Rain Delay, Howards Homers and a Phillies Win in Atlanta…
Posted: August 17, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Atlanta, Braves, bull pen, D-Backs, decisions, Happ, Homers, Howard, humor, Lidge, phillies 8 Comments|
Well it looks as though Last night we had a rain
Howard’s Homers was on
His swing was almost It was one of those events
My guess though is he was Since they were up by 3
What could these guys be
So many choices what is a Tuesday will be here soon |
Brad Lidge…’it’s all about you’
Posted: August 16, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: blown save, Braves, closer, coaches, Hamels, Happ, Lidge, manuel, phillies, Utley, zozone 11 Comments|
When a team has got a lead going into the final inning of a baseball game it’s the closers job to come in and shut down the opposition so that your team gets the win. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the 9th, 10th or even more, and it doesn’t matter if your at home or on the road, it is without a doubt the primary responsibility of the closer to secure that win. Yesterday in Atlanta the Phillies did exactly that, Cole Hamels pitched good, for him this season, through 6 innings, giving up just 2 runs on 3 hits, okay he walked 4, but still considering how he has performed this year, when it came to crunch time and the Phillies needed a good outing he gave us one.
The bullpen came in to relieve Hamels in the 7th inning and gave another good performance, shutting the Braves down in the 7th and 8th innings. So now its up to the closer, Brad Lidge, to enter the game and not give anything away. We have all seen him this year, but Charlie Manuel and his coaches still have confidence in Lidge to come out and do his job. Maybe its time to re-think Charlie, Lidge is not cutting it at the moment. Yes the error by Utley didn’t help, but then loading the bases, because your afraid of the strike zone doesn’t help either.
Trying to blow magic on your hand, like a magician, isn’t going to work Lidge, you shouldn’t have loaded the bases in the first place. If this wasn’t a message to Charlie Manuel then I don’t know what would be, and if Lidge can’t do it, if he has some inner- self that’s giving him a hang-up, then he should be a man and tell Charlie, and save us all the continued embarrassment of sending a closer out there that nobody is afraid to face. I could offer up some suggestions, I am sure many a blogger will, I am also sure many fans that don’t blog here will be commenting at the ZoZone about what should be done and how to do it, but the bottom line is you get paid to make those decisions Charlie and it’s time you made one regarding Lidge. You had no trouble telling us “it’s for the best interest of the team”, when you sent Moyer to the pen, so how about that same attitude regarding the closers spot. Today JA Happ goes to the mound, I just hope if this is a tight game and the Phillies have the lead at the end, we use an alternative to Lidge… |
Phillies Go Deep In Atlanta….
Posted: August 15, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Atlanta, Blanton, Braves, Howard, Jurrjens, Lidge, Major League Movie, Pedro Cerrano, phillies, Soriano, Utley, Victorino 7 Comments|
Joe Blanton was Blanton
…he’s been described as a ‘hulk’….he’s The Braves had a 1-0 lead going
…from the movie ‘Major
…I am not sure if he was
….BOOM!!…Utley’s It wasn’t for long though, The 5th and 6th innings the
….it would stay at a 2-2
….BOOM!!…. Howard So the Phillies were
….eventually he
Well the Phillies |
Cliff Lee, Pitching and Hitting to Win #3…..(updated)
Posted: August 13, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Atlanta, beer, Blanton, Braves, Chicago, Cubs, Dempster, Eagles, Feliz, Hamels, Howard, Ibanez, Idiot, Idiot Cubs Fan, Lee, Madson, phillies, Police, sweep, TBA, Utley, Vick, Wrigley Field 12 CommentsCliff Lee takes his 3rd straight win as the Ace in the Phillies rotation and
drives the Phillies to a sweep of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. After suffering the embarrassment of being swept at home last weekend the Phillies issued there own 3 game sweep on the road.
Lee pitched outstanding for 8 innings, like me, most thought Madson would come on in relief at the start of the 8th inning, but he didn’t, Lee came out for the 8th and got through it like an Ace. Lee ended his day after throwing 122 pitches with over 67% of them for strikes, he gave up 1 run on 6 hits and walked 3 batters. It wasn’t till the 4th inning that the Phillies offense gave Lee the lead, he managed to get himself out of a couple of jams during the first 4 innings, it wasn’t till the 5th inning that the Cubs managed t
o drive in a run and that was the only time a Cubs player would cross the plate. He held the Cubs to a 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position, obviously the Phillies defense played a role in this too. Lee seems to like this playing in the NL where he gets to show case his bat swinging abilities, he hit his 2nd double, but was eventually stranded on 3rd at the end of the inning. With the Phillies, Lee is now 3-0 with an ERA of 1.13 through 24 innings as a pitcher, as a hitter he is 3 for 9 (.333) with 2 doubles.
Ryan Madson came on in relief of Lee to start the 9th, he pitched a scoreless inning giving up just 1 walk with 2 strike outs.
The Phillies offense came off of 10 hits and 3 walks, the big offensive
inning was the 4th, when Ryan Howard hit a 3 run home run to the opposite field, this was Ryan’s 1st home run in August, ironic really, I had said at the end of July, that it seems when
Raul Ibanez goes deep then Ryan goes deep and visa versa, and in Wednesday’s game Raul went deep and so Thursday Ryan went deep. In the same inning Pedro Feliz took Dempster deep too, giving the Phillies a 4 run lead. Utley picked up an RBI in the 6th and Feliz picked up another in the 7th giving the Phillies a 6-1 lead that they never relinquished.
The Phillies headed to Atlanta last night to start a 3 game series against the Braves today, before heading home for the only day off between now and the end of August. Joe Blanton is scheduled to start tonight against the Braves, Saturday is an afternoon game and although it’s Hamels rotation spot, it is currently being listed as TBA, have they not announced it yet or are they holding back to the last minute because of a possible problem? I am sure we will find out soon.(update: Hamels is now listed as the starting pitcher for Saturday). It does though, seem to be freaky days of late in Philadelphia sports, everybody has heard by now that Vick signed a 2 year deal with the Eagles, what were they thinking? I am sure they will let us know soon enough.
Still with freaky things, the ‘Idiot Cubs Fan’ turned himself in to Chicago police yesterday, probably wants another 15 minutes of fame, or a beer commercial contract.
Fox Destroys July 4th, Phillies take 2
Posted: July 5, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 4th of July, 600, All Star Team, Atlanta, Braves, Durbin, Fox, Ibanez, Lidge, Madson, Manny, Mets, MLBTV, Moyer, Nationals, phillies, ramirez, Rollins, Romero, Utley, Victorino, Washington, Werth 1 CommentIt seems I am not the only one who has negativity about Fox, So living in Ohio, just 550 miles or so from Philly what does Fox put on my TV, NOT Phillies vs Mets thats for sure, and since it’s blacked out on MLBTV, I have no alternative but to listen to the game on WPHT via MLBTV. So this is the first time this season I have had to do this, so here’s how the highlight are from a radio listners point of view.
First Inning – Jimmy Rollins, doesnt run the play out as hard or intense as he should for a guy in a slump. So Phillies leave men on base, we can’t do that against the Mets and oh yeah, Werth hits an RBI fly ball.
Second and Third Inning – Some pitch by pitch and has Manny Ramirez added longer dredlocks, cause it looks terrible, expalnation that it was meant to look terrible in a baseball uniform and not terrible in general.
Fourth Inning – Couple more runs score, Utley and Ibanez gets congrats for making the All Star Team as starters, then more appologies, cause the selection show is not till Sunday and no one knows who’s ahead in the voting till then, you must be looking at an old list.
Fifth Inning – Moyers pitching better, gives up a run.
Sixth Inning – Victorino RBI with 2 outs, he’s playing well and Atlanta lost, more unimportant drival about Nationals players and Braves players
Seventh Inning – 87 pitches through 6 and a third for Moyer, hopefully the bullpen can save this one for him Durbin in gets a hitter out, hits a hitter, 10 pitches, in comes Romero, lets hope he can find the strike zone, the stikes the next guy out inning over. Fireworks at the Wharf were last week, so probably going to watch the downtown today.
Eigth Inning – Romero resumes gets one out gives up a hit, Madson in – gets 2 out, Lidge is warming up in the bullpen, guess he’ll be in for the ninth wonder if he’s okay hasn’t pitched since Toronto.
Ninth Inning – Lidge 1,2,3 in 13 pitches. So Philly take 2
Not the most enjoyable way to spend 4th July, having to listen to nothing and make out what was really happening, at least with TV you can see for yourself your not relying on others to keep you informed.
So thanks Fox for screwing up my 4th of July.
Not a single mention about Jamie’s 600th start – Congrats Jamie, keep em coming.
Dare I say SWEEP today, fingers crossed.
Phillies Swept by Braves in Atlanta, First Since 2005
Posted: July 3, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Atlanta, Braves, bullpen, Charlie Manuel, Citizens Bank Park, Dobbs, Happ, Homers, Howard, Ibanez, Madson, Mets, New York, phillies, Rich Dubee, Rollins, Utley Leave a commentAnother night where it started Happ-y and ended with Maddog Madness, there was not much that the Phillies could hold there heads up for last night. Happ had another good start, J-Roll broke his O-fer, Dobbs and Utley were good at the plate. So Madson blew another posible win, Madson’s fault, maybe, a couple of pitches that missed their mark were hit well, one was even crushed. Should he have been put in, well he is the set-up man, but he has been off his game lately, who’s fault, Charlie for putting him or Dubee for agreeing, who knows what discussion went on in the dug-out before they decided, hinde sight is 20-20 so we all know it was a bad choice, but with Romero having a tough time finding the strike zone of late and the complete nervous appearance of any of the bullpen it’s tough to decide who could have come out and given us what we wanted. It’s done now nothing we can do but learn from it, Yes it seems we are slow learners this year.
What are the current positives – Yes we are tied for first, but we have 4 games in hand so concievably we could be 43-37, that’s the positive look. The negative side is we could be 39-41, maybe it’s good we have those games in hand, we stand a chance of getting out of the slump before we play those games in hand.
Let’s hope J-Roll stays out of his slump, at least with him being aggressive on the bases we have more chances to score. Current concerns obviously the bullpen, but also Howards lack of homers during this road trip and the the uncentainty of when we’ll get Ibanez back. I am sure some of Howards problem is Ibanez missing, lets face it pitchers were prepared to pitch good pitches to Howard so they didn’t have to face Ibanez.
We had a bad road trip, lets hope that will turn around the home stand. A series win or sweep of the Mets, is that to much to wish for, I think not, anything is possible the way Phillies are playing, they have to break out at home and start to dominate everyone who comes to the park.
I still think we will go into the All Star break on top of the division, may not be by as many games as everyone would like, but still we will be on top.
So now we get ready to see if we can crush the Mets this weekend and start the home stand on a positive…..
Phillies Blown Away in Atlanta….
Posted: July 1, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 9th inning, Atlanta, Braves, double play, Expo's, Happ, high hopes, HK, Howard, Philadelphia, phillies, pitcher, Rollins, sinker, Utley Leave a commentI have tried hard to think of something good, and the only thing that comes to mind is the double play in the 2nd…. Rollins – Utley – Howard…. after that the fact that the game was over in quick time and we have a chance to recover some dignity tomorrow night with Happ on the mound. I would say this to all other team managers, if your scheduled to play the Phillies find a sinker ball pitcher as your starter, I think we have been killed by them this year, especially of late. Tonight didn’t matter who put up an O-fer, who stole a bag. When everyone seems to be below average at the plate it really doesn’t matter. I guess all teams at some point have some bad games, we just seem to be lumping them all together. For a short time in at the start of the 9th, I was remember a game some years back against the Expo’s, if my memory serves we were down 10-1 and came back to win by scoring 10 or 11 runs in the 9th, that memory was short lived since we were quickly down to our final out, then with the swing of a bat and a throw to first it was done. Oh well tomorrow is getting closer all the time and as HK would remind us, we’ve got HIGH HOPES….
Phillies have extras in Atlanta
Posted: June 30, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Atlanta, Braves, bullpen, Feliz, Howard, Majors, Mayberry Jr, Mets, NL, phillies, Rollins, Turner Field, Utley, Victorino, Wright 1 CommentWhat a night of swings and roundabouts, ups and downs, highs and lows, whatever you call it, it was good baseball.
Rollins is back in the line-up and batting at the top of the order, regardless of what others may think, it’s good to see him in the line-up, even if he did get an O’fer at the plate, the team just appears to be well adjusted with him there, so welcome back Jimmy.
There was a lot of things that happened tonight,
Victorino went back to back on the Braves pitchers, tough luck Shane, any other night they would have been back to back hits up the middle.
Utley became the first left hander to homer off Lowe this year, way to go Chase, that’s why he is probably the best second-baseman in the majors.
Howards ground-rule double scored Victorino, but had Utley tryin to get the umps to give him home, guess they didn’t hear the umps reviewed one the other night, still he was around third when it went out…. not sure the umps here had a sense of humor with them, Chase obviously did.
Thats when the evening started to have ups and downs, Phillies lead Braves tie, again in the 5th, then the Braves lead into the 6th.
Feliz, I think the best 3rd baseman in the NL, even better than Wright for the Mets, saved a run in the 6th with an unbelieveable play, and then went onto hit a homer as part of back to back homers with Mayberry Jr.
Before the back to back homers, it seemed like some of the hitters were in panic mode, down one, first pitch swinging again, I guess it’s good when the ball fly’s like Pedro’s did.
The bullpen played well tonight, despite the Phillies loosing it in the bottom of the 10th, it was good baseball from both teams, just unfortunate that the 2 Braves players that hurt us, weren’t really regulars, and as they say THAT’S BASEBALL…
Another shot tomorrow, the 9 straight streak at Turner Field ended so its time to start a new one.. GO PHILLIES…..
Two out of Three ain’t bad……..
Posted: June 28, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: All Star Ballot, All Star Voting, Atlanta, base runnin, Blue Jays, Braves, double, inter-league, Jamie Moyer, NL East, old fashioned baseball, phillies, triple, vote 1 CommentJamie Moyer gets another win…. I think Jamie is a hell of a guy, he just keeps pounding the ball into home plate, no matter what happens he just keeps on pluging away. He had a slow start, giving up some homers, but it didn’t seem to phase him and when I think I am just a few years older than him, he looks as though he could be doing it at 50, probably not, but he makes it look so easy, even when he’s loosing or winning. Well today he couldn’t have got the win without the offence and it was good to see them score runs with old style baseball, play hard, run hard and hit for the gaps, everyone likes to see homers especially from the Phillies, but when they go out and win from base running, a double, a triple and a fly ball, its nice to know they don’t have to hit homers everyday. So a couple of errors that could have been costly, but like all good team mates they played through them and still left the Jays feeling Blue. So now it’s off to Atlanta, inter-league is over, thankfully, back to a stretch of NL East games, these all count a little bit more, so lets see more of why the Phillies players rank high in the All Star Voting. Don’t forget you can still vote till midnight Thursday, lets get more Phillies on the team…. VOTE….VOTE…..VOTE
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 