This time of year can be stressful for Philadelphia fans. The Eagles are starting off their season, and every one of their games is an event. Meanwhile, the Phillies for the last several years have been involved in the playoff race until the very end. Today, both teams suited up for 4:00pm starts, leaving Philly fans switching back and forth, or maybe bringing out another TV from the other room. No matter what people did, we’re all happy tonight. I’ll kick off the week with some quick thoughts on both teams, and then we’ll continue it on in the comments field.
Eagles dominate Steelers, win 15-6
- These first few bullets will be about the defense, who put up the best performance I can remember since the Reggie White days.
- Remember when everyone (myself included) was begging the team to trade Lito Sheppard? Well, today we saw what can happen when you have 3 pro-bowl corners out there. Roethlisberger couldn’t find anyone, even on short, quick routes and screens. You can’t call the 9 sacks “coverage sacks,” but half-second the secondary bought the line contributed to many of them.
- Brian Dawkins is the only player I’ve ever seen that uses a spread eagle warrior jump to tackle (and in today’s case, strip) opponents.
- Obviously, all the defensive players played great, but the two that impressed me the most were Broderick Bunkley and Stewart Bradley. Bunkley has improved a lot over last year and is a big reason that Steven Jackson, Marion Barber and Willie Parker have averaged 41 yards/game. Bradley on the other hand, is always around the ball and he is fast. He beat Willie Parker to the sideline a couple of times and is a very sure tackler. I think both have the potential to be future pro-bowlers.
- The early word (according the NBC’s pre-game show) is that Westbrook is unlikely to play next week. As long as it’s not a long-term injury (a month or more) I’m not concerned. We have a couple easier games coming up and Buckhalter looked very crisp when he was in.
- Anybody else freak out when Kolb came in and promptly threw a pick? I saw visions of the whole season going down the drain. From the short time watching Kolb in pre-seasons and in games, he seems to be very good at the short routes, but will not have the arm strength to make many of the throws McNabb can. But hopefully we won’t have to find out anytime soon.
- Sav Rocca: 4th quarter MVP
- Max Jean-Giles: Excellent replacement for Shawn Andrews
- After 3 games, I’m pretty confident in saying this is the 2nd best team of the McNabb era (aside from 2004). McNabb looks sharp, we have depth at WR, Westbrook is Marshall Faulk, the O-line is solid, the D-Line has depth and talent, the LB’s are young and quick and the secondary allows JJ to run his blitzes free. This looks like a 12-4 team to me.
Phillies bury Marlins, take 2 of 3
- I said I was terrified of a sweep and the Phillies took some punches from a very hot team, and came out with a series victory, a 1 1/2 game division lead, and 3 games up on a playoff berth.
- Our “magic number” to clinch a playoff spot is only 4. In other words, we go 4-2, we’re in, even if Milwaukee goes 6-0. More likely, Milwaukee will go 3-3 or 4-2, which means we would only have to go 1-5 or 2-4. Let’s go 4-2 anyway.
- Aside from eliminating the Marlins, the most important thing about this weekend’s series will be whether or not Brett Myers can recover from his horrible outing. He looked like the Myers of old, and if the Phillies want to do anything in the Playoffs, they need Myers in there as a 2nd starter.
- Brad Lidge has the 2nd most saves in a season without a blown save. The leader, Eric Gagne, was on steroids when he did it. Lidge, by the way, is first in baseball history in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched.
- Raise your hand if you thought the Phillies batting leader would hit .289 this year.
- Victorino’s recovery from his poor first half has been huge. He is hitting .366 since he’s been batting in the 6th hole with a .980 OPS. If he gets 2 more RBI, he’ll join Lenny Dykstra and Sherry Magee as the only Phillies to have 100 runs, 20 SB, 60 RBI and less than 70 SO in a season.
- Still a band box? The Phillies have hit 102 HR’s at home this year, and 105 on the road .
- Other cool HR facts (not including 2 hit today). The Phillies have hit 73 HR with 0 out, 59 with 1 out, and 73 with 2 outs. They’ve hit more home runs on a 1-2 count (17) than a 3-1 count (14). They’ve hit the most HR’s on a full count (27). Finally, they’ve hit more HR’s in the 6th (30) than any other inning.
- Since August 27th, Ryan Howard has 20 strikeouts in 23 games. That’s 0.87 per game. Prior to that, he was striking out at 1.32 per game. That’s a huge decrease. He’s also hit 11 HR’s in those 23 games. That’s a K/HR rate of 1.81, vs. 4.97 for the rest of the year.
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a couple of thoughts concerning the birds.
#1 - never doubt b-dawk. we love him for a reason. now get off his back.
#2 - i applaud Jim johnson for putting b-dawk (and others) in situations where they can succeed (ie. not expecting b-dawk to cover TO in the endzone)
#3 - another nod to Jim Johnson for taking Sean Considine out of the dime package and using Joselio hansen instead.
#4 - i agree with Pete - sav roca was the 4th quarter MVP
#5 - buckhalter looked good - and i’m very confident in his ability to hold down the fort while bwest recovers.
and finally - how great was it that #5 started the game 10 for 10… hush up all you naysayers… if we’re ever going to make it to the promised land, it will be with #5 and Big Red.
Great timing. Both games were put away within a couple of minutes of one another. Had 2 TV’s going. Gotta love those Phillies! 4 more wins!
Sav Rocca! What a great pickup last year. An athlete/Punter! We are better positioned this year to get by for a couple games without BWest. Hopefully the fullback recovers from his concussion. What a competitive division!
That was some impressive defense by the Eagles. Hines Ward was quoted as saying the Steelers were “a little confused” by the Eagles blitz packages. Really? I guess Ward must be wondering how the Titanic sank, seeing as how it only took on “a little water”.
I know Westbrook got hurt early, Donovan got dinged up, and Reid went conservative with the play calling, but how did they only score 15 points? The defense scored 2 and handed the offense some golden opportunities off of turnovers. A game like that should have been put away in the first half. The Eagles should have been up 28-0 instead of 10-6. The Steelers defense clamped down after the first few series for the Eagles, but they still should have done more with what they were given.
On a semi-off-the-wall note. After the Steelers punted at the beginning of the 4th quarter there was a commercial break. Coming out of the break, Jim Nantz was reading a promo for an upcoming college game between Tennessee and somebody this coming Saturday. When he read the promo he said “The Home Depot SEC”. Has the SEC sold naming rights to it’s conference? If so, that’s a first. Can we now look forward to the Outback Steakhouse PAC-10 or the StateFarm Big-10?
From all the games that went on yesterday, the league must have fear playing the NFC bEAST. Eagles beat a team that most experts have as the top of the AFC. Dallas went into Greenbay and won. Giants stole a game and won in overtime. And the Skins beat the Cardinals that is the best team in the NFC west.
Our D was outstanding and I hope we can continue that high play for the season. I made a comment last week about B-Dawk showing some age, he proved other wise and I should have never doubted our most consistent player the last decade. Go EAGLES!
gcl138 - I also said Dawk looked slow in pass coverage last week which if we are all being honest he did. But Klkatz said it perfectly…
That was the difference this week. Maybe I just didn’t see it or the Cowboys offensive made it look nonexistent, but I don’t think Johnson blitzed Romo all that much last week, and certainly not with the ferociousness as we say yesterday afternoon. With those corners we should be able to send more guys more often after the quarterback and trust our 3 pro-bowl corners to make plays if the ball does come out.
Another defensive player I was really impressed with was - Juqua Parker. He was very active and all over the place. 5 tackles 2.5 sacks.
Good day for Philly sports.
FYI-
Westbrook is only day-to-day with an ankle sprain. no major damage. 50/50 for this weekend, but shouldn’t miss anymore time than that. great news.
Iggles pinned back their ears and chewed on Big Ben’s legs all afternoon. I thought Steelers, noticing their QB’s mobility deficit and team’s continued poor blocking adjustments to red-dogging, should’ve replaced him with Sam Dalembert who - to the surprise of many - was spiritedly warming up on the sidelines, practicing his juke right, reverse spin left and quick kick form despite the furious, red-faced protestations of some guy in the stands named Ed.
jjg: Thanks for the continual Sammy updates this summer. He certainly has been doing some interesting things in unexpected places.
As for the D … wow. More of that, please. The were a bloodthirsty bunch, weren’t they?
Sure, Morty, glad to oblige. Sam, he is. All over the world. #1!
I was truly surprised Iggles could foam up to that level in a short week, after Cowboy letdown. Defensive line did a 180.
Johnson musta cut out their meal privilege on Tuesday. They were comin’ like Reggie Evans.
Pete — Do you think Brad Lidge deserves NL Cy Young consideration?
Jacob-
What a Monday! Great win tonight, although aren’t they all? Lots to like about this one. Happ was effective. This is the second time he took care of our fears about the 5th starter. The offense came through. Even though Burrell has been a mess, he came up with another big hit. We got contributions from many places. Dobbs got a leadoff pinch hit. Golson pinch runs and gets us the go ahead run with his legs. The defense was there. Feliz made a very nice play. We nailed another runner at the plate courtesy of Rollins and Ruiz. The bullpen closed it out again. Fantastic way to start this final week. We are finally seeing consistently good baseball.
The Mets are losing 9-4 going to the bottom of the 9th. Another loss by them and we are sitting pretty. That would put them down 2 games in the loss column with only 5 games remaining for us. Let’s hope Hamels and Myers put the hammer down the next two games so we can lock this thing up.
Ruiz is kickin’ ass and takin’ numbers lately (OK, a little hyperbole, I admit). Blocks the plate and pitches in the dirt like nobody’s business; strong arm. Way to go, Carlos! A pretty good defensive catcher with a knack for hangin’ tough. In big game I want him over Coste. Carlos, one of my favorite Phils. Right up there with Don Demeter.
.245 .529 .334 195 79 315 46 141 99
.348 .631 .453 53 99 321 34 106 94
avg slugging OBP KO BB TB HR RBI R
Howard over Pujols for MVP? Unsustainable. Would be a travesty. It’s gotta go to the Cardinal.
Does anyone else think that it great for Philli for the first time in a long time Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, Sixers (and I guess the Soul with the arena bowl win) are all top teams and will be potential contenders? It gives you something excited about almost everyday with Baseball playoffs coming, football all ready here and hockey and B-ball just down the road. We arent exactly Boston yet but it does look promising.
jjg
It doesnt look as good for Howard when they are side by side like that. The strike out difference is crazy, so is the batting average.
Pujols is the MVP. Hands down.
He’s the MVP for the same reason Bonds was all those years (sans steroids). His SLG% and OBP% are off the charts. No one pitches to him so he can’t put up the production that Howard does.
Golson is faaaaassssttt - too bad he can’t hit
magic number is 4 for the division, 3 for the playoffs
Beware, Pete, the Ides of Sept. ’64: 6 1/2 up with 12 to go.
GCL138, Sept. - usually great time of year for a sports fan. If only economy wasn’t in toilet, excitement of multi-sports diversionary competitions could be more fully enjoyed. As it stands, the “Colosseum” distractions don’t distract as they once did. But don’t let my perspective detract from your enthusiasm.
Happ has a 2.12 ERA in his 3 starts, and opponents are only hitting .180 against him in those games. pretty impressive.
the phillies are crazy if they don’t have him in the rotation next year. keep carrasco in the minors, trade Kendrick for a player.
J.A., J.C., J.D., J-Roll … whatever happened to phirst names?
May as well get A.J. Burnett over the winter.
JJG…Why not CC?
Yeah!!! Overlooked. How could I? … now I remember, Dr. bski’s prognosis.
Pete...It’s funny, isn’t it? Kendrick looked like the promising young pitcher last year; now not so much. You always have to wonder how much of it is due to the fact that he is now a known commodity around the league. I mean, was he only good enough to get guys out because they weren’t familiar with his stuff? Has Kendrick actually gotten worse or is it a case of him not progressing and making adjustments to his approach in response to the hitters adjusting to him? I kind of think it is the latter. I think that hitters know him now and it’s up to him to take the next step to get better in order to remain a viable starter. A third pitch (changeup) would be a great idea along with gaining better command of his slider. Whether or not he can do this remains to be seen.
Could Happ be following the same pattern? Is he successful now because hitters are not familiar with him? It’s always tough to get an accurate read on a pitcher until he has been around a bit and gone through the league. Could Happ be the next Pat Combs? Remember him? 4-0 in September 1989 and looked very promising. 1990 was a whole different story. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled to see Happ pitch well and I hope that we can count on him next year and beyond. I’m just going to temper long term enthusiasm a bit and just appreciate what we are getting from him for what it is and for what it means for us now.
bski-
Kendrick’s demise was very predictable. In fact, in my season preview, I said he’d be down in the minors by June, and he exceeded my expectations in lasting until September.
Happ projects to be a better starter in the league due to his “peripherals.” The way you can gage how good a pitcher *can* be, is by looking at the things he can control the most. K/9, BB/9 and H/9. At the most basic level, if he is striking out people, it shows he has good “stuff,” if not, it shows he is relying a lot on luck. The fact that Kendrick had such a low K/9 rate last year led me to believe he was using a lot of smoke and mirrors (read: double plays) to get people out. Here are the two pitchers numbers in their final stints in the minor leagues:
Kendrick (at AA Reading)
K/9: 5.53
BB/9: 1.99
H/9: 9.07
Happ (at AAA Lehigh Valley)
K/9: 10.07
BB/9: 3.20
H/9: 7.73
Happ has MUCH better K/9 and H/9 numbers, which shows that he has MUCH better *stuff* than Kendrick. He could obviously improve on his walks, but the talent level is there. By comparison, here are some other Phillies pitchers peripherals in their minor league careers
Hamels
K/9: 12.36
BB/9: 2.49
H/9: 7.70
Myers
K/9: 7.48
BB/9: 3.27
H/9: 8.46
Carrasco
K/9: 7.90
BB/9: 3.72
H/9: 8.15
and to prove the point with the example you used….
Pat Combs
K/9: 5.50
BB/9: 4.34
H/9: 9.50
looks a lot (actually worse) like Kendricks’ numbers.
Good post, Pete. Illustrative stats.
Pete...Very well done. Thanks for the info.
Pete…I forgot to ask. Where did you find those numbers? I would like to pay more attention to those types of things, but I do not have a resource.
thebaseballcube.com
pretty good with minor league stats.
Thank you very much , Pete. I think I will be visiting that site regularly.
a interesting tidbit from a Buster Olney chat today…
Brian Cashman (New York): : What should I spend my 80 million dollars on in the not so distant off-season?
Brian (Philly): Do you really think the Phillies would go with Cashman over two in house guys in Amaro and Arbuckle, who have essentially been the face of the team this year even though Gillick is still technically here? I mean, most fans want someone other than Amaro, does the front office know that?
chris(smithtown,ny) : Who will be the biggest names on the trading block in the offseason in your opinion ?
Matt (Milwaukee, WI): What could the Brewers expect back for Fielder this winter? I keep hearing Cain for Fielder. Any other thoughts?
Ed (Philly): Buster, Please tell me more about Howard on the trading block! I would love for the Phillies to unload him for a few young pitching prospects. I’ve been in arguments with many friends because I think he should be traded for young pitchers.
See. I kept posting all those mentions from mlbtraderumors.com. Ken Rosenthal has been saying that Howard is a serious trade candidate for a while now. Like I said before, maybe there really is something too all this talk. Especially since there is now even more talk.
I’m not really happy about it but, again, if the Phils know there is no way they can or will pay him what he wants and he won’t accept less, they simply must trade him and get everything they can in return rather than just let him walk away.
Good find, Pete.
Put me in the anyone but Amaro or Arbuckle camp, please.
Oh the Phillies can pay him. They just won’t. They could easily afford to up the payroll another $30 - $40 million dollars and still turn a nice profit. I wouldn’t be opposed to trading him for another #1 or high #2 so long as we don’t replace him with slop.
Not sure why you say that, Dan. Did you see this piece in the Inquirer — “Phillies payroll set to bulge” [http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/28860054.html]?
Nine guys, two of whom are basically useless — Eaton and Stairs — will account for $70 M off the top. Five more will cost at least $15 M in arbitration, and it’s easy to envision the Phils trying to lock up two of them this year — Hamels and Victorino — to bigger long term deals. Want Moyer back? That’s at least another $5 M. Add the $3 M they have left on Jim Thome’s deal and that adds up to $93 M… for essentially half a roster, no extensions. That’s NOT INCLUDING Howard, NOT INCLUDING Burrell or a reasonable replacment, NOT INCLUDING any new pitchers, most of the bullpen [because this includes only 2 relievers, Lidge and Romero], or any catchers [since it doesn't include Ruiz or Coste, either]. So, they’re going to spend that $30-40 M more regardless. And, if they can’t get Howard under a long term deal, I’d say the chances of him leaving are pretty high.
Jumpin, how about this comparison; Manny/Albert; avg. 331/348 ; runs 99/94 ; r.b.i 117/106 ; tot. bases 323/321 ; h.r. 36/34 ; O.B.P. 429/453 ; s.p. 600/631 ; k 122/53 ; bb. 85/ 99; and Manny is going to the playoffs, so there !!!!
suede, Like many, I like to watch Manny bat; no doubt he’s a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ sort. In my opinion, he’s the best righthanded-hitting bleepbleep to come out of the AL since Albert Belle. Combined stat accumulation for ‘08 (his contract year) comes close to Pujols, but doesn’t match, let alone exceed. Even if he warranted 1st place votes for his “split-shift” work, he should be disqualified on the basis of mutinous Sox shenanigans, including (just a few of his many offenses mentioned here) not running ground balls out, smacking Youkilis in the dugout during a game and, most egregiously, physically assaulting team’s elderly traveling secretary for not guaranteeing late-requested Yankee Stadium comp tickets (”just do your job!”). The Dominican/Washington Heights
mama’s boy is a hitting prodigy and a self-indulgent, free-spirited, captivating iconoclast in cleats until he doesn’t get his way. THEN all hell breaks loose - transparently, aimedly and dishonorably. Just think, all of that for only 20 million! Yes, suede, Manny is one fine choice … for HAOTY - horse’s ass of the year. Who have you selected for the Cy Young? Shawn Chacon?
The tough thing about last night’s loss is that we mostly beat ourselves. The wild throw by Hamels and the poor base running by Burrell were costly. We just didn’t hit enough to overcome the mistakes.
The good thing for us is that Jo Jo Reyes is pitching for the Braves tonight. He really is lousy, so I would expect to see the offense bounce back and put up some big numbers.
We will also get to see if Myers’ last start was just a lone clunker during his fantastic second half or if he could be losing the mojo he’s had going.
I’m hoping to catch a break from the Cubs tonight. Even though Pinella has starting sitting a few of his regulars, Zambrano is pitching. A good start from him would be very helpful.
Please excuse me for stating the obvious, but the way the Phils have played the last two nights is not good. Losing back to back games is bad enough, but the way they are losing is even worse. A flat offense and sloppy play is no way to lock up a division title.
I realize that Myers deserves a good chunk of the responsibility because he really put us in a hole, but he doesn’t deserve all of it. That error by Howard (his 18th!) was huge. Durbin came in and did his job. He got a ground ball that, with a good throw, would have been the second out of the inning. Then Durbin struck out Francoeur. That would have ended the inning with only one run scoring and we would have been down 4-3.
After that Eyre comes in to face Chipper, who hit from the right side. The next two hitters (Anderson and Johnson) are much less dangerous as well as being left handed hitters. Instead of being cautious or even avoiding Chipper, Eyre makes a mistake that ends up being a 3-run homerun. As a result, the Braves scored 6 runs in the inning on only 3 hits!
Back to Myers. As you know, I was extremely reluctant to accept his turn around and believe that he has remade himself. I held out for a long time because something in the back of my brain told me that it wasn’t for real. Well, I finally started to buy in after his 95 pitch complete game on 3 days rest. Since then, he has been a disaster. (I’m trying to tell myself to give him a little leeway because he still could have some lingering after effects from pitching on short rest, but this is a bit much.) He is being hit a lot and hit hard. In his last two starts Myers has given up 16 runs (14 earned) on 19 hits and 4 walks in 8 1/3 innings. I certainly do not believe that he is this bad of a pitcher. However, it does reinforce for me that he is not the pitcher he was in his first 11 starts after coming back up from the minors either. I should have trusted my gut. I expect Myers to be what he has been. The best we can expect in the future is production similar to what we got from him in 2005 and 2006. Now, that’s not terrible, but it’s no better than #3 starter numbers.
Larry Andersen has been all over Myers through these last two starts. Tonight he was saying that Myers lost whatever rhythm he had during those first 11 starts, that he needs to throw his fastball, that he is pitching scared, that he is back to throwing way too many curveballs and offspeed pitches he is leaving up and over the plate that are getting hammered, and more.
Andersen has also expressed a lot of frustration with the rest of the team as well for their sloppy play, lack of focus, and how they are giving away games. I know I”ve said it before, but it is great to hear an announcer call it like he sees it without sugar coating it or worrying about making players look bad. He would fit right in with us in the blogosphere.
As of right now, the Cubs and Mets are tied at 6 in the bottom of the 9th, and the Brewers are leading the Pirates 4-1 in the top of the 8th. I hate the fact that I am watching the scoreboard and hoping for help. Everything is still within our control. It’s time to start playing like it. It looks like we will need to be backed into a corner, as usual, before we respond.