Before the bottom of the sixth inning in the third game of the
season, the Phillies were pathetically averaging as many errors as
runs: 7 in two and a half games.
The
Phillies’ strengths last season — offense and defense — seemed to be
their 2008 Achilles’ Heel. Nothing was going right and all of the
bounces favored their opponents. Suddenly, in the bottom of the sixth
inning, batted balls that were being caught previously were finding
holes and dropping in front of fielders. They scored six runs in an
impressive rally that consisted of no extra-base hits; rather, eight
singles, a hit batter, and a wild pitch. Nine straight Phillies batters
reached base before Chase Utley hit into a 3-2-3 double play to end the
inning. A recap of the carnage:
C. Utley singled to right
R. Howard singled to right, C. Utley to second
P. Burrell singled to left, C. Utley scored, R. Howard to third
G. Jenkins singled to right, R. Howard scored, P. Burrell to second
P. Burrell to third, G. Jenkins to second on wild pitch
P. Feliz singled to center, G. Jenkins and P. Burrell scored
C. Coste singled to right, P. Feliz to second
G. Dobbs singled to left, P. Feliz scored, C. Coste to second
J. Rollins hit by pitch, C. Coste to third, G. Dobbs to second
S. Victorino singled to right center, C. Coste scored, G. Dobbs to third, J. Rollins to second
Heading into the top of the seventh with their first lead since the
bottom of the fourth inning on Monday’s Opening Day game, the Phillies
asked their bullpen to be efficient. Ryan Madson responded, quickly
retiring all three Washington Nationals hitters he faced.
They had a chance to pad their newfound lead when Ryan Howard
singled and Pat Burrell doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh,
but the offense went back into hiding as Geoff Jenkins struck out, and
Pedro Feliz and Chris Coste grounded out. Unfortunately, the Phillies
had to ask their bullpen to hold onto a one-run lead, and as expected,
they couldn’t do that.
Ryan Madson returned to the mound to start the eighth inning and
promptly walked lead-off hitter Ronnie Belliard on four pitches. He got
Felipe Lopez to lazily fly out to center fielder Shane Victorino, and
Jesus Flores almost did as well, but the ball fell in the proverbial
Bermuda’s Triangle between Jimmy Rollins, Burrell’s replacement in left
field Jayson Werth, and Victorino.
With Rob Mackowiak, a left-handed pinch-hitter, announced, Charlie
Manuel replaced Madson with J.C. Romero. Nationals’ manager Manny Acta
countered by pinch-hitting Paul Lo Duca for Mackowiak. Romero appeared
wild, not having thrown a true strike for the first five pitches, but
Lo Duca helped him out by swinging 3-1 at what would have been ball
four. Following suit as the previous two hitters, Lo Duca also lazily
flied out to center, and the Phillies looked like they’d actually
escape with the lead. Not so.
Cristian Guzman sharply hit a grounder just out of the reach of
third baseman Pedro Feliz. Jimmy Rollins slid to try and keep the ball
near the infield to prevent the tying run from scoring, but the ball
instead deflected off of his glove towards foul territory, and that did
allow Belliard to touch home plate. Lastings Milledge followed with
another infield single to load the bases for the dreaded Ryan
Zimmerman, already with two game-winning HR to his name. Luckily, the
Phillies continued his oh-fer day, as he grounded out to Jimmy Rollins
to end the inning at 7 runs apiece.
The Phillies loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the
eighth but couldn’t push in the go-ahead run. Manuel elected to use
Opening Day victim Tom Gordon to hold the game in a tie in the top of
the ninth inning, and boy, does Gordon make it interesting. He started
off well, striking out Austin Kearns, but Nick Johnson, after a great
at-bat in which he started 0-2 and worked it to 3-2, reached base via a
line drive that was just barely out of the reach of Utley’s glove. The
next three at-bats went walk, fly out, walk, so the bases were loaded
with two outs. Pinch-hitter Willie Harris came out to bat for reliever
Luis Ayala, and everyone in the stadium held their breath as Ryan
Howard cleanly fielded a grounder and flipped it to Gordon to end the
inning, the game still tied at 7-all. Gordon had a scoreless inning!
His ERA went down more than 100 points, from 135.00 to 33.75!
To mimic Seinfeld, yada yada yada, Phillies waste a Jenkins lead-off double in the bottom of the ninth, yada yada yada, game goes to extra innings, yada yada yada,
Jimmy Rollins starts off the bottom of the tenth with a lead-off
infield single. Victorino sacrifice bunts Rollins to second and
Rollins, noticing that only shortstop Cristian Guzman would be able to
cover third, raced him to the bag and did so safely, giving the
Phillies a runner on third base with one out, and Chase Utley and Ryan
Howard due up. Acta, for the second time in the game, ordered both of
them to be walked, putting the pressure on Jayson Werth. Reliever Jesus
Colome couldn’t find the plate and walked in the winning run on four
pitches, giving the Phillies their first win of the season.
Kyle Kendrick will face Josh Fogg tomorrow night when the Phillies visit the Cincinnati Reds for a 7:10 start.
You read right. 500-to-1. They were that much an underdog on
September 12, seven games behind the New York Mets in the National
League East (Baseball Prospectus goes over some of the biggest
collapses here, and mentions this year’s playoff hunt).
Today, on October 1, the Mets are officially out of the playoffs
(the second-worst collapse in baseball history, after the 1964 Phillies
and the worst since divisional play began in 1969), while the Phillies
are officially in for the first time since 1993.
The coaching staff acted rashly and moved their then-ace Brett
Myers to the bullpen to pitch the 8th inning (when Tom Gordon went down
with an injury, Myers moved to closer).
Ryan Howard, the reigning NL MVP, had a horrible April (.390 SLG) and then missed two weeks from May 10 to 24.
Pat Burrell had a mind-bogglingly awful first-half of the season (.408 SLG).
They started the season with six starting pitchers (Garcia, Lieber,
Hamels, Eaton, Myers, Moyer). By season’s end, only one of them would
not spend a day on the disabled list — the 44-year-old, who ended up
pitching Sunday’s game, the biggest Phillies game in 14 years. In
addition, the Phillies set a club record for most pitchers used in a
season (28).
More than a month after moving Myers to the bullpen, he got injured
closing out a game in Florida and missed the next two months. By
season’s end, nine Phillies have recorded saves (Myers, Alfonseca
Gordon, Condrey, Madson, Mesa, Rosario, Durbin, Ennis).
Wes Helms showed himself to be a free agent bust, and saw his
playing time significantly reduced in the last two months in favor of
the offense of Greg Dobbs and defense of Abraham Nunez.
The franchise reached 10,000 losses on July 15.
And despite ALL of that…
The Phillies won the most games in a season (89) since 1993 (97).
Jimmy Rollins, en route to a possible and likely NL MVP award,
recorded the fourth 20 2B/20 3B/20 HR/20 SB season in baseball history,
joining Curtis Granderson (also achieved this year), Willie Mays, and
Frank Schulte. In addition, he played in all 162 games, and set records
in at-bats and plate appearances, surpassing Willie Wilson and Lenny
Dykstra, respectively.
Pat Burrell followed up his awful first half with an amazing second
half (1.016 OPS) and finished the season with at least 30 HR for the
third time in his eight-year career.
Ryan Howard followed up his awful first half with an amazing second
half (1.016 OPS) and finished the season with 47 HR and led the
National League with 136 RBI.
The Phillies overcame the one-month loss of then-MVP candidate
Chase Utley to a hand injury when Pat Gillick made a quick acquisition
of Tadahito Iguchi, who instantly took to the red pinstripes.
The Phillies overcame the three-week loss (and light use following
his return) of Shane Victorino, and the six-week loss of Michael Bourn
(both lost in the same game in Chicago) with the help of Jayson Werth
(.950 second-half OPS), who at one point hit safely in nine straight
at-bats, breaking Pete Rose’s mark of 8 at-bats.
The starting rotation changed from Hamels, Moyer, Lieber, Garcia,
and Eaton at the start of the season to Hamels, Moyer, Kendrick, Lohse,
and Eaton by season’s end. Kendrick is a solid candidate for some
third-place Rookie of the Year votes.
J.C. Romero put up an insane 369 ERA+. A 100 ERA+ is considered league-average.
In their campaign against the Mets, the Phillies beat them in eight
consecutive games, including sweeps of a four-game series in
Philadelphia and a three-game series in New York.
44-year-old Jamie Moyer, born in Sellersville, PA, pitched the
biggest game for his hometown team since 1993. He went 5 and one-third
innings, giving up only one unearned run on five hits and no walks,
striking out six.
There were far too many great storylines for this year’s
Philadelphia Phillies, and far too much going against them. Yet they
persevered. It couldn’t have happened to a more likable group of guys
or a more deserving group of fans.
Advantage: Phillies
The San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies play a one-game playoff to
determine the Wild Card winner at Coors Field tonight. The Padres will
send Cy Young candidate Jake Peavy (176 ERA+) to the mound to face
Rockies starter Josh Fogg (99 ERA+).
This is beneficial for the Phillies for a few reasons.
Both teams will be at the disadvantage of having played an extra
game, adding to the risk of injury, and adding to the already high
level of fatigue in most of the players.
If the Padres win, they will have burned their “ace in the hole” in
Peavy until at least Game 3 of the NLDS. It’s even more beneficial when
you consider that the Padres’ starting rotation hasn’t been great.
Chris Young, for example, has a 5.96 ERA since returning from his
injury. Meanwhile, the Phillies will have their ace, Cole Hamels,
pitching Game 1 and likely Game 4.
While not a long flight, the Padres are at another disadvantage for
having to go on the road. The Phillies get to rest until Wednesday.
Give ‘em Credit
The Phillies’ 2007 run at the post-season will forever be linked to
the biggest divisional collapse in baseball history by the New York
Mets. Due to this fact, the Phillies will likely not be given much
credit for winning themselves so much as winning by default because of
the Mets’ inadequacies.
The Phillies played .623 baseball in August and September, and, as
mentioned, beat the Mets in eight consecutive games. Not only was this
due to the Phillies’ league-best offense, but the settling down of the
pitching staff. They had their occasional bad games, but nothing like
the first half when it was commonplace. Since September 13, the
Phillies have given up 68 total runs in those 17 games, an average of
exactly 4 runs per game, more than a full run better than their
seasonal average of 5.07 runs per game.
While the Mets definitely were in a position to cinch the deal in
the NL East, let’s give credit where credit is due — to the
Philadelphia Phillies.
When Words Aren’t Enough
Yahoo! has some great pictures from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Getty Images.
[…]Hall of Fame announcer Harry Kalas sang “High Hopes” over the public address system.
You have to have seen and heard it to appreciate it. Kalas won’t be
on American Idol any time soon, but it was a moment where every one of
his off-key notes sounded infinitely harmonic.
Please advise me if a video of this is posted on the Internets!
Phillies GM Pat Gillick has impeccable timing. With a week left in the regular season, and with his team in a position to earn a playoff berth, he dropped the bombshell that he won’t be returning to the Phillies after the 2008 season, when his contract expires.
Even though he succeeded Ed Wade as GM of the Phillies, Gillick hasn’t enjoyed any popularity while in Philadelphia, and it’s justified. The blunders that have occurred under Gillick’s watch have done more to set the Phillies back than to set them ahead.
He let Brett Myers make
his next start following his domestic abuse episode in Boston. He
traded Bobby Abreu for rags. He gave Adam Eaton $24.51 million over
three years and a mutual 2010 option worth $9 million. He signed Rod
Barajas when he already had a catching duo of Carlos Ruiz and Chris
Coste. He failed to upgrade the bullpen — an obvious problem as early
as the beginning of last offseason — and Charlie Manuel has had to work
with relievers found off the scrap heap (Jose Mesa, Antonio Alfonseca,
among others) and rookies (Mike Zagurski, Francisco Rosario, among
others).
Gillick’s offseason moves have been awful, but his mid-season moves
have been a Band-Aid of sorts (Jamie Moyer, Rick White, Tadahito
Iguchi, Kyle Lohse), so he hasn’t been all bad, technically speaking.
After dealing Abreu, Cory Lidle, Rheal Cormier, and David Bell in July of 2006, Gillick expressed no confidence in his team:
It will be a stretch to say we’ll be there in ’07.
We’ll have to plug in some young pitchers and anytime you do that
you’ll have some inconsistency. It’s going to take another year.
It makes no sense for Gillick to tell us all that 2008 will be his
last season as a general manager. It makes even less sense to say that
while his team is fighting for a playoff spot. With a week left, why
not keep your mouth shut until the Phillies are eliminated from playoff
contention, or from the playoffs (should they make it)?
Manager Charlie Manuel and shortstop Jimmy Rollins have already
taken veiled shots at Gillick for his failure to give the team an
adequate bullpen. Phillies fans don’t like him.
Just quit now. Based on Gillick’s quotes, it’s obvious being a GM of
a Major League Baseball team isn’t his top priority, and if it has been
that way for Gillick since he joined the Phillies, it’s evident. Don’t
keep the team in limbo and give a reason for everyone to second-guess.
In hoping for Gillick’s ouster, we have to think about a successor.
Speaking realistically, that successor will likely come from within the
Phillies organization — namely Ruben Amaro, Jr. (who was candidate #2
for the Houston Astros GM job given to Wade) and Mike Arbuckle, both
assistant GM’s.
Amaro presents a glass half-full or glass half-empty scenario. Is he
a bad candidate because he worked under Wade and Gillick, learned from
their antiquated notions, and is doomed to repeat them? Or is he a good
candidate because he worked under Wade and Gillick, learned from their
antiquated notions, and will not repeat them?
Neyer:Do you have much use for the
sabermetric approach that seems to be inching its way into baseball
these days? Have the Phillies ever employed, or considered employing,
somebody as essentially a statistical analyst?
Arbuckle:No, we haven’t. I do think there’s some
value in that approach, but mostly at the professional level. At the
amateur level, the competition level varies so much that you can
outsmart yourself.
At the professional level, it adds something to the equation, but if
you start saying that element is going to outweigh the experience of
the scouts — most of the time, multiple scouts have seen the player
you’re talking about — then you can get in trouble. I do think it’s a
good supplementary tool, if you’re going to make a deal, that may
clarify some gray areas.
While Arbuckle hasn’t hopped on the Sabermetric bandwagon as much as
I personally wish he would have, he is at least open-minded to the “new
school” method of player evaluation.
In an ideal world, however, the next Phillies GM will come from
outside the organization, one who is not clouded by the notion that
veterans are inherently better than their younger counterparts, or that
you can slug your way into the playoffs without a solid pitching
foundation, or that offseason acquisition mistakes can be patched up
with July and August waiver pick-ups.
The most important aspect of the next Phillies GM is that he is not
a yes-man for the Phillies front office, whose main concern is with the
profit margins, rather than a .590 winning percentage over .540. The
next Phillies GM cannot trade away valuable cogs because they are open
about their displeasure with the management, as was the case with Scott
Rolen and Curt Schilling, both of whom were traded for next to nothing.
Rolen turned down a 7-year, $90 million contract from the Phillies
because he didn’t like the direction in which the franchise was heading.
Ed Wade referred to Schilling as “a horse every fifth day and a horse’s #### the other four.”
When we’re dealing with a city that hasn’t tasted a championship since 1983, dealing with key players that way is unacceptable.
So, here’s hoping that A) Gillick is fired/resigns after this season; and, B) The Phillies organization replaces him with someone quite capable of delivering.
While I’m daydreaming… is Mark Cuban interested in buying the Phillies?
The
Phillies have been run through the gauntlet and lived to tell about it.
Injury after injury, and bad luck that would make a professional poker
player weep (somewhere, Phil Hellmuth is weeping).
It wasn’t enough for the baseball gods to take our most valuable
position player from us. They had to take our most valuable pitcher
away from us now, as well.
Yes, Cole Hamels is the latest Phillies casualty, succumbing to a mild left elbow strain. According to the Phillies’ website, “A worst-case scenario has the young hurler missing up to three weeks.”
Without Hamels, the starting rotation includes a 44-year-old who
passed his prime during the Clinton administration (Jamie Moyer), a
right-hander with two months of Major League experience and an
extremely low strikeout rate (Kyle Kendrick), the dictionary definition
of average (Kyle Lohse), a right-hander that was passed over by three
other teams before he was picked out of the dumpster by the Phillies
(J.D. Durbin), and now, a question mark (?) should the Phillies feel
the need to move along with a five-man rotation.
Hamels will miss at least two starts because he’s
getting an MRI on his mild strained left medial elbow. According to
Hamels its at least that long due to the dye that will be injected and
he won’t be able to picth. Retro to Aug 17 means he can’t come off the
DL until Sept. 2. [SIC]
And, as much as ColeHamelsFacts declares otherwise, Cole cannot pitch equally as effective with his right hand.
At this point, they may as well give some of the Minor League talent a try.
J.A. Happ: Has pitched at least six innings in his
last five starts, and has allowed no more than three runs in those
starts (including two consecutive shutout appearances of six and
two-thirds and seven innings).
Carlos Carrasco: Threw a six-inning no-hitter
on Tuesday. He’s had a few shaky outings recently, but he’s the best
pitcher in the Phillies’ Minor League system and it might benefit both
parties to give him some Major League experience.
Zack Segovia: He’s pitched well for the most part
since the beginning of July. He’s pitched at least six innings in six
of his last eight outings, averaging an allowance of three runs in each
one.
Josh Outman: Pitched eight shutout innings on
Monday, allowing only four hits, but he did walk five. Prior to that
start, he had only pitched past the fifth inning once in his previous
four starts, and seems to struggle with control. Nevertheless, he is a
left-hander, and left-handers can always find a job at the Major League
level.
Other than that, the Phillies really don’t have many options available.
They could trade for garbage by scrounging the waiver wires, but it wouldn’t be worth it.
Brett Myers won’t be moved back into the rotation.
It’s just one more unfortunate situation the Phillies find
themselves in, and it couldn’t have happened to a more important player
on the Phillies’ roster. They will have to once again walk through the
muck and try to survive these next two weeks and hope that the return
of Chase Utley and Shane Victorino are adequate reinforcements.
THE WORLD'S SMALLEST VIOLIN PLAYS FOR THE ATLANTA BRAVES
As the Atlanta Braves often do following losses to the Phillies, they
whined after tonight’s 5-3 loss to Jamie Moyer and the Phillies. The
Braves love to whine about the Phillies, usually for their own imagined
reasons.
July 2005: John Smoltz says of Citizens Bank Park,
“I’ve played a long time, and some of the balls that are leaving
there–it’s not right. It’s a joke.” [Link]
At the time Smoltz said that, Citizens Bank Park was only one and a
half seasons old. The CBP homerun tally between the two teams in 2004
and 2005: Braves, 26; Phillies, 16. And the Braves enjoyed an 11-8
record against the Phillies in Philadelphia.
Flash forward to the bottom of the fifth inning in tonight’s
nationally broadcast game (meaning the game comes with complimentary
terrible commentary by Jon Miller and Joe Morgan) when Atlanta starter
Buddy Carlyle starts off the inning with a walk to Jimmy Rollins.
Carlyle got the next hitter, Tadahito Iguchi, to hit a ground ball to
second baseman Martin Prado, who quickly flipped the ball to shortstop
Yunel Escobar for the force at second base. Escobar got off a nice
throw to first that was a hair too slow to get Iguchi at first base.
As soon as Escobar released the ball to first base, he caught the
umpire’s “safe” motion and threw his arms up in the air as if he was
accused of first-degree murder. To add insult to injury, Iguchi was
called safe at first, so that was a huge double-whammy for Escobar. And
replays showed that Escobar didn’t even come close to touching second
base. He was trying to get the throw off as fast as possible with Jimmy
Rollins heading full-throttle in his direction.
Bobby Cox came out to argue to no avail, and no, he wasn’t ejected.
As a Phillies fan, I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing,
considering he’s on the precipice of managerial history in terms of
ejections.
Pat Burrell popped out on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, and made
way for Ryan Howard, who had a walk and a strikeout to his name at that
point.
In his first at-bat, Carlyle stayed away from him low and away, and
walked Howard on five pitches. Howard wasn’t so fortunate in the third
inning, when Carlyle grooved a fastball high and outside for a called
strike three.
Carlyle wasn’t so fortunate on Howard’s third try. He tried getting
him high and outside again, but Howard was a step ahead of him and
drove the pitch 391 feet to left-center for a three-run homerun,
staking the Phillies to a 4-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Keep the homerun distance in mind, as it is an important fact that
the Braves will conveniently ignore in their post-game whining.
Hit that fast-forward button again to the bottom of the ninth
inning. Phillies closer Brett Myers easily retired Andruw Jones and
Brian McCann, leaving the Braves’ hopes with pinch-hitter Willie Harris.
Myers threw Harris five straight fastballs, all at least 94 MPH, and
all but one were low and outside. The last pitch, a 96-MPH called
strike three on the outside corner, elicited some barking and gesturing
from Myers at Harris and the Braves’ dugout, who didn’t take very
kindly to his actions.
If you saw the final strike of the night, you may have seen a little extra showmanship from Brett Myers.
Understand that Myers knows Braves hitter Willie Harris. The two
were in the minors together and while they like to compete against one
another, they have a good talking relationship.
Anyway, back in A-ball, Harris abused Myers. Always a leadoff
hitter, Myers tried to overpower Harris with his fastball with little
luck as Harris would slash away. Finally, Myers decided to “**** with
him” and threw him a curve to start a game that Harris more than
struggled with.
According to Myers, he faced him once this year and threw the
curves, prompting Harris to challenge Myers manhood in a face-to-face.
Myers being Myers, he saw the final at bat of the ninth as a
challenge. Fastball No.1 drew a smirk from Harris. Fastballs two, three
and four allowed Myers to look in and at one point, show Harris four
fingers. On the fifth fastball, Harris froze and began his walk back to
the dugout.
“I wanted to show him I have *****,” Myers said with a grin.
That’s not it, though. The Braves were not exactly gracious losers. Some quotes, courtesy ComcastSportsNet.com.
Bobby Cox on Howard’s three-run homerun (remember the distance — 391
feet), said, “It was a little fly ball. It was out here and Cincinnati,
and maybe Houston.”
391 feet is only out of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Houston’s ballparks? It would’ve been out of yours too, Bobby. From the Braves website, the left-field power alley is 380 feet. Howard’s homerun would have been at least 3 or 4 rows back at Turner Field.
Jeff Francoeur was a bit more subtle. “We lost on a ball that just
happened to go out of the ballpark. That’s all I can say. It’s tough to
lose that way.”
Just happened to go out? Was Jeff watching the same homerun the rest of the country was watching?
And just for convenience sake, a recap of tonight’s whining from the Atlanta Braves:
- Yunel Escobar’s “throw your hands up in the air if you care”
routine when he clearly didn’t touch any part of the second base bag,
and Bobby Cox’s subsequent argument with the umpires (both at second
base and at first, as he felt Iguchi was also out at first).
- Willie Harris and the Braves’ dugout yapping following Myers’ called strike three to end the game.
- Bobby Cox and Jeff Francoeur pouting about Ryan Howard’s
game-winning, 391-foot, three-run homerun that would have left any
ballpark.
Can someone get these guys on The Montel Williams Show? It is so
unfortunate that they have to play in such a bandbox, where the other
team gets more offensive innings than they do! (For those without
sarcasm detectors, the Phillies had 8 offensive innings; the Braves had
9, so they had more chances to hit “little fly balls” for homeruns.)
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Crashburn Alley is a fusion of the phrase "crash and burn" with Ashburn Alley, which is beyond the center field fence at Citizens Bank Park. You can read more about Crashburn Alley here.>
I'm a diehard Phillies fan who is still reeling from the 1993 World Series and Joe Carter's three-run homerun in Game 6.
The
Phillies’ strengths last season — offense and defense — seemed to be
their 2008 Achilles’ Heel. Nothing was going right and all of the
bounces favored their opponents. Suddenly, in the bottom of the sixth
inning, batted balls that were being caught previously were finding
holes and dropping in front of fielders. They scored six runs in an
impressive rally that consisted of no extra-base hits; rather, eight
singles, a hit batter, and a wild pitch. Nine straight Phillies batters
reached base before Chase Utley hit into a 3-2-3 double play to end the
inning. A recap of the carnage:
The
Phillies have been run through the gauntlet and lived to tell about it.
Injury after injury, and bad luck that would make a professional poker
player weep (somewhere, Phil Hellmuth is weeping).
