Game chat: Phillies receive rings, seek first win

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[MG]

Figured when I heard a lineup today without Chipper and Anderson would have trouble scoring runs. Missed it but I guess Blanton was really horrible.

Down 7-3 in this park isn't a big deal if it is a warm night in June or July. This early in the season though (and the wind) it will be hard for the Phils to launch a bunch of bombs to make this a game.

[Matt]

Good at bat, Pedro.

[Bridoc10]

ARGH!!!

Situational hitting, Pete!!!

He just walked the guy ahead of you. Maybe take a frickin' pitch, huh?!?

[Tony D]

Also, the Phils went 14-4 vs the Braves last year and got embarrassed at Turner field all year. They were out to prove a point this series. They're not rolling over this year.

[king myno]

I wonder if Greg Dobbs, you know, might have gotten a hit there or something.

[The Truth Injection]

Carson and Myno: Criticizing the team for playing bad I’m not against. I’m as frustrated about that as anyone.

I was trying to head off people at the pass who will act like this is an Armageddon scenario. This team, for whatever reason, never plays well in April. There are a bunch of teams that play terrible April ball too. We are not in a vacuum. I just want to temper their gripes some in the first series of the season.

And really- anyone who follows baseball knew the Braves would be tough this year. They owe us for rolling over last year like dogs.

[MG]

A guy just walked so what does Feliz do? He tries to pull an offspeed pitch that is out of the zone and hits a weak grounder. Nice game plan you clown.

That is why I hate Feliz at the plate. He tries to pull everything and winds up an incredibly poor amount of swings/ABs.

[Matt]

WTF Blanton??

[Albert]

I'm not trying to overreact, but damn I'd like to get a win.

[MG]

Why is Blanton still out there? You have a 7-3 game and a guy out there who is easily capable of giving you a few innings along with an off day tomorrow.

Cholly gets praised now in this town but more often than not he still makes more than his share of dubious tactical decisions (e.g., starting Feliz for the 3rd straight day).

[MG]

Tom McCarthy and Gary Matthews on the TV broadocast. Just brutal. Cap'n Obvious and a terrible play-by-play guy who still isn't certain at times which pitch was just thrown.

[king myno]

Truth - I agree, and I'm trying my best to avoid anything like that.

Imagine if we hadn't won the World Series, though?

[donc]

Is it time for a little chin music?

[Brian G]

Interesting that in a horrible outing Blanton, a non strikeout guy, has six.

[ZT]

hahaha yeah...that touched the screen.

[redbeard]

i love baseball

[rmp]

The problem with starting like this AGAIN is that who's to say that the Mets/Braves/Marlins are going to stink it up come September again? I think we have every right to criticize yet another poor April start. I'm not taking anything away from the Phil's last two late season runs, but they did not control their own destiny. If this April continues how it has started, we can almost guarantee that we will need more help later in the season.

[MG]

Brian G - Braves seem like they have been kind of aggressive at the plate this series in general though.

Doesn't help though that the Phils' starters have been getting behind a ton of hitters though especially early in the count.

[The Truth Injection]

RMP: They do play baseball between April and September.

Also, this is 3 games out of, what maybe 20 they play this month.

No need to break out the jump to conclusions mat yet.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Ugh, Cairo!!

[MG]

Vasquez is starting to settle in. Unless something freaky happens late this team is going to be 0-3 and putting a bunch of pressure on Hamels with his start on Friday night.

[Klaus]

"Interesting that in a horrible outing Blanton, a non strikeout guy, has six."

The Braves taste blood, are swinging for the fences.

[MG]

McCarthy and Cap'n Obvious going on and on about "breaking Happ in as a long reliever." He is the 12th man on this staff right now and unlikely to get more than a handful (4-5 innings) this month. Find it hard to benefit how Happ will benefit from this or be effective.

[NCPhilly]

Hamels can pitch under pressure. Look how he performed in the postseason last year. I'll worry about the hitting, waiting for it to start coming around.

[Knight]

Man, this is just painful to watch.

[BobbyD]

In all seriousness, what's the deal with the home runs? This isn't normal. If both teams were doing that's one thing..

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Happ...ugh! His problem has always been walking batters than giving up a bomb.

[Matt]

HR's: Jordan Schaffer (2), Phillies (1)

[MG]

That's the game. It was a little high on the inside but man the was a great swing.

[Joe Adcock]

Pound 'em Braves, Pound 'em. Make that buffoon of a manager Cholly Coo Coo choke on his ring>

[BobbyD]

Ahh.. the hater wannabees are out after 2.5 games. I'm talking to you Joe Adcock.

[ZT]

I thought that rookie wasn't suppose to hit homers. I thought the Braves weren't suppose to hit homers.

[MG]

You want a sign that Howard's defense has improved - making picks out of the dirt like that one on JRoll's low throw. Howard so far has looked very smooth on digging balls out.

[Reverend]

Resign Adam Eaton!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just kidding, things are not that bad, yet.

[ZT]

Eaton will go 25-3 this year.

[rmp]

Truth Injection - I understand that. I understand it is a long season. I'm just trying to say that the early criticism is justified. We know the Phils get off to bad starts, but that shouldn't be an excuse for poor play. Obviously, the end of April we'll know a lot more.

[Jymmie Williams]

Manuel's lost without Jymmie Williams to tell him what to do. It's obvious.

[NCPhilly]

Raul Ibanez looks like Howie Mandel to me. He needs to use his RISP powers here.

[Ghost of Luis Aguayo]

the Phils have played 23 innings this year, and have held the lead is exactly ZERO of them.

[clout]

Nice AB by werth. Now we find out just how good Ibanez is with runners on base at a time when his team really needs runs.

[ZT]

Thats right T-Mac 9-3, WE'RE STILL IN THIS!!!11!!

[clout]

Oh well.

[ZT]

I didn't watch the beginning ceremonies, did Pat wear his Phils jersey?

[Cho Cho Coleman]

It's a good thing Ibanez is a contact clutch hitter with MOB......right to the infielder again.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Guess that was a ghost on base when he hit the 2 run HR.

[curt]

Well 2008 is well & truly over boys.

Now we get to see whether a dugout full of millionaires on long term contracts can perform.

[Bobby Maukmus]

What's the Phillies team record for consecutive losses??

[Hope SE]

ZT, are you kidding?

He wore a business suit.

[Knight]

Warning Track power.

[bathtubhippo]

well, chooch is batting at or above expectations so far. is anyone else?

[bay_area_phan]

I'm glad no one is letting these losses affect their optimistic outlook, but let's have a reality check. Reality No. 1 is that, in each of the last 2 seasons, 4 of the 6 division races, plus 1 WC race, were decided by 3 games or less. Reality No. 2 is that the NL East is much improved this year.

If you ran the 2009 season 1,000 times on a computer, I'd guess the Phillies would win it around 400 times. If you reset the program by putting the Braves and Marlins (and maybe Mets) at 3-0, and the Phillies at 0-3, and then you ran the final 159 games 1,000 times, I'd guess the Phillies would win the division about 200 to 250 times. Contrary to what everyone seems to think, spotting your division rivals a three-game lead every year IS a big deal -- and it's a much bigger deal now that there are 3 decent teams for us to worry about instead of just 1. I rather doubt that all 3 of these teams can be counted on to pull late-season chokes the way the Mets have done the last 2 years.

[NCPhilly]

Guesses and computers won't affect my optimistic outlook. 159 games to go! But I hate the way we have started and want to see a turnaround pronto.

[Highland]

OK, Wheels, you can stop making excuses and being the biggest homer ever. Complimenting these OK Braves pitchers with having great stuff for an entire half-inning is getting old.

[Adam Eatin']

Living outside of the Philly media market, I spent 15 bucks on the gameday audio at MLB.com to listen to the games this season. After this display, I wish I would have saved the money for booze. To be fair, if this was happening against the Mets, I would probably be thinking meth.

[Ghost of Luis Aguayo]

@B_A_P: well said, and entirely correct.

[curt]

At least we have Feliz's fine play to enjoy.

[bay_area_phan]

NC: You are missing my point. My point is simply that the late-season surges of the last 2 years have blinded people to the reality that such late-season surges are the exception, not the norm. It has now been an incredible 6 years in a row that the Phillies have started off the season by digging a huge hole for themselves. In 3 of the prior 5 seasons, they missed the playoffs, and in 2 of those 3 seasons, the final deficit was smaller than the hole they dug themselves at the beginning of the season. Were it not for a historic collapse by the Mets in 2007, the Phillies' hideous starts would have been the single factor which kept them out of the playoffs in 3 of the last 5 seasons.

[drew]

i think the thing about this start for you guys - which isn't officially 0-3 yet - is that as fans you have every right to be upset and wonder what the hell is going on.

if it happened in the middle of july it would mean just as much, and there would be equal calls to figure out what the deal was.

in addition, if the situation were reversed, no one would say "it's only april; a three game win streak is no big deal." both situations are, because both signal to the larger picture - none of the teams in the NL East can afford not to freak a bit after losing three straight to a division rival.

[Knight]

That's a good way to top off the game right there. Good old free pass runs.

[curt]

Looks like Durbin was trying to pitch while wearing the ring.

[MG]

BAP - Pretty hard to argue now that their is something deficient in the way this manager and core group of players prepare for the season. If they lose today (and pretty much inevitable), the Phils will have been 1-11 I think it the opening series. That is bad. Really bad.

Record in the 1st week of the season with Cholly ain't great either - 9-21 after the Phils loss today.

[NCPhilly]

BAP: I get your point. The Phillies are not setting themselves up for success coming out of the gate.

An early season series in Colorado probably won't help in getting things turned around.

Howard is looking ok so far, both at the plate and on the bag. Aside from pitching my biggest disappointment has been lifelessness at the plate from Rollins and Victorino.

[MG]

Howard actually hasn't been swinging a bat AB but his "0 RBIs" speaks volumes about the Phils' offense (or lack of it) this series.
Likely will be only one other series (maybe two) this year where Howard doesn't have at least 1 RBI in a 3-game series.

[NCPhilly]

Key opportunity here. Werth and Ibanez need to make them pay. Give me a double followed by a single and let's get at least three runs in.

[MG]

NCPhilly - Yeah JRoll and Vic have done nothing at the plate although both guys have generally looked pretty good in the field.

Offense has been crummy this series but Blanton laid an egg today. You can't give up 5 runs right after you team just tied the game.

[MG]

Anemic power + timid offense from top 2 hitters of the lineup = offensive impotence

[clout]

Another nice AB by Werth. Does Cox stay with the righty vs. Ibanez?

[James L (Forever a Phillies fan!)]

Bottom line is the Phils don't appear to be prepared for the season... AGAIN! What the heck does a manager have to do in ST except get the team ready? The Phils need to seriously look at their ST methods of preparation. It's getting to the point where I feel like taking $1000 hard earned dollars and betting AGAINST the Phils on opening night. I know the Braves are a much improved team but come on! This is pathetic!

[clout]

Rally time!

[mike cunningham]

@BAP -- I see your point. However, the results WOULD not change if you spotted the Phillies 3 losses and the rest of the division 3 wins. That sequence would have been applied in your original 400 out of 1000 scenario. The computer would not see a difference in 3 losses in the first 3 games versus in 3 losses in July. Humans apply significance to those losses.

The part the computer cannot program for, is the affect losing streaks has on a team (or hitting slumps). The ones that seem to carry over and over seemingly without end.

This Phillies team (not the fans) has a make up that doesn't allow losing streaks to affect them over the long haul. It pisses the fans off and we scream "these guys look flat" or "they show no emotion". When in fact that's not the case. For the most part this Phillies team stays even keel regardless of the stretch and that's why they are successful.

[redbeard]

nice poke, raul

[NCPhilly]

Good AB by Werth. Ibanez has been the only guy consistently seeing guys ahead of him get on base. Driving them in is supposed to be his specialty. Let's make it happen, Ribbie!

[redbeard]

pete!

[NCPhilly]

Pete Happy delivers, kinda like in the WS, just on a smaller, more desperate stage.

[Knight]

Nice to see some hits, and pinch hitting for Ruiz? That's rare.

[clout]

C'mon Matt

[NCPhilly]

Matt = Clutch.
Cool customer.

[NCPhilly]

3 runs with bases loaded in a single inning. Feels like the team didn't even have that much success with bases juiced all regular season last year.

[redbeard]

that ball was so gone if it came any where near the plate

[MyersAtTheBat]

i kinda like that move there from Charlie... the braves don't have anybody warming in the pen, so pull ruiz for the favorable lefty matchup... and then hit coste against a righty. battery switch.

[redbeard]

coste's turn now...

[ZT]

C'mon COSTEY!

[clout]

I'd have Caoste take here.

[NCPhilly]

What, suddenly the Braves pitchers can't find the plate? Or do they just feel bad for spoiling the Phillies lovefest?

[Knight]

Now Rollins and Vic have to deliver.

[clout]

J-Roll Time.

[mike cunningham]

Is CC Sabathia on the mound for the Braves???

[brother]

Wow. Never give up on these guys. Tying runs on base now.

[ZT]

Thanks Bravos for scoring our runs for us.

[Im a Met Fan]

This is hilarious... and probably frustrating as all hell for Bravo fans

[redbeard]

hows your bullpen, bobby?

[NCPhilly]

We've got a ballgame, pholks! I can feel the pessimism melting away under emerging spring sun already.

[Bridoc10]

This is craziness.

C'mon, Vic...keep 'em coming.

[Jeff]

This game is ova!

[MG]

Middle relief stunk for the Braves last year and you have to wonder about them again this season especially if Moylan doesn't rebound.

Phils need to even this thing up here though because the Braves will go Soriano in the 8th and Gonzalez in the 9th.

[Jack]

Well this is getting interesting.

[Adam Eatin']

Oh, so this is why I like baseball.

[Sophist]

No more lefties! huge. Feliz with a big base hit against the RHP too.

[Bob]

A two run game. My God. I was about to post about how I was not, absolutely not, going to panic over the rotten start; and also to say it's tough to hoist a banner and receive rings in a cermony and then have your tail kicked up and down the block by Division rivals.

But maybe there is hope, would be great to salvage one here.

[Jack]

Dobbs struck out against a righty, and Feliz got a huge hit. Funny how baseball works sometimes.