Baffled by the Bay, A Different View…
Posted: August 3, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: bullpen, Giants, Hamels, Philadelphia, phillies, San Francisco, The Pen 8 Comments Yes, they travelled through time zones, but it wasn’t that far really…
They weren’t at a high elevation…
There were no shadows on the field…
It should have been money in the bank…
Hamels pitching for 4 2/3 innings was music to my ears…
But then, for no apparent reason, with 2 outs and nobody on base in the 5th inning, did Cole lose something…
We started the 6th inning, had Cole found what he lost in the 5th, the answer was NO, the inevitable happened a call to the bullpen…
The guys from the pen closed the game out, without giving up any more runs, Hamels had allowed 7 runs to score, which was too much to recover from, the Phillies lost the game 7-3 and the series by 3-1 in San Francisco, but they were heading back to what we hope are the comforts of home…
Phillies take loss on Bark at the Park Night in San Francisco…
Posted: August 2, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Bark at the Park, Blanton, dogs, Giants, Hamels, Lincecum, phillies, San Francisco, Sandoval, Zito 8 CommentsLast nights game at AT&T Park in San Francisco was scheduled to be a pitchers duel between Lincecum and Blanton, although both pitchers were very good the game itself was not so exciting. It was a game where the Phillies team made Lincecum look like a very ordinary pitcher, the problem for the Phillies is the offence is currently struggling with RISP. The Giants hitters were being held in check by Blanton and Blanton was actually looking like the better pitcher, the 5th inning turned the Giants luck into a run the same thing in the 7th, there were no great plays by anyone, no super hits, in fact even Sandoval tried to bunt his way on. The most exciting part of the game between the 7th and 8th inning, Blanton’s evening was done, he new he should be in place for the win, but the offence was letting him down, with a 1 for 6 with RISP and 8 LOB, he had given up just 7 hits and 2 runs had crossed the plate, almost any other game he would have the lead. I guess his temper got the better of him between inning and he took it out on some things in the dugout…..
…basically that was the game, nothing really stood out.
Other events were probably more interesting to some, it was Bark at the Park night, so there were a lot of dogs in the stands, no I am not talking about any diverse individuals who may or may not live in the San Francisco area…. real dogs… although going by some of the attire of the dogs the owners mentality may have to come into question….
there’s more….
and last but not least, what I’d call a normal dog, shame about the gay bandana round it’s neck….
Hopefully today will be a good game, where all the players on both teams make an effort to be ball players. It’s Hamels against Zito, so it should be a good game, but we thought that yesterday too, so who knows.
the CLIFF LEE show….
Posted: August 1, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Ben Francisco, Blanton, Cleveland, Cliff Lee, Dubee, Francisco, Giants, Indians, Lee, Lincecum, manuel, Philadelphia, phillies, Philly, RBI, RiSP, San Francisco, Tribe, Utley, Victorino, World Series Champions 7 CommentsCliff Lee made his debut as a Philadelphia Philly last night in San Francisco, he was acquired this week by the Phillies as a top addition to the Phillies starting rotation, this was his first start for a National League team having spent his major league career with the Cleveland Indians.
This was a chance for the fans and the Philly players to see what Ruben Amaro Jr. had acquired for the team, before the game Dubee and Manuel had said ‘they would sit back and watch, mostly, so they could see what he could do’.
Now before everyone gets overly excited and thinks that he is being put on a pedestal with expectations way above what he could possibly deliver, we all must understand it’s his first game and this cannot be expected every time he goes to the mound… you can hope… but don’t expect it. With that said Cliff Lee came out last night and looked like a natural born NL starting pitcher, the Phillies wanted a pitcher and they got one.
He showed poise and confidence….
He showed he could field his position…
and the Kung-Fu Panda was no match…
and this was just the 1st inning…
What we didn’t know was, could he swing a bat?…
he showed us…
not just once but twice…
he hit a single and a double, with a short sharp swing, you’d almost think he had been through an intense Utley hitting course.
and he was enjoying it…
but how would he fit in with the other Philly players?….
How couldn’t you fit in with the guys in the dugout….
Cliff Lee is officially a Philly….
Yes there was other players on the field, and they all played their parts with the normal characteristics that the Philly players have, this may have only been a 5-1 win for the Phils, but if they had really hit with RISP, it could have been double digits for the Phil’s.
Ben Francisco had another start in place of the injured Victorino, who by the way, probably wont be back till Tuesday is my guess, had another good game with hard hits at each at bat, he picked up a hit and an RBI.
Well done!! the front office for the new players, initial showings make them an excellent fit for the reigning World Series Champions.
Joe Blanton the Phillies work horse, goes today against Lincecum, Phillies have had a tendancy to come alive when facing the Ace of the opposition, lets hope this happens tonight…
The WILD WEST Trip…
Posted: July 31, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: error, Feliz, Garko, Giants, Lee, Lopez, phillies, Sanchez, Sandoval, Umpires, Utley, Velez, Walker, Werth, Wild West 4 CommentsIt was a night that saw the Phillies produce 3 errors and give up 4 unearned runs in a 7-2 loss to the Giants.
The Phillies weren’t the only ones to commit errors last night,
it seems the 2nd base umpire needed something to help him see clearer….
How do you get this…
from this….
I am sure there is a special lesson at umpire school that tells them how to determine if a player is out, because the ball beat them to the bag, or if there safe when they are tagged before they reached the bag, probably some reverse logic to keep them in the highlight reels.
Now instead of nobody on with 1 out, there’s a runner in scoring position with no outs, then Velez, hits the ball deep to right field, okay a regular fly ball, Werth has this so we should be okay…. wrong…. it slides in and out of Werths glove then rolls to the base of the wall, Werth struggled to pick it up and throw it back in, so now instead of 2 out nobody on we have Torres scoring and Velez on third with nobody out…Cliff Lee hanging over the rail in the dug out must be thinking……I am in a nightmare is this the Indians in Phillies uniforms…….Okay so maybe he wasn’t thinking that, but it was looking like it… the Giants hit a sack fly to put 2 on the board in the bottom of the 1st and take a 2-1 lead from there they never looked back..
The WILD WEST show didn’t stop there after Sandoval hit a bomb into the bay in the 3rd inning to put the Giants up 3-1, the phillies continued on with the show, maybe to make Lee feel at home, who knows….
We somehow manage to get to the bottom of the 4th inning and with 1 out and 1 on, Feliz goes for the double play,
Utley didn’t agree…
the ball flips off Utleys glove into the outfield, now you have 2 on at 2nd and 3rd and only one out, more timely hitting by the Giants and instead of being out of the inning they now have a 7-1 lead.
For the most part Lopez pitched okay, except for the extra pitches he had to throw due to the errors, but he only gave up 3 earned runs, the bull pen went to work in the 5th inning and shut the Giants down. The WILD WEST show didn’t end there though, top of the 6th Chase Utley at the plate, now to me Utley has given up and error been involved the error with Feliz, so all in all he’s kind of helped the Giants, what happens in the 6th…..
the WILD PITCH show….
Sanchez got wild with his pitches, this one was headed straight for Utleys head, normally very composed and used to being hit with balls, Utley was a little shaken, turn and glared at Sanchez, took the next pitch, then stepped out of the box as he was about to deliver the next one, Sanchez tossed a slow roller to the plate, the tension was mounting and you could tell there was a little animosity had developed between Utley and Sanchez in just 3 pitches…. well Sanchez obviously wanted to show he was boss and threw an 88mph and 89mph fast balls for strikes,
then a 90mph fast ball,
that Utley sends deep…..
home run… Chase Utley
That was almost the end of the WILD WEST show, although no more runs were scored, the bottom of the 7th inning with 2 outs and Garko at the plate Walker dings Garko on the shoulder, in what was clearly a payback pitch for the incident at Utley’s head, both teams get warned.
The question is will both team move on from this or will it generate more tension and create an interesting weekend….
Cliff Lee goes tonight, his first start for the Phillies here’s hoping the bats come to life and the errors dissapear…..
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