Tagged: Voting
Another Happ-Y Day For The Rookie
So I guess we are only going to win games when JA Happ pitches? Well, let’s hope not. But we’ll certainly take the much needed win tonight! And another great start from the rookie Happ was a nice shot in the arm for the still struggling Phillies. Happ went 6.1 innings with 2 earned runs on 5 hits and 5 strikeouts. During tonight’s TV broadcast, analyst Gary “Sarge” Matthews so eloquently put it that this team was in need of a “rumble in the clubhouse to get the juices flowing” or that perhaps the players needed some “slaps upside the head.” Well, like I said yesterday, they certainly need a wake-up call. I do think that tonight’s win and solid outing by Happ will be a good start to that.
Still a little slow offensively, but scoring 4 runs is better than what they have been putting up lately – zero! So, again, progress is good!
Ryan Howard had a great night, going 2 for 3 with a homer and a walk – his 2 RBI’s on the night gave him the Phillies record for the most RBI’s of any Phillies player in history before the All-Star break, passing Greg Luzinski; Pedro Feliz also homered; Jimmy Rollins hit a triple; Pat Burrell, Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz also had hits tonight. And All-Star Brad Lidge added on to his save record, notching #20 tonight.
And one more time…VOTE FOR PAT! Time is running out! We have until tomorrow at 5pm…here are a few people that have come out in support of Pat recently (thanks to Larry Shenk at Phillies Insider for the info!):
“He’s the most deserving among the group of National Leaguers on the Final Vote ballot,” Jayson Stark, ESPN.com.
“Here’s the case for Pat to be elected….he’s the only player in the league’s top 10 in slugging percentage not already on the roster,” Paul White, USA Today.
“Pat is the most notable omission on the team,” Buster Olney, ESPN.com.
So, get those votes in! Use the link below to vote as many times as you can or you can text the word “VOTE” to 36197 from your mobile phone to have the All-Star Final Vote candidates sent to your phone and then reply with your choice. Go Phillies and VOTE PAT!
Phillies Go To Sleep Against Cards
Zzzzzzzzz…. Oh, sorry, I was lulled to sleep yet again by the Phillies absentee offense. Poor Cole Hamels walks away today with another undeserved loss after pitching a great game, all because his team could not muster up any runs for him. What a waste of an All-Star (a-hem!) caliber pitcher! On the opposite side, you have a pitcher who had not won a game in 9 starts in Joel Pineiro, and the Phillies made him look like a Hall of Famer.
With only 6 hits in the game and guys hitting into three double plays to wipe the base runners out, this team stood no chance. The only player, yet again, who looked like he showed up to play was Pat Burrell, who went 2 for 3 with a double and a walk. So again I say to you, VOTE FOR PAT! Let’s get him in this All-Star game! He deserves to be there and needs our help! Use the link below to vote as many times as you can or you can text the word “VOTE” to 36197 from your mobile phone to have the All-Star Final Vote candidates sent to your phone and then reply with your choice. We only have until Thursday at 5:00pm.
In the meantime, let’s hope that someone steps up in this clubhouse and starts knocking heads together. These sleepy players need to WAKE UP! Throw a bucket of ice down their pants, pies in the face, hose them down, whatever! Just get it done. This team cannot afford another loss.
Too Little, Too Late
The Phillies attempted to put an end to their offensive slumber, but it all came after already being in the hole 10 runs to the Mets. All-Star Chase Utley whacked another league-leading home run, his 25th of the year, to start the scoring for the Phillies in the 4th inning, but it was all too little, too late. Ultimately, even with 4 homers and 12 total hits on the night, the Phillies still fell to the Mets for the third night in a row, this time by a score of 10-9. Nearly pulling off an amazing comeback in the ninth inning, they fell just short as Jayson Werth flew out to right field with a runner on second base to end the game.
Pat Burrell made a great bid for getting some more votes towards the All-Star team tonight, smacking his 22nd homer of the year in the 6th inning and he also had an outfield assist. Remember to keep voting for Pat…he needs our help to make the team! Use the link below to vote as many times as you can or you can text the word “VOTE” to 36197 from your mobile phone to have the All-Star Final Vote candidates sent to your phone and then reply with your choice. We only have until Thursday at 5pm to get those votes in, so get moving!
The real story of tonight’s game though is Adam Eaton. A truly awful performance. He went only 2.2 innings, gave up 6 earned runs on 10 hits and looked like the Eaton of 2007, which is someone nobody wanted to ever see again. Clay Condrey did a great job filling in for 2.1 innings and giving up no runs. Then we got to see the rookie, RJ Swindle, making his major league debut on his 25th birthday. Looks like we won’t be seeing a lot of him, except against left-handers as he struggled mightily against the right-handers. I assume the fact that his pitches range from 82-54mph will not help his case. One curve ball he threw at about 54mph looked like I could have caught it barehanded…scary.
So when is this team going to start hitting before the end of the game? Your guess is as good as mine. Someone better figure it out quick though, because now we have both the Fish and the Mets knocking on the backdoor…
Phillies Offense Gone Into Hiding Again
So besides a valiant effort by Jayson Werth, can anyone tell me where the bats have gone? Hiding under a rock somewhere, perhaps? Trapped 
under a heavy object and they can’t get out? Can we hire a detective to go solve the mystery? I hear Scooby-Doo is not too busy these days…let’s put him on the case! He works pretty cheap…just toss him a Philly cheese steak and he’ll be happy to start sniffing around for us J Only 4 hits in last night’s game and then 10 hits tonight (in 12 innings), including the amazing 2 run homer by Jayson Werth, which temporarily tied up the game and gave the Phillies a shot at redemption.
However, tonight the Mets completed the total deconstruction of the Phillies bullpen. The only “virgins” left in the pen after last night’s horrid attack were Brad Lidge and Chad Durbin, who appeared untouchable. Not so, I am afraid. Both gave up runs today; Lidge gave up one and Durbin gave up two on a 2 run homer in the 12th inning to un-tie the game and give the Mets back the lead. But you really can’t complain about that. The pitch Durbin made was low and out of the zone and Fernando Tatis just reached down and golfed it out of the park. Besides that, both Durbin and Lidge have been outstanding all year and can’t be expected to perform miracles every night. Our offense should be expected to get hits in key situations, and this, they have not done.
So I say, Scooby Dooby-Doo, where are you? We need some help from you now! Won’t you please, please find the bats? I promise to throw in extra cheese with that Philly steak! And hey, just a suggestion for Charlie Manuel – STOP taking Pat Burrell out of the game! This continues to hurt the team late into games and almost never helps on the base path! Today, he replaced him with Geoff Jenkins in a bases loaded situation with 2 outs. First off, Jenkins runs almost as well as Burrell! DUH! Second, the bases are loaded! Aren’t we more concerned with the runners on 2nd and 3rd? Why waste Burrell’s bat? We REALLY could have used him later in the game, but instead, we were subjected to watching Jenkins do NOTHING at the plate, as usual. You cannot use his defense as an excuse as Burrell is the only Phillie who has NOT committed an error ALL year! SOOOOOOO…leave him in there!
Speaking of Pat, remember to keep voting! Here is the link for you….let’s get Pat to the All-Star game; we have until Thursday at 5pm! Get those fingers clicking people!
Interleague Play Ends, And Not A Moment Too Soon
Can you say “nightmare”? Well, wake me when it is over…oh, wait a minute…you say it is over? Whew! Thank goodness, because I could not take this interleague play even one second longer! Posting the worst record for interleague play in all of baseball, the Phillies went 4-11 and have now lost their last 6 series since sweeping the Braves way back at the beginning of June. The only good news is that the next series is back in Atlanta where, hopefully, they can get comfortable again and back to their winning ways.
I honestly don’t know what to say about the last two games. Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer both pitched well, as expected. The offense decided to play for Cole, but not for Jamie. I thought for sure the pitcher the Phillies faced last night, who was younger and inexperienced was a guy they definitely should have hit. But again, they were impatient at the plate; they swung at bad pitches and then did not protect the plate with 2 strike counts. It’s like they were hitting backwards: Swinging like mad with 0-1 strikes at any old crap and then standing there looking stupid watching strike 3 sail on by. And how many times are these guys going to are argue balls and strikes with the home plate umpire? This gets you nowhere! If the pitch is close, especially with 2 strikes, you HAVE to swing. If you don’t like it, you try to foul it off…what else can you do? All this yapping is going to do nothing but get a lot of these players a bad rep with the umpires, and they will not be likely to see borderline calls go their way in the future. Just one of those things that irks me…
So, I guess the All-Star voting is almost done (ends 7/2, midnight). 
Here is your last chance to get your VOTE in there! Remember what I said a few weeks ago now…I taught my cat how to use the computer so he could vote in my absence, so NO excuses now! In fact, my cat Tony is so smart, he in turn showed his brother, Fuzz the cat, how to use the laptop and he is also assisting in the process. Fuzz prefers to wear his Phanatic slippers while voting, although sometimes they make typing difficult. Or, at least that is his excuse for why he keeps “accidentally” voting for players on the Tigers roster. It’s a feline thing I guess… Ok, so keep voting…we need Phillies at the All-Star game!!!!
Pitching Shuts Down Phils Offense
The Phillies offense struggled tonight, having to face a much tougher pitcher tonight in Jon Lester, and they just did not get the job done. Jamie Moyer had a decent start again, although he was only able to go 5 innings as his pitch count mounted with Red Sox’s hitters being very patient at the plate, drawing walks and making the most of the 4 hits they got off him. Jamie
only gave up 2 runs, both of which came off a 2 run homer from Coco Crisp, who also scored the 3rd Sox run of the game in the 6th off Ryan Madson after stealing 2 bags. Not bad for a guy who sounds more like a breakfast cereal than a baseball player. Really, Moyer did his part…only 4 hits allowed is great, especially considering the tight strike zone the home plate umpire gave him to work with. The Sox were simply not swinging and the walks kept coming…five in all. It was as if Moyer were tossing cute little kitty cats up to the plate and the Sox did not want to swing and hurt the poor kitties. How nice of them! Well, extra points to the BoSox for being such animal lovers. J
As for the Phillies offense, they were not quite as patient. Four strikeouts for Ryan Howard on the night after last night’s amazing 3 for 5 performance…wow. Burrell had 3 on the night. As a team, the Red Sox racked up 10 strike outs total and gave up only 7 hits. A few missed opportunities as well by our offense did not help. Carlos Ruiz had 2 identical chances to get the Phillies going with 2 men on base in 2 different innings…both times he grounded to third base; once for a double play, once for the final out as there were already 2 outs. And Chase Utley had a huge shot at getting the Phillies on the board in the 8th with Rollins on 3rd base and 2 outs, but he continues his slump and struck out on a bad pitch. I believe he is now 0 for his last 16. Yikes! Clearly, he was seeing adorable kitty cats at the plate too J Give credit however to Jon Lester tonight…he was great and pitched all sides of the plate and changed speeds effectively. This guy is the real deal.
Well, we’ve got one more shot at the World Champs tomorrow afternoon and hopefully, the bats come out swinging hard! Also, remember to keep VOTING for the Phillies to go to All-Star game! Chase Utley still leads all Major league players in votes! Pat Burrell has moved back up to 6th place in outfield votes, Rollins is in 4th at short stop and Howard is in 5th at first base…so, we need MORE votes to get these guys in there with Chase! Go Phillies!
Myers Hurt By The Long Ball in Series Opener
First game of the Marlins series and Brett Myers gives up three runs on two homers in the first inning. Generally not a good way to start. Leading the league in home runs given up with 18 total, 9 of those have come for Brett in the first inning. Makes me wonder if Mr. Myers has concerns about how long he’ll be able to go into games and is holding back in the first inning? Is he just lobbing the ball up there to save his arm for later? I mean, he was a closer last year…you’d expect his first inning to be a tad better. It was obvious that he was not locating the ball either, but how much of that is stemming from his holding back? Just a thought…
So, with that first inning disaster, the Phillies offense was unable to recover. Jimmy Rollins tried to get the team back on track with a 2-run homer in the top of the 5th, but in the bottom of the same inning, Myers gave the runs right back to them with a 2-run shot from Mike Jacobs. The Fish tried to help us out with a couple of errors in the game as well, but when the meat of your line-up (Victorino, Utley, Howard) come up empty for the night, it is going to be difficult to play catch-up. Credit to the opposing pitcher though…he pitched a heck of a game. Well, 2 more games to go…let’s see if they can get back on track with Cole Hamels tonight!
On a happier note, Chase Utley still leads the way in All-Star voting! He has racked up 1,284,961 votes at last count and is wiping away the competition! But we seriously need to get some other Phillies in there. Jimmy Rollins is in 5th place at short stop, Ryan Howard is in 4th place at first and Pat Burrell has dropped to 9th among outfielders. So get VOTING people! I have even trained my cat
to vote in my absence. J Ya know, like an absentee ballot. He is a true baseball fan and a very talented kitty. Here is a nice photo of him sporting his favorite Phillies gear. Isn’t he cute? I warn you…do not disagree or he will claw your face! Typical Phillies fan J Hee! So, no excuses now! Even if you have to train your pets to do it for you…VOTE for the Phillies! J
Chase Utley is on Fire!
As for the rest of the gang, Kendrick looked a bit shaky tonight. His sinker wasn’t really sinking and I think it was good to pull him early and just unfortunate that Durbin could not hold those 2 runs in after he left. The offense did leave a lot of men on base again, which made the game a lot more interesting than it should have been. A strange base running mistake by Pat Burrell in the 5th to get tagged out, leading to a double play, really didn’t help either. But, thanks to 2 great catches by Utley, his 5th night in a row with a home run, and a huge save, yet again, by Lidge, a win is a win!
And as for Chase Utley, deserving as ever, he has been named the National League Player of the Week for the 5th time 
in his career and the second time this year. After hitting 5 home runs last week which led the Majors, he became the first second baseman ever in Major League history to reach 20 total home runs in one season in fewer than 60 games. Of course, after tonight’s game, bring that total up to 21 homers! He also had a league leading 14 RBI’s and 25 total bases last week with a slugging percentage of 1.087, coming in 2nd place there. Looks like he is well on his way to All-Star game #3 this year, having topped everyone in the NL in votes at last count. Remember to keep voting. You can VOTE 25 times a day! Let’s see if we can get Pat Burrell in there. How about J-Roll and all the rest of the Phillies too! Keep voting…
And can I have a drum roll please… It is the moment you have all been waiting for! Well, maybe just a few of you anyway J I finally broke down and did the voodoo to the Atlanta Braves! My uncle, a lifetime Braves fan, will just have to deal. I don’t think he is reading this anyway J So, here is J-Roll Smurf, yet again, doing the dirty work! Only this time, he has graduated to a big-boy bat and enlisted the help of “Colemit the Frog” who will hold the Braves rally monkey still while J-Roll Smurf whacks him with the big-boy bat:
So, if all this stuffie toy magic does not keep the Phillies a-top the NL East, then I just don’t know what will! So, no Ken Griffey Jr. tonight…the suspense continues… Go Phillies!
Rox Get Another Beating & Utley Discloses Hair Secrets
Pounding the Rockies into the ground for the second straight game, the Phillies come out with a 7 to 4 win, standing in second place in the NL East. The Mets beat the Marlins for us, and both Atlanta and the Nats lost their games, giving the Phillies a boost in the standings. One more against the suffering Rockies and then we get our shot at taking down the first place Fish!
Kendrick pitched well last night and improved over his last start, going 7.1 innings with 2 earned runs given up and 5 strikeouts. Having a 7 run lead helped his confidence, I’m sure, but whatever works, we’ll take it. He needs more performances like this one. Tom Gordon made everyone a bit queasy as he took over in the 8th inning and barely made it out in one piece. J-Roll saved his hide with a diving grab to get out of the inning and send it over to Lidge after a rain delay.
As for Brad Lidge…oh my! Turns out, he is not a robot after all. He actually surrendered a run! Gasp! Be still my beating heart….how dare he! I am shocked. Well, I suppose if he absolutely HAD to do it, he may as well have chosen this game while cushioned with a giant lead. Damn that Todd Helton and his ridiculous “I am pretending to be a grown man” facial hair! Don’t be messing with my boy’s ERA like that! Your team sucks this year; now just put your head down like a good puppy and pout. None of this 9th inning heroic crap…geez!
Speaking of hair, did anyone see the “4 Questions” segment with Chase Utley on Daily News Live on Comcast SportsNet before the game last night? One of the questions Michael Barkann asks him is why he never has hat head. Michael goes so far as to refer to Chase’s hair as “…a perfect, big, flowing, bushy head of hair…” at all times. Now, I have made MANY comments on Chase’s hair at games and I can tell you, it is neither “flowing”, nor “bushy.” In fact, it is always wet and slimy looking! He constantly has it slicked back with, what I always assumed to be, some kind of super powered gel. And for what reason I also assumed, would be to keep it out of his face. Well folks, we now have the answer! It is in fact, and I quote Chase directly, “gel, super gel…LA Looks.” And here is a nice photo that I took to demonstrate the wet and slimy “super gel” effect:
Now, after games, he looks great. Perhaps less gel or less sweat blended with the gel? Not real sure what is going on there. Well, I have more interesting information to report on the “4 Questions” segment, but I am saving that for later :o) That’s all for now! Hoping for a sweep of the Rockies…Go Phillies!
UPDATE: This just in! Chase Utley is in the lead in the early vote count for All-Star Voting with 537,788 votes! Yeah! So, fun story for you…during the LONG, horrible like 3-hour rain delay of the 5/18 game, and, sad, sad loss to the Blue Jays, I spent the entire length of both rain delays sitting in the Diamond Club punching All-Star ballots. Yes, people starred at me like I was nuts as the hanging chards began to pile up, but I was not deterred! I was determined! 
Determined to get my Phillies to the All-Star game and determined to find SOMETHING to do to kill the boredom! Ah, rain delays are fun J Why did no one else think of this? Well, I filled out at least 100 of those suckers…I even devised a way to pile several of them together, line them up and punch them up with a pencil all together to get more done at one time. I was so proud, I photographed my messy table (see photo to left).
The child next to me stared strangely as he painted his “Paint A Phanatic” doll and I believe his mother tried to explain to him that I was some sort of “special-ed” case… *sigh!* Have they no sense of humor?! Well, Mr. Utley can thank me later. J Keep voting everyone! Let’s see if we can get a few more guys in there too!
Click Your Heels Three Times…
We’re back home again, and it’s looking good! Cole Hamels put on another superb display and this time, the manager decided to let him have the win. Manual pulled him in the 8th just before things got too, too far out of control. Whew! It looked like it might be a nail biter for a little while, but they wiggled out of it. I assume Greg Maddux will get his well deserved 350th win very soon. I for one am just glad it did not come against the Phillies…sorry, Greg. Luv ya anyway.
It is also looking like the day off on Monday may have done Howard some good. He only had one hit last night, but probably should have had two. He was robbed by a great play in centerfield that would have been extra bases for sure (yes, even at his slow pace). So, there may be a light at the end of his very dark tunnel here soon…
All-Star voting has begun! I think we have 3 shoe-in’s…Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, and for the first time, Pat Burrell…so let’s get voting people!!!! But I will tell you who else is going to get my vote, and this may seem like an odd choice…Jayson Werth. Yes, I am going to write him in. This guy has been hitting in clutch situations for the Phillies all month AND did it the last half of 2007 as well. He’s batting .289 with 5 homers, 13 RBI’s and 2 stolen bases in 22 games. Geoff Jenkins, who was supposed to be our starter or platoon player with Werth, and who was so highly touted coming into Philly as our “Rowand replacement,” is only batting .241 with 1 home run, 4 RBI’s, and 1 stolen base in 25 games. Jenkins has been a disappointment, but Werth is picking up the slack. And now that Victorino is back, I think Charlie should put Victorino back in center and Werth in right, or the other way around. And if someone slips into a funk, you put Jenkins back into the mix. Let them earn the playing time. But right now, Jayson has earned it, so leave him in there! And, if you agree, write him in on your All-Star ballot! :o)
Besides his other obvious qualifications, his hair is always perfect. The man never has hat head! How does he do that?
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