them, the things these people and entities do for the good is considerably more.
So for one last time this ailing memory will try to capture some things from September that made me go WTF…
There were any number of clubs that could have made you say WTF, from the NL we had the Braves starting the month as a 3 game leader of the NL East and ultimately hanging on to a wild card spot by their finger tips, or San Diego who started as a 4 game leader in the West and ended losing out on any post season play. The cardinals had already become the new NL ‘Chokers’ by the time September started.
The American had less to choose from with all post season teams having established relatively good positioning, it was more the fact that the Yankees went 13-17 and still made it, albeit via the wild card and home field was clinched by a team playing .500 baseball.
Other news that jumped out at me was a former hooker, Irma Nici, made a choice to name David Beckham as someone she had had as a client. First off when does a hooker know she’s a former hooker, how long between being paid for favors does it take to become a former hooker. I googled it, but no luck, I am thinking a Filibuster question for RSBS, so are you up for the challenge Jeff or Allen, “how long after a paid favor does a hooker have to wait before she can claim the status of a former hooker”.
Long story short, innocent or guilty I don’t know, but I understand the Beckham’s have filed suite against her, the magazine (In Touch) and the parent company of the magazine Bauer in Germany for various slanderous acts. The funny part her attorneys have counter sued because she claims harassment because someone sat outside her hotel and waited for her to exit so they could serve her with the writ. Okay she’s probably not all there and will claim something related to on job illness.
The next contender that jumped into the lime light, it may have taken a few months for it to work it’s way around to my email address, but it was definitely someone somewhere in the MLB that made this news worthy. Now believe it or not this did come via an email, and it was a legit email marketing this product, I may have made some improvements to make it more fitting for this use. The point is without the highlight by MLB of this type of product I do not believe this would be finding it’s way into email boxes as if it was a 5 Hour energy boost. I am not sure if she has a high neck sweater to hide her ‘Adams Apple’ because of the side effects or if the ‘batting average’ and ‘strike outs’ has a double meaning. Oh and if you clicked to get a free trial, your ‘IP Address’ has been forwarded to the FBI for investigation (that’s just incase any players are reading this).
Seriously I considered many things and kept coming back to the same group of people that I believe should get this award, so for those that actually stuck around to see who has won, the WTF Award for September 2010 goes too…..
….the fans, not just the Phillies fans, but to fans everywhere and fans of all teams. Through thick and thin, through good and bad, the true fan sticks with the club. The true fan spends money, sometimes money they can’t really afford, for brand name merchandise, player merchandise, travel to and from games, entry into ball parks, concessions etc, while inside ball parks, lets face it without fans the multi-million dollar payouts wouldn’t happen. Without baseball fans no one would be reading this blog, assuming they are of course and it’s not some sick joke being played on me, making me believe people are reading this……
What who’s insecure, nope, not me….
Enjoy the post season everyone
1 Day to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
The Final 8 BUCKed by FOX ….
Posted: October 4, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Braves, Fox, Fox Sports, Giants, Joe Buck, MLB, phillies, Rangers, Rays, Reds, Twins, Yankees 6 CommentsIt’s over, as much as we all would have liked to see single game deciders, it was not to happen, the Giants beat the Padres, there was no 9th inning rally to send it into extras, or even make the Giants sweat in the chilly bay air, they just got it done.
The Yankees fell to the Red Sox in the same fashion they have in 7 out of their last 10 games, which made the Rays game mute, all the same the Rays beat the Royals as if they wanted to be the division champions.
The Braves finally won a game against the Phillies, 1 out of the last 6 isn’t that bad I guess, although Cox had to get Wagner in from the pen, who eventually got the final out after giving up a couple of hits and a run, it was still just enough to give the Braves an 8-7 win.
The teams all know there places….
…. who’s wild, who’s not, where to be and what day.
We know who’s playing who, and at least initially we know when for the first 4 days anyway, then who the hell knows. MLB seems to have sold all post season rights to Fox, since it appears they are the ones calling start times. Sunday is listed as ‘When NFL Sunday Ends’ so everyone has to be in the dug outs ready to go when Fox tells them to go, or maybe it’s when Joe Buck can switch locations.
I am sure this is the first of many bash Fox moments between now and the crowning of the 2010 World Series Champions.
2 Days to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
Verisimilitude and Nitwittedness ….
Posted: October 3, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: AJ, BoSox, Braves, Final Day, Giants, Girardi, Nitwittedness, Padres, phillies, Reds, Twins, Umpires, Verisimilitude, Yankees 3 CommentsThis weekend is what makes baseball a great sport, not a good sport, a GREAT
sport. With something on the line for 6 teams going into the final day of the
regular season, it is without a doubt, tense and nervous for some, exciting and
fun for others.
Just when you thought those teams that are comfortable will just sit back and
watch, along comes Charlie Manuel….
…. to place credibility back into the last weekend of the season. Initially
yesterdays line-up may have appeared a little weak compared to the last time the
Phillies and Braves met, but the game became a fight to the end with the
Phillies rookie Vance Worley giving a commanding performance thru 5 innings and
then the Phillies bullpen blanking the Braves thru the final 4 innings to give
the Phillies a 7-0 shut out on the day the Braves honored Bobby Cox.
Today I believe the Phillies may have jumped past Michael Vick to become the
most hated entity in Atlanta. Some Braves fans feel since the Phillies are in
why they don’t lay down and let the Braves get to the post season, as Charlie
Manuel said, "How is that fair to the Padres and Giants", so suck it
up Atlanta and win because you can, not because the Phillies let you.
The Yankees had a double header, while the Rays tried to find a way to beat
the Royals. The Rays managed to shut the Royals out in a 4-0 win, while the
Yankees took game 1 from the BoSox and looked like they may even sweep the
double header, except it was AJ on the mound and sometimes his cry baby attitude
gets the better of him….
….AJ’s mind went like this: let me check to make sure the
umpire called that play correctly, cause we all know, if I argue he’ll change
his mind, oh and while I argue let me see if I can trick the BoSox into thinking
it’s a dead ball. DOH!
It seems the only guy he tricked was Berkman, who just stood
there and looked dumb. Now I would like to know when AJ entered the dug out and
went down the steps, what the hell did AJ say to Girardi, it almost looked as
though AJ was blaming Girardi, and Girardi had this look on his face as if to
say AJ your just fu-cking crazy.
So we have the AL East all tied up again, but today it will be
decided, the winner of the east will also get home field advantage, the Yankees
passed the advantage back to the Rays yesterday, because now the Yankees need a
win and a Rays loss to clinch, so do they stay in Boston to find out or do they
grab everything and rush back to New York to see if they can celebrate.
The NL is a little more screwed up, the scenarios are bountiful,
the bottom line is the right wins and loses and there could be baseball everyday
till the post season starts. So we know the Phillies have home field in the NL,
but who will they play, we don’t know, since we could have 4 teams with the same
record at the end of today.
The introduction of video replay on the possibility of a home
run ball was supposed to make things right, everyone keeps saying we need more
video replays, to many errors by the umpires. What if the video replay shows one
thing yet they still make the wrong call after seeing it….
….there you have it fan interference, wait they’re playing in
Ohio, okay that means it must be a home run ball then. If you didn’t see this
then it’s worth a look, no matter how many time I replay it I still see the fan
reach over the fence touch the ball with his glove at the same time he hits the
fielders glove. The ball could have been caught by the fielder, if it wasn’t
caught it appears it may have hit the top of the wall and come back into play.
So how then will video replay prevent the umpires from getting in wrong, okay
it’ll involve someone in New York who’ll review it, lot of good that did.
This the last day of regular season is probably one of the most
exciting final days since they went to divisional play. We will at least know
the outcome of the American League battles and who the AL East champions are, as
for the National League, this could be done today or it could take till the end
of Tuesday for us to know.
3 Days to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
Do or Die Weekend, Phillies Playing Spoiler ….
Posted: October 2, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: AL, Bobby Cox, Braves, Giants, Goodbye, NL, Padres, phillies, Rays, Retirement, Spoiler, Yankees 4 CommentsThe Do or Die weekend got underway Friday, the first day of October. For some teams this weekend is the only October baseball they will play this season, for others it’s a chance to keep their fans entertained for a few more weeks.
The National League has the Giants, Padres and Braves are all in Do or Die situations. The Padres must win at all costs, the Braves can make it with a mix of Padres loses and their own wins, the Giants just need a win.
The American League has all their post season teams decided, it’s just a case of who will have the Eastern Division crown, the Yankees and Rays were deadlocked at the start of play, so any sort of favorable win/loss combination would work for either team.
While the Yankees watched the rain fall in Boston, the Rays were embarrassingly out played by the Royals, so the Yankees get a half game lead by default.
The Giants and Padres get to beat up on each other and the first round went to the Padres who seemed to want it just a little bit more.
The Braves thought they had an easy shot, at home to the Phillies it should be a no- brainer. The Phillies already are in and so will be using the time for tryouts for a post season roster. The Braves have the best home record in baseball and so felt comfortable with having the champagne bottles ready to start cork popping.
The Braves didn’t count on the fact that the Phillies would like nothing more than to stick it to division rivals at any and all given opportunities. In the center of it as usual was….
….Jimmy Rollins with his first hit since returning, not just any ordinary hit, on a night when the wind was blowing in, J-Roll hit a deep line drive home run to left field for a grand slam in the 6th inning. Phillies end up postponing any Braves celebrations with an 11-5 win.
Today at Turner Field, they say goodbye to….
….Bobby Cox, not sure what this entails, but I am sure it’s a chance for the fans to cheer and scream and make Bobby cry and cover up the fact that he’s more saddened by the fact the he still doesn’t know if he can take off Monday for his retirement home.
Today the Phillies pit Vance Worley against Tommy Hansen, so I guess the Phillies are saying to the Braves, if you cant win today you don’t deserve to be in the post season.
Around Baseball –
The Yankees get to play a double header in Boston, this will be a tough day as it’s hard enough to win in Boston without having to win 2 on the same day.
The Rays are back at it with the Royals, having passed the advantage to the Yankees it’s almost a must win if they want any chance of the division title.
The Padres and Giants face of again in San Francisco, I am sure both these teams and the Braves will be score board watching, no one admits to it, but they all do it.
4 Days to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
Cincinnati Reds Exposed ….
Posted: October 1, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: $150 Burger, Cheryll's Cost Cutter, Cincinnati, Law Suit, McDonalds, phillies, post season, Reds, Sexual Harassment, Smoking Ban 3 CommentsThe Phillies are on a day off today, like a number of teams. For the Phillies
they should be contemplating the series against the Braves in Atlanta, I know
it’ll be another sequence of audition games and I guess Charlie has earned that
right to set the starting line up the way he thinks it will be most beneficial.
I
was checking in on other teams, those that we could face in the post season at
some point and the Reds seemed to amuse me the most. First off when they
clinched the division, I am not entirely sure the front office was convinced
they would, it seems they scrambled around in the dungeons to get the
celebratory liquids ready.
It was also news worthy today that Dusty Baker could be signing his extension
as Reds manager before the end of regular season.
Its interesting that the article covering the news of Dusty Bakers contract,
they explain that for 2 years under him they were a below .500 ball club and
that this year he managed to turn things around and is currently 88-70, this is
very good no doubt, but truth
be known, if the stupid dumb-a-ss Cardinals had played to their potential that
88-70 record would put them in the wild card fight with San Diego and Atlanta.
The Reds owners, GM etc, should consider that next year the Reds will just be
another, also ran, middle of the road, central division team wondering why the
Cardinals and sCrUBs are the focal point of the division.
There is more for them to consider before signing this guy, with the pending
investigation into the deliberate disregard for the Ohio indoor smoking ban
during celebrations, do they want to
be in the middle of a major sex scandal like the Catholic Church and the altar boys,
because I am fairly sure this is some kind of harassment, the boss making
advances at a younger employee.
The negotiations for Baker’s contract have been ongoing since mid-August and
today I found out why, he was holding out for a special concession for his lunch
snacks. Only in Ohio folks does McDonalds offer Cherylls Cost Cutter….
….yep, it’s a huge Triple Cheeseburger, it would have to be
huge for $150 and of course to satisfy Dusty Baker’s appetite, the ultimate
question of course is who the fu-ck is Cheryll and is Ronald getting some.
Around Baseball –
The Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Royals making the AL East
officially in deadlock, the involvement of a team from Florida could be cause
for concern, but I have officially been told that there will be no delays while
endless re-counts take place.
San Francisco won their game and the San Diego Padres lost
theirs, which puts the Giants 1 win away from a divisional clinch, tonight’s
game between the Padres and Giants will be heated and full of tension I am
sure.
5 Days to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
Thankful it’s ‘JOE’ Blanton ….
Posted: September 30, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 2nd base, ALDS, BIG Joe, Giants, Joe Blanton, NLDS, Padres, phillies, post season, Reds, Tamp Bay Rays, Twins, Yankees 3 CommentsThe final regular season game against the Nationals, although the Phillies
are playing spring training type baseball at the moment, they have to consider
who they want in the first series of the post season when they head into Atlanta
for the final weekend. If they play ‘FALL’ training games in Atlanta it will
undoubtedly give the Braves the advantage over the Padres on who gets the wild
card slot. If Atlanta get the wild card then it would depend on how the Reds and
Giants finish out the season. This is of course speculative on the basis that
the Giants clinch in the West, stranger things have happened and the Padres
could still leap frog the Giants and grab the division.
The guy they call Big Joe Blanton took the mound tonight, some say
it’s ‘Big Joe’ cause he’s a ‘FATtee’, others say it’s cause of his
‘STATURE’…..
….me I’m just glad his name isn’t Richard. The bench players
got another start tonight and went back to back with homers in the top of the
2nd inning added to it in the 4th and 5th to give Joe a cushioned lead to pitch
off. When the start of the bottom of the 7th inning came around the Phillies had
just back up players on the field except for Blanton, I am sure the 7-1 lead the
Phillies were enjoying played a part, in addition to this being post season
auditions for the back up players.
A day off today gives everyone a rest and time to consider the
Braves series, do they continue auditions or go to Atlanta and make a statement.
The Phillies get home field advantage, which means they get to
play at home at the start of each series while they are in the post season. With
this in mind there is at least one change they should consider making before
post season play begins….
….the 2nd base bag, this has been the culprit of injuries and
has even come completely out and into the hands of sliding runners. This base
pad is responsible for a Valdez injury, Utley injury and a
Rollins injury and is suspected of being part of some bad judgment calls by
Werth, Ruiz and Victorino, so what do you say ground crew, lets replace this bag
with one that is more reliable and a little more favorable to the Phillies.
Around Baseball:
The Yankees lost to the Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays lost to the O’s,
so no changes there.
The NL West is still a fight to the end with both San Diego and
the San Francisco winning.
The Braves won again keeping their lead in the Wild Card and the
Phillies still uncertain of who will be the team they face in the first series
of post season play.
6 Days to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 