Ladies and Gentlemen, your candidates for Phillies #5 Starter!
V Padilla...3.0 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 5 HR
G Floyd.....3.0 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO, 2 HR
Yeesh. I hope Ross Perot decides to run again.
Well, that was a mess. I picked it up in the 2nd, with the Mets ahead 3-2. I suppose the fans at the park knew it was going to be a bad night when Jose Reyes led off the game with a homer. I missed the Phillies first opportunity to break the game open, or at least make it a somewhat fair fight. Jim Thome, who is now somewhere between "slow start" and "really bad month", and we hope not on the road to "career-ending collapse", bounced into a 4-6-3 DP with the bases loaded and nobody out to plate the Phils first run. The Mets re-took the lead in the top of the 2nd with another homer, this time by Victor Diaz, whoever he is. Chase Utley made it 3-2 with a homer of his own in the bottom of the 2nd, but then the Phillies stranded the bases loaded when Bob Abreu hit a comebacker to lucky Mets starting pitcher Victor Zambrano to end the inning.
Then the flood gates opened. I especially enjoyed Padilla's sequence of batters with two out in the 4th: Piazza, homer; Floyd, single; Mientkiewicz, homer; Wright, single; Diaz, homer. At least the fans were getting in some good practice hitting the cut-off man. The Mets ended with a team-record seven home runs. Seven! Murph would have been tickled pink. Final score, Mets 16, Phillies 4. Tomorrow is another day.
Next come the Rockies, who have been putting on exhibitions like the Phils did last night on a fairly regular basis. The team ERA sounds like a start time: 7.05. If Thome doesn't break out of it in these two games, he might never break out of it. Cory Lidle faces Jamey Wright, start time...7:05.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
NOW PITCHING, LANDY WORF!
Lost in Translation was last night's theme. The film was airing for the first time, as far as I can figure, on the Encore channel last night, and the Mets were throwing Japanese import Kaz Ishii against the Phils. "Lost In Pronation" was more like it for poor Kaz (look it up).
I missed the first couple of innings fighting with my PC, which has developed a deep aversion to my iPod since Sunday night's power failure. By the time I tuned in, the Phils were up 2-0 on a couple of singles and walks in the first. Ishii walked a couple of more in the second before wriggling out of a jam, but laid up a cookie to Pat Burrell to start off the third, which Burrell took deep for his league-leading fifth homer. David Bell doubled in Jason Michaels later in the inning, and did it again in the fifth to extend the Phillies lead to 5-0.
Randy Wolf, meanwhile, was cruising, giving up singles but not much else. He had a shutout going through eight, with no walks and five K's. About the time Bill Murray whispers into Scarlett Johansson's ear, though, the wheels came off. I guess Bill was telling Scarlett that Wolf was cooked. The Mets led off the ninth with singles by Jose Reyes, Kaz Matsui (Banzai!), and Carlos Beltran, ending the shutout bid and chasing Wolfie in favor of Tim Worrell and his 11.50 ERA. Worrell got Mike Piazza looking on a questionable low inside cutter, but Cliff Floyd hit a 3-0 fastball that will soon be added to the growing registry of space debris. 5-4. Uh-oh. A disheartening Phillies El-Pholdo was not to be, however, as Worrell summoned up a little professionalism and struck out David Wright and induced Doug Mientkiewicz to bounce out to second to pick up the "save".
The win puts the Fightins in a second-place tie with Florida and Atlanta, a game back of Washington, which got run over by the D-Train last night, and a game up on the Mets. I think it's going to be like this all year, except for the Nationals, who I believe are riding the crest of a wave that will collapse about mid-May, when they reel off a five-game losing streak and Bud starts contemplating closing the upper deck at RFK. It's the Mets again tonight, finishing off the two-game series, with Victor Zambrano facing newly activated Vicente Padilla. The Phils will hopefully send Pedro Leery-ano to S/WB and keep Gavin Floyd in the pen.
I missed the first couple of innings fighting with my PC, which has developed a deep aversion to my iPod since Sunday night's power failure. By the time I tuned in, the Phils were up 2-0 on a couple of singles and walks in the first. Ishii walked a couple of more in the second before wriggling out of a jam, but laid up a cookie to Pat Burrell to start off the third, which Burrell took deep for his league-leading fifth homer. David Bell doubled in Jason Michaels later in the inning, and did it again in the fifth to extend the Phillies lead to 5-0.
Randy Wolf, meanwhile, was cruising, giving up singles but not much else. He had a shutout going through eight, with no walks and five K's. About the time Bill Murray whispers into Scarlett Johansson's ear, though, the wheels came off. I guess Bill was telling Scarlett that Wolf was cooked. The Mets led off the ninth with singles by Jose Reyes, Kaz Matsui (Banzai!), and Carlos Beltran, ending the shutout bid and chasing Wolfie in favor of Tim Worrell and his 11.50 ERA. Worrell got Mike Piazza looking on a questionable low inside cutter, but Cliff Floyd hit a 3-0 fastball that will soon be added to the growing registry of space debris. 5-4. Uh-oh. A disheartening Phillies El-Pholdo was not to be, however, as Worrell summoned up a little professionalism and struck out David Wright and induced Doug Mientkiewicz to bounce out to second to pick up the "save".
The win puts the Fightins in a second-place tie with Florida and Atlanta, a game back of Washington, which got run over by the D-Train last night, and a game up on the Mets. I think it's going to be like this all year, except for the Nationals, who I believe are riding the crest of a wave that will collapse about mid-May, when they reel off a five-game losing streak and Bud starts contemplating closing the upper deck at RFK. It's the Mets again tonight, finishing off the two-game series, with Victor Zambrano facing newly activated Vicente Padilla. The Phils will hopefully send Pedro Leery-ano to S/WB and keep Gavin Floyd in the pen.
Monday, April 18, 2005
FUNNY, HE DOESN'T...
The Cardinals are locked in a room, selecting a new pope. Now, I figured Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols were Catholic, but David Eckstein?
Oh. Wrong Cardinals.
Oh. Wrong Cardinals.
HOCKEY NIGHT IN PHILADELPHIA
The AHL proved to be a lot more bloody than I imagined last night. The Philadelphia Phantoms and Norfolk Admirals, playing a meaningless game late in the season prior to the start of the AHL Playoffs, combined to have five players thrown off the ice after three major brawls. The crowd was delighted, if not at the 4-2 win by Norfolk, at least at the sheer animosity displayed by the two teams. They even failed to do the traditional hockey line-up handshake after the game, which may or may not be traditional in the AHL. I don't know, I don't go to enough games.
Keeping with the hockey theme, the Phils sent their very own "Golden Brett", Brett Myers to the hill to face enigmatic lefty Mike Hamptom. Hampton had a brilliant start to his career, and then decided to cash in with the Rockies a couple of seasons back, leaving the New York Mets and inking a huge contract with the Mile High Maulers. It didn't work out, to say the least. Hampton's sinker didn't sink at altitude, and he posted a couple of ungodly ERA's before escaping to the pitcher's haven of Atlanta. He's had moderate success as a Brave, but it wasn't until the second half of last season that he started to return to his earlier form. He came into tonight's game 12-1 in his last 16 starts, and 1-0 so far this year with a 1.29 ERA.
Myers has looked even better so far, 1-0 with a 0.73 ERA. The game started as we were pulling out of the Wachovia Spectrum parking lot, which is kind of like a rugby scrum with cars. Neither team did much of anything until we got home, when Marcus Giles laced a one-out double in the 4th off the wall over Bobby Abreu's glove. Giles was stranded, however, and neither team advanced a runner past second base until the 8th. In the 8th, Myers retired Jordan and Mondesi before our boy, Johnny Estrada, pinch-hitting for starting catcher Eddie Perez, ripped a two out hit into left-center. Pat Burrell made a nice play to hold Estrada to a single, which would be important later. Bobby Cox didn't have any lefty pinch-hitters on the bench who were any better than Hampton, he of the 14 career homers, so he let the pitcher swing. Hampton bashed the first pitch past Jason Michaels in center all the way to the wall. Abreu made a strong throw to cut-off man Placido Polanco, who wheeled and fired to the plate to get the piano-toting Estrada at the plate. It was a good play all-around, albeit kind of odd. Cox had to hit Estrada in that spot, because Perez is not much of a bat, and he couldn't pinch-run because he wouldn't have any catchers left. Charlie Manuel did well to leave Myers in against Hampton, who, after all, is a pitcher. Michaels took a bad angle on the ball, but he was playing in with the pitcher up, and Abreu and Polanco played it just like you draw it up in Spring Training. It was a very satisfying play, especially since it ended the inning with no score.
The Phils went in order in the 8th, and then Billy Wagner made another appearance. Giles hit another one-out double to right, and then stole third. Wagner came through in the clutch, though, throwing two blazers past Chipper (I Still Hate You) Jones to get him looking, and getting Andruw Jones to ground to third. On came the Braves closer, Danny Kolb, who had a few problems with the middle of the Phillies order before getting yesterday's man, Chase Utley, to bounce out to end regulation.
Ryan Madson, last year's bullpen revelation, started the 10th. Madson has been awful so far this year, and his struggles continued last night. Adam La Roche led off with a single, and in keeping with tonight's theme, was pinch-run for by a gentlemen from Canada by the name of Orr. Well, it was Pete Orr, not Bobby, but close enough. Brian Jordan (who else) singled Orr over to third, and then, the lights went out. Literally. Not at the stadium, but in my subdivision. You've got to be kidding me! NO! I guess if I was a real fan, I'd have gone out to the car to hear the rest of the game, but I said the hell with it and went to bed. I didn't see any way the Braves wouldn't get Orr home from third, and with the way Madson's been throwing, it might get ugly quickly.
As it turned out, from reading the Delaware County Daily Times (Slogan: Don't mind the typos, substandard English, and huge ink splotches -- they give the paper character!) Bobby, I mean Pete Orr, did score the game's first run on a sac fly by Raul Mondesi. Bobby Cox then decided to stick with his closer Kolb, letting him bat, and of course, strike out, to end the inning. Bobby will wish he had that one back.
From what I read of the bottom of the 10th, it sounded pretty exciting. I haven't been able to fire up MLB.TV yet today, but I will when I get home. Kolb walked Bell and Lieberthal to start things off, and after Lofton laid down a nice bunt, Kolb threw the ball away to allow pinch runner Tomas Perez to score the tying run. Lieberthal apparently stayed on second (I guess he was using Estrada's piano), which brought Jimmy Rollins up in another bunting situation. Rollins bunted, and then beat the throw from Kolb, loading the bases with nobody out and the winning run now on third. Finally, Cox replaced the frazzled Kolb with Kevin Gryboski (a defenseman from Medicine Hat?). It didn't help, as Placido Polanco quickly sent the crowd into their own parking lot rugby scrum with a clean base-hit down the left-field line, giving the Phillies a big early-season come-from-behind extra-inning 2-1 victory, and a 2-1 series win over the defending division champs.
Sure, it's only game 12 of the season, but this one could reverberate for a while. Cox has to be getting nervous about Kolb, who's blown two games in spectacular fashion already this year. They have Smoltz, but if they move him out the rotation, that would leave a gaping hole. Too bad for them. On the Phils side, they're back at .500, in a second place tie with everyone but the still-drunk-on-having-Tim-Russert-in-the-front-row Nationals. The Delco Times is quoting Kenny Lofton crowing about "little ball", but the bunts wouldn't have mattered if Bell and Lieberthal hadn't drawn those walks, and if Myers and Wagner hadn't thrown nine rows of zeroes. That's Moneyball, and here's hoping the Fightin's keep cashing in.
Keeping with the hockey theme, the Phils sent their very own "Golden Brett", Brett Myers to the hill to face enigmatic lefty Mike Hamptom. Hampton had a brilliant start to his career, and then decided to cash in with the Rockies a couple of seasons back, leaving the New York Mets and inking a huge contract with the Mile High Maulers. It didn't work out, to say the least. Hampton's sinker didn't sink at altitude, and he posted a couple of ungodly ERA's before escaping to the pitcher's haven of Atlanta. He's had moderate success as a Brave, but it wasn't until the second half of last season that he started to return to his earlier form. He came into tonight's game 12-1 in his last 16 starts, and 1-0 so far this year with a 1.29 ERA.
Myers has looked even better so far, 1-0 with a 0.73 ERA. The game started as we were pulling out of the Wachovia Spectrum parking lot, which is kind of like a rugby scrum with cars. Neither team did much of anything until we got home, when Marcus Giles laced a one-out double in the 4th off the wall over Bobby Abreu's glove. Giles was stranded, however, and neither team advanced a runner past second base until the 8th. In the 8th, Myers retired Jordan and Mondesi before our boy, Johnny Estrada, pinch-hitting for starting catcher Eddie Perez, ripped a two out hit into left-center. Pat Burrell made a nice play to hold Estrada to a single, which would be important later. Bobby Cox didn't have any lefty pinch-hitters on the bench who were any better than Hampton, he of the 14 career homers, so he let the pitcher swing. Hampton bashed the first pitch past Jason Michaels in center all the way to the wall. Abreu made a strong throw to cut-off man Placido Polanco, who wheeled and fired to the plate to get the piano-toting Estrada at the plate. It was a good play all-around, albeit kind of odd. Cox had to hit Estrada in that spot, because Perez is not much of a bat, and he couldn't pinch-run because he wouldn't have any catchers left. Charlie Manuel did well to leave Myers in against Hampton, who, after all, is a pitcher. Michaels took a bad angle on the ball, but he was playing in with the pitcher up, and Abreu and Polanco played it just like you draw it up in Spring Training. It was a very satisfying play, especially since it ended the inning with no score.
The Phils went in order in the 8th, and then Billy Wagner made another appearance. Giles hit another one-out double to right, and then stole third. Wagner came through in the clutch, though, throwing two blazers past Chipper (I Still Hate You) Jones to get him looking, and getting Andruw Jones to ground to third. On came the Braves closer, Danny Kolb, who had a few problems with the middle of the Phillies order before getting yesterday's man, Chase Utley, to bounce out to end regulation.
Ryan Madson, last year's bullpen revelation, started the 10th. Madson has been awful so far this year, and his struggles continued last night. Adam La Roche led off with a single, and in keeping with tonight's theme, was pinch-run for by a gentlemen from Canada by the name of Orr. Well, it was Pete Orr, not Bobby, but close enough. Brian Jordan (who else) singled Orr over to third, and then, the lights went out. Literally. Not at the stadium, but in my subdivision. You've got to be kidding me! NO! I guess if I was a real fan, I'd have gone out to the car to hear the rest of the game, but I said the hell with it and went to bed. I didn't see any way the Braves wouldn't get Orr home from third, and with the way Madson's been throwing, it might get ugly quickly.
As it turned out, from reading the Delaware County Daily Times (Slogan: Don't mind the typos, substandard English, and huge ink splotches -- they give the paper character!) Bobby, I mean Pete Orr, did score the game's first run on a sac fly by Raul Mondesi. Bobby Cox then decided to stick with his closer Kolb, letting him bat, and of course, strike out, to end the inning. Bobby will wish he had that one back.
From what I read of the bottom of the 10th, it sounded pretty exciting. I haven't been able to fire up MLB.TV yet today, but I will when I get home. Kolb walked Bell and Lieberthal to start things off, and after Lofton laid down a nice bunt, Kolb threw the ball away to allow pinch runner Tomas Perez to score the tying run. Lieberthal apparently stayed on second (I guess he was using Estrada's piano), which brought Jimmy Rollins up in another bunting situation. Rollins bunted, and then beat the throw from Kolb, loading the bases with nobody out and the winning run now on third. Finally, Cox replaced the frazzled Kolb with Kevin Gryboski (a defenseman from Medicine Hat?). It didn't help, as Placido Polanco quickly sent the crowd into their own parking lot rugby scrum with a clean base-hit down the left-field line, giving the Phillies a big early-season come-from-behind extra-inning 2-1 victory, and a 2-1 series win over the defending division champs.
Sure, it's only game 12 of the season, but this one could reverberate for a while. Cox has to be getting nervous about Kolb, who's blown two games in spectacular fashion already this year. They have Smoltz, but if they move him out the rotation, that would leave a gaping hole. Too bad for them. On the Phils side, they're back at .500, in a second place tie with everyone but the still-drunk-on-having-Tim-Russert-in-the-front-row Nationals. The Delco Times is quoting Kenny Lofton crowing about "little ball", but the bunts wouldn't have mattered if Bell and Lieberthal hadn't drawn those walks, and if Myers and Wagner hadn't thrown nine rows of zeroes. That's Moneyball, and here's hoping the Fightin's keep cashing in.
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