Comments on: Should We Be Getting Nervous?

By: pg

pg — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:25:06 +0000

bski,

I am with you on Morgan and Phillips. Morgan was one heck of a player, but he adds very little in my opinion when it comes to commentating. He is often negative, his insight is rarely profound, and he does exactly what you allude to. Take one thing and talk about it and talk about it and talk about it. It was not a bad point, but give me a break. Phillips can be ok sometimes, but overall things like last night turn me off of him to.

By: jkay

jkay — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:21:03 +0000

Drolz: agreed, Myers is nuts. seems like Madson doesnt have the needed mentality. hope he knocks off the rust and forces Charlie to give him a try.

By: bski

bski — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:59:44 +0000

Here is a report on Happ from Andy Martino:
J.A. Happ, attempting to return from a tricky oblique/intercostal/whatever, it’s a muscle in his right side strain, threw 55 pitches in a bullpen session this morning at Citizens Bank Park, his first action off a mound since the injury occured nine days ago in Houston. Happ, who has missed two starts, was hopeful he could pitch Friday in Atlanta. He and the team will know more tomorrow, when soreness does or does not follow today’s workout.
This was a significant test, because throwing meant risking re-aggravation of the strain.
“I was a little nervous getting on the mound,” he said. “I felt good, though. I felt like I still had power and torque.”
Happ said that while he could still feel the strain, the pain was no longer sharp.

That’s good news about step 1 on his way to returning. No need to rush him along. We’ve got 3 weeks before the playoffs start. Don’t want him to reinjure it and set himself back. Better to make sure he is completely healthy first.

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:00:32 +0000

bski-

Morgan and Phillips were ticking me off too (Phillips almost always does). You'd think they would have shut up after he mowed down David Wright.

Great stat about Pedro being 2nd in swing and miss. I saw def. start him Game 4 and leave Happ to bullpen role he played well last postseason.

By: bski

bski — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:53:49 +0000

Drolz,

I found this in Buster Oney’s chat today:

Bob (Philly)

Will it be Pedro or Happ as 4th starter in the playoffs?
Buster Olney
(1:16 PM)

Bob: If Pedro keeps throwing like that, he’d be the No. 4 starter. He is tied for second in generating missed swings, behind Vazquez, since the beginning of August… that’s pretty darned good.

I’d have to agree. First, you have what Pedro is doing. Second, you have to consider the amount of postseason experience he has. Third, we have the very real potential for a problem/deficiency with our lefty relievers, like I talked about in #7. Finally, it would give us more balance having two left-handed and two right-handed starters, for whatever that’s worth.

By: bski

bski — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:24:02 +0000

One more question. Does anyone else live in Brad Lidge’s universe? If so, I need you to explain to me how what I saw him do on the mound yesterday afternoon could translate into a quote like this from him:

“I actually felt real good, a lot more in control,” Lidge said. “It wasn’t the fastest save, but obviously we got it done and I’m really happy about the result. I felt like I was able to do some things out of the stretch that I wasn’t able to do for a while out of the stretch, so that really helped me out.”

Charlie Manuel must have one foot in each reality because he said this:

Asked if yesterday’s performance represented a step forward, Manuel said, “It’s damn sure not a step back.”

I guess technically Charlie is right. Lidge didn’t go backwards, but we need him to go forward——a long way forward——don’t we? I didn’t see any sign of that.

By: bski

bski — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:08:16 +0000

Was anyone else as irritated with Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips as I was in the 8th inning last night? I’m not saying that they were necessarily wrong in questioning leaving Pedro in the game that long and allowing him to throw as many pitches as he did, coming as it did on the heels of a 119-pitch outing in his previous start. It was a valid issue worth noting. However, there was no reason to go on and on and on and on about it for the entire half-inning.

I mean, really, I got the point the first time around and I had a complete grasp of every nuance after the fifth rehashing. It really took away from the game for me because, well, there was an actual game being played which was being ignored and trying to block out that endless discussion made the game that much more difficult to follow.

By: Drolz

Drolz — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:34:59 +0000

Pedro was amazing tonight. Is it possible that he might be pitching his way into the playoff rotation?

By: jurnee16

jurnee16 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:47:43 +0000

Will Charlie leave Pedro in for the 9th?

By: Thump Bump

Thump Bump — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:27:21 +0000

Yes, move Madson back to the 8th and see if he can get back to his top form in time for the playoffs. Start getting Escalona some appearances, because I don’t have a lot of faith in Eyre and/or Romero getting healthy before next year. As for the Cards being the best, the Braves just took out the broom in Atlanta and the Phils took 2 of 3 from them right after all their big trades – Colorado is the scarier opponent.