2010 Phillies Year in Review
Posted: December 27, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 2010 Season, A's, Angels, Arizona, Astros, Athletics, Atlanta, Baltimore, Blue Jays, BoSox, Brad Lidge, Braves, Brewers, Canada, Cardinals, Chicago, ChiSox, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Cliff Lee, Colorado, D'Backs, Detroit, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Florida, Giants, H2O, Halladay, Hamels, Hot Stove, Houston, Indians, Jimmy Rollins, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, Milton Bradley, Milwaukee, mini-soda, Minnesota, Nationals, Nats, New York, Oakland, Orioles, Oswalt, Padres, Philadelphia, phillies, Pirates, Pittsburgh, Rangers, Rays, Red Birds, Red Sox, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Ryan Howard, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Spring Training, St. Louis, Tampa Bay. Boston, Texas, Tigers, Time, Toronto, Tribe, Twins, Umpires, Washington, White Sox, Yankees 9 CommentsIt almost that time when we celebrate the begining of a new year
and invariably a new era in the successes of our teams. Before we jump forward
to what could be in 2011, here’s a small review of how my blog saw the Phillies
during 2010….
Here’s hoping you all have a very happy and safe New Year….
‘GIBBY’s’ and a future ‘Rookie of the Year’ ….
Posted: December 19, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Carlos Ruiz, Chooch, Future Rookie of the Year, GIBBY's, Grandpa, Halladay, Liverpool FC, Oswalt, phillies, Red Sox 7 CommentsThe GIBBY’s were handed out, I am sure like other award’s you
may not of agreed with some 
of them, but that’s just the way it goes at least it seems the voting was evenly
distributed.
For the Phillies, almost all the winners were no brainers, the
one that did surprise me was the Roy Oswalt for Oddity of the Year, after he
came in to play left field following Howards ejection. Obviously Halladay is
Halladay and there should be no surprises when he or something he is apart of
wins an award. Carlos Ruiz voted ‘X-Factor of the Year’ finally got some
recognition for his excellent performance during the 2010 season.
As we draw closer to the year end, we tend to look back at what
the year held for us, that’s when the anticipation of the 2011 season begins to
build, knowing its only 8 or 9 weeks before team members start arriving at
spring training gives us plenty of time to shuffle and re-shuffle the starting
lineup only to be surprised come opening day again.
In a perfect world the Red Sox would go broke and Liverpool
FC would be the owners main interest, in my brothers warped and sadistic mind maybe. A real perfect world would be in 20 some years, the Phillies would be debuting that years ‘Rookie of the Year’. My son however probably has
designs on him being a premier league football player, only time will tell how
much influence Grandpa can wield…
Seven Days and Counting ….
Posted: September 29, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 7 Days, Braves, Giants, manuel, New York, Oswalt, Padres, phillies, post season, Rays, Reds, Tampa Bay, Yankees 4 CommentsSome called it a hangover game, some called it the day after game, but it should have been just another game that we went out there and tried to win. The starting pitcher goes out there, albeit a shortened game of just 5 innings regardless of how he does, so for Roy Oswalt, yes I said Roy Oswalt, cause if you were listening to the Phillies TV feed you would be a little confused, they kept on calling him Roy Halladay, in fact they called him Roy Halladay more than they called him Roy Oswalt, so just in case T-Mac , Wheels or Sarge actually read anything that is written here maybe they’ll offer an apology to Roy Oswalt.
So there not totally confused here’s what Oswalt looks like….
….without wanting to point out the obvious, he’s the one with ’44’ and the name ‘OSWALT’ on his back.
The Phillies have selected the post season schedule already, and needless to say they have selected the one that allows them to go with a 3 pitcher starting rotation. The choice was somewhat of a no brain-er, and members of the press asking Manuel why he’s going that way, should not be covering baseball for any media outlet.
Just in case you missed it, they have been labeled H2O by a number of fans and some members of the Philadelphia press….
They have suggested that Halladay will start game 1, but this is speculation at this time, it is also an obvious choice. In keeping with obvious choices personally I would have Hamels then Oswalt, this would be just to break up the righties with a leftie in between, but it’s all about what Charlie thinks at the time.
I was dubious about constantly resting players from our starting line up between now and October 6th, but on reflection I think it’s more for Manuel to see what bench players and what bull pen members are going to make the cut. It’s a waiting game now, it’s like a second round of spring training in the fall.
Around Baseball:
The Yankees and the Tampa bay rays won last night assuring them both of play off spots, it’s just a case of who’s the division winners and who’s the wild card team.
The Reds beat the LOLstros last night to clinch the NL Central, kudos to them.
The NL West is a fight to the end and can only be decided when the Padres and Giants go at each other in the final series of the season. The Braves need to keep winning to keep them in the wild card, the series against the Phillies could be their do or die series. The Padres have the toughest road over their final 5 games.
7 Days to post season play – GO PHILLIES….
Atlanta Braves True Lies …
Posted: September 22, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Atlanta, Bobby Cox, Braves, CC Sabathia, Halladay, liar liar pants on fire, Mets, New York, NL East, Oswalt, phillies, post season, Tommy Hanson, True Lies, Yankees 7 Comments
The
Braves beat writers, coaches, players and fans have all been telling us of the
Phillies offensive woes when facing pitchers for the first time. This concerted
effort even have the TV analysts convinced to the point they are spewing the
same ‘Bull Sh-it’ in an ever increasing web of deceit.
Lets put our rookie pitchers against the Phillies ‘Aces’ cause that’ll give
us the best chance to win and make up ground on the division leaders. If you
believe that then you also probably believed the Mets were the team to beat in
the NL East this year.
The ‘Atlanta Braves True Lies’ appearing at a stadium near you,
if your a Braves fan that is. What was the real reason behind the need for
Atlanta to pit rookies against some of the best pitchers in the league this
year.
Who did the Braves stand the best chance of beating with their ‘Aces’ on the
mound:
- option 1 New York Mets
- option 2 Philadelphia Phillies
So why not be Brave and honest and tell the truth, they could
almost guarantee wins against the Mets with their ‘Aces’ on the mound, but
against the Phillies it was a crap shoot. The ‘truth is’ it’s better to beat
the Mets with Aces and lose to the Phillies with rookies instead of losing to
the Mets with Rookies then losing to the Phillies with Aces on the mound.
Good luck with the rest of the season with that mentality Atlanta, you may be
handing a Wild Card to a West coast team, or maybe that’s the plan, maybe Bobby
Cox has his retirement housing all picked out in Florida and can’t wait to move
in.
Roy
‘The Doc’ Halladay clinched his 20th win of the season against the Atlanta
Braves, making him the first Phillies pitcher to win 20 in a season since Steve
Carlton in 1982.
Roy joined CC from the New York Yankees as the only 2 pitchers this season to
reach the 20 win mark, with Jimenez and Wainwright close behind on 19 wins.
The biggest differences between the two 20 win pitchers, about 50 or 60 LBs
of blubber, that’s one stat I’m happy CC has more of than Halladay.
With Halladay’s 20th win the Phillies moved 5 games ahead in the NL East.
After being 3 games back on September 1st, the Phillies are certainly giving
themselves a chance at a 4th consecutive post season.
Even Jayson Werth seems to have gotten a new lease on life, we hope that his
joining forces with Boras has nothing to do with his sudden spark of enthusiasm.
The fact that he joined with Boras means he must have completely accepted the
fact that he’ll not be with the Phillies next year.
Tonight is the last of 3 at home with the Braves as Roy Oswalt takes the
mound for the Phillies against Tommy Hanson for the Braves.
GO PHILLIES…
Phillies take game 2
Posted: August 11, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: DL, Dodgers, Gibbons, Gload, I, Ibanez, London, MLB, New York, Oswalt, phillies, PINK, Police, Useless stats 101, you tube 7 CommentsGame 2 goes to the Phillies, much different from yesterdays game
just 2 runs scored by the Phillies who shut the Dodgers out and gave Oswalt his
first win in a Phillies uniform.
A catch is a catch is a catch, only in baseball ? or only in
this game ? it didn’t affect the outcome except maybe the number of runs could
have been more, who knows, but a was it a catch ?
…if it had had more crucial repercussions maybe it would have
been a big deal, you know like a fair or foul ball over 3rd base.
Raul Ibanez continues with his hot bat…..
….18 straight games, another hot hitter, Gload ended up
with a strained groin while running into second base after he hit a double. Soon to hit the DL I am sure, the Phillies have already used as many players this
year as they did for the whole of 2009, and we haven’t got to the expanded
roster yet.
Other items, found this which was more for the guys, if your
going to get a car with this speed and appeal, don’t paint it ‘PINK’ cause
that’s a crime, unless Barbie is gonna live in the passenger seat.
Useless stats 101 – Thanks to the Phillies stat guys that
feed the commentators for this one, Ibanez made baseball history for having the
longest hit streak for anyone ever in Major League Baseball that has their
family name start with the letter ‘I’.
Phillies get Burried by Dodogers …..
Posted: August 11, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: body fluid, Dodgers, Domonic Brown, Ethier, Los Angeles, Oswalt, Padilla, phillies, secretion 1 CommentEven with the Phillies offence producing 9 runs the pitching and defense was
considerably sub-standard. The game saw over thrown cut off men, J-Roll fell
over 2nd base, missed double plays, and some bloop hits from the Dodgers that
Phillies fielders couldn’t seem to find any coordination in their bodies to make
plays on.
If your a Dodgers fan your probably thinking Padilla’s the saving grace, well
the ‘soap bubble pitch’ he’s had for sometime, it just got slower, for some
reason he still manages to constantly secrete flesh fluid….
…..it was a shortened outing for Padilla, the Phillies hitters
were obviously starting to get to him, and so the Dodgers bullpen played out the
final 4 innings.
With the Dodgers in town as a courtesy to those younger female
fans and some guys with that kind of inclination here’s the obligatory pic of
the Dodgers pin up boy…..
….who had a good night at the plate, going 4 for 4 with 3
RBI’s and a walk.
Tonight Roy Oswalt has his home stand debut, I guess we’ll see
how Oswalt fairs inside Citizens Bank Park, with it being as warm as it is the
ball has a tendency to fly off the bats and into the stands, as we saw last
night with Domonic Brown hitting his first major league homer.
The Phillies have to get back to basics tonight with motion
coordination and try not to fall over their own feet again.
Useless stats 101 – In 11 seasons Padilla has only had 4
with 14 or more wins and 2 of those were with the Phillies.
From New York to Los Angeles …..
Posted: August 10, 2010 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Aaron Rowand, Beltran, Dodgers, Ed Rapuano, Halladay, Hamels, Ibanez, Kerrigan, Los Angeles, Mets, New York, Oswalt, Padilla, phillies, Pirates, Pittsburgh, Ruiz, Soap Bubble Pitch, Victorino 6 CommentsThe Phillies and the Mets conclude there weekend of fun in the
sun. The Mets as usual were a tough opponent for the Phillies, but with players
like Ibanez and Ruiz swinging hot bats at the moment the advantage went to the
Phillies. This weekend was the first time this year the Phillies saw Beltran and
as a special treat, Beltran got to taste….
….the cushioning placed on the center field fence, he can
thank former Phillies center fielder, Aaron Rowand for soft get together with
the fence. If you didn’t see this as a web gem you should hunt it down, he back
tracked hoping to catch a ball that just kept going back and he wasn’t expecting
the fence to be there. Obviously it wouldn’t have been so humorous had the fence
not been padded, Beltran suffered no ill effects, just shock of the moment.
Elsewhere
in baseball the trading took a curious turn when instead of players on the move
we saw the Pirates finally came to their senses and moved the pitching coach,
Joe Kerrigan, to the long list of unemployed. I have made it no secret that I
have a complete and utter dislike of Kerrigan. The Pirates now need to find
themselves somebody who can help develop the pitching staff into what they
should be, someone like a Duncan, Anderson, McDowell or even a Hickey style
pitching coach, all these guys have different styles yet are very good with
young upcoming talent and can assist the more seasoned pitchers as and when they
need it too.
The Phillies welcome the LA Dodgers to town for a 3 game stint.
Although just 4 games over .500 and currently sitting 4th in the West division,
they are never an easy mark and should be looked upon as if they are running
away with it like last year. Hopefully they’ll leave Manny Ramirez in
California. I guess we can’t do anything about having to endure the onslaught of
Padilla’s constant flesh fluid secretion dowsing the mound on day one of the 3
days, at least it’s Kyle Kendrick sharing the mound with him and not Hamels or
Oswalt or even Halladay, that could scar them for the rest of the season. Lets
see what the Phillies make fo the os called ‘Soap Bubble’ pitch.
Useless stats 101 – This time last year the Phillies had
just experienced umpire Ed Rapuano’s ever changing strike zone and his ability
to to throw out Shane Victorino in center fielder from home plate for throwing
his arms in the air, when an obvious strike was called a ball.
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