Alright, well, my friends either couldn’t get off work, or are at the game (or, I’ll make the joke for you, I have no friends), but either way, I’m at home watching game by myself today. So, I’m going to type what I would be saying to other people were they here. It’s what we young people call a “live blog.” I will keep updating as the day goes along, so just refresh this page periodically to see what we are talking about. As always, feel free to keep up in the comments. GO PHILS!
2:35pm – Still at work, leaving in 10 minutes (note: all following posts will be most interesting than this one, just wanted to get this up)
3:06pm – I’m on my couch, it’s October 1st, I’m drinking a Sam Adams Octoberfest in a frosty Phillies mug, it’s brisk outside, and I’m about to watch some Phillies playoff baseball. Life is good (for now).
3:08pm – First surprise of the day, Phillies suiting their Ashburn/Roberts throwbacks. I know it’s a home day game, but I didn’t expect this. Unfortunately, my first thought is of Notre Dame bringing out the Green jerseys against USC in ’06. Hamels first two pitchers were up in the zone, not a good start.
3:09pm – John Smoltz just informed us that the change-up is Hamels best pitch, after his fastball. Thanks, John. Cameron goes down on 2 filthy change-ups.
3:12pm – 3 up, 3 down. No one came within 2 feet of the change-up, great sign.
3:13pm- FrankTV ad count: 3
3:14pm- Clouds look ominous. Can’t afford a rain delay. Got to keep Hamels in rhythm.
3:21pm – Rollins has a good AB, makes Gallardo throw pitches and hit it hard. Werth missed a hanger and swung at a high fastball to strike out, Utley hits it right at Fielder. Only 12 pitches in the inning for Gallardo, not what we wanted.
3:22pm – I called the skies “ominous” first, Brian Anderson
3:23pm – Hamels is throwing his change-up in hitters counts and making the Brewers look stupid
3:24pm – Brewers hit their first ball hard of the game, and Utley does the Derek Jeter “I could make this look easier, but I’ll do the jump throw instead” play. That’s intangibles right there.
3:26pm – TBS has replaced Dane Cook with “SPANNNNIISSSHHHH!!!” from Old School. Better? Yes. Make sense? No.
3:29pm – Gallardo looked terrified of Ryan Howard. 5 pitches, 5 balls (the ump called one a strike)
3:29pm – HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE at-bat by Burrell. First pitch, easy ground ball double play. Goes against everything we are trying to do this series (mainly, patience), ESPECIALLY when the guy hasn’t thrown a strike this inning.
3:31pm – Gallardo walks Victorino, still hasn’t thrown a strike. 2 walks, 3 batters, 2 out, 1 on. Horrible.
3:33pm – Just got a text from my dad, said the fans were really quiet when the Phillies were up. They’re nervous. We all are.
3:36pm – Dear Diamond Club Members: It’s sprinkling, not raining. Get back in your seats, your custom-made shirts will be fine.
3:40pm – Gallardo just hit a ball that would have been out if not for the wind. Hamels laughed it off, but let’s take him seriously next time…
3:42pm – Carlos Ruiz’s nickname is “Cooch?” Are you serious? How have I not known this, I like him so much more now! Cooch just singled up the middle, man, I love Cooch.
3:43pm – Bill Hall fumbled the ball, and the Rickie Weeks closes his glove 2 seconds too early. 1st and 2nd, 0 out. Top of the order up, need to get at least 2 this inning.
3:44pm – Remember the HORRIBLE AB by Pat Burrell? Well, J-Roll just did a nice re-enactment. 1 pitch, 1 weak fly-out.
3:47pm – Jayson Werth follows J-Roll with a re-enactment of his strike-out in the first inning. Swung at strike 3 way out of the zone. 2 outs, and the runners are bored. Let’s see if Utley can pick them up.
3:50pm – YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know if it was the wind or what, by Cameron misplayed that ball, and he usually doesn’t. Utley might have also hit it so hard he couldn’t read it. 2 gift runs this inning on bad defense by the Brewers. They are intentionally walking Howard. Idiots! Pat Burrell can’t hit into a double-play! There are already 2 outs!
3:54pm – Great AB by Burrell. Laid off 2 pitches that were real close. Note: Gallardo’s curve is NASTY. He just can’t locate it today.
3:57pm – Gallardo walks in a run. He’s very flustered right now
4:00pm – Feliz came out of his shoes on the first pitch. Just got under it on the 3rd one. 3-0 Phils, Gallardo is at 61 pitches. Would be nice to get a shut-down inning from Cole here.
4:01pm – Octoberfest #2. It’s hard to drink and blog.
4:05pm – 12 up, 12 down for Hamels, only 44 pitches in 4 innings. I don’t want to say anything to jinx him. He’s doing well.
4:07pm – Cooch just went for the pop-up bunt technique. Surprisingly, it didn’t work.
4:15pm – 3-2 change-up to Prince Fielder. Not even close. Hamels is showing me something today (so far).
4:19pm – J.J. Hardy looks JUST like “Mac” from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mac just slowly grounded to short.
4:21pm – Corey Hart just killed the perfect game. Wasn’t a bad pitch, inside corner and he inside-outed it to right field.
4:26pm – Brewers have brought it one of those “lefties who only throw sliders to other lefties” pitchers. Why don’t these exist for right handed batters? It’s the same thing, isn’t it? It just looks crazier with LHP because of the camera angle.
4:28pm – Octoberfest #3. Take that, Gargs!
4:29pm – I HATE when Howard swings at those pitches. That ball wasn’t a strike even if it was a fastball. Doesn’t matter what it looked like out of the pitchers hand, it was a ball.
4:34pm – My HD is skipping a bit. I can’t watch in Regular-D anymore. Don’t make me switch TBS!
4:38pm – Frank TV Ads:5. Also, Barack Obama leads John McCain 2-0.
4:39pm – Man on first, 3-0 count, Hamels needs to settle down a bit here.
4:40pm – 1st and 2nd, 1 out. The main thing Hamels needs to do here is keep the ball down and keep it in the ballpark. Make them score 3 with singles.
4:43pm – I just yelled “c’mon!” at the TV. Hamels heard me, and threw a beauty of a change-up. This is a HUGE AB right now, with Ryan Braun up and 2 on. FIRST PITCH POP-UP! While I’m typing!
4:47pm – We are relying too much on Hamels right now. We need to score a couple more runs here and keep this game out of reach.
4:50pm – Game is moving right along. 6 innings in 1 hour, 15 minutes. Hamels has 85 pitches through 6 innings.
4:52pm – The TBS just praised Howard for a back-handed stab when he clearly had time to move his whole body in front of the ball and field it like a regular ground ball. Meanwhile, an actual good defensive play by Feliz for out #2.
4:54pm – 5 pitch inning. Thanks Brewers.
5:01pm – Hamels game is overshadowing the fact that our offense is not playing well at all, and our only scoring inning came with a great deal of help from the Brewers.
5:03pm – Werth seems nervous. He’s had 4 horrible at-bats.
5:04pm – #6 for FrankTV
5:05pm – Bruntlett in for Burrell. I disagree at this point. Hamels is pitching well enough, I’d rather have the offense stay in
5:06pm – Utley LOVES the glove-flip play
5:08pm – Hamels just struck out Kendall, but the ump disagreed, so he struck him out on the next pitch.
5:09pm – Hamels: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 9 K. Wow. Do you bring in Lidge here or keep Hamels in (101 pitches)? I don’t know. I’d say keep Hamels in, they can’t hit him, why risk it?
5:18pm - Phillies have 1st and 2nd, 1 out on another ball-bobble by the Brewers. Maybe we score a couple here and don’t bring in Lidge OR Hamels.
5:20pm – On the other hand, maybe I’d like to see Lidge here. Give him a good post-season experience to help him forget about that famous Pujols homer.
5:25pm – Looking like Hamels is done. I see the reasoning, but I disagree. Feliz just almost killed Ryan Howard.
5:30pm – Another missed opportunity for the offense. Lidge is in, he’s been shaky under pressure recently, let’s see what he does. NO WALKS!
5:32pm – 3-2 slider for called strike 3. Beautiful (but risky), just throw strikes, make them hit it.
5:34pm – Big out here. DO NOT want Fielder up as the tying run. Braun just hit a HR foul and my heart skipped a little.
5:36pm – THIS is why I disagreed with this move. 3-1 Phils, 1 out.
5:38pm – I’m dying. I’d like to know how fast my heart is going right now. Lidge just grooved one down the middle of the plate and Fielder missed it.
5:39pm – Lidge is wasting too many pitches recently. Too many sliders way out of the zone. The 2-2 pitch was a lot better.
5:42pm – 3-2 count to Fielder. Pitch of the game here. STRIKE 3!!!! Fielder chased, big time.
5:44pm – One out to go. Walks Hardy… Winning run comes to the plate. Lidge hasn’t had his control tonight, or for the last couple weeks.
5:45pm – Cooch can’t keep the ball in front of him. Now, a SINGLE will tie the game. You’re killing me, Phillies.
5:46pm – One strike left.
5:47pm – STRIKE 3!!!!!!!! WE WIN!!!!!!!!!! First playoff win in 15 years. Lidge is looking like Mitch Williams. But he keeps getting it done. Offense has to wake up a bit for us to win this series, but the Phils won and must-win Game 1.
5:48pm – Going to get some dinner and relax for the Cubs/Dodgers. Hope you guys enjoyed the live-blog. GO PHILS!
Let’s Go Phillies!
Gallardo is on a pitch count, which means we’ll see the Brewers pen today. So be patient Phils fans. The runs will come.
The runs should come even before the bullpen. I think the bats come out early today to erase any fears of last season.
Go Phils!
Hamels is sharp right out of the gate…good sign!
2 out of 3 batters hit it hard. The hits will come.
Weeks – “look what I found” – heckuva play on a bullet.
Hamels is still sharp…I hope I type this 7 more times!
Why swing on the first pitch?
Burrell – when he didn’t adjust his batting helmet with 2 fingers, like a Walnut St. martini, I knew he was nervous.
3 innings in under 40 pitches…only 6 more to go…..time to get some offense going….let’s see Ruiz get on, Hamels bunt him over, and the top of the order get him in.
Pete, Diamond Club members call it a “spritz” or a “ruination”, depending on stock market direction.
Just sent you an email Pete, atta boy Cooch, first hit of the day. Should’ve realized you wouldn’t be in today either…
Cameron’s forte. Blew it.
Oh yeah !
Utley is the best double with 2 Rbi
2 outs, but if Burrell could drive in Utley and Howard (walked), that’d give us a nice cushion 2-2 count…
The place is on it’s feet… It looks packed to the rafters 3-2 count… WALKED !! bases loaded
I called it…sort of. Ruiz got on and Hamels did his part. Bad AB by Rollins and another strikeout by Werth (that’s 2). Thanks to some shaky fielding by the Brewers, we get 2 unearned runs. I’ll take ‘em any way I can get ‘em. BTW, I thought Ruiz’s nickname was “Chooch”.
HUGE!!! Let’s get this game to 5 innings quick so it can pour all night long!
Those walks by Burrell and Victorino show the patience that we were talking about yesterday. Good to see. Good inning. Could have been better, but I think more runs are on the way for us in this one.
Gift wrapped 3rd inning, Utley’s double was maybe an error, maybe catchable, we bat around, get a walked in run, drive up the pitch count. Couldn’t ask for a better start to the game.
Thanks to Ruiz “cooch” who started it all off.
by the way, Gallardo is only 22 and 1 year in the league pretty impressive
Hamels is locked in now, in a good rhythm. His changeup is fantastic and he’s also mixing in some good curveballs.
I beer per hour. You’re real crazy Pete.
Pete, for game 2 you need a designated blogger, then you will be free to drink away.
I sure hope Werth straightens out pretty soon.
Cool man– Phils 3-0 thus far!! 5th inning
Joe Hamel(s)– smooth man!! Pitches are certainly not deserting him thus far!!!
Keep it up Phils!!!
bski and Rob, hope you guys are proud, you just messed up Hamels perfect game…. ha only messin’ with ya.
What are there more of: Frank TV ads during baseball games, or the Cougar singing “This Is Our Country” during football?
I’m at work, so I’m not watching TV. Same amount of Frank TV ads as last year? If so, that is absolutely naseating.
It is getting a bit tougher for Hamels, isn’t it? Sorry, Mike.
I actually think the guy is talented, but I sure as hell won’t be watching his show after this!
Alright Hamels gets out of it! No ump will keep us from a victory!
Pitching…check, Defense…check, time for the offense to step up and put this thing away.
agreed bski—i would love for the offense to hang 2-3 more runs–for two reasons 1) put this game away 2) get hamels out of the game before 90 pitches, so if they choose, they would be able to throw him in game four—dont know about you guys but game 5 hamels v. CC would be a coin toss….
“This is our country…”
Well, the offense is in sleep mode. Werth strikes out for the 3rd time. We’ve got one more shot to put it away, with Utley, Howard, and Burrell due up.
This should be it for Hamels. Give us a good 8th and then bring in Lidge for the 9th.
Napier, catchy tune isn’t it? I can see you singing it while watching Frank TV.
I wanna see Frank sing it on every one of his commercials.
What a job by Hamels. I think he definitely deserves to pitch a complete game, but that’s not how the game is played anymore, so I’m expecting Lidge. Maybe if we put a few runs on the board, Manuel will leave him in.
I say leave Hamels in. Lidge has been shaky his last few outings and I think we all rather now go through a sweat in the ninth.
Let’s go Feliz….put this thing away.
Since Hamels was taken out when he had a low pitch count and clearly could have finished the game, he better be available for game 4 if we have a chance to close out the series.
I SAID LEAVE HAMELS IN THE FREAKIN’ GAME!
This is not good. Lidge is still struggling. It’s raining harder. He will have to work really hard to close this thing out. I really wish they let Hamels finish it.
Man, these 30+ pitch, 20+ minute, excruciating saves are getting to be too much for me to take. The big concern is that it is happening every time out now.
Nice win. Drink many more beers. They will taste better.
Lights out Lidge!
NICE JOB LIDGE!!! Waitta jam yourself out of the hole you just dug for yourself, whew. That bobbled ball advancing the runners to 3rd and 2nd had me worried though…jesus. Nothing ever comes easy in Philly sports.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO! We are on our way. That was a big step one.
Hamels cranked out a good one. Lidge walked tightrope again; think he’ll pay against playoff team down the line. Phils offense mild. Utley played bigger than stats show. Cameron misplay – the difference.
Dannie, I was there with you about keeping Hamels in, but all’s well that ends well – at least for today. Lidge is bound to crack at this rate. Interesting bit from the in game interview of Mill.’s manager: he said that Utley’s ball was knocked down big time by the wind – that Utley had really cracked it.
God, I was fine with putting Lidge in, but they had to make us sweat so bad! Nothing comes easy for Philly. Hamels better be available later in the series for this to be worth it
bski, I was messing around with philliesnation.com a little bit. It’s a very rah-rah, “I hate that guy…(2 seconds later)…I love that guy!” site, which I thought would do me good, because I really wanna get trying to predict sports out of my head, because as I said earlier, I don’t really want to think about trying to predict games again, for personal reasons.
One of them is: I have certain job-related skills when it comes to probability and statistics, and more and more I’ve been thinking about applying that to certain questions I have about baseball. But now that I’ve really gotten into the Phils, I don’t think I want those questions answered. It’s more fun to say, “A-Rod stinks in the postseason” than “According to the probability distribution equation I’ve come up with for A-Rod’s offensive output, the coefficients clearly show blah blah blah…”
If I ever get into a mode where I’m just kicking back and enjoying the Phils postseason and not thinking about what’s going to happen next, maybe I’ll chime in with something. I know for sure that in the offseason we can revisit that topic we discussed earlier, “Gillickball”, and I took an approach to it that wasn’t statistics-based. Basically, my new theory is that he works harder than other GMs, it’s that simple. I have a printout of all of his moves, and there’s something consistent about them.
Anyway, don’t wanna jinx the Phils with this offseason talk. I hope they sweep the Brew crew, that Myers keeps them in the game much like Gallardo did today for the Brewers, that Charlie bats Jayson Werth 3rd instead of 2nd (why mess with something that was working), and that Geoff Jenkins or So Taguchi gets the start over Burrell. My theory is that in the postseason, f*ck the regular season when it comes to hitting, either players got it or they don’t. I don’t think J-Roll has it. I think Howard, Victorino and Cooch do. So Taguchi has shown that he has it. Utley’s making a play for it. And lucky for us, I don’t think Carsten Charles S. has it.
Something I’m pondering, though I haven’t taken a side yet: do you think Charlie Manuel has “it”? I think Milwaukee’s Dale Sveum managed great today.
Zack…Glad to hear from you. I checked out Philliesnation a couple times during the season. It made my head spin. Not to my liking.
The Inquirer’s blogs are really something (as you know from Deep Sixer) in that they employ the novel concept of not allowing you to post your comments regularly. After today’s game, I tried to post a few things on The Phillies Zone, only to have them disappear. I guess I should give the Inquirer credit for going against the grain. There are so many blogs that actually allow you to post a comment that it’s been done to death already. I think the Inquirer could very well be on the leading edge of a paradigm shift in the world of blogging.
I look forward to resuming our “Gillickball” discussions. Also, I know Pete has some stuff lined up for the offseason. Add in the usual player movements, contracts, and whatnot and we will have lots to discuss through the winter.
For now, I am enjoying these playoffs, albeit in an anxious, antsy, can’t sit still, bundle of nerves kind of way.
Werth is a concern. He has been piling up strikeouts at an alarming rate lately. I’m sure he will continue to start because our other options are Stairs, Jenkins, Bruntlett, and Dobbs. Taguchi is not on the roster. Zolecki reported that he, Eaton, and Walrond have returned to their respective homes.
You’ve started a lot of things swirling around in my head with your Charlie Manuel question. I will try to distill them into a concise response. “It” is a tricky thing to pin down, but my short answer is yes, I think Manuel has “it”. Maybe not to the degree of a Torre, or a Cox, but he does have it.
I think you need more than just a manager who has it, though. You must also have a talented ballclub on which to use it. Take Franconna, for example. Did he have it when he was here, or did he somehow aquire it when he went to Boston? I think he had it, at least to some degree, but that it didn’t show until he had a ballclub with the necessary talent level. On the flip side, I don’t think you can deny that Cox has it, so why are the Braves not winning now? Did he lose it? I don’t think so. See what I’m getting at?
I do believe that there are some managers who can get more out of what they have but, in general, I think what they have is crucial. Let’s face it, Manuel is mostly the same guy he was when he first got here. I also think he manages the club pretty much the same way. The difference is who he is managing. Instead of calling on Alfonseca and Rhodes out of the bullpen, for example, he is now calling on Durbin and Romero.
I think another thing indicating that Manuel has it is that he had some success in Cleveland and he is now having success here. If you can do it in multiple places throughout your career (this applies to Gillick as well) then you must be bringing something to those places.
One last thing would be that our players seem to genuinely like playing for him. That’s got to count for something. (In contrast, Bowa really wore out his welcome here. Bowa didn’t have success in San Diego either. Failure in two places should tell you something as well.)
Anyway, winning is the bottom line. We just won our second consecutive division title. In addition, we also won more games than we did last year. You could easily point to a better talent level (Lidge, for one) as the reason, but Manuel did keep it all together during some rough stretches, didn’t he? Something enabled him to do it, whatever you want to call it.
bski, Taguchi is on the roster, check it out. That would’ve pissed me off if he wasn’t, but I wouldn’t have been as pissed off if it was Golson instead of him. I think Zolecki was talking about Tadahito Iguchi.
Sorry if I implied that enjoying the games and predicting them were mutually exclusive, but that seems to be the case for me.
About Manuel, I think it’s just a fascinating topic, why certain players/managers seem to step up their game in the playoffs. That Baseball Prospectus book I have says this is just a perception, that usually players who do well in the regular season do well in the postseason, and I see that with pitching. But with hitting and managing, I’m not sure. Maybe the media DOES put some sort of spin on what happens in the postseason to make things seem more dramatic. But with Manuel, it seems like the second-guessing starts as soon as the postseason does. I don’t think the Lidge-for-Hamels will be the last time Charlie will stir up controversy with one of his moves this postseason.
Looks like Boston really has LA’s number, my prediction of an LA-Philly World Series is in trouble. That’s yet another example of certain players being made for the postseason, while some aren’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if Boston made it to the World Series this year and won again, they really flew under the radar this year, I guess the sports world is sick of them.
Awesome Live Blog
Zack…Sorry, you are right about Taguchi. It was Iguchi who went home. Don’t know how I bollixed that one. Major screw up on my part. Better get my head on straight.
I still say that Werth will start today. If he struggles again I’m thinking we will see Jenkins start against the righties in Milwaukee.
Manuel is an interesting topic. I know that all managers go on hunches and intuition to some degree. It just seems like Manuel does it a lot more than others. Like when he held Bruntlett back to pinch hit and sent Ruiz out to play 3rd, which worked out perfectly. He really opens himself up to criticism. I’m sure something will backfire on him somewhere along the way, but more often than not his hunches work out.
I have to say that I’m really getting ticked at ESPN. Last Wednesday, after the Yankess were eliminated from playoff contention, that’s all they could talk about. Why did they fail…What about Cashman…No playoffs in the final year of Yankee Stadium…What will they do to rebuild…Blah, Blah, Blah. I found myself thinking, hey do you mind covering the actual playoff races?
Next up was the Mets. On Monday they spent an awful lot of time talking about their second consecutive failure and what it means, etc…All of this coverage came at the expense of the teams who actually made the playoffs (like us, for example) and deserved the attention. Again, you think you guys might want to get around to talking about other things….like the playoff matchups?
Finally, this morning my son was watching Sportscenter. They lead off the show with Cubs-Dodgers, followed by Red Sox-Angels, followed by commercial. Then we get to see Phils-Brewers. I’m sure the only reason we were the third game recapped was because there were only three games played yesterday. Hamels threw a gem. It was the best pitching performance of the day, without question. If Lester threw a game like that, no doubt they would have led off the show with it.
I know it doesn’t really matter, but it still ticks me off. We continually get crappy time slots and oh-by-the-way mentions on the networks no matter what we do.
bski, NY & Boston, the baked potato. Philly, sour cream & chives. There’s a reason for ESPN reserve, and it has little to do with bias. Gotta earn top billing.
bski–i agree with you, i work at a firm called gsi commerce–we run the sites for all major sports–mlb, nfl, nhl, nba…
last week mlbshop.com had sales of 1.3 million—of that 1.3 million, 700k was yankee or mets merchandise, while another 400k was red sox and chicago (cubs/sox) merchandise…if your doing the math, thats 200k for the rest of the league..
long and short, its a business, and the big markets win…
JJG & MOLE…I know. I get it. Just whining.
Mole, So if, according to your last week sales’ figures, 1.1 of 1.3 million was attributed to NY, Boston & Chicago, question is, how does that reality come to be? The fat ratio of earnings far exceeds population demographics. Could it be those cities win and develop a certain cachet, and engender attention and “foreign” allegiance that effects commercial bottom lines?
i think winning has somethign to do with it—but then again the cubs havent won in years…so maybe the history…and your correct that the population in those cities doesnt suggest those figures—their fan base is so widespread around the country and world, that is also driving sales—i can guarantee you the kids in the UK and China that are ordering these t-shirts know who derek jeter is but not evan longoria…hell they might not have even heard of the tampa bay rays!
Mole…How much of it is due to Japan? (Fukodome on the Cubs and so forth) I would think it would be considerable.
bski–absolutely-and with the exception of ichiro that i can think of, most imports come to the big market teams–primarily the yankees…ill try to break out those sales..
Mole...That’s pretty much how I figured it too. Don’t go to any trouble on my account. I didn’t want to put you to work. Just curious is all.
This just in from Derek Schuster: Pete, you are no longer allowed Diamond or Hall of Fame Club access.
if that kid i was referring to earlier doesnt know who evan longoria is, he definitely will soon!!! kid is on fire….
WHAT DID I SAY?!? WHAT DID I FREAKIN’ SAY?!? VICTORINO’S GOT “IT”!!! YEAH, BOY!!! YEAH!!! YEAH!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW!!!!! GRAND SALAMI!!!
I hate having to watch this game on TBS. The announcers are soooo far up CCs azz its disgusting. I can’t get 1210 on my radio clearly and I’m about to watch the game on mute.
SEE YA CC!!!!!!!!!!
Go to the game two chat