New Game: Papelbon can be successful by adjusting

Jonathan Papelbon still owns the act — his slow turn and intense stare toward the plate.

But he no longer owns the fastball that once sizzled between 95-96 mph and topped out at 97.

Now, Papelbon, the richest ninth-inning arm in baseball, throws a heater at 90-92 mph and his blown saves have skyrocketed.

But none of this renders Papelbon incapable of reforming back into a guy who can nail down ballgames.

The 33-year-old should hear a lot of the same word Roy Halladay heard.

Reinvent.

When you think closer, you think fierce, intimidating and hard throwing. But closers don’t have to uncork jaw-dropping fastballs to be successful.

Trevor Hoffman, the game’s second all-time saves leader, underwent shoulder surgery after the 1995 season, and as a result, his velocity diminished.

So, he adapted.

Hoffman developed an all-world changeup and became dominant with an off-speed, location-based repertoire. From 2006-10, his final years as a big leaguer, Hoffman threw no harder than 87 mph, yet saved 165 games and posted a 1.83 ERA as an All-Star in 2009.

John Franco made a living the same way, racking up 424 saves (fourth all-time) with guile, not power.

Papelbon must now adjust. His slider and splitter become all that more important, with location now key and outsmarting the name of the game.

Papelbon no longer strikes fear into hitters. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be effective.

Comments

[Cyclic]

I was told velocity was all that matters for pitching.

[Cyclic]

Question for stat people...

If I have a slash line, is there somewhere I can enter it to get a list of similar players?

[bay_area_phan]

That reinventing didn't work out too well for Halladay.

[bay_area_phan]

Jake: "It's not that Jack & BAP are bullpen apologists. Its that they can't admit that a good bullpen would make a big difference."

Not true. I just got done saying that I thought a good bullpen (which I define as around 60th percentile) might have made a 7 or 8-game difference last year. That's a huge difference. But a 15 to 20-game difference? That is flat-out impossible. You're basically operating on the assumption that a good bullpen would almost never give up runs, and that simply isn't true.

[Cyclic]

bap @ 653: You're missing the point. All Papelbon has to do to be effective is pitch like a Hall of Famer. DUH!

[NEPP]

Hoffman is the rare exception...does anyone actually think Papelbon is capable of that? He's never been pitcher in his career. He's a thrower who always just reached back and threw as hard as he could.

Yeah he needs to reinvent himself...but he's not gonna.

[MG]

This is assuming that Papelbon is willing to trust Chooch and acknowledge that his fastball is a secondary pitch.

I thought even last night that Papelbon set up somewhere only to have Papelbon deliverer it somewhere else. Wasn't sure if his control was that poor or if he blew off Chooch.

Last year, Chooch had some difficulty with Papelbon and agreeing on pitches.

[NEPP]

Easy rough way to do it...figure out how many runs per inning the very best bullpen in baseball gave up last year and then apply that metric to our bullpens number of innings pitched to get the run differential. Then apply that to Pythagorean to see what the expected W/L record would be...that'd be a rough guess at how much having the best bullpen would change our record from having the 26th best bullpen like we had.

Remember, we got lucky last year compared to our actual RS/RA ratio.

[NEPP]

Or we could just keep pulling numbers of wins we should have had out of our asses...

[NEPP]

Hell, just use our 2008 bullpen as a best case scenario...

[bay_area_phan]

I don't really think he needs to reinvent himself. But he needs to stop pitching scared & stop trying to throw 95 MPH pitches that he can no longer throw. Last night's wildness was brought about by nibbling & overthrowing.

When he just pitches, Papelbon can actually locate well. A 91 MPH fastball located well is still an effective pitch. Obviosuly not as effective as a 95 MPH fastball located well, but still effective.

[MG]

Papelbon's splitter isn't an out pitch either. Biggest issue though isn't that he is at 91-92 and has spotty command and control on his fastball. Still wouldn't be as effective as earlier in his career but still solid. If he has these kind of control issues at even 90-91 on his fastball, it doesn't matter if he transitions away from it.

[NEPP]

For example, the Braves had the lowest runs allowed last year for bullpens (per inning). If their bullpen maintained that rate and pitched as many innings as our did, they would have allowed 140 runs instead of the 246 runs our bullpen allowed....thus, a -106 for our Pythagorean Record:

With our bullpen: 66-96 (73-89 actual record)
With ATL's bullpen: 77-85

So, even giving us the best bullpen in baseball only gives us 11 more wins on paper. Sure, we could have gotten "lucky" like we did last year (+7 wins) and jump that 77-85 up to 85-78 from 73-89 but that's still just a 12 game swing.

Thus the whole "The bullpen lost us 20 games!?!" is a bit misleading because even the best bullpen in baseball is probably gonna lose you around 10-12 games at a minimum. The Braves bullpen last year was phenomenal too.

[NEPP]

Sorry, that should say 8-10, not 10-12. The same point remains obviously

[NEPP]

Or maybe not...I'm freaking tired.

[Jake]

NEPP - There is another way to do it (not exactly scientific, but neither is pythag). Find the percentage of late-inning leads successfully held by the 2013 Braves bullpen. Apply that percentage to the number of games the Phillies had late-inning leads in 2013, and you have a general idea of how many games a good bullpen would've closed out. Now compare it to the number of games with late-inning leads, actually closed out by the 2013 Phillies bullpen, and you have a rough idea of how many more games could have been wins with a good bullpen.

[NEPP]

How would you even calculate that? It wouldn't make sense as its not a stable target. A team with a better offense would hold more leads as they'd score more runs in the later innings too. The RS/RA method is the only one that would really make any sense.

They would hold more leads if for no other reason than the Braves scored 688 runs to our 610 offensively (good for 4th best vs 13th best in the NL last year respectively)

[Jack]

Clout and Jake: Or maybe you guys are just apologists for the rest of the team?

The bullpen sucks and has sucked for two years. My point is simply that when you win 73 games with the 4th-worst offense in the league and one of the worst defenses, you're not a playoff team if you only had a better bullpen.

The whole team stinks. Yes, we need a better bullpen--a much better one. We just need a whole lot of other things to be better too.

I push back on criticism of the bullpen not because I like this bullpen--they suck and have sucked. It's because I think it serves to obscure what a lot of fans don't want to see, which is that the rest of the team (you know, the part of the team that includes the guys they buy jerseys of and who won us a WS in 2008) isn't very good.

[Cyclic]

6.33 R/G is pretty good...

[Willard Preacher]

NEPP, I like your methodology. It does a good job of taking the offense out of the picture (at least the accompanying team's offense; still could be biased based on competitive team's offense/strength of schedule). I think you normalize it about as much as possible and it helps put things in perspective.

Yeah, this bullpen stinks. But bullpen pitchers are largely in the bullpen because they're not the cream of the crop. They're not stretched out and are generally specialists (match-ups or to throw harder/give a different look). The small sample size that they have is inherent and subject to wild swings when coupled with the relative volatility of their comparative skill (versus starters, for instance).

All any team can do is look to a bullpen to be "good enough." Unless someone wants to spend ungodly amounts of money for a bullpen full of legitimate aces (and even then, the small sample size is still in play...), you just want consistency. So much is playing gut feelings or riding hot hands, which continues to make the whole notion of "closer" a bit of an anomaly.

[NEPP]

You could easily normalize it for park effect (obviously the Braves play in a slightly friendlier pitching environment than we do):

2013 CBP:
Batting 103
Pitching 104

2013 Turner Field
Batting 103
Pitching 101

It'd be a push. We both play largely the same opponents so it wouldn't push the needle all that much either way due to the current unbalanced schedule where we both play the same NL East opponents for half our schedule (though they got to beat up on our weaker team and we got beat up by them)

They were 11-8 in our season series with 93 runs scored against us and we scored 65. You could neutralize it quite a bit obviously if you wanted to.

[NEPP]

Funny story though...the Braves were actually shutout more times than we were with 17 shutouts to our 15.

Funny how this game can be sometimes.

[NEPP]

Another factor on bullpens that I think is being overlooked here is the affect the starting rotation has on the bullpen. On average, all things being equal, the better the starting rotation, the better the bullpen will end up being as they wont be exposed by too many innings. If you have a lot of great SP that go deep into games, you're going to have a lot less innings pitched by the the 11th and 12th best pitchers on your staff and fewer innings by your relievers period...which is good overall. A bad rotation is the exact opposite and it tends to have a snowballing effect on the entire pitching staff in the long run.

You see the same thing when a team has a lot of injuries and the training staff stops doing as much preventative work with guys as they're occupied doing rehab for the injured guys...thus leading to more injuries.

Make sense? Basically, our bullpen last year sucked...we all know and grasp that as its an obvious statement of fact that is backed up by any number of statistics. The fact that our rotation was 14th out of 15 NL clubs in ERA and consequently pitched the 9th most innings among NL clubs didnt help an already weak bullpen.

[aksmithf]

Noticed last season that Papelbon was pulling his fastball across his body to try to boost the velocity. He's still doing it. It causes the pitch to move sideways toward his glove side. And as any hitter can tell you, that is ineffective movement.

Last season, after a while, I stopped watching the game when Papelbon came in. Last night, I turned the game off when he came in and I only watched it on replay to see what he was doing. Frankly, he is bad for my blood pressure. And I don't blame him at all. He's a dope, and I hated the signing, but this is squarely on Rube.

I liked Marlon Byrd in the early days, so although it seems a lot like putting a nice hat on a pig, I didn't complain much about his signing. And it's nice to see someone in right who can actually catch the ball. But Papelbon was always hard to watch, even when he was good. And that was some time ago.

I don't think he'll adjust. Sure, he could. But I'm not sure he can deal with the thought process to understand what kind of pitcher he needs to be.

[aksmithf]

Noticed last season that Papelbon was pulling his fastball across his body to try to boost the velocity. He's still doing it. It causes the pitch to move sideways toward his glove side. And as any hitter can tell you, that is ineffective movement.

Last season, after a while, I stopped watching the game when Papelbon came in. Last night, I turned the game off when he came in and I only watched it on replay to see what he was doing. Frankly, he is bad for my blood pressure. And I don't blame him at all. He's a dope, and I hated the signing, but this is squarely on Rube.

I liked Marlon Byrd in the early days, so although it seems a lot like putting a nice hat on a pig, I didn't complain much about his signing. And it's nice to see someone in right who can actually catch the ball. But Papelbon was always hard to watch, even when he was good. And that was some time ago.

I don't think he'll adjust. Sure, he could. But I'm not sure he can deal with the thought process to understand what kind of pitcher he needs to be.

[aksmithf]

Noticed last season that Papelbon was pulling his fastball across his body to try to boost the velocity. He's still doing it. It causes the pitch to move sideways toward his glove side. And as any hitter can tell you, that is ineffective movement.

Last season, after a while, I stopped watching the game when Papelbon came in. Last night, I turned the game off when he came in and I only watched it on replay to see what he was doing. Frankly, he is bad for my blood pressure. And I don't blame him at all. He's a dope, and I hated the signing, but this is squarely on Rube.

I liked Marlon Byrd in the early days, so although it seems a lot like putting a nice hat on a pig, I didn't complain much about his signing. And it's nice to see someone in right who can actually catch the ball. But Papelbon was always hard to watch, even when he was good. And that was some time ago.

I don't think he'll adjust. Sure, he could. But I'm not sure he can deal with the thought process to understand what kind of pitcher he needs to be.

[aksmith]

I only posted that once. NO idea why it showed up three times.

[NEPP]

***Noticed last season that Papelbon was pulling his fastball across his body to try to boost the velocity. He's still doing it. It causes the pitch to move sideways toward his glove side. And as any hitter can tell you, that is ineffective movement.***

Yup, he's been overthrowing since the middle of the season last year to try and hit a number on the radar gun and it causes his pitches to flatten out.

[Meyer]

Why is it that Pitching AND Defense only wins playoff games?

[Cyclic]

I was watching the NLDS in 2011 so something tells me you need something else...

[Meyer]

Poor pitching?

[Meyer]

Luck?

[awh™]

"I only posted that once. NO idea why it showed up three times."

Perhaps because you're spastic and hit the "Enter" key multiple times without realizing it.

[aksmith]

Well, actually, I have ALS. Thanks for noticing.

[awh™]

"Why is it that Pitching AND Defense only wins playoff games?"

Meyer, Bill James offers you the following answer, from his 1988 Abstract:

"10. A great deal of what is perceived as being pitching is in fact defense."

[Fatalotti]

NEPP, great stuff tonight. I liked your analysis a lot.

[Meyer]

The game analysis has changed magnificently since 1988. My hope is that technology finally delivers a defensive metric to join that magnificence.

[Meyer]

Fat back. Statue?

[Fatalotti]

Am I a statue? No, I'm a real boy!

[Fatalotti]

Based on the fact ath I'm convinced this team doesn't really stand a snowball's chance in hell to make the playoffs, part of me would be happy to see Papelbon have a completely craptacular season. Maybe that would finally drive home the the point that paying top dollar for closers ia waste of f8cking money and resources. And maybe teams, especially THIS team would never make that mistake ever, ever again.

[NEPP]

BTW, to put the Braves bullpen into perspective, their 2.461 ERA was the best bullpen ERA since the 2003 Dodgers and the 5th best raw ERA (unadjusted for era and park effect obviously) since 1972.

If you did it by ERA-, you'd have the following list since the 1998 Expansion:

2003 Dodgers: 61
2013 Royals: 63
2002 Braves: 64
2006 Twins: 65
2012 Braves: 66
2005 Indians: 66
2013 Braves: 67
2007 Red Sox: 67
2002 Angels: 67

So that Braves bullpen last year was one of the top 10 bullpens since we've expanded to 30 clubs. Even if you figure they were 9th on the above list of 9 teams who equaled their ERA- of 67. 9th best out of 480 possible bullpen seasons.

And that's the best case scenario for us last year and it still only improves us 11 wins on paper.

[Bubba]

NEPP- Nice statistical explanation of BP effects, my prejudice, after the last two game and after the last two seasons, would have been a much higher number. But 11 wins is potentially a lot.

If you have a contending team 11 wins can be the difference between 1st place and the last wildcard.
This year for the Phils it is probably the difference between a .500 team and last place.

[GBrettfan]

NEPP, that was very enlightening. I do think that the number of wins would be likely to be fewer if the same outstanding BP were asked to pitch a greater number of innings.

8-10 wins is a significant number, though. And each of those wins for us would mean one win fewer for the teams we beat.

If there are psychological effects on a team from witnessing blown lead and blown save as much as this team experienced last year, that could contribute to wins and losses, too.

I'm sure our '08 BP made a big difference for the Phillies, both because those extra wins for a competitive team mean the difference between going to the postseason and not, and also because there was a great deal of confidence that they could win if they could get the ball to Lidge...even if the SP just went 6IP, in fact.

But obviously, if you can't even finish about .500, then 10 more wins isn't going to help. And if you can't score runs, then your pitching staff will take the loss even with a collective .300 ERA.

Last year, I complained about both BP and offense. I don't feel the need to scapegoat one or the other when both are obviously inadequate. We all take note of both offensive and defensive failures here.

[GBrettfan]

3.00 ERA, not .300. Big oops!

[GBrettfan]

Bubba said everything I was trying to say, only much more succinctly.

As for our offense, I'm still hopeful that it will be improved this year. It may be naive of me, but there's plenty of time for my optimism to be crushed like a bug.

[Bubba]

GBrettFan-
Only 'cause I type so slow.

[Dragon]

After watching Papelbon last year and this, all I can think is either the guy is hurt and trying to hide it or he's just too dumb and stubborn to even try to reinvent himself with a new pitch or two.

[Dragon]

Question of the day: Will there be a Brad Lincoln and Justin De Fratus sighting this season or do we have a better chance of seeing a Sasquatch out of the bullpen?

[Bubba]

Sasquatch does have a certain mound presence that the other two lack.
Effectively wild.

[WSJ]

MLBTR's review of the Phillies offseason.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/04/offseason-in-review-philadelphia-phillies.html

"It could be that there is little value to be had in shipping out the team's most undesirable contracts and that the team's recent commitments won't hamstring future spending. But I can't help but feel that a more decisive direction would have better served the club. Trading Lee, Utley, and/or Rollins while foregoing Byrd, Ruiz, and/or Burnett might have brought back some young talent and built up the organizational war chest to be an opportunistic buyer of high-priced, somewhat younger players. Alternatively, adding a longer-term, impactful free agent or two (players like Brian McCann, Shin-Soo Choo, and Matt Garza would have been fits) might have made the team a likelier contender in the near-term. Either way, the club would be headed somewhere; as presently constituted, it seems stuck in neutral while carrying the league's third-highest payroll."

[Meyer]

Stuck in neutral on a mountain road and calling AAA for help.

[MG]

"When Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy discovered his wife was in labor with their first child on Monday, he did what lots of new fathers do – he took advantage of his employer's paternity leave to be by her side.

His decision meant the Major League Baseball player missed opening day on Monday and the second game of the regular season on Wednesday, but apparently that was too much for a handful of sports talk show hosts who slammed Murphy on-air for choosing family over work.

"Quite frankly, I would've said, 'C-section before the season starts,' " former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason said Tuesday on his daily morning radio show, Boomer and Carton, according to Today.com. "[I'd say] 'I need to be at opening day. This is what makes our money, this is how we're going to live our life, this is going to give our child every opportunity to be a success in life. I'll be able to afford any college I want to send my kid to because I'm a baseball player.' "

Murphy, 29, opted to use MLB's three-day paternity leave policy, which was enacted in 2011 as part of a collective bargaining agreement. He plans to return to the Mets lineup Thursday, which wasn't soon enough for New York radio host Mike Francesa.

"One day, I understand. And in the old days they didn't do that. But one day, go see the baby be born and come back. You're a Major League Baseball player. You can hire a nurse to take care of the baby if your wife needs help," Francesa said Wednesday on his WFAN afternoon sports show, according to New York's Daily News.

"What are you going to do? I mean you are going to sit there and look at your wife in a hospital bed for two days?" Francesa added, and didn't back down when callers phoned in to defend Murphy. "Your wife doesn’t need your help the first couple of days; you know that you're not doing much the first couple days with the baby that was just born."

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20802898,00.html

What an a-hole. At least NY Mets and MLB came out and fully supported Murphy's decision.

[Rally Red '67]

Good to see you Fatalotti. Looking forward to reading more from you in the future.

Oh, yea, also - what b_a_p said earlier. I'm back, to stay.

[HammRadio]

@MG -- local phans and media were just as "kind" to JRoll when he went on Paternity Leave for his first child. And I recall similar "trolls" right here blasting him for taking his FULL leave. I've seen the same thing lately on JRoll's paternity leave this time on social media. Not as much on talk radio (mostly because I don't listen as much anymore)... One claiming the only reason he was at opening day instead of with his wife was so he could get the opening day short stop record. (You know except for the fact the birth hadn't happened yet). But I would imagine you'll hear the trolls speak up this weekend.

Eventually guys with that "old school" mentality will pass from existence... and the next generation of Men, will understand the privilege of fatherhood, and the need for those 3 days (if not more).

We are a still a backwards nation when it comes to Family Medical Leave. 3 days seems like a lot for a professional athlete. And father's get less of the benefits that do exist. Hopefully that will change someday too.

[HammRadio]

Forgot to add... "it seems like a lot for a professional athlete" but it's about the average amount of paid leave for fathers in any industry.

[bullit]

i was most struck by boomer's flippancy about getting a c-section.

[Cyclic]

Where's bap?

Jesse Biddle got pulled in the 4th yesterday.

Allowed 9 hits, 2 walks, 4 runs, & left with 2 on. Struck out 5 in 3.1 IP

[GBrettfan]

I think that's appalling, MG. C-sections mean scar tissue. They are wonderful but no one should have to get one when her husband has the option of being with her. Every dad would like to be there to share the experience of birth and to enjoy and hold his newborn. And in the case of Jimmy Rollins, for example, dad is needed to spend time and help out with child number one. Not to mention that mom is usually tired and appreciates some TLC herself.

[WSJ]

I mean, if Boomer really is valuing three baseball games more than the birth of a child, then he is misguided and an idiot (especially given his own experience). Same for those who dissed Rollins.

I really can't take most "sports personalities" seriously anymore. It seems like they are perpetually attempting to one-up each other in shock value in order to stand out. I guess ratings trump decency in media world.

[jbird]

Just came back to Beerleaguer to see what the posting numbers are like since everyone seemed to be jumping ship during a nightmarish spring training. So JW is back and the trolls are cleaned up? Is Beerleaguer safe again?

[awh™]

"I mean, if Boomer really is valuing three baseball games more than the birth of a child, then he is misguided and an idiot..."

Yep, and there really is nothing more to say about that.!

[Cyclic]

Does 3 days really seem like a lot?

If that's the average across most industries, then that's incredibly sad.

[Cyclic]

Revere
Rollins
Utley
Byrd
Howard
Ruiz
Brown
Asche
Hernandez

[GBrettfan]

I can't believe Jimmy didn't take paternity leave.

[Andy]

All Papelbon really needs is a fork stuck in him.

People with the intelligence of a mollusk (and I'm talking more a garden slug than an octopus here) are not particularly apt at adapting. He will continue to stare and toss his straight pedestrian stuff.

Get out the fork.

[norbertods]

I wonder what Francesa's opinion is of falling asleep at work?

[MG]

HammRadio - Those fans were huge a-holes too who criticized JRoll for that or this time again.

Esiason was flippant about it this morning and kind of laughing about it too while I was listening to the WFAN while driving.

US policy regarding maternity/paternity leave are appalling. US is one of the only few countries in the world (literally there are less than 10) that don't have a minimum paid maternity leave and paternity leave rights for employed workers are among the lowest in the industrialized world.

[Jake]

My wife gave birth to our first child in October 2012, it was a planned home birth and without me present I don't want to imagine how it would've gone. I was there when her water broke at 1am, I helped her through the first few hours of labor pains, I kept in contact with the midwife who got delayed and didn't arrive until 3-4 hours into the labor. I built the birthing pool, filled it up with warm water, and even when the midwife and 2 doulas arrived, I was there to help out any way I could. Even more than my needing to be there (to help) I would have never missed the birth of my first child, not for anyone in the world, and definitely not to be at work.

[bittel]

i was most struck by boomer's flippancy about getting a c-section.

Posted by: bullit
***********
Yes. If Boomer Esiason really said that and meant it, you have to feel sorry for any wife or daughter he has.

Most striking of all is that anyone values the opinions of these men on the subject whatsoever. Which one is the expert on labor history? I guess Francesa doesn't have much experience being a comfort to his wife, either - given his on-air personality, no shock there.

I distinctly remember the minutes after my wife gave birth to our son. He was headed to the NICU (luckily nothing serious), and I was standing next to her as they took him away. She looked and me and said, somewhat incredulously, "Go with him!" In retrospect, it made perfect sense that I should. I had been in the mode of trying to comfort her for the last 24 hours (and not that well, mind you), and the baby's emergence hadn't quite shaken me from that. But now that he was born she wanted someone to stay with him as much as possible, rather than her.

Point being: it's not HOW MUCH or WHAT you do, it's THAT you do which can give comfort and relieve stress/anxiety.

Typical alpha male behavior to not understand the value of simply being present during so powerful and complicated an experience.

[Jake]

Galvis may return by the middle of April
http://goo.gl/y2faaU

[normball]

Papelbon has to be on a short string. Can't just bring him in and say it's his to lose. Sandberg is about winning games. This team cannot get out of the box at 6-10 or the like. Hey, he's getting paid no matter where he is. Send him to FL to fix himself, work on arm slot, whatever. We should be 2-1 at worst, really 3-0. May seem early to panic, however, if he were out there throwing bullets you could chalk it up to a bad outing. Appears to be more than that.

[MG]

Papelbon is a douche and it was ugly the other night but there was been too much of an overreaction.

Phils don't have a single better option right now at AAA. Released a couple of relievers this spring and Aumont couldn't even beat out the likes of Hollands or Rosenberg.

Phils are stuck with Papelbon one way or the other and have to hope that he has 3 or 4 good outings for every bad outing.

[GBrettfan]

I'm glad to see such support from the men here.

Jimmy should have taken advantage of that time - he's not even in the lineup.

Pat Gallen ‏@PatGallen_975 8m
Jimmy is out of the lineup. Ruiz now batting second. More Jayson Nix for your baseball pleasure.

Also:

Matt Gelb ‏@magelb 3m
Wind gusts up to 40 mph today. It’s blowing out. Roberto Hernandez would be wise to keep the ball down.

[MG]

Over/under on HRs allowed by Hernandez today

1.5

[GBrettfan]

Never mind on Jimmy. He's not in Chicago yet.

Chris Branch ‏@ChrisBranchTNJ 52s
Jimmy will arrive tonight. Little “internal miscommunication” on when he’d arrive.

[GBrettfan]

MG: Over.

How 'bout the Phillies? Think one of them'll hit one out?

[bay_area_phan]

I saw that lineup and kept wondering, "Why is there a DH in a National League park?" Only now did it dawn on me that "Hernandez" is Roberto, not Cesar. Although we'd probably be no worse off if Cesar were the one pitching.

[clout]

NEPP: For all your huffing and puffing, what you are saying doesn't disagree with what I've posted at all. The bullpen lost more than 20 games for the Phillies last year. You do understand that is not the same as saying, "The Phillies would've won 20 more games last year except for the bullpen" right?

[Lake Fred]

Reading the thread header, I conclude that all Paps needs to succeed is control. I didn't see that the other night, with pitches sailing way high out of the strike zone. Hard headed Paps will need many sessions with Doc, before it will seep into his thick skull that he needs to become a finesse pitcher.

[bay_area_phan]

Travis Wood's career numbers against the Phillies:

3 starts, 21.1 IP, 2.11 ERA, 0.797 WHIP, 17 Ks. It will be recalled that, back in 2010 (when he was with the Reds), he actually took a perfect game into the 9th inning against us.

No doubt, his success against us has something to do with the fact that he holds LH hitters to a .212 career BA and .617 career OPS. Given a Phillies starting lineup which features 5 LH hitters, it's pretty difficult to be optimistic. Especially with a 40 MPH wind blowing out & Fausto Carmona on the mound.

[bullit]

this is how much it costs to pull off a scoreboard marriage proposal at any MLB stadium:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/baseball-stadium-proposal_n_5071290.html

ranges from $39 in pittsburgh to $2500 in dodger stadium. phils are about mid-priced at $450.

[Cyclic]

So we're still playing with 24 guys?

[Cyclic]

Salisbury: David Buchanan pitched six shutout innings for Lehigh Valley last night, strengthening candidacy to be fifth starter on April 13

[CS]

yup, two games this quality GM decided to run this team short. Kinda like that week last summer we only had 1 OF, and who went by the name Nix.

[bay_area_phan]

Not that I ever agree with the idea of playing with 24 players when you don't have to, but I find it hard to believe that the difference between winning & losing today's game will turn on the absence of Reid Brignac from our roster. Although, if Jayson Nix gets injured in the 2nd inning, I might have to reconsider my view.

[WSJ]

"How 'bout the Phillies? Think one of them'll hit one out?"

With 40 mph winds blowing out, Ben Revere this is your big chance!

Boomer Esiason started a foundation to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis, which his child was diagnosed with. You'd think he'd have a little more empathy. What a moron.

[WSJ]

Bullit, do you get a refund if she says no?

[bullit]

WSJ: lol. i was thinking about the imposition this puts on the woman. i see the mets and orioles don't play that game.

[aksmith]

Good to see you back Fatalotti. We need more crazy people around here.

[bullit]

new thread.

[aksmith]

By the way, that last post to imaginary fatalotti was the troll, not me. And I assume that Fatalotti is the troll also until further notice.

[Bubba]

Let me add my name to those shocked by the Boomer E. Jerk comments on C-sections.
My wife had our 2 girls that way and there are consequences possible to both mother and baby that make missing a couple of ball games trivial.

Idiots on talk radio will say anything to stir the pot and get themselves noticed

[Boo-urns]

"I was told velocity was all that matters for pitching."

I guess Jamie Moyer never got that memo.

Papelbon *could* adapt and adjust to compensate for his lack of velocity. The question is, *will* he... or will he just continue to blame everyone but himself for his failings?

[CarrierSailor]

Velocity Is key to a closer's success Kimbrel blowed away the Nats yesterday with velocity the Phil's have such a closer In AA Reading bring up Ken Giles now but Papelbon will need to be bought out and released.