COLE WAS BRILLIANT and JOSE CONTRERAS AND RYAN MADSON COMPLIMENTED HIM WITH EQUAL PERFORMANCES!

PHILLIES WIN ANOTHER 1 to 0 GAME >>>>>>>>>>>

PULL WITHIN 1 OF THE BRAVES ……………….

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Cole Hamels was the real deal as he has been for some time now. Once again the OFFENSE does nothing behind his shut down performance!

The only glitch for Sir Cole was a rising pitch count that stalled his dominance after 7 very strong innings. He was money and this was a gem. The offense however came up very lame and small.

Brewers starter Chris Capuano was very good but he was on the hook a couple times and the Phillies choked. The worst case was with the bases loaded and NO OUTS and Raul Ibanez looked like a chump flailing at garbage. Carlos Ruiz came up and ripped a line drive to second that ended up being  double play. In that instance you could not fault Ruiz or the runners. But Ibanez did nothing with a prime opportunity.

Overall the boys were a very disappointing 0 for 6 with men in scoring position.

• Phillies managed only 4 hits and 2 walks

• Utley had one of the walks

• Polanco went 1 for 3

• Howard singled

• Werth singled

• Victorino had an odd double and scored the only run

• Ruiz had the only RBI

The story of this game was pitching! Including the Brewers. Again the Phillies did generate enough chances to net more than a run but the Brewers pitching was very solid.

Hamels had electric stuff but so did Contreras and Madson. It was very exciting to watch. I mean as frustrating as it was to watch the Phillies bats be silenced there was no nervous feelings that the Brewers were going to do anything. The Phillies pitchers was just not going to let that happen.

The win was made more magical by the Braves loss to the Marlins!

I’m back after a couple days off and wow the PHILLIES remembered their way to HOME PLATE!

THURSDAY THRILLER A 12 to 11 HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT WIN …………….

MOVE BACK TO WITHIN 2 OF THE BRAVEHEARTS ………….

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Well it as no surprise that Blanton was due for a crappy start. Actually let me state this more accurately, he sucked. And that is not being critical it is being honest. Frankly I was expecting this in his last start after he had 2 very good starts. So coming off of 3 pretty good starts was almost a guarantee that this was going to happen. Blanton was in “danger” of having his ERA drop under 5 and we all know he seems to be trying to avoid that.

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
J Blanton	4.1	10	6	4	2	3	3	86-56	5.25
D Herndon	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	6-4	4.37
A Bastardo (W, 1-0)	1.0	4	1	1	0	2	0	19-16	5.79
C Durbin	1.0	4	3	3	0	1	0	28-16	3.86
J Romero (H,	0.1	0	0	0	1	0	0	6-2	3.69
J Contreras (H, 11)	0.2	1	0	0	1	0	0	14-6	3.09
B Lidge (S, 19)	1.0	1	1	0	1	1	0	21-14	3.57

Sorry Joe but until you prove otherwise, we’re done with you. Yes we appreciate your occasional real quality starts, not just the fact that you make it to the 6th inning. Yes the recently new coined “quality start” stat is a joke of a sham and a farce! It’s made for slackers like Blanton who have the physical ability to have quality starts but do not possess the mental strength and discipline to be consistent.

Offensively it had appeared that the offense had gone back into it’s fraidy cat shell as the PHILLIES were getting shalacked 7 to 3 headed into the 7th. However the crooked number was primed and ready to be uncorked! And the PHILLIES went off for 9 runs highlighted by a Chase Utley GRANNY! 4 of 6 RBI’s on the night for the Chaser.

INSIDE THE O-FFENSE- GROSS INCOME STATS:

• 15 Hits

• 3 Walks

• Rollins a walk and a hit. Scored a run

• Polanco 2 for 5 with a double and a scored run

• Utley the man of the night went 2 for 4 with 6 RBI’S! GRAND SLAM, an RBI single, and a sac fly. He scored twice

• Howard had a 2 run BOMB! He also had a walk

• Werth followed Howard’s bomb with a solo shot of his own and was on fire going 3 for 5. He scored 3 times!

• Ibanez went 2 for 5 with an RBI

• Victorino was also 2 for 5 and he scored

• Schneider was 1 for 4 with a walk and a run scored

• Ben Francisco had a pinch hit and an RBI. He also scored

• Mike Sweeney had a pinch hit RBI

• A robust 7 for 13 with men in scoring position is good any day, any time!

• 5, 2 out RBI’s

Back to the rubber:

Blanton was not alone in the poor pitching department. Durbin also sucked on Thursday. This guy has turned into Jekyll and Hyde also. I believe that is because he is overworked. He needs like a month off to get ready for the playoffs. I said this a few weeks ago that he looks like he has tired arm disease. Frankly the Phillies had the game turned around and under control until Durbin let the Rockies back in the game with a lame 3 ER inning.

It was delightful to see Lidge back in form. He has been money recently, let’s all continue to pray this will remain this way!

SIDE POINT OF THE WEEK:

I am a little miffed at Charlie this week. The Offense has been abysmal from like August 19th until Tuesday and he continues to remain in his safe zone of waiting for the big hit. Oh he gives lip service to the “small ball” or “manufacture run” department but the Phillies continue to fall short of doing it consistently.

This week has been a prime example. Do you how many times they had situations to do the little things and they did not? For instance look at the lead off doubles they had and they did not show the ability to bunt the man or move the man any other way to third! When your offense is giving you nothing you MUST do this! Look unless your surname is Howard you need to know how to bunt a guy over! When you’re scoring on a regular basis than you can be a little more patient.

Now in fairness there were a couple times they sent a man on first basically on contact with less than 2 outs to get him to 3rd and that you also need to do at times.

BIG WIN but the BRAVES aren’t conceding anything. They did lose to the Mets on Thursday to give a game back to the PHILLIES. But the PHILLIES already had given that one to the Braves with their choke against the Astros.

This is not going to be easy …………………….. and the PHILLIES are finishing off an unbelievable stretch of like 23 days in a row of games! Next up they come home to host Milwaukee.

The Dodgers shut out Phillies behind Kuroda’s 1 hitter!

THIS IS NOT GOOD …………..

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SOLID PITCHING ?    CHECK

DEFENSE?                      SHAKY

HITTING?                      NON EXISTENT

ANOTHER HALLADAY START laid to rest without support. He did not pitch outstanding but clearly good enough to win. This was one of the games that Halladay spread out 10 hits but did not give up a ton of runs. He did surrender 3 however which is like 30 when it is against the present Phillies offensive efforts.

I would give a lot of credence to the fact that the Padres have great pitching and that Hiroki Kuroda pitched an outstanding game. But the fact is the Phillies offense have had their heads buried in the sand for almost 2 weeks now and have had these anemic stretches all season long!

OFFENSE?:

• 1 hit by Victorino

• 0 for 2 with men in scoring position is as lame as it gets

• Ironically Howard did not strike out

With the Braves win the Phillies fall back to 3 behind again! It may not seem like it but time is running out.

UPDATE:

1. Starting on August 17, 2010 the Phillies had to go the rest of the year going 30 and 15 or at least 29 and 16

2. Since then they are 7 and 7 !

3. The Braves were on a pace to finish 25 and 19 which would have them 1 behind the Phillies if the Phillies won 29 of the final 45

4. The Braves have gone 7 and 6 since the 17th. They had one game in hand and the Phillies blew that one with a loss on Thursday to the Astros

5. So to finish with the 20 and 16 record from August 17th, the Phillies need to go 22 and 9 over the last 31 games starting Tuesday August 31, 2010! Not likely but not impossible.

BIGGEST OBSTACLE? – THE COMOTISE OFFENSE !

This is the offense that has the talent and ability to lead the entire MLB in offense. Even with injuries a plenty they are still loaded for bear! But the fact is as a unit they have underachieved.

They have been shut out 11 times so far this season. They have had numerous games with 5 hits or less. They have been disappointing overall.

The only good news is they are a resilient bunch that ignore stats and have pulled out wins. Of course this is more do to quality pitching and good defense overall.

So like it or not the boys need to wake up out of this stupor at the plate or dreams of defending their NL EAST crown or their NL PENNANT will never happen! Oh and they need to continue to get this kind of starting pitching and relief!

HAMELS FINALLY GETS A LITTLE LOVE FROM HIS OFFENSE ….PHILLIES PREVAIL 5 to 0!

MIKE SWEENEY HELPS WITH A 2 RUN HR, HIS FIRST AS A PHILLIE ……..

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 What a difference traveling to California made! Or did it?

Ironically the Phillies sweep the Padres but nothing really changed from the last week. Starting pitching was very good to great and offense stunk! Even the 5 runs on Sunday were partially a gift with the Padres uncharacteristically committng 4 errors. 

On one hand it’s all about the wins and losses. Frankly it is true that whether you are hitting or not you need to find a way to win. Of course you always hope your pitching is keeping you in the game but it also helps when you get good to great defense. And the Phillies do often get that.  Polanco made some outstanding plays and Sweeney made a great catch on a long foul fly ball n Sunday.

Hamels clearly wanted to finish but with 115 pitches and a 5 run lead it was clear he was coming out. Honeslty it was a miracle he made it through 8 when you saw how many pitches he threw in the first 2 innings. But Cole battled and buckled down and was an ace from the 3rd inning on! Actually he was great in the first 2 just not as sharp.

OFFENSE: OR THE NEXT BEST THING

• 5 Hits

• 1 Walk

• Rollins 1 hit but a huge RBI to give the Phillies their first run

• Werth had a huge walk in which he was driven home by Mike Sweeney’s HR. He also hit a solo HR!

• Sweeney had a the big 2 run HR

• Carlos Ruiz had a quiet big game with 2 hits and he scored 2 runs

• 3 2 out RBI’s

• 1 for 5 with men in scoring position continues to underscore the latest trend of lack of offense

Off to LA and Halladay faces Kuroda on Monday night  …………………….

Braves win and Giants win so nothing changes in standings ……………….

THIS IS INSANE! THE PHILLIES WIN WITH A PATHETIC 3 HIT NIGHT!

BLANTON TOSSES A SOLID GAME AND VICTORINO DRIVES IN 2 of the 3 runs ……………

BRAVES WIN – GIANTS AND CARDINALS LOSE ………………………

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KUDOS to Joe Blanton. He’s had a horrific season if we are summarizing, but he has had 3 very solid starts in a row! Joe I have criticized your inconsistency and lack of quality starts or in some cases finishes, but my man you have, at least for now you have gutted it out and redeemed yourself when it counts.

As for the offense? This may be even worse than the May/June/July debacle! Which is hard to do even if they were trying to duplicate or top it.

• 3 Hits

• 4 Walks which helped

• 1 for 6 with men in scoring position

• Rollins had a hit

• Victorino had 2 hits and 2 big RBI’s – he had a triple in the 7th that drove Werth home. Victorino scored a run also.

• Werth scored 2 runs

• Sweeney drove in Victorino for the 3rd run

• Game was played at 1 pm West time – so I can imagine both teams were somewhat lethargic after the 12th inning game Friday night!

> This was the 12th game in a row that the Phillies have played !

> 12 more games to play in the next 11 days!

It was nice to see Lidge bounce back and have a good save also!

NEXT UP Hamels goes for the series clincher on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD NEWS IS PHILLIES WIN AND THE BRAVES LOSE!

BAD NEWS IS PHILLIES OFFENSE CONTINUES TO SUCK ROTTEN EGGS AND OSWALT GETS THE SHAFT

12th inning is the charm …… and no ejections!

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Roy Oswalt pitched his Asstro off and has nothing to show for it. And really the offense should be past embarrassment now as they continue to play with their heads up their rear end. And as I always say every team and every player is going to have bad times and look foolish, that is just baseball. But when it becomes a practice than it is ridiculous.

This is the first time they have scored more than 2 runs since Monday and only the 2nd time in the last 8 games they have scored more than 2. And get this they broke this “streak” by scoring 3 runs.

I also feel bad for Lidge who did blow the save in the bottom of the 9th and it didn’t help giving up a lead off single to Matt Stairs! And then with the Padres Eckstein bunting, pinch runner Hairston advanced to 2nd. The Phillies opted to walk Adrian Gonzalez but Lidge took it a little farther by hitting Ryan Ludwick to load the bases! It hit rock bottom when Lidge balked home the tying run! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I will restrain from getting on Lidge since he has put together a nice string of outings and was probably due for one of these. Although it does send his ERA back  over 4 runs per game!

Now in the spirit of fairness the Phillies did face a stud pitcher in Matt Latos and he too pitched a great game. The Phillies managed 5 hits and 1 earned run in 8 strong innings off of Latos. The one semi-good thing about the Phillies offensive effort is this is the first time in a few games they actually generated some opportunities.

• 9 Hits and 2 Walks

• Rollins had a big night with 3 hits and a double, a walk, and he scored twice

• Polanco had 2 hits and an RBI

• Utley was 1 for4 with an RBI and 2 walks

• Howard walked and got a hit but he also whiffed 4 more times!

• Ibanez had a hit and and a big RBI

• The former Clean up hitting Roy Oswalt also had a hit – maybe Howard should hit 9th in games Oswalt pitches?

• 3 for 9 with men in scoring position is not great but 9 opportunities is far better than 4 or 5!

• Strand 11

So we all breathe a sigh of relief but we will need to start panicking by Saturday afternoon because we have the pleasure of knowing it’s Blanton’s turn to pitch. Ironically Blanton has had back to back great starts, well at least by Blanton standards and that only heightens my fears of disaster. What are the odds that he has a third straight very good or great start?

That said it would be really cool if he could just keep it close and then the offense …………………. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH …. with the recent track record of that, I am more fearful they won’t score at all now that they just scored 3!

NOTE TO SELF: Buy more Maalox and Tums for tonights game!

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT COULDN’T GET WORSE ……………………….

PHILLIES EMBARRASS THEMSELVES AGAIN AND DIG A DEEPER HOLE ………..

THEY GET BEAT BUY WANDA? REALLY WANDY RODRIGUEZ 5 hits you for 7 innings?

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Earlier in the season when the offense went into the witness protection program I had written the boys off for this season and did not think they would rebound. And I have consistently maintained that they were not making the post season.

However when they acquired Roy Oswalt I thought. “wow what if they did make the playoffs. What a rotation that would be!”  In fact I want them to prove me wrong so bad it isn’t funny. They did stabilize some after the All Star break to stay within reach but now they have went back into hiding.

Frankly it is ridiculous and inexcusable for a line up of this talent level and experience to go through yet another stretch like this. It is now officially a week long toilet swirly they are getting. Other than Sunday August 22, 2010 they have not scored more than 2 runs in 7 days and 7 Games! This is a joke and a choke.

Yes it happens now and again that a team does this sort of thing. But not numerous times during 1 season and for such long stretches! At least not to Championship Teams. Even the Pirates are laughing at us!

Honestly I DVR’d the game and haven’t even bothered watching it yet. Hey I’ve seen that re-run over and over. And for the millionth time I am not upset at losing I am livid at the lack of production and the repeated mistakes. For a resilient bunch and a talented bunch they have displayed an awful lack in discipline and appear to be too set in their ways. No one is reaching them mentally. Oh and I know coaches are talking.

It is clear to a man they have the “we know we need to play better” attitude going. But that’s just it. No one doubts their work ethic or their desire. When things are going like this you need to listen to those watching you and heed their advice in where you are slipping up and some of the things you need to change or try. Often times professional athletes are too stubborn and unwilling to accept that they have lost focus. They confuse that with meaning that would mean they don’t care. Which is part of the problem. WE know you care and you know you care but baseball is a very long and demanding season and no one remains 100% focused for 162 Games plus. So when you are falling asleep at the wheel when you were convinced that you were fine, sometimes you need to pull into a rest stop and re-group.

That time has come and gone again for this team. I also pray that none of them are even considering using injury as an excuse because it is not even a factor in reality. Oh it needs to be addressed when it happens but the Phillies did not just get swept by a garbage team due to injuries. And yes the Astros are garbage.  I know everyone is saying the correct thing “oh they are a Major League team, blah, blah, blah” but they flat out stink and have no business out playing you at such a crucial time.

Look even with out Rollins and stretches without Polanco at the same time the Phillies built a commanding division lead. With Rollins back and before Utley went down they stunk to high heaven for a very long stretch and coughed up that lead and fell as far as third place. Then without Utley and a stretch without Howard and Victorino,  and with a inconsistent Rollins they got back in the race! So I don’t want to hear the injury excuse. There is no way that they would have played that much better had anything been different. Had they played average or well during the times they had a healthier line up then you could point to injuries as being more of a factor. But you won just as much with back ups as you did with regulars! No really they have.

• 7 hits

• 0 for 5 with men in scoring position! : This is the sign of shameful offense. Not only when you don’t hit with men in scoring position but when you don’t even get men in scoring position!

• I’ll mention Raul Ibanez was 3 for 3 and won’t bother with anyone else

Ironically Kendrick finally had just a so so game. His pattern all year has been either really good or really really bad. Thursday he was probably good enough that he gave you a chance to win. But with this offense now you MUST post a shut out!

THE GOOD NEWS is the Offense is well rested to travel to San Diego for the weekend against real pitchers!!!!!!!!!!

THE REALLY REALLY BAD NEWS? – Even if the Phillies and the Braves head into their first series exactly the way they are right now, which is with the Phillies 3 games out, that would mean the Phillies would almost have to sweep the first series with Atlanta in September to hold a chance! 2 would be a must. That is unlikely with all things considered.

So now it is 6 games out of 7 that the Phillies could only score 2 runs or less!

Another shameful loss and dunderheaded baserunning …………

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For the second straight day the Philadelphia Phillies knew that the NL EAST leading Braves lost before their game concluded. And for the second straight day it had absolutely no influence and gave them no incentive to beat the garbage Astros.

Sad to say but the Phillies act like maybe they aren’t interested in the post season. For a second straight day a Phillies base runner got picked off by the catcher! Then again maybe it makes sense that the runners are falling asleep on base. Think about it. If you are a Phillies base runner you know you are going to be stuck there.

Yes the Phillies offense is so dead right now that when the Phillies are up to bat buzzards are circling over head! I heard that the Coroner is going to be called in to declare this team officially dead if they drop the 4th game in a row to the Astros!

Phillies starter Roy Halladay once again got th short end of the stick too. Of course he was not as sharp as he usually is either. He gave up 2 HR’s and 3 runs and took the loss.

The Offense that was:

• 7 Hits

• 2 Walks

• 1 Stupid base running error

• Victorino a hit and a walk

• Polanco a double and an RBI

• Werth a solo HR

• Sweeney a single

• Howard a pinch hit single

• Ruiz a hit

• Halladay a hit

• A pathetic 1 for 4 with men in scoring position. Made more pathetic by the fact that they only had 4 opportunites!

Today (THURSDAY) is huge. With the Braves having played 1 more game than the Phils today is the equalizer. So by tonight, or early Friday if the game goes like 33 innings, the Phillies wil be either 2 games out or 3!

And who is our arm to stop the bleeding? KYLE KENDRICK!  Which Kendrick will it be?  Jekyll or Hyde?

MORE TO COME – NOTICE THE 14th INNING STRETCH!

PHILLIES LOSE A WACKY 16 INNING DUEL WITH THE LISTLESS ASTROS ………

5 Game in 6 DAYS THEY SCORE 2 RUNS OR LESS!

ANOTHER WASTED GREAT START BY COLE HAMELS ……….

BRAVES LOSE AGAIN AND PHILLIES DO NOT CASH IN ……..

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It’s 2:47 am on Wednesday 8/25/2010. I left my house at 3:28 pm on Tuesday 8/24/2010 to go to Citizen’s Bank Park to enjoy a night watching my favorite sport and my favorite team!

Surely with Cole Hamels going against Bud “who is that” Norris and it being Carlos Ruiz Bobble Head night the Phillies would win. How could they possibly have another choke of a night after scoring 2 runs or less in 4 of the previous 5 games. That is not possible right? Oh not so fast my friends.

This is the return of the team who got shut out of Citi Field in June and dropped a comfortable lead in the NL EAST to the Braves and were in 3rd place for a bit. Of course the Mets did their annual plummet out from in front of the Phillies but the Phillies are still looking up at the Braves.

Oddly enough I must go to work in like 10 minutes! So I am going to just post a few quick thoughts and first reactions:

1. Before we even mention the men in blue let us reflect again on how pathetic of an effort this was as a potent offensive line up. There is no excuse for a team of this talent to not score more than 2 runs in a game in 5 out of 6 games

2. Again let us consider we were facing Bud Norris! Yes of the famous Norris baseball family. Bud has done as much in pro baseball as Chuck Norris has as a Texas Ranger. Really 5 hits and 1 run off of Bud Norris? Oh and let me remind you that Bud walked a few Phillies to give us opportunity enough to score a run or 2 more!

3. Hamels looked great again. Other than a ball he elevated to Hunter Pence who lasered beamed a liner for a hit and then a bad location pitch also elevated to Carlos Lee, Hamels was very good. He deserved the win!

4. The bullpen was very good also. Pitching from the 8th thru the 16th and only giving up the 2 final runs to the Astros in the 16th.

5. Jimmy Rollins game tying HR in the bottom of the 9th was awesome!

6. Herndon was in his 3rd inning when he sort of imploded which is his M-O as far as I have seen. He has been good in 1 inning roles consistently, so so in 2 innings stints and not good when he is asked to go 3. That said both runs were scored without a ball leaving the infield!

7. Did not agree with Charlie’s decisions to have Lidge in the 9th. Game tie I and thinking of winning I would have given the ball to Contreras. But that said he goes Lidge, Contreras, Madson, and then Baez. Baez did very well and did not throw many pitches and has not thrown many in a long time. Mostly because he stinks but ………….. with only Herndon left in the pen Manuel should have let Baez go at least 1 more. All of this is hindsight of course.

8. The Howard fiasco was building all night. No one wants to say it but he look clueless at the plate and you can’t tell me that did not feed the fire. The balls and strikes started consistent through the first 6 innings but then Home plate Ump got erratic and unpredictable and that was making everybody ancy and frustrated.

9. The 14th inning blow up was an embarrassment to umpiring in this respect. Be a man about your call and do not mock a player. Also you should restrain from tossing a guy in that scenario. You knew the Phillies had no bench left!

10. I do not absolve Howard though. I am probably the only one but he has to shoulder just as much blame. First of all both pitches he checked his swing at were atrociously bad pitches. One was in the dirt! He had no business even thinking about swinging at either one of them. You get called on a swing you have to remember you were the one who started the sequence!

11. Howard has to know the situation, he already knew the guy was mocking him. He should have just went back to the dugout and took it like a professional. He put his team in the situation to play Roy Oswalt in left and Ibanez at first. That wasn’t the Umpire Ryan who made you throw your helmet and bat like that. Should you have been thrown out? Probably not, but it would have never happened if you would have sucked it up and complained loudly at the press conference!

12. I knew Oswalt was going to be the guy who came in the game. For starters he is a great athlete and ironically this game was against his former team!

13. Watching Oswalt field the first fly was bizarrely awesome! And I was saying from the time Howard got ejected that Oswalt would get an at bat with the game on the line. I have seen too much baseball not to call that one.

14. Repeat: Howard should have foreseen the same thing I did.

15. Howard’s blow up was even stranger. At one point another Umpire was helping restrain Howard. How is that professional? Players should not touch umps and umps should not touch players! Regardless of intent I might add!

Be back later …………..