The Phillies head home with a split, which was really all we could ask for. I didn’t talk much about Game 2 because I didn’t really think there was much to talk about. In my opinion, you tip your hat to A.J. Burnett. He was locating a 95 mph moving fastball and painting the outside corner with a 77mph breaking ball. He threw first pitch strikes and had his good stuff. I’m sure Yankees’ fans blamed their hitters for Lee’s performance, but we knew it was just Lee being on. This was just Burnett being on, in my opinion.
There were 2 positives I took from Game 2. First was that Pedro Martinez did what we needed him to, and I would trust him to do it again. His fastball velocity was 2-3 mph lower than we’ve seen, but he got by with that “Bugs Bunny” change-up. I’m already curious to see if he will be back next year.
Secondly, while we didn’t get to Rivera, we came close and our 1-6 hitters all saw a bunch of pitches from Rivera. Rivera is so effective because his cutter acts differently than any other pitch, however, teams sometimes find success after seeing him a lot and getting used to it. Hopefully our hitters saw something they can use next time around.
I’m heading down to Game 3 tonight (5th row in Left Field, hoping to catch a Phillies’ HR or two) so I won’t be around to chat. However, I didn’t really last time either, and you guys had a great conversation going.
Here’s what I’m looking at in Game 3
- I went to Game 3 last year as well and got rained on – and it looks like I will be again. Hopefully this doesn’t affect the game too much. Though if there is delay after an inning or two and each team has to remove their starter, the game could turn into a slugfest.
- There is an article on Phillies.com about how Hamels has battled elbow soreness all season, but “feels great” right now. Despite his struggles, he seems positive and he has the stuff still to dominate. It’s all about location for him tonight. I’m always hopeful, but I’m not expecting the 2008 Hamels to come out of that dugout.
- Our current players have a .222 career average against Andy Pettitte. He usually gives them a quality start in the playoffs, but has occasionally gotten knocked around. I’m looking for Jayson Werth to get a big hit tonight of Pettitte.
- It was unanimous among Phillies’ players, my friends who were at the Games and the sports writers: the Yankees’ fans were quiet and a complete non-factor. I am quite certain Philly fans tonight will not be “quiet and a non-factor.” I am very much looking forward to informing A-Rod he did steroids at the top of my lungs.
- Hideki Matsui did not play a single game in the field this season. Will he sit out all 3 of these games?
- The Phillies have not gone down 2-1 in any series in the last 2 seasons. This is a big game tonight, especially with Charlie going with Blanton against CC tomorrow.
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{ 98 comments… read them below or add one }
Pete, Nothing to talk about after Game 2 beyond starter Burnett? I roundly disagree, and submit following items which lent themselves to controversy:
1) Jason Werth’s boneheaded mistake of getting picked off 1st in tight, tense affair
2) Phils’ plate passivity/bats remaining on 1st pitch-shoulders even when a ’strike’ pattern had been developed by Burnett (22 of 25)
3) Manuel’s decision after conferring w/Martinez to leave Pedro in to pitch 7th inning
4) Manuel’s decision to brake speedy baserunners Rollins & Victorino with Utley up, 1 out, 3-2 count, 8th inning, down 2
5) Continued umpiring gaffes … Howard started “DP”, Cano-Jeter-Texeira “DP”
6) A-Rod & ”Big Piece” personifying “whiff” machines in Series to date
7) Park-Ruiz one-batter friction and resultant Yankee RBI single in 7th
While Burnett’s strong performance was central, there was plenty to chew on besides that.
The play of tonight’s fan factor will be an interesting aspect. Somehow, though human like Rockies and Dodgers before them, I expect Yankees, a cooly corporate organization and veterans of big attention, to better weather the Philadelphia stands’ vehement “freedom.” But can’t be sure of that. And then you have the umpires’ steel (or not) to consider.
jjg -
all good points – but nothing terribly abnormal that doesn’t happen in lots of games. I’ll address your points though, since they are all valid.
Wild Thing just predicted Hamels would show up and get the W in an 8-6 win. I don’t know if 6 runs can count as “showing up” but it would be nice.
Don’t know if I’m alone on this one but Pettite is the NYY pitcher I am most afraid of. He’s just so calm and collected and, more so than any other professional athlete on the planet ,treat this as any other game. He’s been here so many times.
Its officially pouring down there now, stay dry Pete.
Swisher sounded like he was on SPEED in that interview.
Cole is lighting up the strike zone. Good sign, establishing the heat early. Hopefully with the intent to change it up with the curve ball later.
Two quick outs.
They are going bonkers at the Bank!! Great 1st by Cole!!!
Perfect start Cole.
That’s two balls that should be errors on A-rod that were called hits in the last two games.
Watch for Pettitte’s move to first. Now I am okay with them being caution on first.
Tim McCarver is a fucking idiot!!
As long as A-Rod plays that far off the line Rollins has got him beat every time.
COME ON lefties! Rollins got his first lead off hit and stole the bag we did nothing with it.
Howard hasn’t looked good at all in the WS.
Silver Lining: forced AP to throw 20 pitches to four hitters and he looked very uncomfortable with Rollins on base.
Bat weights, another philanthropic contribution from the Yankees to the rest of the world. Thanks for that worthless piece of information McCarver, you suck.
Pete called it.
Righties gotta carry us looks like so far.
YEAH COLE! Beautiful
Let’s make something of this Jimmy.
At least Victorino turned that horrendous AB into something productive.
Pettitte and Posada are not on the same page at all right now and Andy doesn’t look comfortable at all.
Gotta rely on the righties.
you’re right on Dannie. Of all the starters we’ll see in this series Pettite is the last guy I expected to look like this.
51 pitches for Pettitte through 2 innings he won’t be in there too much longer. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing right now actually.
FUCK!
That was huge.
Cole struck out Texeria and they missed that call. And that weak ass HR.
At least Cole rebounded from the HR with two quick outs…the Cole of the last couple games would have let that snowball into something worse….
Am I having a home team bias by thinking that the replay was not conclusive?
Drew–I thought that the replay was inconclusive until Fox showed one particular angle where it seemed that the ball would have gone out. Either way, I am not sure what the rule states on the criteria are for overruling an on-field call.
What the fuck is Cole doing throwing his junk curve to a pitcher and a guy that couldn’t hit shit all postseason.
Come on man!
Why do you throw a F&$*n curveball to the F*&&&*N PITCHER!!!!
Hamels fucking sucks. I hate this dude.
I spoke too soon
Dodger game anyone? Blows up in the 5th
Wow he is really going to bring in the rookie who hasn’t pitched well all post season to face A-rod with two guys on base. Wow.
Why do you throw a F&$*n curveball to the F*&&&*N PITCHER!!!!
My thoughts exactly.
Happ is a player with a bright future and big hype. This is one of those moments where you start to show its for real. Happ is my favorite young player on this team and this is a big moment in the kid’s career.
Jorge bailed him out there. Bad 3-0 swing. Lineup’s got to pick up their starter.
Cole has completely forgot HOW to pitch. His stuff is still there but he has no clue how to use it right now. How to attack different hitters and situations. And cool guy from last postseason looks like he was a fluke, because every time he runs into a little bit of trouble he completely falls apart. He hasn’t shown any ability to bounce back or shut down a run before it kills us.
Depending how this game ends Charlie might seriously need to reconsider pitching Lee on 3 days rest. No way I would trust Cole with the ball again in this series.
Utley needs to get on base here and make a Howard AB a dangerous thing.
so much for that. Howard has got to get going, he has been atrocious.
Hamels really needs to learn a third pitch in the offseason….
I want to see Utley or Howard just once looked pissed off after an AB. They look like dejected kids that can’t figure out a video game. Get angry, get fired up, wake the fuck up it’s the WORLD SERIES!!
You gotta be fucking kidding me. Nick Swisher??? Really??
Unbelievable. HELLO YOUR BEST PITCH IS A CHANGE UP.
Pete was right on the money with his calling for Werth to get some big hits.
Hi, my name’s Jayson. Yeah, with a Y. I’m the guy carrying my team tonight.
They need get the PC up around 100, a couple of hits and we could chase Pettite from this game. Robertson, Coke and Joba are just begging to get shelled.
One of our lefties needs to fucking do something
Man our lefty dominant line-up looks like shit right now. If only Feliz could give us more power. Need one more strong righty batter.
Feliz!! Come on! You’re killing me!
ooo, Bruntlett on deck for Happ. Just let J hit and get another inning out of him.
Why the hell is Bruntlett on deck instead of Francisco?…I know Francisco hasn’t done much in the playoffs but Bruntlett hasn’t done anything all season let alone hit in the postseason….
Jurnee – Only the 6th inning and their are two outs with a slow running at first. I guess saving him for a better spot.
Jurnee, Bruntlett hasn’t stepped in the box this postseason.. That was a fucking waste.
I really feel like that Swisher homer could end up being the difference.
Hey Cole knows who to buy cable from but can’t figure out how to pitch more than 4 effective big league innings. Its a good thing he isn’t a bug league pitcher… oh wait.
Its over folks. Yanks are better than us. Pitching just can’t match up with Hamels off his game. No shame there. Utley had his one good game and Howard is back to his slump swing. Blanton tomorrow…yikes. Just hope they don’t get to celebrate in the Bank after game 5.
what bothers me is we seem incapable of putting together 3-4 hits. Begging for walks and then hoping for a dinger. Where are the line drives?
phillyfan – Dude you can take your defeatist attitude somewhere else
phillyfan – Dude you can take your defeatist attitude somewhere else>>
If I am right does that make me a defeatist? Or just right.
It’s still defeatist.
I’ll give you one thing. This has been demoralizing.
You basically gave up on the whole rest of the series in the 7th inning of game 3 at home.
This is the 5th straight inning where the Yankees got a baserunner. Our pitchers have not been able to close out innings all night.
GO PHILLIES!
Demoralizing? It’s one game. The worse that happens is we are down 2-1 with two more home games to play.
Plenty of series left to play. Relax.
Cocky Yankee bastids – god I hate them
its over – we are dealing with a different animal. Milw, rockies, dodgers, rockies didn’t have this confidence and experience. Look at Petite – we would have chewed a similar pitcher up in the past after giving up three early runs, but he didn’t lose his poise. You just have to hand it to them – they are better.
For the love of a Philly Steak – Kick some Yankee Ass!
Ideal situation would be to nickel and dime Hughes a little bit. A walk, maybe a single before a big hit. Girardi doesn’t want to use Mo tonight but I think Hughes will have a short leash. And for good reason, the Phillies should be able to get something off him. If they can get it close before Girardi pulls Hughes, ther can get the crowd back and make Mo close it out in a hostile environment rather than the drowsy one they are in now.
Dannie, I meant demoralizing in that its been rough to watch the Phillies go down inning after inning without people not named Werth get anything going. I have not given up on anything, not by a mile.
Alright Chooch! Three more fellas.
Chooch. Go down fightin, Phils.
That fastball was on a string, dead straight.
So much for Phil Hughes. Girardi’s not going to screw around with this one. Shows some respect for what this lineup can do.
everybody knows the NBA is rigged – no revelation there.
This isn’t the Mets folk, this is an ass kicking machine that rolls over for no one. Congrats on your title last season, lots of teams wish they had one. You have one hell of a team, but just not good enough to take out the Bombers.
Well at least the Flyers and the Sixers won! Hopefully, the Phillies can recover in this series.
The Greek-
You appear to be unfamiliar with the concept of a 7-game series. We will tell you when it’s actually over.
I’m not sure why Dannie didn’t relay this information – but I caught Matsui’s HR ball in the 8th inning and was so pissed that I threw it back about 0.00001 seconds after I got my hands on it.
OK! i gotta say one thing: this was not a fun game. this was a sucky game. i want fun. FUN!
pick yourselves up meen, what did you think was gonna happen, they would just let you win?
if we do get to a game 6 or 7, i expect not to see Hamels there.
the post game conference remarks and body language should have sealed the deal for Charlie.
Geez, it was one game!!!! I predicted Phillies in 7 and I stand by that. We will beat them in front of their mystique,statues, and fans.
if we do get to a game 6 or 7, i expect not to see Hamels there.>>
Well, Pedro would figure to get Game 6. Depending on tonight, Blanton would be a viable candidate on 3 days rest. Lee could maybe give as much as 2 innings (in relief). I don’t know wheteher or not Hamels should pitch at all. Well, I do, but it’s hard to admit, I guess.
Regarding Blanton tonight, I was a little surprised by his outing against the Dodgers. So often, Joe shows a pattern of eventually settling in after a dubious start. Against the Dodgers, he was great early and then lost it. I’m sure general opinion would be that the Phils have to get a lead early to restablize, but I don’t see it that way. Whenever within tonight, they have to execute against what has been a tremendous pitching staff. This will not be a night for Blanton to make more than 1 mistake or so, but there is zero reason to be negative about tonight’s game. CC is a stud, but in no way, shape or form is he unbeatable.
Ken – Charlie already said he wouldn’t hesitate to go back with Hamels in game 7 if we got there.
how long is Manuel going to babysit his players. Hamels keeps self destructing out there. well he’s got more faith in him than I do.
‘ I look at that, if he can do it for three innings, why can’t he keep going’- by that reasoning I should have Kyle Kendrick starting every game.
Am I alone in that I don’t think Hamels was that bad last night? That was a bs ball call on Texiera, and ARod was late in his swing on the ball he hit out. Did you see how surprised ARod was when he realized it was not going to be a pop out. Tip your hat to his strength. The fifth inning, Hamels was not as sharp especially against Swisher and Damon – but those were two really fluky bloops with Jeter and Pettitt. The ball was not being hit hard. With the exception of the curve to Swisher, he was locating it as well as he needed to, to be effective. His fastball was pretty good locationwise. I was surprised more by his lack of use of the change, but I was guessing he was going to give the hitter a heavy dose of it in the 5/6th. If he had to pitch in a game 7, I honestly would take my chances starting him with an all-hands on deck approach.
A bigger concern to me is Howard. He is getting himself into waaaaayyyy too many 0-2 1-2 counts – and some off-balance swing and misses. It seems like, the Yanks are going to give him a heavy dose of breaking balls down and away. I would like to see him start taking pitches that aren’t inside early in the count – or really look to go the other way. Would like to see Utley have some more productive ABs as well. This lineup is deap enough to inflict some damage without those two hitting, but not good enough to beat the Yankees in a 7 game series without them.
Make CC work tonight – and let’s get some key hits by those two guys!
PG – I personally don’t agree with your opinion of Hamels. You actually sound like Hamels did in his interviews after the game.
I think Hamels was horrible in terms of end results 5 ER and 2 walks in 4 and a third. I don’t get how that isn’t bad anyway you look at it?
But his pitch selection and timing was horrible in my opinion. Walking Tex in front of A-rod was a big mistake. For one he was ahead 2-1 in the count and threw three straight balls.
The pitch to Texeria could go either way on any given pitch. It was close. He it didn’t go his way that time. I don’t think it was a no brainer strike to be called “BS.”
But the point is you have to attack Tex knowing A-Rod is behind.
A-rod gets credit for his strength but the pitch was still out over the plate and up. A-Rod has yet to prove he can hit hard stuff inside or the change down and away. The pitch was poor location and choice in my opinion.
The curve to Swisher was atrocious. Down and in would be right in Swishers hitting zone. He has looked terrible on off-speed stuff away.
And throwing a curve to Pettitte was again a terrible choice of pitch. He said after the game it was a clear bunting situation. I disagree. It was a running already in scoring position with 1 out. Moving him to third having 2 outs is a marginal play, not automatic. Especially when the that could be achieved with a ground ball swinging. Besides that throw something hard to force the guy to lay down a good bunt. Maybe he bunts it hard back and you can hold the runner.
Either way he got beat using his weakest pitch, to the Yankees weakest hitters that isn’t good pitching to me.
I don’t trust him and wouldn’t pitch him again especially hearing his defeatist comments after the game.
Hamels was OK. In the regular season – who knows he may have gone 7 innings and given up no more runs. Only 69 pitches. Our offense is killing us. Chase and Howard have dissappeared last two games – especially Chase in terms of men on base. We need to put up an 8-10 spot ourselves. That is what this team is built on and they aren’t doing it.
Dannie,
Yes his line was terrible. Bottom line, a good performance can be separated from a bad performance by a couple of key ABs – and he was the victim of a couple of bloop singles, what I thought was a terrible call (I guess we’ll agree to disagree), and yes as I pointed out before a bad pitch to Swisher. In retrospect, it was not a good pitch to Pettitt, but hindsight is 20/20. It is not a bad time to try to show that fact you can throw the curve for strikes. No way he can go through that lineup 3 times by exclusively throwing 2 pitches in my opinion.
I had not read his postgame comments before. As you indicate, I am really not impressed with his affect/attitude/confidence/whatever. When you are in the WS, you should not say “I am looking forward to the offseason.” Agreed agreed agreed.
However, I think we as fans are a little more entitled to look at where he broke down and analyze it honestly without sounding defeatest. Were I him in the postgame, I would have said something along the lines of, “I did not make my pitches, I sucked, and I am sorry to let my team down. I want everything in my power to get the chance to throw again, and show how I can pitch.” I am not going to come here as a fan and say that. Was he good last night? No. I just did not find his perfromance so terrible (and I’ll give you, I had not read his comments) that I feel like the sky is falling, and there is no way he can throw again – which was the sense I got from reading all the recaps from last night. If it goes to a game 7, it’s an all hands on deck, and I feel like he showed he can throw a few innings effectively. Obviously there is something going on in his head, and I do not pretend to know what is going on.
7 of the last 10 batters Hamels faced reached base … that’s poor pitching any way you cut it.
You mean like he did ALL of last season and the postseason – with tremendous success?
The world series isn’t the time for experimenting with a weak third pitch.
If you are going to get beat, get beat throwing your best stuff.
My problem with Hamels hasn’t been his stuff. As you said he fastball and change looked perfectly fine to me. It’s been his approach to games, hitters and different situations. I feel like he hasn’t had a strong game plan for line-ups and his ability to effectively adjust as he goes through a line-up a couple times and handle tough situations has been sorely lacking.
At this point I don’t think it should be all hands on deck. It should be all capable hands on deck. Hamels has yet to prove he is capable this season and imploded leading to a blown 3 run lead in a pivotal game 3 of the WS.
Had he stopped the bleeding after the A-rod homer I wouldn’t be as critical. But that’s just it, his ability to stop bleeding has been nonexistent. And I would worry that if you put him on the mound again we won’t be able to get him out before he kills us again.
????? Dannie, I am not trying to split hairs….. but he did throw his curve last year and this year. It is not great, nor does he throw it often (nor should he), but when mixed in effectively – it was enough.
I would also not say that he was not “tremendously successful” this year by any stretch of the imagination. He had a plus 4 ERA and was 10-11. You are right in that he was “tremendously successful” last year especially in the postseason and he threw the curve nearly 15% of the time. According to fangraphs he has thrown it 8% of the time in the months of September and October. Does not seem like experimenting to me when he is throwing it half of the time he was last year. If he is going to throw it, I would rather he throw it against the pitcher or the weaker hitter than any of the 1-6 in tough counts.
I am not trying to argue what his best pitches are, but that lineup is just too good to only throw two pitches against. He can get away with it against a Marlins lineup, but not this one on any given day. I agree that he should not be trying out a new pitch nor did I suggest that.
Again, I will concede I did not read his post game comments until you alluded to them, and that is serious cause for concern – and I will again point out I have no idea where his head is. I am not trying to argue that either.
Charlie is going to be put in a tough spot should there be a game 7. My thought process about not completely giving up on Hamels is that he has looked ok through the first three innings in the last three games. I don’t know how many innings Happ will be able to give when he hasn’t started in a long time and he has been pitching multiple innings in relief – which I see him doing tonight as well. I don’t know what will happen with the other pitchers between now and then. I would obviously love to pitch Pedro and CL Smooth every other day at this point.
Anyway, this is getting away from my original point in that Hamels does not nearly concern me as much as Howard and Utley have been swinging the bat. It does not matter who is pitching game 7….if Howard and Utley continue to look lost at the plate. I am not all doom and gloom because baseball can switch at a moments’ notice unlike any other sport. But Werth can hit all the solo homeruns in the world and it will still be really tough without those two coming through with either men on base – or getting on base period.
Correction Dannie, I thought you were talking about last season and this season. My point about what he did this year is irrelevant. My apologies.
I still want to make my point about distinctions between last postseason and this post season.
lol Pete, yes please let me know when it’s over.