Series resumes as Phillies honor Robinson

Cliff Lee and Julio Teheran square off as the Phillies celebrate Jackie Robinson Day at Citizens Bank Park. First pitch is 7:05. Here's a look at the standings.

 

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Comments

[aksmith]

Welcome, Jason. Who let you out? The guards over at Comcast sleeping on their watch?

[GBrettfan]

Thank you for the new thread for tonight's game, JW - and a "Jump to newest comments" link!

* * *

Here's a bit more on the injury updates:
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/philledin/2014/04/16/injury-updates-hamels-appears-set-for-return-next-week/7788995/

[Cyclic]

NEW THREAD WHAT WHAT

(Thank you!)

[GBrettfan]

I've already forgotten who gave the shortcut of typing in a page number to get to the latest page, but thanks!

[Willard Preacher]

JW showing his true value. He knows we don't need the smoke and mirrors of a CSN thread header, just a new thread to allow the comments to do their thing (and a JTNC link, to boot!). Thanks for giving a sh8t, JW.

[fumphis]

Surely someone at Comcast could write a script to literally repeat this post every day, with updated content even. The site would keep ticking along on autopilot and they'd never have to look at it again. I'm completely serious here.

[WSJ]

Cyclic, I emailed the beerleaguer at gmail account.

'Buster, I was going to say Natty Light, Keystone, and Pabst. Only thing is, now they are "cool" to drink, whereas in college we drank them because it was $4.99 per case.

[Willard Preacher]

fumphis, would the Phils have to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day every day then? Not that I'm complaining, and they are a day late, anyway...

BTW, I feel like we've sniffed .500 for the last time this season earlier this week. I hope I'm wrong.

[Phillibuster]

WSJ: Having worked at a college recently, I can tell you that's why they're "cool" to drink. Heck, you know you're bottom-of-the-barrel when South Park centers an entire episode around it instantly lowers anyone who drinks it to "white trash" status.

[Phillibuster]

*around how it

[Conway Twitty]

How will we know which crappy BP pitcher wastes Lee's gem when they all wear #42?

[aksmith]

That's easy. He'll be either left or righthanded.

[Conway Twitty]

Do the people who sell scorecards still yell "Can't tell the players without a scorecard" now that they have names on the back?

[Phillibuster]

Maybe in Yankee stadium.

[bay_area_phan]

If Comcast were a baseball team, jw would be the 45-year old ex-star whose bad knees prevent him from running or fielding, but whose occasional pinch hit homeruns still make him the best player on the team.

[GBrettfan]

Lee learned a few years ago that if you want a W, you have to get it yourself. Pitch 8-9 innings and get yourself a hit at the plate, too.

Seriously, it'll be Bastardo in the 8th and Paps in the 9th. I'm holding out for seven good innings from Lee. Maybe even eight. Optimism.

[If the Schu fits]

"Jump to the newest comments"

Love it!

When did the Mets pass us?

[Cyclic]

I hear JW's been spotted outside an Arizona bone re-alignment clinic.

[Cyclic]

The Phillies were 6-7 in 2008.

#YAGOTTABELIEVE

[Phillibuster]

Won't it be Adams tonight? I figure Sandberg will want to see what he's got.

[Phillibuster]

Schu: Mets have one more game played, so technically they're only half a game up on us.

The rain-out is why they're in 3rd.

[Willard Preacher]

I hope that Sandberg will know better than to just plug Adams in as "mah 8th inning guy," and instead will look for opportunities to get him some low leverage work at first. But, with this year's bullpen management to date, who knows!

Hopefully, with Lee starting, we'll get to use an "8th inning guy." If we do have a chance to see .500 again any time soon, I'd have to imagine that Lee starting tonight is that best chance.

I'll be curious to see what, if anything, happens to Diekman after Monday's outing coupled with Adams's return.

[Cyclic]

"I hope that Sandberg will know better than to just plug Adams in as "mah 8th inning guy,""

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

great stuff

[Phillibuster]

In all seriousness, even sub-optimal Adams is probably a better "8th-inning guy" than just about anyone other than Bastardo or Papelbon (and maybe not even Bastardo).

Honestly, unless the game is razor-close and Lee looks like he can give you another inning, I'd probably be ok with using Adams to start the 8th. He's not the sort of guy you should have to coddle to get his confidence up, especially given his history, so I don't think it'd be unreasonable to use him in the 8th, regardless.

Now, if we had anybody else in the BP who was any better, I'd feel different, but as things are...

[BobbyD]

I know people will give me sh!t for this, but do we really need to honor Jackie Robinson or anyone else every single year?
It's a marketing gimmick anyway.

[Blofeld]

Time to bring Lannan back into the fold. Put him in the pen. He couldn't do any worse than what we have now.

[Cyclic]

My heart stopped a little bit as shards of Heyward's bat drifted toward Lee

[GBrettfan]

I love watching Freddy Galvis play defense.

[Cyclic]

Same, GBrett. Really thought he was gonna come up with that one.

[GBrettfan]

Revere looks almost like he's going skiing. Not that I wouldn't be dressed similarly.

[MG]

Need at least 6 and 2 (or less) tonight to even have a shot at this game from Lee.

[Cyclic]

Wow. That's Rollins 3-1 swing? Woof.

[NEPP]

If Comcast were a baseball team, jw would be the 45-year old ex-star whose bad knees prevent him from running or fielding, but whose occasional pinch hit homeruns still make him the best player on the team.
*********************************

[NEPP]

Delmon?

[Cyclic]

Defense!

[bay_area_phan]

There's our defensive upgrade making his second egregiously bad play in the last week.

[Cyclic]

Looked like he tried to catch it like he was playing lacrosse.

[Phillibuster]

Wow. Revere's catch was as nice as Byrd's fail.

[Cyclic]

Revere had to look at his glove to make sure he had it. Phew.

[Phillibuster]

If only every ball Revere got to was about a foot off the ground when he met it, he'd never make an error.

[GBrettfan]

Come on, Cliff!

[M. Martinez]

Pipp Revere: putting the excitement back into the extra point.

Over/under on bases cost tonight by Revere's fielding/non-arm/base-running: 5.

[Curt]

LA is deeply disturbed by the disappearance of errors from the game.

[Cyclic]

Even with "hits" like the one off Byrd's glove, Lee's WHIP isn't looking so good this year.

[MG]

Interesting to see Galvis get the start at 3B tonight over Asche.

Asche has been battling that hamstring tweak the last week but he has gotten out to a poor start offensively & been really inconsistent defensively.

If Nix/Galvis gets hot, I wouldn't be surprise to see Sandberg ride a hot hand at 3B.

[Cyclic]

At 34 pitches through 2.

He'll be lucky to finish the 6th at this rate.

[bay_area_phan]

"Over/under on bases cost tonight by Revere's fielding/non-arm/base-running: 5."

You must be watching a different game than everyone else. The rest of us saw Revere make a very nice catch.

[M. Martinez]

Must depend on what the meaning of the word "nice" is vs. routine.

[Cyclic]

I'm actually voting for Ethan Martin as most likely bullpen savior/stabilizer.

[GBrettfan]

Freddy might get on a little hot streak, but is that something Nix can do?

[M. Martinez]

And LA is right on target on Byrd. That was a clear error. The only reason he didn't get it is because of the unnecessary slide.

[Conway Twitty]

When Lee is pitching, PHL17 is a full pitch behind the radio.

[Cyclic]

Count the Phillies who are behind in the count... everyone but JRoll. And Rollins had perhaps the worst swing of any of them on his 3-1 pitch.

[Warren Spoon]

Yayyy. Jackie Robinson. Let's all pretend that blacks are great and whites are evil.

[Warren Spoon]

All hail St. Jackie the Robinson.

[Cyclic]

Defense!

[Cyclic]

Phils have hit some flyballs that might have carried out on a warmer night...

[Cyclic]

Best AB of the night. Of course it's Lee.

[NEPP]

Game over.

[Willard Preacher]

Ugh, that was close, too. Nice attempt.

[Iceman]

Lee missed his spot by about a foot. Awful.

[bay_area_phan]

Evan Gattis has not taken long to establish himself as a Phillie killer.

[Steve]

PADJR

[Cyclic]

Game over.

[Willard Preacher]

That home run should prove to be the game winner if Teheran finishes his perfect game.

[Cyclic]

Feel like TMac's been fooled by quite a few flyballs off the bat today.

[Cyclic]

Who had Ryan Howard infield single to break up the perfect game?

[GBrettfan]

I liked it better when it was going to be Lee v. the other guy. Teheran is tough.

[NEPP]

Is this the part of the script where we suddenly start getting good pitching only to see the offense go completely ice cold?

[bay_area_phan]

The bullpen is really stinking it up tonight.

[Cyclic]

NEPP-- I feared that might happen.

[GBrettfan]

Chris Branch ‏@ChrisBranchTNJ 22s
Cliff Lee has 29 career double-digit strikeout games.

[Cyclic]

I let him start the 8th.

He may be at 96 pitches, but he's cruising.

[NEPP]

I'd let him pitch the 9th.

[GBrettfan]

Cyclic: Not to mention, our BP.

[GBrettfan]

Impressive numbers:

Corey Seidman ‏@CoreySeidman 1m
Updated Cliff Lee career vs. Braves: 106.2 innings, 124 strikeouts, 8 walks

[Cyclic]

Cliff Lee at 50% > Anyone in the bullpen

[NEPP]

So basically Lee has the Braves number?

And yet he's in line for the loss.

[bay_area_phan]

"I let him start the 8th."

But we've got a rested Diekman, Rosenberg, and Manship ready to take over . . .

[GBrettfan]

Because it's Teheran pitching, NEPP, and because the Braves' offense is superior to ours.

[Cyclic]

Well yeah, bap. Depends on the matchups.

[NEPP]

Cliff Lee throwing RH > Anyone in our bullpen.

[Cyclic]

GBrett-- Don't forget it's also because CBP is a bandbox.

[bay_area_phan]

Another bad inning for our bullpen.

[Cyclic]

In the bullpen's defense, they've hit a few balls hard tonight. Bit of bad BABIP luck happening. Just a bit.

[bay_area_phan]

I'll stop because, tonight notwithstanding, our offense has actually surprised to the upside in the first 13 games. I was merely making the point -- which, in the history of Beerleaguer, has never once been acknowledged by clout -- that sometimes the offense can be the cause of a Phillies loss.

[NEPP]

Hell of a game by 42.

[Cyclic]

I have a feeling Sandberg will throw Diekman into the fire the way he did Hollands in Texas after his blow up.

[NEPP]

Galvis is a good defender.

[bay_area_phan]

Where did Phillibuster get that Freddy Galvis can't play 3rd?

[bay_area_phan]

Evan Gattis is really starting to p*ss me off.

[Cyclic]

Galvis is so sweet to watch in the field.

And &^%@$^ Gattis seems to be picking right up where McCann left off.

[GBrettfan]

Cliffie needs to hit a HR if he wants any hope of avoiding a L.

[bay_area_phan]

At least Sandberg has the good sense to be warming Bastardo, instead of Diekman/Rosenberg/Manship.

[GBrettfan]

Isn't Sandberg on record as saying Bastardo is his 8th inning guy?

[MG]

Teheran has been really good tonight. Yet another impressive young Braves' young arm.

[Cyclic]

but, ummmm, bap, there are 2 RHB coming up.

Matchups, duh!

[NEPP]

Ooh, Chooch got one of those...what are they called again? Oh, a hit, that's right!

[bay_area_phan]

GBrett: Yeah, but that usually only applies when your team is winning.

[Cyclic]

Genuinely have to tip your cap to Teheran tonight. They've hit some balls hard, but mostly right at the defenders.