I think the whole pitcher-catcher thing depends on the pitcher and the catcher.  For example, in the case of Happ, I certainly believe that a catcher can make a pitcher better.  I would think that for any pitcher who is unfamiliar with the hitters he is facing, whether due to inexperience or changing leagues for example, an experienced catcher would be of great benefit.  Conversely, I couldn’t see a young catcher doing much for a guys like Moyer, Maddux, Mussina, and others. 

It’s funny that you brought up the Angels because I seem to recall that when we played them the Phils announcers said that Scioscia calls every pitch from the dugout.  Talk about control.  Also, we know that most, if not all, managers call step offs, throw overs, pitch outs and more from the dugout.  All of this leads me to believe that most pitchers are allowed only a certain level of control and that the catcher plays a significant part in the process.  As such, I tend to think that catchers can make pitchers better.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Golson out there either.  I’m sure he would do fine defensively.  I think the fear of using a young guy in pressure situations has more to do with hitting.  For example, last night Florida’s young guy, Maybin, was overmatched by Lidge.  About a month ago the same thing happened in St. Louis.  The Cardinals had one or two guys on with one out, but each of the next two batters were rookies.  Lidge made them look silly by throwing them a steady diet of sliders in the dirt and struck them both out.  I think that’s the fear with using young guys now, they are overmatched in many situations because of their inexperience and unfamiliarity with opposing pitchers.  But, if you’re going to put someone in for defense for an inning or two after Burrell’s last at bat, I don’t see why Golson can’t be the guy.

The Burrell situation has changed, hasn’t it?  Part of it is due to Burrell–his offensive struggles and the fact that he might not be worth what he will be asking for.  The other part is due to Werth–he has shown that he can be an every day outfielder, he can play all three positions well, he brings more speed to the lineup, and he makes a lot less money. 

Yes, I would like to see us do better with Burrell’s money, but it is not a straightforward situation.  If we keep Burrell then Werth can be the every day right fielder and we’re ok.  If we let Burrell walk and Werth take his place, we will need another outfielder.  Jenkins and Stairs are not viable options in my mind and I do not want to even think about the Phils playing them a lot next year.  The nice thing for us is that Victorino can play center or right and Werth can play all three positions, so we can bring in an outfielder for any spot and make it work.  If we can bring in an upgrade in the outfield for less than what Burrell is seeking, that would probably be the best way to go.

I don’t know that Howard benefits as a hitter based on who hits around him.  I don’t think that he gets better pitches to hit when he is struggling because someone like Burrell or Victorino is hot behind him.  I think that pitchers either stay away from him when he is cold, or they do not even pitch to him when he is hot, period.  I think Howard is the one who makes the difference for everyone else, himself included.  He really determines his own fate.  When he is going bad, he gets himself out.  I don’t really ever see pitchers challenging him regardless of how bad he is going.  They continually stay away from him because he is still dangerous.  They keep throwing offspeed stuff and breaking balls and let him chase it if he wants to.  He really only gets mistakes to hit.  When he going poorly, he chases the stuff off the plate and misses the mistakes.  Whe he’s going well, he lays off the garbage and hammers the mistakes.  Nobody else influences that.

Where I think the hitters in front of him do make a difference is in his run production.  Through the early and middle parts of the season Howard wasn’t going well at all, but he was still driving in runs.  That’s because the guys in front of him got on and gave him many, many chances to produce.

As far as the Phils, I’ve really been getting in deeper myself.  I’m still following them the same, as far as watching, listening, and reading, but I’m more into every pitch of every game.  I’m more antsy during games, talking to myself and the tv more and experiencing more anxiety.  I know I won’t be able to sit still during the playoffs, I never could.

About Brett Myers’ bad start – at first I thought it had something to do with Coste being his catcher for the game, so I checked Ruiz’s and Coste’s CERA for the year, and surprisingly Coste’s is a tiny bit lower: 3.94 to 3.97.  And then I checked his past few starts, which were excellent, and it was Coste who caught those games.  The reason I checked this out is because that of little tiff he had with Romero about pitch selection in the last Florida series.  But I think there’s nothing there, I think it was just a one-time thing, maybe both guys were having a bad day, or there was a mix-up and it wasn’t anyone’s fault.  So that got me thinking: is there any substance to people praising Ruiz for handling the Phils’ pitching staff really well, while Coste doesn’t do as good a job?  I don’t have a fully formed an opinion about it, but for now, I’m thinking that there really is no need to handle a staff, that a catcher can’t make a pitcher better, because I can’t find any evidence or reasoning to the contrary.

I know you talked about them before, so no need to comment: Chris Wheeler is a little annoying.  I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is about him that grates on me, but he just does.  However, I really like the radio team of Scott Franske and Larry Andersen.  I’m surprised I feel this way, but I think I like Franske better than the Eagles guy Reese and the Sixers’ McGinnis.  He has a great back and forth between LA.  Something I heard recently: LA was talking about how one of the Phils has a “back-up” slider, on which  Franske commented: “A back-up slider, huh?  Well, it’s always good to have one of those, just in case…”  Cracked me up.

It’s hard for me to gripe about certain things when the Phils are winning, but I heard this topic come up: Charlie Manuel doesn’t like to use young guys in pressure situations/important games, so instead of replacing Burrell with his best defensive outfielder, Greg Golson, he uses Bruntlett.  There’s some sense in that – if this were the Sixers and I had to choose between Willie Green and Kareem Rush for the last two possessions, I’d go with Willie because of his experience.  But it’s not like Golson’s been stuck at the end of the bench for the past 150 games, he’s actually been down in the minors playing on a regular basis – how does he not have enough experience to handle left field?  And I don’t think you can say it’s because Bruntlett knows the ballpark better – in practice, isn’t Golson out there catching fly balls and hits?  I think that Charlie should go with Golson as Burrell’s defensive replacement while he can.

Last thing – I’m starting not to like your idea of keeping Burrell, for two reasons:  A) I think the Phils should try and keep some roster flexibility for future years by not locking him up.  I don’t totally trust the Phils front office to get good players, but if they do their homework I think they can upgrade from Burrell.  B) Is the question ultimately: do we keep Burrell or Howard?  Because I think that even though Ryan’s price tag will be steep, we should keep him, because I don’t see how we can replace his production.  These World Series champions, they always have that big-time slugger, I can’t think of one that didn’t.  Yes, pitching wins, but how do we have a better record than the Diamondbacks even though they can throw Webb, Haren, Johnson and Scherzer out there?  I think Howard is the core of this offense, and if we get rid of him our offense goes.

BTW – do you think Howard has benefited a lot from Werth batting in front of him?  My theory: Werth goes up there and really battles the pitcher, which no one on the team can do as well.  So Werth goes up there and makes the pitcher really work, so when Howard goes up there, not only has he gotten a longer look at the pitcher than usual, but he gets to face a pitcher who may be just a little more impatient than usual because of his battle with Werth.

I can’t believe how much I’m into the Phils now, I really can’t.  I’m a bit of a workaholic and take my work home on a regular basis, but now, I just can’t keep my mind off the game when it’s on.

On another note Lidge for Cy Young. He has been more than we could have asked for. I know he doesn’t have a shot at the award. I think Lincicum will win it. But who expected Lidge to be 40 for 40 with an ERA under 2! All we’ve heard about is how Johan will make the Mets the best team in the NL but Lidge has done just as much for the Phillies, who have had to rely on pitching more this year.

Lidge is really making me nervous.  Two more base runners today, 29 pitches, 16 strikes, and too much anxiety for me, but he keeps on getting the job done.  40 for 40 is acceptable, right?

The Brewers won and are still hanging around, but the big news is that the Mets lost.  The Braves put up 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th against their bullpen and held on for a 7-6 win.  Nice to have a little cushion. 

Now it’s time to come home and clinch the division.  I’d say 4-2 should do it.  That would force the Mets to go 6-1, which is unlikely.  Once again today’s game was the biggest of the year, until tomorrow.  This will be the second time the Braves will see Happ.  Let’s hope that they don’t figure him out yet.  A good game from Happ and we’ll be looking pretty good.

Of course the bigger picture is that we were able to cool the Marlins off to the tune of 7 hits and 2 runs.  I didn’t see Blanton pitch.  His line appears ok, other than the fact that it took him 96 pitches to get through 5 innings (He couldn’t have been that sharp).  The bullpen got the job done with an effective 4 innings, although they did allow 6 baserunners.

A win is a win.  Couple that with the fact that the Mets, Brewers, and Astros all lost, and you’ve got to be happy.  Hopefully, Moyer will add to his career success against the Marlins today.  If so, we will all but officially knock them out of contention.  Then we will find ourselves playing for the division title in the final week, with the wildcard secured as a fallback.

Then there are all question marks. I know you cant be calling a cat who got sent down, called back, pitched well and then got hammered an ace. And your Old Man has outpitched the Mets Old Man thus far. But really, in a big game you would objectively want Moyer instead of Pedro? Good luck with that. One game, my life on the line, that would be an easy call, because we all know Pedro would get it done.

I have been reading silently for weeks now, from the celebration to the commiseration back to the celebration to tonight. In the grand scheme I don’t think it is gonna matter, because I think both teams will make it thanks to the fantastic Brewers collapse (Dale Sveum? Really? The Yanks former bullpen catcher? The guy they wanted to test for vertigo because he got so many runners gunned down at the plate as Red Sox 3rd base coach?!). I think the Brewers free-fall takes all the pressure off the Mets, because the bogus “Ohmigod they are choking again” media crap (Um, yeah this is a pennant race, not a collapse, sorry to break it to the laxy ass main-stream media) all fades and it just comes down to who is the better team. Mets have better starters. Phils have a way better pen. Both teams can hit like hell. I would say the Mets are a better defensive club and have a better bench (every one in the Matt Stairs fanclub can jump ugly now). I agree with Bski when he says it will come down to the last day. For the pennant. But grand scheme it won’t matter. Because both teams are going to the playoffs. And maybe this year the Phils can win a game when they get there. We shall see. Johan, Pelf, Ollie. Cole…um…Myers? Twinkie-Boy? Grandpa? Good luck boys.

The big concern now is that the Marlins continue to hammer the ball during this winning streak.  We really need Blanton to come up big tomorrow and cool them off.

The Brewers lost, but the Astros won.  Also, it looks like the Mets are going to jump over us, as they are up 9-5 in the 9th.  We might as well resign ourselves to the fact that this will not be settled until a week from Sunday.