I don’t have time to do a full-out post for this series, and I’m leaving tonight to go to Kansas City to check out the Royals on Saturday, and then the Cardinals in St. Louis on Sunday. But I thought I’d keep this up if people wanted to discuss. I will be able to chime in here and there in the comments while I am gone.
Just some bullet points of what I’m thinking about right now:
- This is a “run and hide” series now. Once we won that first game, making any though of the Marlins catching up go out the window, we now have to be in “bury them” mode. Winning 3 or 4 games while the Mets and Braves slug it out could give us the type of cushion we haven’t had in a long time.
- Howard the quickest (game-wise, not age-wise) to 200 HR… I might do a full post on this, but how many HR’s do you think he can hit in his career? He’ll be 30 after the season, I actually think 500 will be tough to get to. I’ll explore further.
- Tonight is a big start for Cole Hamels. Halladay shmalladay, it won’t matter if we get him if Hamels can’t right the ship. Also, if they think he needs an extra day rest before pitching again after the all-star break, why not just give him 3 and pitch him the last game against the Marlins?
- It’s too strange to see Pedro in a Phillies uniform. He seemed somewhat humbled in his press conference, and hopefully uses the chip on his shoulder to surprise a few people. I don’t think anyone, not even Pedro, has any idea what we will get from him.
- Who do you guys think the 2nd half surprises will be? After last night, it might just be Jamie Moyer. He must be the most hated pitcher in baseball among the Marlins 17 fans.
- My Red Sox over the Dodgers World Series prediction looks pretty good right now. A lot better than my Tigers over Mets prediction in 2008.
Sorry so short, I spent the majority of my time this week on the prospects post.
Feel free to comment (or vent) as the series goes along.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The Marlins are a foolish bunch. I feel like they used to own us up until last season but now we have their number.
I feel like the Braves still have a major move in them with all of those great prospects in their system. Getting McLouth came out of nowhere and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Halladay in an Atlanta uniform come the trading deadline. I fear them the most in the East, they have the history of success.
Stu-
Completely agree about ATL. They have the best rotation in the division with Lowe, Vazquez, Jurrjens, Kawakami and now Tommy Hanson. Lowe actually has the worst ERA of the 5 at 4.40.
If they start hitting, they will make a run.
Did Stu say that out of any team in the NL East he is most scared of the Braves?
The Braves are without a doubt the most dangerous team in the NL East (aside from PHI) – the Marlins are too inconsistent and the Mets are going to be long out of it by the time they get healthy.
Atlanta has absolutely owned us this season and with a staff like theirs they can go on a run at any time and all of a sudden we’ll wake up one day and find them only 2 or 3 games back. With their lineup you have to think they are going to start hitting consistently. Chipper, McClouth, Kotchman, McCann and Escobar are nothing to sneeze at.
It sure is going to be a great Wild Card race between SF, COL, HOU, MIL, ATL and maybe CHI.