You are at home, playing a sub-.500 team and facing their 3 worst pitchers. Good teams don’t lose those types of series, and I think we learned that, right now, the Phillies aren’t a terribly good team. Our offense has carried us, and we saw in the 2nd and 3rd games that when it doesn’t, our pitching isn’t going to win us many games at this point. Real frustrating series loss, especially with the Mets on fire and winning 7 straight.
2009: 15-14
2008: 16-13
2007: 13-16
Player of the Series: Cole Hamels (6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 1 win, 0 injuries)
Goat of Series: Charlie Manuel (For using Jack Taschner in the 7th inning of a 2-1 game)
The Bad News
- I thought the point of parading Joe Blanton out for the 8th inning on Saturday when he was starting to get hit pretty hard was to save the bullpen. So when we are up 2-1 in the 7th of the next game, you are thinking a rested Durbin/Madson/Lidge to finish off the game, right? Nope, Charlie puts in Jack Taschner, who is the last pitcher that should be inserted into that situation. If you aren’t going to use Durbin, put in Happ or Condrey. Anyone but Taschner. A walk and a couple hits later, and we lose a series we had in our grasp. J.C. Romero can’t return soon enough. That was a 2005 Charlie move.
- Joe Blanton did not build on his 1 good start so far this year, giving up 6 runs on Saturday, including a couple more home runs.
- Our starters ERA is now at 6.28, the worst in the majors…by a lot. The 2nd worst in the NL is Washington, with 5.15. The starters themselves have taken plenty of heat, but at some point, Rich Dubee is going to need to take some.
- Despite scoring plenty of runs, we are 23rd in baseball in BA with RISP and 2 outs (.224). The main culprits are Rollins (.214), Victorino (.167) and the 3 catchers (.111). Bench players (Dobbs, Bruntlett, Stairs and Cairo) are 0 for 9.
- I got totally and completely fried by the sun on Saturday at the game. Also, I was wearing a backwards hat so I have a line going across my forehead. I look ridiculous.
The Good News
- Hamels appears to finally be on track.
- Our bullpen ERA is actually 5th in the NL (4.00) and would be a lot better if our starters could actually go past the 5th inning and we had JC Romero in there.
- The Phillies are 2nd to the Yankees in average home attendance (42,729) and 2nd to Boston in capacity filled (98.2%). This is a good sign for the Phils keeping their payroll up past 2009.
- The Ibanez vs. Burrell update still looks pretty good…
Pre-Series Post
Early May vs. the Braves. Not really a glamorous series but the games count just as much as they do in September. The Phillies catch a break by missing the Braves 2 best pitchers, Derek Lowe and Jair Jurjens. They don’t catch a break in that Brian McCann, notorious Phillies’ killer, will be coming off the DL just in time for tonight’s game.
Pitching Match-Ups
Friday: Hamels vs. Jo Jo Reyes (0-1, 5.00 ERA)
Saturday: Blanton vs. Javier Vazquez (2-3, 4.19 ERA)
Sunday: Myers vs. Kenshin Kawakami (1-4, 6.41 ERA)
Three Key Questions for the Series:
- After 2 horrible starts, and 2 injury-shortened starts, can Cole Hamels finally pitch a full game and bring some stability to the rotation?
- How will Brian McCann play coming back from vision problems?
- Can Blanton keep the momentum of his first quality start of the year going?
Prediction
I was going to go with a Phillies sweep before I heard that McCann would be returning for the series. McCann has more HR’s (9) and RBI (39) against the Phillies than he does against any other team in baseball for his career. He uses us to pad his stats, much like Pat Burrell used to do with the Mets. Chipper Jones doesn’t do too bad against us either (.343 lifetime BA, 1.095 lifetime OPS). I think that Hamels will give us a good (not great) start tonight, but enough for the win and then we split the next 2 with a good outing from Myers or Blanton and a horrible, hair pulling outing by the other.
I will be at the game on Sunday. Section 413, row 13. If anyone is going and wants to meet up before the first pitch, let me know.
How is it sitting up there anyway? I bought a six-pack of games this season and I was kind of bummed to find out that we’ll be sitting in the 400 section for every game.
I always get tickets for either left or left-center field. Easy in and out from the left field gate and, more importantly, you’re very close to Ashburn Alley. It isn’t such a big deal now, but when my kids were younger it was a lot more convenient, as you’re much closer to the bathrooms, the concessions, and the souvenir shop.
Anyway, I can think of two positives for sitting in the 400 section. First, I will be able to see the video board and the view of center city beyond the outfield throughout the game. Second, and even more important considering that Myers is pitching on Sunday, I won’t be putting myself or my family in harm’s way. The way Myers is surrendering home runs, anyone sitting in the outfield is at risk for serious injury.
Joe Bob Blanton had better get his act together. Uncle Charlie is mad at him for yesterday’s high change-ups (“isn’t a good pitch no matter when ya throw it,” he grumped).
This offense relies on Rollins or Victorino getting on base. There is a direct correlation between the lineup scoring well and our 1&2 getting on base.
I’ll take a record of 15-14 at this point, considering how poorly ALL of our pitching has been so far. This offense can rake, but we need the pitching staff to step up and win games when we can’t score.
Pete, I hear you about the sun on Saturday. I was at the game as well, and tailgated for a bout 2 hours before hand. Of course I figured that I’d be ok to take my shirt off and get my first tan of the summer. I guess one coating of spray on SPF-35 wasn’t enough. I can barely sleep and actually had to take off from work today it is so bad.
Dan -
Disappointing weekend after a promising start on Friday. The offense was way too quiet both Saturday and Sunday.
Yesterday was especially frustrating. Kawakami came in with a 1-4 record and with a 6.41 ERA. Charlie loaded up the lineup with lefties, figuring we should be able to make quick work of him, and we ended up doing nothing. It amazes me how we really don’t hit a guy until we’ve seen him a few times and almost never the first time.
I’m not blaming Manuel for doing it, but his strategy of loading up the lineup with lefties, plus using Dobbs to pinch hit for Myers in the bottom of the 6th, came back to bite us at the end of the game. Bobby Cox used O’Flaherty in the 7th and Gonzales in the 8th to get through all the lefties, which meant that we had nothing left but righties to pinch hit against Soriano. Amazingly, Cairo actually got a hit, but Werth was overmatched on 3 pitches after sitting all day.
I wasn’t thrilled to see Taschner in there, either. The reasoning:
Manuel said he put Taschner in the game because Taschner had past success against several of the five lefties in the Braves’ lineup.
“I figured, well, if he’s the guy that’s had success, he’s the guy that we’ll put on them,” Manuel said.
On the plus side, I wore my cap the correct way so I don’t have any line on my forehead. Not that I would have gotten one anyway since we were in the shade all day yesterday. I wish we weren’t though because it was really windy and the sun would have felt good.
Can’t help but wonder if Sunday’s game was a Jimy Williams loss. (“Uh, Charlie, if you want a lefty I’d go with Happ.”) It’s always nice to have someone like Williams around to bounce a few ideas off of, and I hope his not being here doesn’t cost us too many wins.