I am not able to do a live-blog tonight, but we will have a thread going for those who want to vent/talk/analyze during the game.
Some notes on the game…
- I feel like we should hit Edwin Jackson. He’s not a big time strikeout pitcher and he gave up 91 hits in 78 innings for the Cardinals this year. We should score 4-5 off him.
- If we do, I’m confident that Oswalt can hold the Cards to 2-3 over 7 innings. In 2 of his last 3 starts he went 6+ innings while giving up zero runs. He’s been a big game pitcher in the past, and has some life back in his arm. I’m hopeful.
- If he doesn’t do well, Charlie made it clear today that Cliff Lee would be available. So that’s something to watch for.
- Matt Holliday is in the line-up for the Cardinals tonight – is he pushing too hard? Probably not, as he was able to get a hit yesterday.
- I’m predicting a 6-4 Phillies victory.
Geez, first three guys jump on the straight fastball and get three hits. So the next 5 guys watch that fat fastball go right down the middle and then swing at a pitchers slider and miss. What exactly are they thinking? The easiest pitch to hit is the first fastball. It isn’t like we want Jackson to be chased early and work the pitch count.
I’m eager to see if the Phils can generate some offense after an initial burst. I agree that they will need to score at least 5 to win.
is the sound on TBS the whole series messed up for anyone else. On my TV it sounds like every hit is a broken bat.
Pujols coming up small with men on base. Tells me that he is good when pitchers will play more loose and go after him, but just another hitter when pitchers are more careful and bear down on him.
Phils go down in order alot. What happened to working a walk. I can’t remember the last time they worked a walk.
Cards haven’t hit a homer since Berkman’s in the first inning of game 1
Phils are not playing seriously enough, what’s with those at-bats?
We are gonna lose this game outright if this keeps on.
wow heads up play by Pujols, might have saved a run
That was the inning to get Jackson, Larussa won’t allow him to get into much trouble now.
Its clear the offense MUST win this series – the pitching has been a major disappointment.
Phils with their best imitation of the 2011 Giant’s offense. In these situations, It ALWAYS seems that they get 6 hits, few coming after the first or second. This hasn’t happened much post-Pence. Hopefully, something will happen Freese just went long, so one more hit won’t help much. Hitters look clueless out there.
Not so long ago that 3-4 runs was a molehill to the Phillies, One has become Everest since win 98.
this game (baseball) is so crazy.
cant be handed much more of a chance than this. redemption time Howard, make it count.
Where’s Ken Bland to defend his boy Howard now? “125 mil and worth every f**king penny!!!” Is that right KB? What is he now, 2-16? What a joke. I really don’t want to see him in a Phillies uniform for another 5 god damn years.
Not to mention you could have probably paid Pujols the same amount of dollars per year after this season with maybe 2 more years on the contract. He’s awful.
this series would be over in 4 without howard! Where are our aces? Lee, Roy and Roy = 13 ER in 20 innings. What is that? This offense has not been the focus of our winning all year. Starters, minus Cole, have failed miserably.
over? really? maybe if you replace Howard with someone who can hit lefties the Phillies would have already won the friggin’ series.
To answer your question, I’m right here.
Child.
Child? You going to defend your boy now? He can’t hit journeyman left handers. Huge liability in the playoffs. I’d honestly rather pinch hit for him after the 6th when TLR is just going to march a lefty to the mound for an automatic out. It’s been happening for three years now.
You are perfectly free to be frustrated with Howard’s inability to hit lefties. I think we all are. But target your frustration towards him, not other posters, please.
I second that. Don’t make this personal. As much as you may disagree with other bloggers, it’s never about them. It’s all about the team.
Yeah, Child was wrong. Ignormous is more like it. One emotional moment off a shot, and an a series of great at bats early in the series doesn’t tell you how I assess Ryan Howard. I’ve made my position on him as a player quite clear to the portion of the readership that are served by my thoughts. And it’s not important how I assess him to anyone else around here. You have a problem with Ryan Howard, you should stick to the subject at hand, or better yet, since Pete decided to welcome back Phillyfan, and he’ll be worse than ever, you can attack him or his stupid opinions on him. I don’t have enough respect for your baseball opinions to engage in discussion with you, so there’s not need to respond to anything I have to say. And even better if you don’t read it.
Jason Motte throws hard and straight. No offspeed pitch, no tricky arm angle on delivery and he’s a righty. I am still surprised we havent been able to hit him. Maybe that changes now.
If there is one thing you can say for the Phils; they earned this.
This game leaves such a bad taste in my mouth, I don’t even wanna talk no baseball for a while.
Doc in Philly then.
Could have had 4-1 odds with the cards for this series. My gut called it but I didn’t take it.
Its over fellas.
They have one more year to make a run. Need another big bat. The only way they can get it (and take on the salary) is to deal Hamels. Could get Ethier for Hamels, Dom Brown, and Mayberry?
There is no end to your ridiculous comments, clearly.
Since the series is over – I’m erasing all your comments from here on out.
Not joking.
Pass the crack.
Well here’s hoping for a complete game shutout from Roy in Game 5. That’s what we got him for.
This is far from over but I am not as confident as I was before the last great slump began. If we do win, we start from a disadvantage in the next series as Halladay will get just one start (small consideration considering the alternative.) But Christ, 6 hits (sometimes 7) game after game after game put incredible stress on the starters, particularly now when the pen looks more than a bit shaky. These guys have NO margin for error whatsoever.
A big Thank You to Sports Illustrated (Tom Verducci) for their article About Can Anyone Beat The Phillies? SI never seems to get it right. It would be nice to make them right for the first time.
If we do win, we start from a disadvantage in the next series as Halladay will get just one start (small consideration considering the alternative.>>
I’m hardly in an all is right don’t overreact mindset this morning, abut as I have felt the last 2 days now, there is a potential silver lining to going 5 games. And that is that Doc would perfectly line up to pitch Games 3 and 7 of the LCS. He would get 2 starts in that series, not one.
The other good news is that the Phillies went to Sant Loo with the requirement of winning 1 game. Mission accomplished.
Best to be quiet now.
>>But Christ, 6 hits (sometimes 7) game after game after game put incredible stress on the starters, particularly now when the pen looks more than a bit shaky. These guys have NO margin for error whatsoever.>>>
Yes…BUT we did outhit the Cards last night. We are just getting out bighitted, or out bigpitched – or maybe both in 2 of the 4 games. We can get six runs on 7 hits. This team used to have no problem doing that cause they used to work a ton of walks and mix in a long ball or two. Doesn’t happen lately. They seem anxious up there. Pressing? Who knows why, but the just seem confused and uncertain of their approach. They take stike 1 right down the middle, and then they flale at the second pitch low and outside. That is rookie stuff. Alot of them, not just Ryho.
Pujols’ coming off the bag and gunning down Utley’s ’1st out at 3rd’ reckless “moxie” with a strike to Freeze was the best, instinctive baseball play I saw all year outside of Utley’s inside-the-park, losing-his-legs at the 3/4 post, willed, great slide HR scamper. (A couple of Ruiz’s fine plate plays qualified for consideration.)
On the other, Jon Jay and Shane Victorino are making no one forget Willie Magee’s and Garry
Maddux’s cover-the-earth centerfield exploits, especially among those that remember. Clearly, the Ray-Bans aren’t working. Or maybe it’s the reads.
Oswalt, my boy, is a fading gunslinger. (Sorry, Roy. Remember, you’ve had a fine career out West and some strong stretches here. Will always remember your left field smile and tornado leave-of-absence.)
Tomorrow’s menu is full with one choice. Cowhide drama of the first degree (yes, no longer the more expensive horsehide). Barnburner to come. Has Jimmy tweeted you with instructions yet? I haven’t heard a peep. Maybe he’s in a batting cage showing his homey Howard how to hit quality pitches in pressure situations.
“Siddhartha” Howard long way from nirvana at plate. Lots of curry, but no rice.
Gotta go all out tomorrow, throw even the kitchen sink. Since Doc has already thrown 241.2 innings plus Spring Training chucks, maybe Charlie should start Madson, give him the 1st inning and parade the rest for 1 inning each, using Halladay as closer. Rattle LaRussa out of comfort zone. At minimum, it wouldn’t be forgotten. Bill Veeck and Charlie Finley say “go for it!”
Phillyfan -
It’s called a “ban.” It is a temporary ban until the NLDS is over one way or another, but a ban nonetheless.
And it has nothing to do with “predicting the phillies will lose” – it is your constant negative attitude and general troll-ish-ness. I can tolerate it during the regular season, but in the playoffs, I’m too emotional to even read it.
Saying “this is series is over fellas” after every loss is, first of all, 100% incorrect. Of course we could lose, but you are purposely mis-representing the truth just to be negative and dramatic.
I’m simply not going to get further into it. I think we just need a break.
And finally, this isn’t a free speech situation. This is MY blog. I can ban and approve who I please for whatever reasons I please and frankly don’t need to explain further than that.
Gotta go all out tomorrow, throw even the kitchen sink.>>
I think the Phils’ reluctance to go into this mindset is their biggest postseason flaw. Does anyone else feel that they don’t “go all out” when watching (or in my case so far, listening to) them in the postseason? Can’t Charlie go AJ Burnett on Howard and just flat-out admit that he doesn’t come through in the postseason and move him down in the batting order? No, he won’t. I don’t think anyone in the organization will.
I’ll throw out something ridiculous, but a possibility - we might have a better chance of winning if Joe Blanton was pitching tomorrow. Why? That would really really really ratchet up the sense of urgency for tomorrow’s game. What if Halladay pulls a game 2 Cliff Lee tomorrow? Are the Phillies mentally prepared for that possibility? If Blanton was pitching, everyone in that clubhouse would all publicly say something like “Oh, we have plenty of faith in Joe, blah blah blah.” But privately, everyone is probably more like “Shit, I can’t believe the season all comes down to Joe freakin’ Blanton. We gotta get after it tomorrow, we have no choice, that’s the only way we’re going to win.”
I’m just hoping that the mindset isn’t “I hope Halladay bails us out tomorrow”. I hope that, coupled with what happened last year, the Phillies have started to allow thoughts that they might be overrated creep into their confidence and their egos. That when it comes to postseason hitting, they’re actually not very dangerous and tend to be easy outs.
For my prediction for tomorrow, I’ll go with my pessimistic view, that they are hoping that Halladay bails them out tomorrow, and he will: Phillies win 1-0.
poor Joe – everyone picks on him. I thought he’s looked great lately and it even crossed my mind that maybe he deserves a chance to pick up the 7th or 8th inning (can’t be worse, right?)
I’m trying to stay on the positive side but I admit its Halladay bail out time. I just can’t see them dropping out in the first round. I can’t.
What I would dread would be the Braves comparison. LOL, the franchise won 14 straight div titles and being compared to them has turned into a negative thing. It is synonymous with underachievement. Think about it. 14 straight titles in my mind is right up there with the 56 game hitting streak. Who is ever going to do that again in the FA era? Philles would need to win up through 2020.
I actually really like Joe Blanton a lot. He looks like a giant meatball but he can really pitch. Great performances in the 2008 postseason, gutty performances in 2009 and 2010 (stats). Very reliable. The Phillies equivalent of Andy Pettite, but with much less recognition. In terms of fan appeal, a victim of a book getting judged by its cover. I’ll miss him when he’s gone, and so will the team. Amaro doesn’t know how to find guys like that.
* * *
Charlie Manuel: “We’re in our ballpark, and we’re going to have a full house, and everything is going to be going for us. I think basically what we’ve got to do, we’ve got to just be ourselves and play like we can.”
Sigh… Yeah, Halladay’s gonna have to bail us out.
PF-
Since I am feeling nicer the day after, I will allow you back on, but reserve the right the delete any comment I deem unacceptable.
As I posted, you will be happy to know I will not post during the game. I am as emotional as anyone else. So much so that I do not want to watch the game live in my living room with my family (who has little interest in sports).
Let’s hope the new thread on Sat is about preparing for Brew or Zona.
Peace, out!
You have become somewhat of a scuttlebutt on this site, and with some reason. You have been called all manner of things, also with some reason. You have pissed off a good number of people with constant negativity, particularly at times where a balanced mindset was called for. But I do believe you express, however over-the-top and ridiculous it often is, a frustration that many of us feel.
I have watched a number of (regular season) games with a relative whose exasperated tone resembles your own. In July (I believe), his comment after the Phils were down by two in the third was, “it’s over”. Ludicrous, of course. But that was just pre-Pence and on that night, he was dead on. If he had said the same thing in the games that preceded that game, he would have been correct more times than not. And like it or not, this is a team that has the most mercurial offense that I can remember: their full ineptness hidden by the magic on the mound.
A few weeks ago, I could barely see anyone better than the Phillies, but was well aware, as most who post and read here, that the words Playoffs and crap-shoot occupy the same sentence as often as they do for good reason. It is easy to get hot and easier to get cold, and we all feared the latter for a team whose bats splinter more than we could have dreamed when the season began. But what will be, will be, and unless they are down by ten in the 7th (and I am unable to watch), I will be there in the bottom of the ninth, hoping.
Here is the bright side. It is certainly common to look back on champions and see that many had a hair-raising first round, where they looked anything but champions. I give you the Vancouver Canucks last year. They were by far the best regular season team but were taken to game seven in the very first round. That was by a very chippy defending champ Balckhawks team that played with a ton of heart and also got into the playoffs only on the last day of the regular season. The similarities are fairly amazing. the outcome was that Vancouver won Game 7 of that series and then they cruised into the finals.
My “its over” sentiment has never been that I think the Phils aren’t “good enough” to win. It is more, I think, that I pick up on seeing when a team seems to have that spark. I will tell you when it happened, really in Game 1. I was quite worried that Berkman appeared hot, but even moreso, the rally they put on in the 9th down 11-3. You could just tell that the cards were sending a powerful message that they were going to be an awefully tough out. Of course, Game 2 comeback cemented that concern.
Hoping these posts are working correctly. The above post was directed at phillyfan and posted earlier than the one that is now above it.
you’re right, they are scattered.
Pete: might wanna check that out soon. not sure if it’s only on this thread or for the whole website.
Hmmmm – not sure – I’ll check it out
the above/below was supposed to be a reply to joseaulait.
testing this out, this is supposed to be a reply to myself
Does anyone think that there is something wrong with the only advantage given to a divisional winner (Most glaring when that team won 102 games) over a wild card is an extra home game? And that that slight advantage is reversed when the the disadvantaged team wins one of the two first games?
This is NOT a question just because of our current situation. It just seems overly generous to the WC, particularly as that team has often come into the playoffs as the hottest team. Relatively little reward for the steady, lots for the surging.
Yes it is unfair. And I think that is one reason why they are talking about adding another WC team. The two WC teams would play a one game playoff after the last day of the season. The divisional round could start at early as the following day then. Assuming they would probably use one of their top pitchers in that game the division winner would face a mixed up pitching staff, get an extra day of rest and that additional home game.
My theory of the Phils predicament, again, isn’t that I think the Phils are a lesser team. It is that they aren’t razor sharp. They look competitively behind the Cards, mummified, zombe-ish – whatever you want to call it. Cards have come in to this series at the very edge of competative zeal, while Phils are coming into this series basically from spring training. That is what the last 3 weeks were for them – an exhibition season. There has to be a reason only 2 of the last 25 teams that have won over 100 games have won the WS. There has to be a reason, and watching this series one really gets a sense of that. If it was only 10 of 25 then I could chalk it up to baseball randomness. But 2? I think the reason is in large part that by definition, when you win so many game you typically are far ahead of the competition and you lose that very competitive edge you had that made you great. And if you face the right team, you can’t turn it bad on quick enough.
If you ever read some of these chats that are plentiful around the web, you know sometimes questioners use phony names (heaven forbid some actual sports person should use their real name to weigh an opinion on an important subject) to add to the discuussion. Nothing criminal, just something like a guy posing as say Jimmy Rollins asking the chat host if he should expect 12 mil a year to get a conversation going.
Yesterday, on one chat I read, some guy posed as Charlie Manuel asked the host to say something nice about the Phillies.
The host replied, ”You have a good ballclub, with insecure fans.”
I’ve heard of a day late and a dollar short. I don’t know what goes with a day early, but the schedule fits.
Not that Phillie fans, myself included should feel secure no matter what part of all the right things are coming out of the participants mouths. Wiat til we get to the middle part of the game, and heaven forbid the Cardinals are winning. THEN is the time to address if there’s pressure. It’s a stupid topic before the National Anthem. All that matters now is the anticipation, and excitement. And you have to be nuts to think that’s not equally felt on both sides.
I’m just glad Roy is pitching game 5 in this context.
He may not pitch well but I am confident it won’t be a result of pressure or nerves.
With that said this easily has to be the most pressure packed game for any Phillies player given the money spent, expectations and season they put together. Should be interesting to see who responds.
Does anyone think that there is something wrong with the only advantage given to a divisional winner (Most glaring when that team won 102 games) over a wild card is an extra home game? And that that slight advantage is reversed when the the disadvantaged team wins one of the two first games?
Yessssss…..I think the 5 game format is so bizarre…..I dont understand it. I even tried to research why the MLB decided to use a 5 game series….the only way I think they can give the league leader an advantage would be to go right into a 3 game set with a day break and finish it up w a 2 game series….or to give the league leader 4 home games…….or…ha…..let the league leader choose the schedule they want from a few choices………
some thoughts concerning the chatter;
about RyHo – the spotlight being on him and utley mostly magnifies every aspect of his performance. so whether that is fair or not, his struggles do not exactly go un-noticed, to be sarcastic. his 2-14 might not really tell the whole story, I thought he hit the ball well in game 2, outs though they were. But while the rendezvous with Senor Garcia was somewhat understandable, not being able to come up with anything against Edwin Jackson, and a slider that was none too impressive from my vantage point is inexcusable. Looking at the whole body of work, an obvious fact jumps out to you; Ryan Howard does not have good at bats, well at least not frequently enough. To be fair, he gets some nasty pitches and faces lefty relievers every other second, but with his ability, it should not be a deterrent. In the postseason, RyHo has become Raul Ibanez, a streaky hitter. While that is just fine for the latter it won’t do for the 125M man. In the postseason, where you CANNOT pick a day or two to be off (see Lee, Clifton), it has become an expensive habit. With Jimmy hitting .500 plus for the series, and a beautiful OBP, there is no better time than for the 3 and 4 hitters to stop making outs. Wake up RyHo, apparently we need bats to win this one.
Milwaukee and Arizona have both Kennedy and Gallardo going today, so no matter who wins, no one will have their NLCS pitching lined up perfectly. If anything, it favors us, who have 3 interchangeable Aces and 1 Jack in the hole.
Lee – Greinke/Hudson
Hamels – Marcum/Wolf/Collmenter/Saunders
Halladay – Gallardo/Kennedy
All we need to do is win tonight.
Looks like the “reply” button isn’t working
Tonight’s CBP card: “Mo” Mentum vs. Grand X. Pectation II, savage young puncher vs. cagey stylish boxer.
On corner men: Tony LaRussa passed the bar exam but detoured into “diamond” mines. “Chew Chew” Charlie Manuel is definitely not an engineer, at the same time, he’s got a boxcar load of coal.
In the ring: Buddies Halladay & Carpenter may be close, but Roy gets the cigar for career mound accomplishment by a puff or two. Both would do well to remember this tonight: “The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, he has to remind the hitter he’s timid.” - Don Drysdale, NY TImes, 7/9/79
“A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz.” - Humphrey Bogart
Pete, fyi, my 12:22 posting landed out of sequence
As did 12:26 entry (and probably this one too)