Phils vs. Marlins, In-Game Blog 9/2
Well, the Phils are in the rubber game of their three-game series with the Marlins. It's sunny and hot at Dolphin Stadium, and a getaway game in these conditions (both teams are heading on the road to play 1:05 games Monday) tends to involve a lot of free swinging by both teams. The Phillies can't let the subconscious desire to get out of town and into Atlanta mess with the substance of this game. The Phils need this win after losing a game in the standings to the Mets Saturday. Through two innings they made Scott Olsen throw 38 pitches, so that's a good sign.
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Rollins gets his 16th triple of the season and keeps his average above .300. If Jimmy can keep that average at .3xx through the end of the season, he is going to get serious MVP consideration. It wouldn't hurt to get to 30 HR, 30 SB and 20 3B, either. He he gets to 20 triples, he'll almost certainly join George Brett as the only players in history to have 20+ 2Bs, 3Bs, HRs, SBs AND 200 hits in a season.
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Howard gives the Phils a 1-0 lead with a ground single to right. It came on a 3-2 pitch that he has been taking for called third strikes constantly over the last several days - a fastball on the outside corner at the knees. He had been doing a
lot of complaining about some of those calls, but it seems today he figured out that he needs to do something with that pitch - and the bottom line is that 1) it's too close to take, and 2) he is capable of driving that pitch.
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Jayson Werth smokes a two-run double to left .... Shane Victorino, Wally Pipp. Pipp, Victorino.
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Adam Eaton is having his best start in ... well, who knows when? And now he just went yard on Scott Olsen. And now it's raining vodka! What the heck is going on here?
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After watching Mike Jacobs get thrown out at third base by Chase Utley on a grounder to second Saturday night, it has thrown a new name on my All-Station-to-Station list. In fact, Jacobs might be the slowest non-catcher I've seen since, 1) Utley actually took his time in making the throw to third, and 2) Utley doesn't exactly have a cannon for an arm. (His arm was why the experiment of moving him to third base five years ago was quashed.)
When Jacobs and Pat Burrell ran past each other on Burrell's fourth-inning pop out, it was like watching two giant tortoises cross paths on the Galapagos.
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Oh, I'm sorry. Those aren't drops of vodka falling from the sky. They are 390-foot rockets from the Marlins. My bad.
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So much for Kane Davis, bullpen saviour. Back-to-back homers by Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla give the Marlins a 7-5 lead. The Marlins have five homers, which ties a franchise record. And the Mets are three outs away from sweeping the Braves.
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Rollins gets his 16th triple of the season and keeps his average above .300. If Jimmy can keep that average at .3xx through the end of the season, he is going to get serious MVP consideration. It wouldn't hurt to get to 30 HR, 30 SB and 20 3B, either. He he gets to 20 triples, he'll almost certainly join George Brett as the only players in history to have 20+ 2Bs, 3Bs, HRs, SBs AND 200 hits in a season.
---
Howard gives the Phils a 1-0 lead with a ground single to right. It came on a 3-2 pitch that he has been taking for called third strikes constantly over the last several days - a fastball on the outside corner at the knees. He had been doing a
lot of complaining about some of those calls, but it seems today he figured out that he needs to do something with that pitch - and the bottom line is that 1) it's too close to take, and 2) he is capable of driving that pitch.---
Jayson Werth smokes a two-run double to left .... Shane Victorino, Wally Pipp. Pipp, Victorino.
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Adam Eaton is having his best start in ... well, who knows when? And now he just went yard on Scott Olsen. And now it's raining vodka! What the heck is going on here?
---
After watching Mike Jacobs get thrown out at third base by Chase Utley on a grounder to second Saturday night, it has thrown a new name on my All-Station-to-Station list. In fact, Jacobs might be the slowest non-catcher I've seen since, 1) Utley actually took his time in making the throw to third, and 2) Utley doesn't exactly have a cannon for an arm. (His arm was why the experiment of moving him to third base five years ago was quashed.)
When Jacobs and Pat Burrell ran past each other on Burrell's fourth-inning pop out, it was like watching two giant tortoises cross paths on the Galapagos.
---
Oh, I'm sorry. Those aren't drops of vodka falling from the sky. They are 390-foot rockets from the Marlins. My bad.
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So much for Kane Davis, bullpen saviour. Back-to-back homers by Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla give the Marlins a 7-5 lead. The Marlins have five homers, which ties a franchise record. And the Mets are three outs away from sweeping the Braves.
7 Comments:
Why was Kane Davis pitching in the bottom of the 7th of a tie game ? I realize Charlie doesn't have a lot of options, but giving the ball to someone who has only pitched 2 innings of mop-up duty this year ?
I hear you, but I'm not sure where you go in that situation. They had to burn through eight innings of relief last night, so that pretty much scratched Condrey and Mesa off that list. Alfonseca also pitched, and the way he has been lately he can't be trusted, anyway.
That leaves you with this selection: Davis, Romero, Gordon, Rosario. I'm going to assume you hold Davis and Rosario in the same esteem. And we're assuming Gordon will pitch the eighth. So that leaves us with Romero. What I think Charlie wanted to do was have Davis pitch to the two right-handers (Ramirez and Uggla), then use Romero against Hermida, Cabrera and Jacobs (if necessary). However, once Davis gave up the long balls, there was no use in burning Romero.
Bottom line: They have serious bullpen issues.
Why wasn't Matteo or Geary on a plane this morning to Miami then knowing that Kane Davis was your 7th inning guy. Did Gillick expect Eaton to pitch a complete game? This was a very important game and your bullpen options are Davis and Rosario.
Geary can't come back until Tuesday ... and is he really better than Davis at this point? Castro could have been here, and I thought he should have been here. Instead, he's joining the team in Atlanta. Mateo isn't going to be with the big team. I think the Phillies want to make sure he gets his life in order, and if he does he'll get a chance to make the team in 2008.
Why bother getting Mateo at the deadline if you didn't have plans to use him ? Don't spin it that the Phils acquired him for next year. He was acquired for bullpen depth this season and they need him now. Witness Davis and Rosario pitching in 7th and 8th innings of an important game. The only reason he is not on the active roster is for PR reasons. We all know this.
You said essentially the same thing I said: He isn't going to be here this season because of the domestic-violence incident, so the only reason for acquiring him in that case is to hope that the incident blows over and he can be in the bullpen in 2008. He was acquired for "depth reasons" in Triple-A this year, since pretty much everyone else needed to be called up.
If you want me to say that he isn't here due to "P.R." reasons, fine - he isn't here for P.R. reasons. But he was NEVER going to be here this year. If you think you know better, fine.
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