Phillies Swat Nats…

Posted: April 14, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Dailies | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

This was a game of games, it was a battle of the pitchers, the first 2 innings was 1 game, a pitchers duel, not the way you’d expect a pitchers duel, instead of strike out and non hitting batters, it was a duel on who would stay in the longest, who would give up the most hitskend-fig.jpg and runs and who would throw the most pitches. It turns out both starting pitchers got to take early showers, for Stamman of the Nats managed just 53 pitches through 1.1 innings, giving up 7 runs on 7 hits and Kendrick of the Phillies managed 52 pitches through just 1.2 innings giving up 6 runs on 6 hits.
The game was also a game of offensive plays with hits, runs and walks being in good supply, the Phillies relief pitcher Figueroa, got in on that part of the game, with 2 at bats he picked up 2 hits and a run, on the mound he threw 3.1 innings and gave up 1 run on 2 hits. Chad Durbin also pitching in relief and threw 2 shut down innings on 24 pitches. For the Nats, English came out of the pen and victo-dugout.jpgshut the Phillies down for 2.2 innings, but after that the Phillies bats came alive, with both Victorino and Utley going deep, it was Utley’s 2nd homer of the game, Victorino also managed a bases clearing triple after the bases were loaded in the 7th, just a double short of a cycle in this the first game he was in the lead off spot with J-Roll on the DL, Wilson Valdez was added to the roster to replace J-Roll.
By the 9th inning the Phillies had 14 hits, 14 runs and 5 walks, while holding the Nats to 10 hits and 7 runs. The Phillies are on a roll to start this season, some are comparing it to the 93 season when the team went start to finishpoly-lefties.jpg on top of the division, personally without putting a damper on things remember who we’ve played, the Nats and the Astros, lets wait till then end of the month when we will have played at least a couple of other teams before awarding ourselves something we haven’t won.
The game had it’s other moments with Polanco picking up another 2 hits to maintain a .486 batting average, yep it’s still early, but if he keeps this up I’ll be screaming MVP, the Phillies bench also saw the 3 lefties deep in conversation, actually more like Moyer conversing, Hamels smiling and Happ just staring into space, but still could be a caption picture later on in the season, depending on how these 3 progress.

In summary the Phillies add another 14 hits and 14 runs to the already inflated numbers they have, it’s tough this time of year to do the customary comparisons because with the limited games played and the fact that some teams have played 2 or 3 games more than others it can be very deceiving. So lets just say the Phillies have a lot of offensive numbers and it’s “Ripley’s Time“, because believe it or not they are ranked last in MLB for strike outs.

 

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The Phillies get a well earned rest…

Posted: November 5, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Dailies | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The New York Yankees are the new World Series Champions, after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in 6 games. It’s not easy to win the World Series, and is a great accomplishment each time. For that I give a congratulatory nod to the Yankees.

The Phillies will get a well deserved rest and return in 2010 with all the other teams, with their eye on the ultimate goal once more. During this time we will be able to speculate on who will be back, who will move on, and who will just simply be released.

It would be too easy to write about the money the Yankees spent to achieve the prize, or to speculate on the tax burden residents will be facing to pay for the new stadium. I could also stoop to the levels of the NY Post and make a half-hearted, but tackey attempt at poking fun at players, especially since a DH won the MVP award, but at this point I will refrain from drawing anymore attention to a group of individuals who believe the world revolves around them and that they are the largest sports franchise in the world, of which the majority probably didn’t even know where Philadelphia was until this past week or that any other sport even exists.

I am at peace with all this, knowing that next year things will be different. So during the off season I will as often as possible write about things that have no relevance to anything whatsoever, but will, I am sure from time to time irritate the sh!t out of people.

~peter

Three Close… One Cigar…

Posted: August 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Dailies | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This last week, was a trip
across the state for a match-up with the recently revamped Pirates.
On paper this should have been nothing more than a formality, a quick
trip along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, from Philadelphia
to Pittsburgh, an interesting three days and a quick trip
back to Philly with a least 2 wins from a 3 game series. Instead the
Phillies experienced 3 close ball games which were not decided
until the last 2 innings, the biggest disappointment, wasn’t so much the
2 loses that Philadelphia took from the series, it was more that the
interstate rivalry between these two teams is nothing more than a mere whisper,
instead of a big boom. Since the two teams are no longer division rivals
the once interstate rivalry is just a few games a year, Philly fans
probably outnumbered the Pirates fans at all 3 games, probably due to
the fact the Pirates no longer have hope of a post season run this year.

A city that was once a
dominant force in the steel industry, a city that named a bridge after
one of its most famous baseball players, is a city rebuilding it’s
baseball team.

The view….

…the Roberto
Clemente bridge.

 

All 3 games were closely
contested right to the end of each game.

Game 1 was
the walk off from McCutchen, with the now famous celebratory NBA type
dunk into his fellow team mates…

 

Game 2, gave
us extra innings and a towering ‘Howard Homer’ to break
the deadlock in the 10th inning.

 

Game 3 was just as close,
until the 8th inning, another long ball, this time by the Pirates
outfielder Jones, the Pirates went on to hold that lead and take 2 out
of 3 from Philadelphia.

These weren’t the only things I saw
during this 3 game series, I also got to see what could be the early
days of the career of a future Hall of Famer, okay so it’s way to early
to tell that and I only saw him in 3 games, but I looked at a few others
and the kid has a lot of talent that can only be improved upon. This kid
has the power to become an All Star next year and an MVP in the next 5
years. He obviously needs to keep his head on his shoulders, not get
carried away in the big picture, and definitely not be mislead by any
unscrupulous people found within the world of professional baseball, it
would also help if he stayed away from injuries. Pittsburgh fans should
know all this already and those who have kept a watch on young talent
that has emerged on to the seen in the last couple of months, I say this
kid is worth remembering…..

He looks like he should be
a wide receiver for the Steelers instead of centerfield for the Pirates.
Initially he doesn’t appear cocky or arrogant like some other
young talent that in the past has shot on to the baseball scene, (i.e.
Reyes… yep I here Muts fans booing,) This kid should be a center
piece during the rebuilding of the Pirates team. If McCutchen
wants to continue to build, what should be a huge career, he needs to
stay away from New York, remember your beginnings.

 

 

Tonight the Phillies are
back at CBP for the weekend, playing host the visiting Atlanta Braves.
Tonight Pedro Martinez goes for the Phillies, we’ll see if he can
produce a quality start for the Phillies. The scoreboard is running, I
said he would not produce 6 good starts of 6 innings
before he is crucified by a team. So far he has 3 starts and 1 of those
contained 6 innings.