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…
Victorino gives, NOW give back to Victorino
Posted: July 9, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: AL, All Star Ballot, All Star game, All Star Team, All Star Voting, Chan Ho Park, Detroit, Lopez, Madson, MLB Network, NL, Philadelphia, phillies, RBI, Reds, Romero, Sandoval, The Pen, Tigers, Umpires, Victorino, vote, Walk off, Werth 4 CommentsThe headlines around MLB say it all, the race for the #33 All Star pick is a tight one, since Victorino and Sandoval are playing cat and mouse in the NL ballot, the campaigning is reaching new heights never before seen in an All Star ballot.
Victorino added to his case last night with a walk off RBI to give the Phillies a 3-2 win over the Reds, this was definately the highlight of the game.
Lopez, had another good start, although he only went 5 innings, due to a sore shoulder (last reports), his pitch count was low and he held the Reds to just 2 runs on 5 hits. Rest up Lopez your fast becoming an asset in the starting rotation.
BullPen was again outstanding last night, Madson’s speed was up, location was good, both Durbin and Romero also had good outings. Although for me the best activity from the bullpen was without a doubt Chan Ho Park, the sandwich boards campaigning for Victorino votes, was terrific, I wonder if he lost a bet or won a draw to do that, hopefully we’ll find out on The Pen on MLB Network, whenever that returns.
The Phillies have teamed up with the Detroit Tigers to try and double the voting capacity for each of our respective players, wow, politics in baseball, colaborations between parties, who’d have thought it would come to this, who knows next year they may have to call in the people from American Idol to get telephone voting too.
The only soar note on last nights game was the strike zone, seemed to be a little too flexible when the chance of a called third strike loomed, maybe the home plate umpire was auditioning for an upcoming movie, or maybe a chance to grab a headline and get himself noticed.
All that really matters is that Victorino gave to us last night with the walk off RBI, now it’s our turn to give back and vote him in the All Star game. Voting ends at 4pm EST today, hopefully we will be celebrating during tonights game and Detroit will be celebrating too, which will just go to show the NL and AL can work together for the good of the fans.
Phillies make Reds History
Posted: July 7, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: 22-1, All Star Ballot, All Star game, All Star Team, All Star Voting, bullpen, Cincinnati, Citizens Bank Park, Cole Hamels, double, Home Run Derby, Jayson Werth, Jimmy Rollins, phillies, Raul Ibanez, Reds, Ryan Howard, The Pen, The Reds 5 CommentsYou must have been on another planet or at best somewhere remote outside of the baseball world if you haven’t already heard of the 22-1 win the Phillies posted against The Reds last night. History in the making, the Phillies gave The Reds the largest deficit loss in their club history, it wasn’t just that they sent their ace starter to the dug out in two thirds of an inning, nor was it the fact that the Phillies were well on their way to batting around twice in the first, it is the things that in a different game would have been the headlines.
Cole Hamels went seven innings giving up 3 hits and 1 run throwing just 92 pitches with 61 of them for strikes. He must of been feeling good, at the plate he had a double, a single, 2 RBI’s and scored 2 runs, a week ago Jimmy Rollins would have killed for those in game stats. – Well Done Cole.
The Reds pitching staff threw more pitches in the first 3 inning than Hamels threw for seven, in total The Reds pitching staff threw over 200 pitches combined, with only about 60% of them for strikes. You know a pitching staff is having a tough night when they throw **** into pitch the 8th inning.
Jayson Werth hit a grand slam, okay so it was off the SS pitching, but even so it’s still a stat and would have been a headline in any other game.
Jimmy Rollins went 3 for 4 with 2 walks, with Jimmy’s first half slump, I think worthy of a headline.
Ryan Howard homerless again, it’s nice that he is in the Home Run Derby, but I would much prefer him to hit homers in games that count, maybe the possible return of Raul Ibanez this week will inspire Ryan to go long.
Phillies BullPen threw 2 scorless innings to close out the game, again with their performance over recent weeks this would have been a headline in a diferent game.
With all this in the first of 4 games against The Reds you have wonder if they can keep it up, I am sure The Reds are wondering what they can do tonight, they face the 5-0 Happ with a 2.96 ERA, I am not sure there is light at the end of the tunnel for The Reds at CBP.
For a diferent point of view I have decided to watch tonights game with The Reds commentary, just to see how they feel about a Phillies team that really showed no mercy last night. Lets hope the Phillies didn’t blow a weeks worth of offense in one night.
Almost Finally, in case you hadn’t noticed I added the word Phillies to my Blog name just so those who haven’t read it know it’s about the Phillies.
And Finally VOTE VICTORINO
The Pen….
Posted: June 30, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: bad day, closer, Lidge, Madson, MLB Network, phillies, set up, starting rotation, The Pen Leave a commentThe Pen MLB Network Sunday nights…. if you haven’t seen it, youre missing out. The only problem with this show is it isn’t long enough. I normally DVR this show and watch it on the off day, so I get my 7 day Philly fix. This show has given me a new found respect for the guys in the bullpen. You only saw them for an inning or one hitter, if they did good then they did their job if they sucked you didn’t want to see them for a few days. Well this show has introduced you to their personalities, it has shown you want they go through just to stay in the pen. I have to say it’s probably one of the hardest jobs on the team, like they say, these guys have one shot, they have to bring their best and deliver, if they screw up or have a bad day, the whole team suffers. I know you might think the same goes for the rest of the players too. Consider this, position player has a bad day, his team mates try and pick up the slack over 9 innings, if the starter has a bad day then the fielders can help and there is always the bullpen. So next time the bullpen has a bad day, don’t be so hard on them, especially Madson and Lidge who probably have the hardest jobs in the pen. Watch The Pen on MLB Network and you too may get a new found respect for these guys.
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 