Comments on: Game 4 Chat: Phils Look For 2008 Redux In Game 4

By: pg

pg — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:28:08 +0000

bski, good points about Blanton, and I was curious at that point. I wonder if it’s of those situations where he isn’t managing a 2 run deficit. Either way they will need to hold the score and score 2 runs. Its seems as though there might be something resembling “roles” for key bullpen guys – 7th Park, 8th Madson, 9th Lidge (and Eyre when needed). The best way to hold the lead the way it would be to pitch those guys in their “roles” and count on the next four innings to produce 2 or more runs. Did not agree with it last night, but there is a reason he is managing.

By: jjg

jjg — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:03:33 +0000

bski, I was thinking along your lines in real time last night … down 1 on scoreboard, runner on, Blanton sputtering … yank him for a catch-up bat. But which one from the slim pickings of the Splinter Crew? In retrospect, after out 27, Charlie knows best - again. Cash that ticket and break out the moonshine!

By: bski

bski — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:49:39 +0000

jjg,
Too bad. Blanton’s pork chops must have been dried out by the time he finally got to them.
Maybe Davey Lopes should have one waiting at first base when Blanton is at bat. Better yet, Sam Perlozzo should have one at third base.
Seriously though, would you have hit for Blanton in the bottom of the 5th? Just wondering if I’m alone in thinking that way.

By: jjg

jjg — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:57:50 +0000

bski, It’s really quite simple. Charlie hadn’t been informed of the plate of pork chops waiting for Blanton in the clubhouse. He thought the chef needed another inning.

By: jkay

jkay — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:57:14 +0000

bski: Simers must be the baseball equivalent of Lou Dobbs.

By: tk76

tk76 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:40:30 +0000

Sounds like Simers should be covering sports for Fox News… if at all.

By: bski

bski — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:09:45 +0000

Yep, Stark’s article was great, again. Rollins’ numbers in the 9th inning this post season are really something. It’s also great to read about the records and achievements the team and several players are racking up and the company they find themselves in as a result.

I hesitate to question Charlie Manuel’s decisions. I trust him and I think he’s doing a fantastic job. That said, when Blanton walked to the plate, I questioned letting him hit in the bottom of the 5th and also leaving him in to pitch the top of the 6th.

I know it was early in the game, we were only trailing by 1 run, and we still had four more turns at bat. Thing is, Blanton was struggling, we were already trailing by 1 run, and we had a runner on base (Granted, it was Ruiz on first, but he scored from there in the 9th right, so you can’t completely discount it). Another concern is that the Dodgers also had 4 more turns at bat and you can’t count on our bullpen holding them scoreless.

At first I wondered why he would manage one side of the game, the pitching, like every out is more precious than gold, while not managing the same way on the offensive side of the ball. In sending Blanton to the plate, he was giving up an out in a game in which we were behind.

I think the answer is that, since he rightly trusts our offense to score runs much, much more than he trusts our bullpen to prevent the other team from scoring, Manuel does indeed value pitching out more greatly than he does offensive outs. He obviously feels that it’s more important to stick with the starting pitcher in most circumstances and to limit the use of the bullpen as much as possible.

Glad I could work that out for myself. Did anybody else question that move at the time? Does my reasoning make any sense?

One last thing. I was checking the LA Times to see what their sportswriters have to say about last night’s game and the series, and I came across an article by T.J. Simers.

Last year, he had more than one article in which he insulted, demeaned, and took cheap shots at not just Phillies fans but the entire city. He really is a loud-mouthed jerk who, if memory serves, isn’t liked by LA fans either. I forgot all about him until I came across the article.

Anyway, in the article for which I provided the link he again takes a few opportunities to malign the citizens of Philly, Phillies fans, and the Phanatic. However, the reason I’m mentioning the article is for how he talks about his hometown team, the Dodgers. Check out these lines:

Bow-WOW!

I thought we were past this, but now we’ve got the Choking Dogs showing us a new trick, rolling over and playing dead.

But in Game 1, Sherrill gagged. Called on to keep the Dodgers in a game they still had the chance to steal, he surrendered three runs and this series started with the Choking Dogs wilting under pressure.

Maybe it’s in the breeding, the Dodgers getting Sherrill from a loser like Baltimore.
Sherrill has been a loner since arriving here, an outcast really by his own choosing, and when things got their toughest for the Dodgers, he was a man on an island again — and come to think of it, that’s probably where he belongs today.
the difference between success and defeat how teams handle trying times, and the Dodgers cracking two years in a row.
the Choking Dogs lacking the closing punch that separates champions from teams no one ultimately remembers.

Rafael Furcal continued to play as if he’s found a home with the Choking Dogs, hitting .125 in this series. Casey Blake is a scrunch better at .133, and while the Dodgers had the lead they needed in the late innings, they don’t appear be in the Phillies’ class.
It was also Sherrill’s job to sail through the eighth, Broxton’s to nail the victory down, and why the Dodgers played 162 games — to get to this moment.

But then the dogs choked.

Now it seems it’s just time to bow-OUT.

Real nice, huh? Be thankful that we don’t have a clown like this writing (spewing vitriol) for the Inky or the Daily News.

By: tk76

tk76 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:07:23 +0000

Great win. But how historic it turns out depends on whether the Phils can go on and repeat.

By: adam

adam — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:48:57 +0000

Stark’s article just describes the emotion perfectly. That feeling as you realized where Rollins’ hit was going to land. For a split second you thought maybe Ethier would get there, but then you realized it was dropping. And you saw Ruiz was going to score. And then it hit you that the Phillies were really going to win this game. That was unreal! I am still in shock.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:44:33 +0000

Dewey defeats Truman!

http://www.the700level.com/2009/10/mlbcom-jumps-the-gun.html