Single, single, walk, grand slam. Yeah, that's a pretty good way to start a game. Bobby Abreu awoke from his home run slumber to stake the Phils to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, and Todd Pratt and Chase Utley added solo shots in a 6-4 win. The Cubs sandwiched two two-run innings around Pratt's fifth inning homer, but never got closer than a 1-run deficit. Brett Myers won his 10th game, and the Swingin' Bullpen Trio was outstanding again, giving up only a single in two and two thirds innings. Daddy Wags picked up save number 25, which, if nothing else, will help him extract more cash from Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner around winter meetings time.
The Astros lost to the sub-.500 but still playoff-hopeful D'Backs, but the Nats and Marlins (oh, and the Braves) also won. The Phils' are now 2.5 back in the wild card and still six back for, oh never mind. The Big Blue Brew Crew stops by for three starting tonight, followed by a six-game trip to Chavez Ravine and Petco Park. Jeez, I sound like Jeannie Zelasko. Anyway, tonight's matchup pits the Brewers big stud, Ben Sheets, against our, uh, decidedly un-stud Corey Lidle. Sheets is on my Strat team, so I've been following him closely. After a Cy Young-quality season last year, he went down early in the season with an inner ear infection, took a while to recover, and has been superb of late. His last outing was a complete-game six-hitter against the Giants. It gets easier the final two games with Chris Capuano on Saturday and the immortal Tomo Ohka on Sunday afternoon, but tonight's game may be simply a chance to watch one of the best pitchers in the majors be his dominant self. Having written that, I now expect a final score of about 14-12.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Thursday, August 04, 2005
GRIN AND BARRETT
Sometimes, you have to let the Cubs be the Cubs. On a very odd play that I've never seen before and will likely never see again, the Phillies scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a Pat Burrell walk-off strikeout to beat the cursed Cubbies 4-3.
As with most Wednesdays, I missed the prelude. The Phils took a 1-0 lead in the third on a Bobby Abreu double, a Pat Burrell walk, a Ryan Howard infield single, and a David Bell sac fly. Mike Lieberthal followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead, and after Robbie Tejeda bunted his way on via Chicago starter Jerome Williams' error, J-Roll grounded into a fielder's choice to score Howard for the third Phils run. Tejeda was fantastic again, allowing only a single run in the fifth on three cheap singles and a sac fly by pinch-hitter Jose Macias.
It was looking like an easy W as Charlie turned it over to the Swingin' Bullpen Trio in the seventh. Ryan Madson got no love from the Phils defense, however, allowing two unearned runs in his seventh inning stint. The only error was by David Bell, who was eaten up by an Aramis Ramirez grounder to lead things off. After Todd Walker whiffed, Neifi Perez doubled and Michael Barrett lined out, Manuel was forced to bring in Frenchie Cormier to face the left-handed pinch-hitter Todd Hollandsworth with runners on second and third. Hollandsworth hit a broken bat looper into right field that Abreu got a terrible jump on and which fell in for a two-run double and a tie game. I had just re-joined the game on the radio at that point, and Wheels and Scott Graham were busy convincing each other that Abreu was justifiably confused by the broken bat. I haven't seen it yet, but in light of the ending, I really don't care anymore.
Will Ohman retired the Phils in the bottom of the seventh, and Oogie Urbina took care of the Cubs in the eighth. The Phils had runners at second third with two outs off Roberto Novoa in their half of the eighth until Tomas Perez skied to shallow center to end the threat. Daddy Wags skated through the top of the ninth, and then the fun began.
Lefty Mike Remlinger, who is far better against righties, took the mound for the Cubs in the ninth. J-Roll, hitting right anyway, greeted him a double up the gap to right center that might have been a triple had there not been none out. Kenny Lofton moved the runner to third with a grounder to Derek Lee and nearly beat it out when Remlinger didn't cover. Dusty Baker then walked Utley and Abreu to load the bases, and inexplicably brought in righty Mike Wuertz to face Burrell. Do managers never look at stats or know their own players? Remlinger held righties to a .562 OPS from 2002 to 2004 vs. .757 vs. lefties, and he has a .699 vs. .884 righty/lefty split this year. The Braves knew this when they had him, and used him as a setup guy against both kind of hitters. Dusty apparently thinks he's a LOOGY despite all evidence to the contrary. Oh well. Like I said, you have to let the Cubs be the Cubs.
Facing Wuertz, Burrell worked the count to 2-2 after taking some bad swings at a couple of sliders, and then swung and missed again on a nasty breaking pitch for the second out. Catcher Michael Barrett, however, couldn't handle the pitch and it squirted behind him a few feet but not all the way to the backstop. With a runner on and less than two outs, of course, Burrell is out without any further play needing to be made. Pat started running to first anyway, and Barrett looked confused for a second before noticing that Jimmy Rollins was barreling home. J-Roll quickly stopped and raced back toward third, and Barrett panicked and heaved the ball toward a stunned Aramis Ramirez, who had to lunge to his left to grab it. J-Roll then executed a perfect pirouette and headed back home again, easily beating Ramirez's return throw for the winning run. I sat there and watched this all unfold on Comcast Sportsnet, not knowing what the hell was going on. I initially thought there was a force play at home, but I forgot that there was only two out after Burrell struck out and nobody had to advance. Then I was pissed at J-Roll for thinking he could score on a ball only feet from home plate. Finally I was jubilant as I realized that Barrett had completely blown the rundown play by making far too long of an initial throw. As Dana Carvey doing Johnny Carson might say, "weird, wild stuff."
The win kept us from falling even further behind the Astros, who shut out Arizona. We even managed to pick up a game on the Braves, again, not that it matters. We're 3.5 back in the wild card, six back in the division. We go for the series win this afternoon with Brett Myers against the oft-injured but brilliant when healthy Mark Prior. Is this a Businessgoat's Special?
As with most Wednesdays, I missed the prelude. The Phils took a 1-0 lead in the third on a Bobby Abreu double, a Pat Burrell walk, a Ryan Howard infield single, and a David Bell sac fly. Mike Lieberthal followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead, and after Robbie Tejeda bunted his way on via Chicago starter Jerome Williams' error, J-Roll grounded into a fielder's choice to score Howard for the third Phils run. Tejeda was fantastic again, allowing only a single run in the fifth on three cheap singles and a sac fly by pinch-hitter Jose Macias.
It was looking like an easy W as Charlie turned it over to the Swingin' Bullpen Trio in the seventh. Ryan Madson got no love from the Phils defense, however, allowing two unearned runs in his seventh inning stint. The only error was by David Bell, who was eaten up by an Aramis Ramirez grounder to lead things off. After Todd Walker whiffed, Neifi Perez doubled and Michael Barrett lined out, Manuel was forced to bring in Frenchie Cormier to face the left-handed pinch-hitter Todd Hollandsworth with runners on second and third. Hollandsworth hit a broken bat looper into right field that Abreu got a terrible jump on and which fell in for a two-run double and a tie game. I had just re-joined the game on the radio at that point, and Wheels and Scott Graham were busy convincing each other that Abreu was justifiably confused by the broken bat. I haven't seen it yet, but in light of the ending, I really don't care anymore.
Will Ohman retired the Phils in the bottom of the seventh, and Oogie Urbina took care of the Cubs in the eighth. The Phils had runners at second third with two outs off Roberto Novoa in their half of the eighth until Tomas Perez skied to shallow center to end the threat. Daddy Wags skated through the top of the ninth, and then the fun began.
Lefty Mike Remlinger, who is far better against righties, took the mound for the Cubs in the ninth. J-Roll, hitting right anyway, greeted him a double up the gap to right center that might have been a triple had there not been none out. Kenny Lofton moved the runner to third with a grounder to Derek Lee and nearly beat it out when Remlinger didn't cover. Dusty Baker then walked Utley and Abreu to load the bases, and inexplicably brought in righty Mike Wuertz to face Burrell. Do managers never look at stats or know their own players? Remlinger held righties to a .562 OPS from 2002 to 2004 vs. .757 vs. lefties, and he has a .699 vs. .884 righty/lefty split this year. The Braves knew this when they had him, and used him as a setup guy against both kind of hitters. Dusty apparently thinks he's a LOOGY despite all evidence to the contrary. Oh well. Like I said, you have to let the Cubs be the Cubs.
Facing Wuertz, Burrell worked the count to 2-2 after taking some bad swings at a couple of sliders, and then swung and missed again on a nasty breaking pitch for the second out. Catcher Michael Barrett, however, couldn't handle the pitch and it squirted behind him a few feet but not all the way to the backstop. With a runner on and less than two outs, of course, Burrell is out without any further play needing to be made. Pat started running to first anyway, and Barrett looked confused for a second before noticing that Jimmy Rollins was barreling home. J-Roll quickly stopped and raced back toward third, and Barrett panicked and heaved the ball toward a stunned Aramis Ramirez, who had to lunge to his left to grab it. J-Roll then executed a perfect pirouette and headed back home again, easily beating Ramirez's return throw for the winning run. I sat there and watched this all unfold on Comcast Sportsnet, not knowing what the hell was going on. I initially thought there was a force play at home, but I forgot that there was only two out after Burrell struck out and nobody had to advance. Then I was pissed at J-Roll for thinking he could score on a ball only feet from home plate. Finally I was jubilant as I realized that Barrett had completely blown the rundown play by making far too long of an initial throw. As Dana Carvey doing Johnny Carson might say, "weird, wild stuff."
The win kept us from falling even further behind the Astros, who shut out Arizona. We even managed to pick up a game on the Braves, again, not that it matters. We're 3.5 back in the wild card, six back in the division. We go for the series win this afternoon with Brett Myers against the oft-injured but brilliant when healthy Mark Prior. Is this a Businessgoat's Special?
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
TOMAS THEN NO MAS
Infuriating.
The Phils dropped a maddening, disturbing, yes, infuriating game to the Cubs by a 2-1 score last night. They wasted another good outing by Vicente Padilla, who was still in there chucking to start the eighth inning despite having already topped 100 pitches for only the third time this year and despite never having gone more than seven innings all season and despite a rested bullpen. AARRRGHH! Come on, Charlie, you've been extremely consistent in using Madson, Urbina, and Wagner in late-inning pressure situations recently. Why was this one different? Maybe with Brett Myers or a veteran like Jon Lieber or Corey Lidle you let him pitch the eighth inning in a 0-0 game, but certainly not with Padilla.
The results were predictable, as Padilla tired, loading the bases before Oogie was finally summoned. Urbina nearly wild-pitched himself out of the inning, strangely enough. He let one go to Aramis Ramirez that bounced straight back to Mike Lieberthal, who after looking around a bit finally noticed that Jeromy Burnitz was halfway to second base while all the other runners had stayed put. That pickoff was the second out of the inning, and for a moment it looked like the Phils would exit unscathed. Ramirez then hit a sharp grounder that David Bell would handle or at least knock down about 90% of the time. Naturally, the ball skipped by a sliding Bell into left field to score two runs. AAARRGGHHH! again. After a harmless hit by Todd Walker, Neifi Perez was fanned, but the 2-0 deficit loomed over the inept Phillies offense the way the Baseball Writers Association of America will be looming over the career of Rafael Palmeiro in a few years.
The Phillies went quietly in their half of the eighth against Carlos Zambrano, who was doing his best Roger Clemens impersonation last night. Zambrano allowed no runs and only four hits in eight innings. After Madson retired the Cubs in the top half of ninth, Cubs closer-for-now Ryan Dempster retired Kenny Lofton to start the bottom of the inning. Then came a whole lot of missing of the strike zone. Dempster walked Chase Utley, Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, and finally Ryan Howard to force in the Phillies only run of the night. In light of ensuing events, it looked like a canny strategy on the part of Dusty Baker. For some unknown reason, Manuel let David Bell, a .207 hitter against righties entering the night, face the hard-throwing Dempster. Tomas Perez a switch hitter, was available on the bench. Matt Kata, another switch hitter, was not, having gone in to pinch-run for Burrell. Why not pinch-run Jason Michaels, a right-handed hitter, and keep Kata available to pinch hit? Why did you not use Micahels at all for any reason? Why, Charlie, why? Bell flailed at a 2-2 slider for the second out, and then Perez, hitting for Lieberthal, had the worst at-bat in recorded history, waving at two high fastballs that Yao Ming would have taken for the game ending strikeout. Did I mention AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!
The loss dropped us 3.5 games behind the Astros, who beat Arizona behind the real Roger Clemens. Not that it matters, but the Braves won again (surprise) and now have a 5.5 game lead over Washington, 6.5 over Florida, and 7 over us. The Cubs and Mets are only a half-game back of us for the wild card. Did we ever need that game. Argh.
The Phils dropped a maddening, disturbing, yes, infuriating game to the Cubs by a 2-1 score last night. They wasted another good outing by Vicente Padilla, who was still in there chucking to start the eighth inning despite having already topped 100 pitches for only the third time this year and despite never having gone more than seven innings all season and despite a rested bullpen. AARRRGHH! Come on, Charlie, you've been extremely consistent in using Madson, Urbina, and Wagner in late-inning pressure situations recently. Why was this one different? Maybe with Brett Myers or a veteran like Jon Lieber or Corey Lidle you let him pitch the eighth inning in a 0-0 game, but certainly not with Padilla.
The results were predictable, as Padilla tired, loading the bases before Oogie was finally summoned. Urbina nearly wild-pitched himself out of the inning, strangely enough. He let one go to Aramis Ramirez that bounced straight back to Mike Lieberthal, who after looking around a bit finally noticed that Jeromy Burnitz was halfway to second base while all the other runners had stayed put. That pickoff was the second out of the inning, and for a moment it looked like the Phils would exit unscathed. Ramirez then hit a sharp grounder that David Bell would handle or at least knock down about 90% of the time. Naturally, the ball skipped by a sliding Bell into left field to score two runs. AAARRGGHHH! again. After a harmless hit by Todd Walker, Neifi Perez was fanned, but the 2-0 deficit loomed over the inept Phillies offense the way the Baseball Writers Association of America will be looming over the career of Rafael Palmeiro in a few years.
The Phillies went quietly in their half of the eighth against Carlos Zambrano, who was doing his best Roger Clemens impersonation last night. Zambrano allowed no runs and only four hits in eight innings. After Madson retired the Cubs in the top half of ninth, Cubs closer-for-now Ryan Dempster retired Kenny Lofton to start the bottom of the inning. Then came a whole lot of missing of the strike zone. Dempster walked Chase Utley, Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, and finally Ryan Howard to force in the Phillies only run of the night. In light of ensuing events, it looked like a canny strategy on the part of Dusty Baker. For some unknown reason, Manuel let David Bell, a .207 hitter against righties entering the night, face the hard-throwing Dempster. Tomas Perez a switch hitter, was available on the bench. Matt Kata, another switch hitter, was not, having gone in to pinch-run for Burrell. Why not pinch-run Jason Michaels, a right-handed hitter, and keep Kata available to pinch hit? Why did you not use Micahels at all for any reason? Why, Charlie, why? Bell flailed at a 2-2 slider for the second out, and then Perez, hitting for Lieberthal, had the worst at-bat in recorded history, waving at two high fastballs that Yao Ming would have taken for the game ending strikeout. Did I mention AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!
The loss dropped us 3.5 games behind the Astros, who beat Arizona behind the real Roger Clemens. Not that it matters, but the Braves won again (surprise) and now have a 5.5 game lead over Washington, 6.5 over Florida, and 7 over us. The Cubs and Mets are only a half-game back of us for the wild card. Did we ever need that game. Argh.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
ACH DU LIEBER!
Recapping the weekend, the Phils turned in a good but not great performance in Colorado, winning three of four and managing to keep within hailing distance of the Astros for the wild card.
Game two on Friday was a solid outing by Brett Myers to pick up his ninth win. Myers went six and change and turned it over to The Chollie Manuel Swingin' Bullpen Trio of Ryan Madson, Oogie Urbina, and Billy Wagner for the final 7 outs and a 5-3 final. The offense was provided by everyone but Pat Burrell, the only Phil to take a collar.
On Saturday, the Phils streaked to a 7-1 lead behind Corey Lidle, who along with Aaron Fultz gave almost all of it back before the C.M.S.B.T. retired the final nine batters in order to wrap up the 8-7 victory. Burrell made up for Friday by going 4-for-4 and driving in two runs and scoring two.
Jeff Francis, the only Rockies pitcher who seems un-intimidated by Coors Field, took the hill on Sunday and mowed down the Phils for six shutout innings in a 9-2 Rockies win. Jon Lieber was also cruising through the first four with only one hit allowed before one of the Rocky Mountains fell on him. The Rocks went single, double, out, single, single, sac fly, HBP, double, single, homer before Lieber was finally pulled after allowing nine runs. Not necessarily needless to say in this park, that was all Colorado needed.
The wild card deficit remains a scant 2.5 games behind the Astros, who finally lost a game on Sunday to the Mets. The Nats also beat the Marlins Sunday, leaving the Fish tied with us for third in the division race, which looks all but over with Atlanta five games clear.
Now for the deadline trade analysis. (Tapping of feet.) (Looking at watch.) (Uncomfortable silence.) (Looking at shoes). Ok, there was no deadline trade. I really thought Ed would move Billy Wagner, but in hindsight, it's probably a good thing he didn't. Considering the names of the players who changed hands, none of them were worth to us what Wagner might be for the next two months, and even if Billy walks away to free agency after the season, we'll still get a sandwich pick in the draft which will be probably be more useful in the long run than Ron Villone or Yorvit Torrealba. The Braves added the flame-throwing but inconsistent Kyle Farnsworth to compete with Chris Reitsma for their closer role. Knowing them, it will work out beautifully and the Braves will win the pennant. If Wade had made that deal, we'd be hanging him in effigy after Farnsworth blew his fifth consecutive save in some sort of spectacular fashion.
We're back home Tuesday after an off day against another wild card rival, the Cubbies. Vicente Padilla looks to extend his recent run of not-bad games against Chicago's Carlos Zambrano. The Brewers are next after the Cubs. The Astros are on a roadie to Arizona and San Fran. It would have been better if it had been St. Louis and Atlanta, but you take what you can get. We could very easily make up the 2.5 on the Astros, but then again, the Nats and Marlins are there, too. The torture continues.
Game two on Friday was a solid outing by Brett Myers to pick up his ninth win. Myers went six and change and turned it over to The Chollie Manuel Swingin' Bullpen Trio of Ryan Madson, Oogie Urbina, and Billy Wagner for the final 7 outs and a 5-3 final. The offense was provided by everyone but Pat Burrell, the only Phil to take a collar.
On Saturday, the Phils streaked to a 7-1 lead behind Corey Lidle, who along with Aaron Fultz gave almost all of it back before the C.M.S.B.T. retired the final nine batters in order to wrap up the 8-7 victory. Burrell made up for Friday by going 4-for-4 and driving in two runs and scoring two.
Jeff Francis, the only Rockies pitcher who seems un-intimidated by Coors Field, took the hill on Sunday and mowed down the Phils for six shutout innings in a 9-2 Rockies win. Jon Lieber was also cruising through the first four with only one hit allowed before one of the Rocky Mountains fell on him. The Rocks went single, double, out, single, single, sac fly, HBP, double, single, homer before Lieber was finally pulled after allowing nine runs. Not necessarily needless to say in this park, that was all Colorado needed.
The wild card deficit remains a scant 2.5 games behind the Astros, who finally lost a game on Sunday to the Mets. The Nats also beat the Marlins Sunday, leaving the Fish tied with us for third in the division race, which looks all but over with Atlanta five games clear.
Now for the deadline trade analysis. (Tapping of feet.) (Looking at watch.) (Uncomfortable silence.) (Looking at shoes). Ok, there was no deadline trade. I really thought Ed would move Billy Wagner, but in hindsight, it's probably a good thing he didn't. Considering the names of the players who changed hands, none of them were worth to us what Wagner might be for the next two months, and even if Billy walks away to free agency after the season, we'll still get a sandwich pick in the draft which will be probably be more useful in the long run than Ron Villone or Yorvit Torrealba. The Braves added the flame-throwing but inconsistent Kyle Farnsworth to compete with Chris Reitsma for their closer role. Knowing them, it will work out beautifully and the Braves will win the pennant. If Wade had made that deal, we'd be hanging him in effigy after Farnsworth blew his fifth consecutive save in some sort of spectacular fashion.
We're back home Tuesday after an off day against another wild card rival, the Cubbies. Vicente Padilla looks to extend his recent run of not-bad games against Chicago's Carlos Zambrano. The Brewers are next after the Cubs. The Astros are on a roadie to Arizona and San Fran. It would have been better if it had been St. Louis and Atlanta, but you take what you can get. We could very easily make up the 2.5 on the Astros, but then again, the Nats and Marlins are there, too. The torture continues.
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