2:17pm: Alright, back from work again. Same seat, same outfit, same beer, same glass. I think we need to come up with a name for the dementia that sports fans have who think that this kind of thing actually works.
2:19pm: “What we learn from history is that man never learns from history” – Ha! Never heard that before, great quote.
2:22pm: Higher BAC at this very moment: David Wells or Miguel Cabrera?
2:27pm: Speaking of which – I LOVED the ESPN.com headline the other day “Cabrera apologizes to the Tigers for being drunk.” It made it seem like he was drunk while he was apologizing. “I’m sorry guys….I’m…I really love you guys…you know? But man….hey, Porcello – where are my pants?”
2:33pm: Not sure what to expect today. I don’t like Aaron Cook, he’s one of those pitchers we should kill – so anything but getting 5+ runs makes me annoyed.
2:37pm: As for any pitcher, the first inning is when Hamels is most vulnerable. Let’s get through this. You got to wonder if he has extra motivation to keep pace with Lee.
2:38pm: First change-up looks nasty.
2:39pm: That pitch track isn’t close to right. Looks like Hamels had Gonzalez K’d.
2:39pm: And it hurts us as Gonzalez singles. Can’t give up multiple runs in the first. I’m already thinking about holding them to 1.
2:41pm: You have to wonder if people are just going to try to get picked off because they know Howard can’t make that throw to 2nd.
2:42pm: Horrible decision by Hamels to throw home. Had no chance at all, especially since he tried to pick it up and thrown it overhand, not flip it. Should be 2 outs, no one on. Like I said before, limit to 1 run. It’s the first inning.
2:45pm: Big double play, nice job by Feliz. Let’s see if we can get this run back right away.
2:47pm: Hamels was throwing 93-94mph to Tulowitzki. Probably a good sign.
2:48pm: Yet another terrible lead-off AB by Jimmy. 2 pitches.
2:49pm: Poor pitching by Cook leaving an 0-2 pitch up. Nice job of Victorino of hitting the ball where it was pitched.
2:52pm: Gotta love the pitch-out. 95% of the time you just give the hitter a free ball.
2:53pm: 2 ground ball outs. There is little I hate more than watching a good sinker ball pitcher against the Phillies. Soooooo boring.
2:54pm: So far, the home plate ump hasn’t been very consistent, and that forced Howard to swing at that 2-1 pitch.
2:56pm: Howard hit .160 this year with 2 strikes. .173 for his career. For comparison, our best hitter, Utley, has a .229 average.
3:00pm: Congrats to Cole, but wouldn’t you think they would try to schedule having a baby in the off-season? I guess it doesn’t always work that way.
3:02pm: There’s the curve! Hopefully Hamels spends the entire off-season working on that, or another 3rd pitch. A 3rd pitch would do wonders for him I think. My preference would be for Cliff Lee to teach him a cutter.
3:03pm: Nice inning for Hamels. Still throwing 94mph on some fastballs. I really don’t think I’ve seen him throw that all year. Back to his kid though – Is there any chance that he and Heidi don’t give it a really weird name?
3:07pm: Yorvit and Jayson Werth are discussing goatee etiquette I think.
3:08pm: Not a good time for a 3-0 swing. We need baserunners.
3:10pm: Nice hit by Raul. I have no idea what my expectations will be for him next year.
3:11pm: Was Raul really in the playoffs before? Didn’t the Comcast people talk a lot about how this was his first time?
3:12pm: Those are not 2 swings you want people to see on national television, Pedro.
3:12pm: I can’t believe Atkins had the balls to let that go. That ball bounced 3 feet in bounds, at least.
3:13pm: Well, that was laughable AB by Feliz. 2 swings above his head, and then he watches strike 3 straight down the middle.
3:15pm: Let’s turn the line-up over, Chooch.
3:17pm: Aaron Cook struck out more than 3 hitters only NINE times this season. He has 3 strikeouts after 2 innings.
3:18pm: Gotta set-up the DVR for tonight. Thursday night is ridiculous. The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Community, Flash Forward, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice for the girlfriend.
3:22pm: Ugh – Gonzalez. Let’s not even try to pick him off. Give Ruiz a chance.
3:24pm: Carlos Gonzalez > Dexter Fowler
3:26pm: Yay! Ryan Howard! Perfect throw! I wonder what goes through Jimmy’s head when Ryan cocks back his arm. He must be ready for anything.
3:30pm: C’mon, walk Hamels!
3:30pm: Nice! Gotta love the walk to the pitcher. Let’s make an inning out of it.
3:31pm: Why is Dexter Fowler playing if Jim Tracy clearly thinks he sucks. He pretty much said he’s good at bunting and not much else.
3:32pm: Jimmy Rollins today: 4 pitches seen, 3 outs.
3:34pm: Chase is really due to crush something.
3:39pm: 4 strikeouts for Cook in 3 innings – He only had more than 4 THREE times all year.
3:42pm: Let’s keep it a 1 run, Colbert.
3:44pm: Saturday’s forecast in Denver? High of 34, low of 28, chance of AM snow showers. How do you play baseball in that. Let’s win today so we only have to deal with that for one game.
3:45pm: Tough situation for Hamels with Helton on and 4-5-6 coming up.
3:47pm: Anyone else agree with me that these should be our permanent home uniforms?
3:48pm: The crowd really wants to get into this game, but hasn’t been given a whole lot to work with.
3:51pm: Yorvit F’in Torrealba. This guy DESTROYS us in the playoffs. Ugh. Horrible hanging breaking ball by Hamels. Maybe that will wake our offense up a bit.
3:53pm: First HR since MAY 6th!? Don’t tell me that kind of stuff.
3:57pm: Need a run this inning.
3:58pm: Rockies scored 2 with their lead-off runner last inning. Let’s see what we can do. NO STEALS RYAN, NO DOUBLE PLAYS.
3:58pm: Cook can’t really pull of the mohawk.
3:59pm: By no double-plays, I clearly meant double-plays.
4:01pm: Cook is not on this inning at all. That double play really let him off the hook.
4:02pm: This is the type of painful-to-watch game that I would turn off and go do something else for 45 minutes or so if it were the regular season.
4:05pm: Dannie has fallen asleep.
4:06pm: Maybe Cook will get tired on the bases.
4:08pm: Did I predict Gonzalez was going to be a huge pain in our ass this series or what?
4:10pm: Need a K of Fowler again, he looked lost last time up.
4:11pm: How did Gonzalez get to 3rd on that play?
4:12pm: Alright, the 5th inning is where we turned it on yesterday. Let’s do it again. Can’t save the comeback until the 9th.
4:15pm: 1st pitch ground out. You are killing me Pedro.
4:16pm: I will never understand why these guys don’t just swing a couple inches lower than they think they should against sinker ballers.
4:17pm: Is Charlie really taking Hamels out here? Only 83 pitches, and Chad Durbin is a better alternative for the 6th? If Ruiz is on, I get it.
4:18pm: Apparently Joe Blanton is the alternative. That makes even less sense, bringing in a starter while down 4-0?
4:18pm: I have no confidence in Dobbs for this AB.
4:20pm: Over/Under on pitches seen by Jimmy this AB? 2.5
4:21pm: Jimmy Rollins today: 5 pitches seen, 4 outs.
4:24pm: I guess this means JA Happ is starting Game 3? I don’t get this one bit, unless this is his bullpen session day, and he’s just throwing what his bullpen would be.
4:26pm: Perfect example of the strangeness of the Rockies. We don’t see one of their 25 HR guys until a pinch hitter in the 6th of Game 2.
4:28pm: We need 2 runs in the 6th. Can’t be going into the 7th-9th with a 4-run deficit. Big inning with Victorino leading off. He’s gotta get on and get in Cook’s head a little.
4:32pm: Crowd is alive – they realize this is a big inning.
4:34pm: Ball 4 ump. Ball call. Victorino shows his displeasure by knocking the ball away with his bat.
4:34pm: Nice! Helton’s gotta pick that, but good for us. WE HAVE TO GET AT LEAST 2 THIS INNING!
4:35pm: Never seen Utley try to bunt like that before. That can’t be a good sign on where his confidence is at.
4:36pm: Bad pitch by Cook, nice pitch by Utley (who has looked horrid in his first 2 ABs in both games, then gotten hits in his 3rd).
4:37pm: NO……DOUBLE……PLAYS…….
4:38pm: C’mon Ryan…..heart rate is up for me right now….
4:39pm: THATA BOY! Big hit by Howard, who has been tremedously clutch the last month while Utley has struggled. You wonder if Cook is getting tired – but I guess we won’t find out, as he is gone.
4:40pm: NO…….DOUBLE……PLAYS…….
4:42pm: Doesn’t Jose Contreras really suck? I guess we will find out…
4:43pm: Wow, 95mph. Can’t suck THAT bad, I guess.
4:44pm: Jose Contreras gets the 2009 Chan Ho Park Award for “Dude who sucked, but now suddenly throws 96mph as a middle reliever.” I’m excited for the Phillies to sign him.
4:45pm: RRRRAAAAAAUUUUUUULLLLLLLL!!!!!!! Raul has been the MVP of this series so far – and it certainly looks like his timing is back. Can’t believe the kept Contreras in with the numbers Raul has put up on him.
4:47pm: Phew, Feliz drops one in. He’s looked pretty awful at the plate this series.
4:48pm: NO DOUBLE PLAYS!!! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH. Well, I wanted 2, we got 3. Let’s keep it at one. If we hold them at 4, I think we’ll win. If not, I think we’ll lose.
4:51pm: Hopefully Joe looks as sharp as he did in his 1st inning.
4:52pm: Nope.
4:53pm: Well, Dannie can tell you I screamed “WHY!?” as Joe Blanton turned to throw to 3rd. Bad decision. Just like Hamels made in the first throwing to home. And now Blanton is gone.
4:54pm: NOW HAPP IS COMING IN? I need someone to explain to me why this isn’t completely idiotic. Pedro should not be pitching Game 3 as we really don’t know what we are going to get from him. Is that what Charlie is doing? He knows we are losing this game, right?
4:57pm: % chance we get out of this? 5%?
4:58pm: Great, now Happ is hurt and the bases are loaded, 0 out. This is going swimmingly Charlie.
5:00pm: Alright Eyre, we need the ol’ home to first double play here. Happ seems to think he’s OK.
5:03pm: And up comes the 3 for 3 Carlos Gonzalez. Need a strike-out, double-play, or short fly ball.
5:05pm: No walks, please.
5:05pm: Don’t hit it to Howard, as he will throw is God knows where
5:06pm: There’s the K! How about the home to first double play!
5:06pm: Let Fowler chase, he seems too amped up
5:08pm: Should have thrown Fowler some more bad pitches, but if we get out of this with just 1 run given up – it wouldn’t be too bad. Bad pitch by Eyre, didn’t need the fastball there.
5:09pm: C’mon Eyre, don’t lose another one 0-2.
5:10pm: Nice job by Eyre. Let’s get 1 run this inning…
5:13pm: It’s important that we get some baserunners this inning, even if we don’t get runs, so that our big boppers can potentially get up again in the 9th.
5:15pm: Need you on, Miggy.
5:18pm: Need you on, Jimmy.
5:20pm: Not sure you could have a worse offensive game, Jimmy.
5:22pm: Gotta get the 2 runs next inning – I don’t see it happening against Street with the bottom of our line-up. That is moot though if we don’t shut them down here.
5:22pm: I can’t get over the fact it’s going to be below freezing for Saturday’s game. How can you play baseball in that?
5:25pm: The way that our bullpen is being used by Charlie – it doesn’t exactly make me confident for a deep playoff run.
5:26pm: The idea that the TBS guy had that Myers hit Tulo on purpose is beyond stupid.
5:27pm: Prediction: We sign Myers to a 1-year deal to be our 5th starter next year as he tries to prove himself for a long-term deal.
5:30pm: This is going well, Brett. Glad you are back.
5:32pm: How about a double play for the good guys?
5:34pm: OK – not bad. Thought that was 2 off the bat though. But on the replay you can see that Ruiz had no shot. Barmes really helped up out.
5:35pm: Prediction: Antonio Bastardo will walk whoever he faces.
5:38pm: Wow! Nice job Bastardo! Great control on those breaking pitches.
5:40pm: Bastardo just showed why he has the potential to be nasty reliever for us some day (next year?). I didn’t think he had the control – but he didn’t for that AB.
5:42pm: Need to get them both this inning. Surprised to see Betancourt instead of the Morales, but I imagine a Rockies fan isn’t surprised.
5:44pm: Utley’s grounder couldn’t find a hole.
5:46pm: Not looking good guys…
5:47pm: Zero home runs for the …….. WOW! I SWEAR TO GOD THAT’S WHAT I WAS WRITING AS WERTH BOMBED THAT!
5:50pm: Do they bring in the lefty or Street for Ibanez? Looks like the lefty…
5:52pm: Holy curve ball! How can you hit that with this dude’s heat?
5:52pm: Got to think we’ll see Madson here. Need a shut down inning and then we need the crowd to get in Street’s head a little bit. Only 2 blown saves this year for Huston.
5:57pm: Pitcher spot up first in the 9th… Stairs or Francisco? I vote for Benny. Dannie says Stairs.
5:58pm: Let’s hope Madson throws like that in save situations…
6:02pm: Savvy move by Tracy to keep Morales in there and either hit Francisco against Street or lose him.
6:04pm: Hopefully the crowd can rattle Street.
6:05pm: Where is Cliff Lee going? Too nervous to watch?
6:06pm: C’mon Rockies – close games like we do…
6:07pm: I can’t imagine they will throw Stairs fastball anywhere close to the strike zone.
6:09pm: Stairs got a fastball right down the pipe and completely missed it. Not a good sign on several levels.
6:09pm: Let that hit you Matt!
6:10pm: C’mon Matty! Need you on!
6:11pm: Nice! Though the bad news is – only a HR scores Stairs. Nevermind! Here comes Cliff Lee! Take 2nd Lee!
6:11pm: NO…….DOUBLE……….PLAYS…….
6:12pm: OK Jimmy – your horrible, terrible offensive game can be forgiven here.
6:13pm: My sister just texted me “those batting helmets are awesomeeee!” – she’s got her head in the right place…
6:14pm: Man – Street left that up! Argh this is tough to watch….
6:15pm: Nice job Jimmy – sucks that Lee couldn’t get the 3rd – really looks like he should have been there…
6:16pm: In case you were wondering, TBS man just told us this isn’t a 1-2-3 inning.
6:16pm: Please, please, please, please, please….
6:18pm: Ouch…… That looked like it might get over…..
Alright, well we lost this game because Hamels didn’t pitch up to his standards, and we squandered our opportunities on some costly double plays. I’m not terribly confident going into Colorado, just because the ridiculous weather probably favors the Rockies, who are somewhat used to it. It will be interesting to see who goes in Game 3 and 4 – but hopefully our offense puts a 10-spot up on Hammel or Marquis.
God Damnit!! All the plays the guy has made with his glove this year, why can’t he throw the ball to second?!?
Stuck at work…thank you so much for doing this. Love the blog btw, keep it up.
settling down..watch out!
That was a hell of a heads up play by Atkins – or by whoever screamed “let it go!”
where you at, bski?
HOWARD MADE A THROW! HOWARD MADE A THROW!
I shouldn’t nearly pass out when that happens.
finally he made the throw!
Thanks for looking for me, Pete.
I’m here but I’m at work, and of course it’s very busy. I wouldn’t expect to catch a break, you know?
I’ll jump in when I can.
Hamels? Walked? On four pitches? Damn.
3:18pm: Gotta set-up the DVR for tonight. Thursday night is ridiculous. The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Community, Flash Forward, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice for the girlfriend.
Geez, Pete, can’t you squeeze in CSI and Fringe while you’re at it?
this game is going to take forever if they throw over like this all game..
Larry Andersen is ALL OVER Cook for all these throw-overs and for slowing down the game so much.
I’d be so much happier if we swung on strike 3 – the last two games seem to have a lot of look K’s. driving me crazy
So far, this game has been voraciously boring.
last game was boring till the 5th – so we got some time. lets keep it boring while the Rox are up
That pitch was terrible. The view from these Corner views are great for pitch location…Don’t know how you all saw it but that was verry bad. Deserved to get crushed.
You can’t make a mistake like that to Torrealba. This guy hit 2 home runs all year. I suppose it doesn’t matter because as you said Pete the Phillies need to get at least 5 runs off of Cook. They need to be more patient at bats.
Here we go. It’s the home run payoff inning on the radio. Something could happen with who we’ve got coming up.
I really hate it when we face a sinkerball pitcher!
work is better than this game so far..yeah, i said it.
Pete, I gotta disagree with you on the “creamsicles” sticking around on a permanent basis. I’m getting sick of the off-white thing going around. I like clean white and pinstripes. Even though the cartoon lettering is kinda lame.
Needless to say, Hamels has got to keep this right where it is because our offense isn’t doing squat. Facing the bottom of the order should help.
runners on the corners, 1 out. I think “fuck” sums up how I feel right now.
excuse me, 2nd and third
This game feels like every 3rd game we play against the Braves..So pissed.
HAMELS!
Anybody think he would have been better yesterday on 3 days rest?
Another 1 pitch at-bat
So much for following up Lee’s gem. What are the odds that Charlie picks Hamels to start game 5? (If we end up there, God forbid.)
Have I been watching too much football that every time TBS puts up the pitch speed I think there is a penalty on the play?
It kills me that a guy like Cook is beating us with 1 pitch.
I guess we should be glad that Kendrick is on our team instead of theirs, huh?
Wait, I was just out of my office. Did you say Blanton is coming in??
5 innings, 4 runs, millions of dollars: he no Koufax or Vida Blue but he no dummy. bski, are you a portsider? Clearwater, 17 weeks away. Start stretching that rubberband with some long toss. Cliff needs more competion.
Happy did kill the Rocks. It would make more sense to me if we were winning this game.
Funny, TBS has made a big deal about Tracy’s switch of Fowler and Gonzalez because Fowler wasn’t patient enough in Game 1 — yet it’s our leadoff hitter who has seen 5 pitches in 3 at bats …
Hey, our first RISP today. That’s pretty rough, but let’s get something going.
With how big of a hole Hamels put them in I kind of wish they had just tried to grind it out with the ‘pen and just start Blanton in Game 3 or 4….
When the hell did Jose Contreras become a Rockie (or Rocky?)? Is there a singular version of Rockies?
Not having Victorino score from second on a base hit hurts…..
I wanna wave my tie in circles!
Doesn’t Utley usually score from 1st on those?
Should have no problem getting at least 1 more run. HUGE hit by the Big Guy!
OK, we’re getting somewhere now. We simply MUST get Utley and Howard in.
Why does it take 5 innings to get going against this bum?
Hopefully Jose Contreras is stillas bad as he was when his stint with the White Sox came to an end….
Speaking of bums…Jose Contreres! C’MON!
RAUUUUUUUL!!!!!!!
RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL!!!!!!
to finish BSKI’s thought:
MOTHERFUCKING IBANEZ!!
Feliz is yet to have a good at-bat this series….
Holy Cow, Happ is warming up in the pen! Obviously Manuel was dead serious about using both he and Blanton. Must be only 1 inning each to keep the options open for games 3 and 4 (if necessary).
Not a hard hit ball but we’ll take it
Geez, another damn double-play! We got 2 though and we’re coming on strong.
Oops, got 3 though…..
Raul slid when the ball had already hit the ground
1st and 3rd with no out already…there goes the momentum…..
we’re using Happ too???…does this mean Pedro is definitely starting game 3?
I don’t see the benfit of pitching Happ and Blanton here? We have pitchers who can throw 1 inning!
It has become blindingly evident that Charlie has no confidence in his bullpen.
And now he gets smoked on the knee while pitching in relief. Great.
It speaks volumes regarding what Charlie thinks of the rest of his bullpen, doesn’t it Andrew?
GREAT, Happ gets drilled. Now what?
This injury may actually save us. If he’s ok, he’ll still be able to pitch on Saturday.
Gotta love my man’s fight though. Happ is the man!
bski – completely agree. how do you go 3 rounds in you feel you can’t go 2 GAMES with your bullpen? i don’t like these decisions. You can’t win a series with no faith in your bullpen.
You have to at least allow them to surprise you and pitch well.
1 down, 2 to go….
damnit
Rollins needs to get on base. Period.
you can’t ask for much more from Eyre…we need the bats to keep it up now….
could have been SO MUCH WORSE to the fact that I’m happy about it. God, I wish you could drink in this office..
Damn, only 2 shot left, but we still have 2 shots left. Whoever comes in from the pen (with Charlie’s full confidence) has got to keep it where it is.
Jesus… Tulo crushed that thing.
Tulo just annihilated that ball…lucky its foul
and it’s a night game in denver…
TBS Douche, just accused Brett of beaning Tulo. I don’t buy it
Uh, take Myers out now please. I’ve got a bad feeling.
double play please..
I hate to say it, but I think I’m hanging it up on this one fellas…
I’ll leave it as good luck that i don’t hear the end to this. Can’t watch these poor decisions anymore. Going home and hoping we win in between the trip!
Glad to see we finally took the out at first.
I understand why we are walking Spilborghs, but I don’t feel too confident about it.
Why is cairo playing the field? What happened to Feliz? Granted Feliz did have some awful at-bats but you think you would want his glove in the field in a close game. Did I miss a double switch?
you missed a double switch
… meanwhile, today’s starter, Sir Lancelot, throwing aside team concerns better than he threw his pitches, has rushed of to a local hospital to come to the aid of his adored Guinnevere.
Way to go Antonio!!
Larry Andersen just worked the reverse black cat for us. He just said that right-handed hitters were something like 20 for 118 against Betancourt this season. Two seconds later, Werth drills one.
OK, it’s a one-run game now. We can do this.
Come on, Madson. Need a big inning from ya.
Yeah! Strike Out! One more!
I remember THAT Ryan Madson. Great to see him again.
Use Stairs in Case of Emergency
oh boy///
Very nice Matt, very nice. Now lets just hope Cairo doesn’t hit a meatball to 2nd
Lee pinch running!
Hell of a time to break up the 0-fer
a foot higher on that hump back liner and the game would be tied. uh well, Phils should know by now that they cant come back every game like the regular season. Crap! this is gonna be a hard fought series.
speaking of; look who’s not gonna be a hard fought series; LAD-STL!
Pete: midseason blockbuster acquisition Matt Holliday finally impacts his team by booking them a 1st class ticket to the Bahamas. 0-2, i dont care who you are, it aint happening. Sad cos Wainwright and Carpenter ARE really as good as advertised (well not up to the hype but…). We just might lose the strongest contender based on well placed miscues in the first 2 games.
good luck to the Angels trying to exorcise their demons.
to Charlie: PLEASE START HAPP AND NOT PEDRO!