FUNK-ing SLUMP ….
Posted: June 7, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: All Star Ballot, All Star Voting, baseball, buzzword, coaches, Funk, management, Marlins, pass it on, phillies, players, Slump 8 CommentsIt’s only June, we are still voting
on the which players will make the All Star teams and yet I am already
tired of hearing the word ‘funk’, so for me this is one buzzword that can
not go soon enough and find it’s way into the pile of so many other buzzwords
that have been annoyingly popular for short periods, I have been told however
that for this word to be banished then it can no longer apply to your team or
players, so I am officially declaring the end of the Phillies
relapse from winning…..
….from here on out the Phillies
team will hit and score runs, they will no longer be connected to this buzzword.
So Phillies players, coaches and management,
take note it’s over, now go out and play baseball like you mean it.
Look out Marlins you will
feel the brunt of the Phillies without the…
‘FUNK-ing
SLUMP’….
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… |
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