Forty-two more games. Twenty-four road games, 18 home games. This is what separates us from the post-season after last night's 4-3 defeat of the Nats. I'll allow myself about twelve hours of happiness until reality sets in.
J-Roll and Kenny Lofton scored in the first off Washington starter Esteban Loaiza on a Chase Utley sac fly and a Pat Burrell double respectively. In the fourth, Vinny Castilla hit his 943rd home run off Phillies pitching to make it 2-1, and then starter Jon Lieber allowed a double to Christian Guzman, a guy who's been "on the interstate" so long he has a frequent guest card at EconoLodge. A real hitter, Jose Vidro, singled in Guzman to tie it up. Answering back quickly, Rollins and Lofton reached base again in the bottom of the inning, on a single and a double, and Bobby Abreu earned the Phillies Radio Network Star Of The Game (I was listening on the way home last night) by doubling off the Lukoil sign in left center to score both runners. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot held on to the lead barely, with Madson (I guess he would be Yakko) yielding a sac fly to Vinnie after the Nats led off the seventh with a single and a ground-rule double. Wags gave up a leadoff single to Jose Guillen in the ninth before striking out the next two hitters and amazingly getting Vinnie to ground out. Aside from the fourth inning, Lieber was terrific, giving up only three hits and a walk in six innings for his 12th win.
With Houston losing to the Cubs, The Phillies and Astros have identical 64-56 records. We play Houston at home for three in September, and we play the other team with which we are tied in the loss column, Washington, eight more times starting with a doubleheader today. Baseball Prospectus puts our playoff odds at 27.4%, while Houston's are 32.3%. The difference in expected wins between the two teams is only one win, with neither team predicted to win 90 games. Those eight games with Washington, six of which are at RFK, appear to be the key games. They've been tremendous at home (34-22), and we tend not to play well in pitcher's parks. We took two of three there in April, though. This upcoming twelve-game, four-city, bi-coastal road trip with no days off could also serve to expose us like Jude Law changing into his swim trunks (you can find the link to that photo yourself, weirdo. It wasn't that special anyway. I mean...never mind). When you look at it, there isn't really any series we can afford to lose. Let's see...yeah, my twelve hours are nearly up.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD HURLER
It's hard to win a game when you're having a two-hour temper tantrum, as Brett Myers discovered last night. Myers, acting like Terrell Owens after being told to shut up, snit-fitted his way through six miserable innings and three Nationals' homers as the Phils fell by a 6-3 score. I literally got a migraine headache in about the fourth inning and had to go to bed. It was a bad night all around. Larry Bowa's ghost, in the form of his nephew Nick Johnson, struck in the first inning with the first Washington home run. Preston Wilson, our nemesis from his days with the Marlins, hit the other two off Myers. On our side, Jimmy Rollins is now 2 for his last 35, and the umps blew the call on Wilson's second homer, which did not clear the fence in right field, and may have even been interfered with by a fan.
Corey Lidle tries to tie the series tonight vs. Ryan Drese, who we've smacked around pretty good this year against two different teams. The Astros won, dropping us into third place in the wild card, 1.5 games back. Once again, we get oh so close, and then drop back. As Brett Myers would say, "G*dd!mn M#therf^cking C%cks*ck%ng ..."
Corey Lidle tries to tie the series tonight vs. Ryan Drese, who we've smacked around pretty good this year against two different teams. The Astros won, dropping us into third place in the wild card, 1.5 games back. Once again, we get oh so close, and then drop back. As Brett Myers would say, "G*dd!mn M#therf^cking C%cks*ck%ng ..."
Monday, August 15, 2005
PEARLS BEFORE SWOON?
A half-game. We're only a half-game out of the playoffs! How can that be?
Well, one of the reasons is the San Diego Padres. The Phillies completed a season sweep of the Padres on Sunday, wrapping up a 5-1 SoCal road trip. Friday's game turned on a first inning three-run homer by Pat Burrell, who has been an OPS machine in recent days. Jake Peavy was spectacular in innings two through seven, but Jon Lieber was a little bit better overall, holding the Padres to single runs in the first and fourth innings. San Diego nearly tied it in the fourth if not for their freakishly large right field power alley. Mark Sweeney connected on a center-of-the-plate fastball, driving it well over Kenny Lofton's and Bobby Abreu's heads. It seemed like an easy home run off the bat, but it didn't even reach the fence in the air, bouncing in front of the 411 sign. Sweeney was held to a double, and was left stranded to finish the scoring for the night at 3-2. Snap, Crackle, and Pop gave up two hits and struck out three in three innings.
Vicente Padilla faced off with Pedro Astacio on Saturday night. Both pitchers were brilliant through six, until David Bell finally drove in Pat Burrell with two outs in the seventh with a hard single to left. Oogie Urbina relieved Padilla in the eighth and walked leadoff hitter Ryan Klesko before striking out Brian Giles and Mark Sweeney. Urbina then walked Mark Loretta and had two strikes on Khalil Greene before yielding a long double to the wall in center. Klesko scored easily, but Lofton and Utley made perfect relay throws to nail Loretta and preserve the tie. Bruce Bochy opted to bring in closer Trevor Hoffman to start the ninth. Hoffman never looked comfortable, giving up three straight singles to Abreu, Burrell, and Ryan Howard, followed by a sac bunt by Bell and a sac fly by Mike Lieberthal. Jason Michaels ended Hoffman's dismal evening by tripling in the fourth run. Rudy Seanez then wild-pitched Michaels in to make it 5-1. With the save situation gone, Billy Wagner put his jacket back on in favor of Aaron Fultz. Fultz made Billy take his jacket right back off when Miguel Olivo led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to the left field bleachers. After a one-out walk to Xavier Nady, Wags came on and retired the final two hitters for the save and a 5-2 final.
Sunday's game ceased to be a contest when the Phils sent nine men to the plate before making an out in the fifth inning. The final toll was seven runs on six hits and two brutal Padres errors. The first error was by catcher Miguel Olivo, who tried to get the force at third on Robbie Tejeda's sac bunt. The ball ended up in left field, scoring David Bell with the first run of the inning. Later, after starter Chan Ho Park had been pulled, ageless Eric Young, who had made a terrific diving play earlier on Kenny Lofton, blew a routine fielder's choice by throwing wide to second base. That opened the door for Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard to drive in three more runs. Tejeda made it through seven innings for the first time all season, and despite another inflammable Frenchie Cormier inning, the Phils held on to win 8-3. Tejeda lowered his ERA to 2.71.
As noted earlier, Houston lost two of three at home to the Bucs to tighten the wild card race to a mere half-game. The Astros stay home to face the Cubs, who played well to take two of three against the Cards at Wrigley this weekend. We travel cross-country back home to take on the pesky Nationals in what should be a grinding four game series, followed by the Pirates for three. Believe it or not, I have purchased tickets for the Friday game vs. Pittsburgh for what should be my only excursion to Citizens Bank Park this season. I finally convinced my Texas-born wife that at least Bull's Bar-B-Que would be worth the trip. I'll post some photos next week.
I'm still very skeptical we can win this playoff spot. There are simply too many road games left, and too many home games and way too many virtuoso starting pitchers for Houston. Also, Tejeda can't possibly stay effective with that BB/IP ratio, and Charlie can't keep flogging the Nina, the Pinta and The Santa Maria the way he's been doing without one of them breaking down. Throw in an inevitable slump from either Abreu, Burrell, and/or Utley, and we'll be lucky to finish out of last. The late August/early September dive has been the Phillies way for several years now. It's August 15th. Get ready.
Well, one of the reasons is the San Diego Padres. The Phillies completed a season sweep of the Padres on Sunday, wrapping up a 5-1 SoCal road trip. Friday's game turned on a first inning three-run homer by Pat Burrell, who has been an OPS machine in recent days. Jake Peavy was spectacular in innings two through seven, but Jon Lieber was a little bit better overall, holding the Padres to single runs in the first and fourth innings. San Diego nearly tied it in the fourth if not for their freakishly large right field power alley. Mark Sweeney connected on a center-of-the-plate fastball, driving it well over Kenny Lofton's and Bobby Abreu's heads. It seemed like an easy home run off the bat, but it didn't even reach the fence in the air, bouncing in front of the 411 sign. Sweeney was held to a double, and was left stranded to finish the scoring for the night at 3-2. Snap, Crackle, and Pop gave up two hits and struck out three in three innings.
Vicente Padilla faced off with Pedro Astacio on Saturday night. Both pitchers were brilliant through six, until David Bell finally drove in Pat Burrell with two outs in the seventh with a hard single to left. Oogie Urbina relieved Padilla in the eighth and walked leadoff hitter Ryan Klesko before striking out Brian Giles and Mark Sweeney. Urbina then walked Mark Loretta and had two strikes on Khalil Greene before yielding a long double to the wall in center. Klesko scored easily, but Lofton and Utley made perfect relay throws to nail Loretta and preserve the tie. Bruce Bochy opted to bring in closer Trevor Hoffman to start the ninth. Hoffman never looked comfortable, giving up three straight singles to Abreu, Burrell, and Ryan Howard, followed by a sac bunt by Bell and a sac fly by Mike Lieberthal. Jason Michaels ended Hoffman's dismal evening by tripling in the fourth run. Rudy Seanez then wild-pitched Michaels in to make it 5-1. With the save situation gone, Billy Wagner put his jacket back on in favor of Aaron Fultz. Fultz made Billy take his jacket right back off when Miguel Olivo led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to the left field bleachers. After a one-out walk to Xavier Nady, Wags came on and retired the final two hitters for the save and a 5-2 final.
Sunday's game ceased to be a contest when the Phils sent nine men to the plate before making an out in the fifth inning. The final toll was seven runs on six hits and two brutal Padres errors. The first error was by catcher Miguel Olivo, who tried to get the force at third on Robbie Tejeda's sac bunt. The ball ended up in left field, scoring David Bell with the first run of the inning. Later, after starter Chan Ho Park had been pulled, ageless Eric Young, who had made a terrific diving play earlier on Kenny Lofton, blew a routine fielder's choice by throwing wide to second base. That opened the door for Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard to drive in three more runs. Tejeda made it through seven innings for the first time all season, and despite another inflammable Frenchie Cormier inning, the Phils held on to win 8-3. Tejeda lowered his ERA to 2.71.
As noted earlier, Houston lost two of three at home to the Bucs to tighten the wild card race to a mere half-game. The Astros stay home to face the Cubs, who played well to take two of three against the Cards at Wrigley this weekend. We travel cross-country back home to take on the pesky Nationals in what should be a grinding four game series, followed by the Pirates for three. Believe it or not, I have purchased tickets for the Friday game vs. Pittsburgh for what should be my only excursion to Citizens Bank Park this season. I finally convinced my Texas-born wife that at least Bull's Bar-B-Que would be worth the trip. I'll post some photos next week.
I'm still very skeptical we can win this playoff spot. There are simply too many road games left, and too many home games and way too many virtuoso starting pitchers for Houston. Also, Tejeda can't possibly stay effective with that BB/IP ratio, and Charlie can't keep flogging the Nina, the Pinta and The Santa Maria the way he's been doing without one of them breaking down. Throw in an inevitable slump from either Abreu, Burrell, and/or Utley, and we'll be lucky to finish out of last. The late August/early September dive has been the Phillies way for several years now. It's August 15th. Get ready.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)