Archive for May, 2009
Moyer Gets His 250th Win, Phils Sweep Away Nats
Posted by WTT in Game Summaries on May 31st, 2009
What went down: Jamie Moyer tossed six effective innings to pace a 4-2 Phillies win and earned his 250th career win in the process. Chase Utley got the Phillies on the board in the first with an RBI double and Ryan Howard gave the Phils some breathing room in the eighth with a rare RBI triple. Lidge locked down his third straight save with a perfect ninth, picking up his fourth straight save and twelfth overall. First, let us congratulate Moyer for achieving such a historic milestone. Now, let me also say it’s about fucking time.
Who and what pissed me off: This space will be relatively light today because they played a clean game, but Jimmy Rollins went 0 for 5 and Jayson Werth went 0 for 3. They are starting to make themselves very comfortable in this space.
What I liked: Ryan Howard. His RBI triple in the eighth all but cemented the win and series sweep.
Question: Is it a bigger deal that he actually won a game, or that he won his 250th?
Jamie Moyer. He wasn’t just okay, effective, or acceptable today. Instead, he was simply good. He hasn’t been good very often this year, but Moyer absolutely shut down an above average offensive team on a warm day at the park. It’s only one game, but it’s encouraging nonetheless.
Brad Lidge. That is four saves in a row for Lidge, who retired the side in order in all three games this weekend. His numbers are still atrocious, but his performance during this series could go a long way to righting his ship for the rest of the season.
Can somebody please explain to me: What the fuck the Phillies were thinking with their give away today? Chase Utley Alternate Batting Helmet Day? It was for kids 14 and under, which is cool, I guess. But what kid is going to where that? I wasn’t at the game today, but I guess my biggest problem was that I was in South Philly Sunday afternoon and saw some certified douche bag in a Mini Cooper wearing one. Anyone over the age of ten who wears this should immediately get their ass kicked. Thank you.
Be sure to sport this in your Mini Cooper- You will get tons of ass, dude.
Now what: The Phillies embark on a tough ten-game road trip that includes stops in San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York. Joe Blanton will take on Kevin Correia (1-3, 5.11 ERA) tomorrow night. It’s a big one not only because it would be nice to start a long trip off with a win, but they follow with a Bastardo/Peavy matchup on Tuesday night. What are reasonable expectations for this road trip? I’ll take 6-4 or 5-5.
Phillies Overcome Hamels’ Sucktitude, Bang Out 9-6 Win
Posted by WTT in Game Summaries on May 31st, 2009
Boss.
What went down: Ryan Howard peppered the second and third decks of Citizens Bank Park with a two home run, 5 RBI performance to bail out Cole Hamels’ shitty six-inning performance. Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge slammed the door in the eighth and ninth, respectively, to give the Phillies only their second series win at home this season.
Who and what pissed me off: Cole Hamels. The starting pitching has been better lately, and Hamels’ resurgence has been a big part of that, but he was just short of dreadful tonight. The three-run second inning was bad, but the sixth inning was brutal. Hamels allowed the first two runners to reach base before inducing a double play. Out of the inning, right? Wrong. Ronnie Belliard followed with a two-run shot to bring Washington within a run. It’s bad enough that he sucked, but the timing couldn’t be worse. With Brett Myers on the shelf, Cole Hamels has to be a dominant staff ace, not a guy that pitches well in spurts and hovers in that 4.50-5.30 ERA range. We are a two months in, let’s go.
Jimmy Rollins. Rollins had two hits, raising his average to a robust .232. I’d like to focus on the fifth inning at-bat in which he followed a walk by Greg Dobbs with a first-pitch pop-up to shortstop. That is the type of at at-bat that has plagued Rollins all year, and it is frustrating to see that he has yet to make significant changes to his approach. The Phillies were bailed out later in the inning by an absolutely awful error by Anderson Hernandez, but that isn’t the point. Rollins has never had the approach at the plate of a typical leadoff hitter, and that’s fine, we’ve all accepted it at this point. An aggressive approach, however, must remain a smart one. If you are swinging first pitch, you better be looking to drive the ball.
Chris Wheeler. Hey man, on Howard’s home run-the ball went into the third deck. Two replays showed it. Tom McCarthy told you it was in the third deck. It took you precisely 150 seconds to realize it was in the third deck. Maybe if you shut the fuck up for two seconds or weren’t doing your little fist pump/seizure move in the booth this would have occurred to you.
What I liked: Ryan Howard. Two homers that sailed no less than a combined 800 feet. 5 RBI. Not a bad night for the big guy.
Ryan Madson. I hopped in the car to start my Saturday night drinking at the start of the eighth inning. By the time I reached the red light at the end of the street the inning was over. I like that. He’s been on fire as of late.
Brad Lidge. This is the Lidge we have been waiting for. It seems like as soon as something bad happens to Lidge in an inning this year, things seem to snowball. So, it was particularly encouraging that after a leadoff single he rolled a double play and retired the side in order. Instead of having that “aw, shit” look in his eyes he had that, “I’m fucking Brad Lidge. Deal with this one, fucker” look in his eyes. Let us rejoice.
That ninth inning double play. That was the hot sauce.
Can somebody please explain to me: Why the Washington Nationals started Austin Kearns in center field last night? This may be the worst defensive team I have ever seen. Dunn and Hernandez butchered two routine plays last night. The Nationals, at the very least, could have split these first two games, but they catch the ball like the fucking nine-year old from your town little league team who you used pray to God wouldn’t have the ball hit to him. I don’t care that they have a series win- it’s not good enough. The Phillies should beat this team every single time. They are horrible.
Now what: Jamie Moyer takes the mound for the 250th time to try for his 250th win. LOLZ! But no, seriously. This is his fifth attempt at the milestone victory. If he can’t get it here, he may never get it. It’s a big game because of a brutal ten-game stretch that follows ,so they must capitalize in this spot. Additionally, with a win today, the Phillies would finish the month in first place.
Antonio Bastardo Replaces Brett Myers in Rotation
Posted by Even Stevens in Breaking News, Minor Leagues on May 31st, 2009
This is official news. Antonio Bastardo, the young left-hander from AAA Lehigh Valley, is being called up to take Brett Myers’ spot in the rotation. He will make his major league debut on Tuesday night in San Diego when the Phillies face the Padres and Jake Peavy.
Bastardo is the hottest hand in the minors right now, striking out 51 in 47 innings and holding hitters to a .194 batting average. He will be pitching on regular rest, as he started on Thursday night while striking out 11 over 7 innings. This a bold move by the Phillies’ front office, considering they jumped Kyle Kendrick and Drew Carpenter, both of whom have major league experience at this point. I like it.
I hope this young Spaniard, or whatever the fuck he is, dominates. He’s been drawing comparisons to Johan Santana. Without being overly ridiculous, I’m just going to say that this is a good start. Good luck, my man.
Chrysler Jeep, Keys to Howard and Werth
Posted by Bay Slugga in General Thoughts, Phillies Rants on May 30th, 2009
So after taking in forty-some odd games, I’ve made a few observations about the big man Howard and the wolf man Werth.
Howard: Allow me to preface the following few sentences by saying that I love Ryan Howard. Not only do I love Ryan Howard, but also think he doesn’t get the credit he deserves from the fans. Nobody on the current roster has the ability to carry the team for extended stretches like Howard can. When he is hitting to all fields and DRIVING the ball (Sarge <3), he is a force in the middle of our lineup, game in and game out. The observations I have made about Howard come during the times when he is slumping or playing average Howard baseball.
Someone needs to sit this dude down and drill into his basketball-sized head (STEROIDS!!!), “Hey man, there is nobody on base. They ain’t throwing you no fastball.” I think Howard understands this to some extent, but I see far too many impatient at bats out of the big man. Last night, Howard strode into the box with a few men on and a chance to do some serious damage to the Nats, and the following should have been going through his head. “OK they won’t want to walk me with Ibanez on deck, so let me lock into something up in the zone and drive it to left.” Instead, Howard jumps on the first pitch and lines the shit out of it into the shift. Now if that ball falls in for a hit, I wouldn’t be criticizing Howard, but the point remains that he needs to expand his baseball situation knowledge. Milt, I’m looking at you on this one.
And now, the keys to success: First off, Howard needs to draw some more walks. I do not think he has problems picking up offspeed pitches as much as he used to, because he becomes a much better hitter with two strikes it seems. Pitchers know that Howard isn’t looking to walk, and if there isn’t anyone on base, they don’t give in. It becomes simple – if Howard starts taking more walks, he strikes out less, will see better pitches to hit, and will give the 5-7 hole hitters more RBI opportunies. Another big key to success will be who is in the 5-hole. If I’m Cholly, I’d play the hotter hand between Ibanez and Werth. If there is a hot hitter behind Howard, that will also mean that the big man will see some better pitches.
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Werth: We have been killing the wolf man on here lately, which has been warranted, but I’m convinced this guy can hit .280 this year – book that shit. Werth is now an everyday player, and it seems that pitchers are starting to figure out his approach. Werth is the type of hitter who is going to make a pitcher throw strikes, as he is going to take two strikes a lot of times. I like this approach out of my power bats, but Werth needs to become more of a defensive hitter once he gets to two strikes.
And now, the keys to success: The problem right now is that he is falling into way too many 0-2 counts and then he winds up chasing a breaking ball in the dirt. This is one of the reasons he was criticized as not being able to be an everyday player and hit right-handed pitching. If he is committed to taking strikes every AB, he needs to start going with the pitches he is thrown. I’d also try turning on some first pitches and driving them into the gaps (ask Rollins about first pitch swinging). If Werth can mix up his ABs, he will be able to make a pitcher pay when he tries to sneak one in early in the count.
Fire Milt Thompson, I’ll straighten these guys out quick. My resume includes a BS in Computer Science, a fresh new Phillies hat, and a few ranting blog posts about nothing of relevance. Get it done, Rube.
Mic’d Up! Post-Game Edition!
Brad Lidge threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning last night, protecting a one run lead to pick up his tenth save of the season. We here at 4daysrest.com have obtained the exclusive reaction from Lidge…
Dude, who turned off the lights? Fucking Lidge did, bro.
Lidge Goes 1-2-3, Phillies Beat Nationals
Posted by Even Stevens in Game Summaries on May 29th, 2009
Yes. Thank fucking God. I was at the game tonight, and with the one-run lead heading into the last inning, everybody in The Bank was holding their breath for the inevitable. Brad Lidge had to come in and lock down a save with just a 1-run lead. Imagine that.
What went down: The bats came alive tonight to produce 16 hits against the Nationals and earn the Phillies a 5 to 4 win. Although the Nationals only needed 6 hits to pull within a run, the Phillies seemed to win this one convincingly. Brad Lidge entered the game with a one-run lead in the bottom of the 9th and had a 1-2-3 inning to end the game in convincing 2008 fashion.
Who and what pissed me off: Sam Perlozzo. We just praised you a couple weeks ago on here, bud. I’m currently drunk and I forget who was on second base, but somebody should have scored in the 2nd inning I think. You held them. Don’t hold people when they can score. Alright man, good talk. See ya out there.
Jayson Werth. You had a couple hits tonight, and I’m not here to critique your recently putrid plate appearances, but you cost us a run tonight on a routine play. Somebody hit a single to you. Not like, one of those crazy oh-my-God-I-have-to-run-all-over-Pennsylvania-to-field-this singles, but like…a pretty standard single. And you fucking let it go under your glove. And then a run scored, and it could have meant the game. But it didn’t, because Lidgeypoo locked it down. :-)
Chad Durbin. You blow lately, man. Happ’s line wouldn’t have been nearly as bad as it ended up (5.1 ip, 3 runs, 3 hits) if you didn’t suck chode when you entered the game. Everybody knows you throw sliders. Usually, when you’re on point, they still can’t hit them. Problem is, you’re throwing really weak spinners up there and people are teeing off on you. Happ did a nice job tonight and you ruined it. You ruined everything, Chad. But we still won so it’s all good.
What I liked: Jayson Werth. I’m a fair guy. I’ll give credit where credit is due. You had a couple hits tonight and showed me a little bit of what could mean you’re working your way out of this slump. Good shit bro. Yo, Paris Hilton is hosting mur.mur next weekend – you going?
Raul Ibanez. Of course you had a quiet two hits.
Carlos Ruiz. You’re the man, and you had a couple big hits. I really got on you early in the year, but you’re carrying your weight now. Keep it up, because I really hate seeing Chris Coste get starts. He couldn’t start for my dad’s over-50 softball league.
J.A. Happ. You did a nice job tonight. I am starting to see how you could be a fixture as a #5 guy in this rotation. You have decent stuff and you keep the hitters at bay for the most part. The unfair thing about your line tonight was that you did a good job, but statistically you weren’t that stellar. Chad Durbin is to blame. I suggest you light his Scott Baio-wannabe hair on fire.
Brad Lidge. You went 1-2-3! With two strikeouts! Holy shit – you finally earned one of your ridiculous $442,000 paychecks that you receive every two weeks. I’m dead serious. That’s how much he makes every two weeks.