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…..
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 