Results tagged “bobbyabreu”

by Ryan Dougherty

So the dust has settled. The two biggest moves made by yesterday’s trade deadline were the Phillies sending Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle to the Yankees, and the Cubs trading out Cy Young Winner Greg Maddux to the Dodgers.

So the Phillies made two trades. Whoopee. Did they get who they wanted for two first class major leaguers? No. Not by far.

After two excruciating losses, the Phillies beat the Mets this afternoon at Shea Stadium, 5-3, to avoid the series sweep and come back home for the weekend on a high note. The Fightins' got on the board early thanks to first inning homers from Bobby Abreu and Ryan Howard, but similar to the last two games, gave up the lead in the next inning, and the game was tied at 3-3 until the seventh.

It wasn’t a pretty win. Far from it. Tom “Flash” Gordon blew his first save. The Phils managed to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth with Bobby Abreu up to bat. Last year, this was never a good sign – Abreu could never hit in clutch situations. And what he did last night wasn’t really a hit. It was a squeaker, really, but he bolted to first base, and when New York Mets pitcher Aaron Heilman threw the ball away, the Phils pulled out a 5-4 come-from-behind win for their ninth victory in a row.

The only thing characteristic about the Phillies game last night was a faltering starter on the mound. Gavin Floyd is not following up a stellar spring training with a good regular season (where it, uh, counts), and was smacked around for six runs in six innings last night.

Alright, boys. We love you. We really do, but you’re killing us. You’re 1-6, and while Bobby Abreu’s walk-off home run on Sunday was a nice, sunny spot on the new season, we forget good things fast when you suck it up the first week of the season.

Every local sports columnist and TV anchor tried to remind us heading into the weekend that the Cincinatti Reds put an end to the Phillies' playoff hopes these past two years. They all seemed dead-on Friday night as the Phillies blew a 6 - 1 lead to fall behind the Reds, 10 - 6. The Phillies, it seems, had blown it again.

Phils fans were happy - jubilant, even - for just a little while last night. It started with a two-run Bobby Abreu homer that tied the game at 5. The ball was smashed to center field and many fans probably imagined that the clutch eighth inning homer was drilled right down the through of Howard Eskin. The throat of Howard Eskin being A.J. Finch's catching mitt, obviously.

The Phillies capped off a terrible Labor Day weekend with a heartbreaking loss to the Houston Astros last night, 4-3. The game seemed to get out of hand immediately as an error, as well as two Brett Myers walks, led to four first-inning runs for the Astros. Last week, we agreed with disputed lanky columnist Phil Sheridan that Myers was beginning to look like the team's ace. We started to doubt ourselves after the first inning last night, but Myers came through afterwards, shutting down the Houston bats for the next six innings. Meanwhile, Sheridan don't gotta believe.

Bobby Abreu’s first inning grand slam off of Mark Prior in the 92 degree heat at CBB gave Brett Myers a four run lead, enough room to pitch with a good amount of sloppiness. Myers flirted with disaster, giving up 10 hits to the 30 batters he faced. But luckily for Myers, and for the Phillies, Myers held off the Cubs without giving up one home run, although he did allow five doubles. The Phillies hit three home runs off of Prior, adding a Chase Utley shot in the fifth and a Todd Pratt blast in the fourth. Because the long ball tallies were all courtesy of the Phillies, the Cubs were never able to score more than 2 runs in an inning. Due to the early Phillies lead, Brett Myers could afford to be a little more aggressive to Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez than he otherwise might have been.

After his record-breaking performance in the Homerun Derby, Bobby Abreu has made a name for himself throughout Major League Baseball. Many Phillies fans love the idea of having a high-profile player on the team, but in a season where the team is deficient in several areas – pitching (both starting and relief), catching, etc. – it might be just the time to trade him while he has some value.

Leading off the All-Star game after nearly an hour of introductions and pre-game commercials, Bobby Abreu slapped a Mark Buehrle pitch into left field. Abreu’s line drive single was a dynamic way to start the All-Star Game, which too often feels like an advertisement rather than a baseball game. But the three Phillies selected to the team all treated it as an important game, going a combined 2-3 at the plate and drawing one walk. Billy Wagner was not used as each manager held back some pitchers in reserve just in case the game ran into extra innings. Jimmy Rollins picked up an infield single and turned a double play once he entered. And Tony LaRussa came close to using Wagner and Jason Isringhausen, the 2 closers not used, when the NL mounted a comeback, scoring 5 runs over the last 3 innings. The Phillies and their fans should be proud of the Phillies representation and performance at the game: Abreu showed great versatility not only by getting a hit to the opposite field, but by hitting in the lead-off spot, a position known for hitters able to make sacrifices in order to get on base. All of this coming only one night after he smacked 41 home runs in the Home Run Derby.

A Philadelphia Phillie is in the limelight of an event that spans all of Major League Baseball – and this time it’s not in the context of the MLB 2006 game you’ve been playing on your Playstation 2. Last night, Bobby Abreu shocked the entire baseball community – fans, players, himself -- when he won the 2005 Homerun Derby. It was surreal watching Abreu come up to bat first and crush ball after ball into the right-field stands.

When you take a closer look at the Phillies' starting lineup from Sunday afternoon’s game against first-place Washington, and you compare it to the Nationals' starting gang, you might get the crazy feeling that the teams are not that different from each other. On paper there are many similarities: a talented, all-star caliber middle infielder (Jimmy Rollins and Jose Vidro), a power-hitting, speedy outfielder (Bobby Abreu and Jose Guillen), and a solid hitting but prone to slumping outfielder (Pat Burrell and Brad Wilkerson). After that, even a lot of gap-fillers and journeymen seem to have a lot in common, including 2 former teammates now at the tail-end of their careers, yet still playing well (Kenny Lofton and Carlos Baerga), 2 pinch-hitters who were swapped for each other in May (Endy Chavez and Marlon Byrd) 2 catchers who were once traded for each other in 2001 (Todd Pratt and Gary Bennett), and two starting pitchers who each lost a game to Boston in last year’s ALCS (Esteban Loaiza and Jon Leiber). The Phillies, on the field, have in no way resembled the Nationals this season until this past weekend. The Phillies borrowed a little bit of the Washington magic and pulled out a win in their second straight one-run game. Prior to this series, the Nationals had been nearly unbeatable in one-run games. Winning close, late games means you have to have timely hitting but more importantly, a solid bullpen. Yesterday, at Citizens Bank, over six innings of relief, four Phillies relievers gave up only one run. Jon Lieber, who pitched well striking out six, gave up three runs in his six innings. To take 2 out of 3 from the first place Nationals would have been exciting enough, but 2 Washington-style wins, with the added treat of seeing Ryan Howard carry the offense with 3 RBIs and a line drive to the shrubs in dead center field, makes the victories that much sweeter for the Phils. They also borrowed another Nationals trope: heroics by players you may not believe are in the major leagues (i.e. Matt Cepicky and Gary Majewski). The Phils pulled it out on a 12th inning pinch hit by veteran role player Ramon Martinez. No, not that Ramon Martinez, not Pedro’s brother who used to pitch for the Dodgers. This Ramon Martinez, a shortstop with no relation to the Martinez brothers, chopped a ground ball into left field in the bottom of the 12th inning to score David Bell, who had driven in the winning run on Saturday. This marks the first series victory for the Phillies since June 10th-12th against the Milwaukee Brewers. In a season that has made Phillies fans feel like they are in the middle of a traffic jam on I-95, with every team in the NL East bumper to bumper, at or above .500 at the All-Star Break, the Phillies will try to stay close enough to the Nationals so that Washington is still in sight when the Phillies match up with them on September 30th through October 2nd, the last series of the 2005 season.

In their usual inconsistent style, the Phillies showed us a glimpse of promise as they shutout the Nationals last night. Usually, it would not be wise to count on the Phils winning a tight game against the first-place Nats, but they were able come out on top. If they could only play like that every night, they would be the ones in first place. The game was a stalemate until the bottom of the ninth inning, when David Bell came up with the game-winning sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Bobby Abreu came in to score the go-ahead run. Cory Lidle had a great game with seven strikeouts and only one walk in eight innings. Lidle has been playing very well lately and is on of the key parts of the Phils’ starting rotation. We also have an update on Geoff Geary, the Phils’ relief pitcher who was hit in the eye two games ago with a foul ball. Geary will miss the rest of this series with the Nationals, but should return after. We believe that the Phillies deserve a lot of credit for winning this game. The Phils usually struggle in close games, whereas Washington has won 24 of their games by a margin of one. In a tight game like this, the Phils were clearly at a disadvantage, but they manged to stay cool under pressure and pull out the win. Congratulations, Phillies – we still want a new manager, though.

WIP is reporting that Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins and Phillies closer Billy Wagner will join the National League's 2005 All-Star Team. The two are expected to join as replacements for Los Angeles Dodgers SS Cesar Izturis and New York Mets P Pedro Martinez. Rollins, who was recently inked to a contract extension by the Phils, is actually having a subpar year, especially compared to his career-year last season. His fielding is still strong, but he has struggled to get on-base as the Phillies' leadoff hitter. Rollins, however, finished second in the players and coaches voting. Typically, the runner-up replaces an injured All-Star. Wagner placed fourth in the MLB's "Final Ballot," where fans get to vote one of five players onto the team as its final, 32nd player. Brett Myers, a Phillies starter, was also on the ballot. He finished in last place. With 3 representatives (RF Bobby Abreu was voted as a starting outfielder by the fans), the struggling Phils probably won't see any more All-Star additions. There may be further changes and additions to the team, but it's unlikely that the team will be tapped for any more players. If, by chance, that does happen, likely additions are Myers and OF Pat Burrell.

As jaded as I can usually be when it comes to the Phillies, I have to admit that I loved every minute of yesterday’s game against the Pirates. It was very heartening to see the Phils bat around the lineup in the fifth, to see that they can play small-ball and not have to rely on the brute force strategy that they are so accustomed to at Citizens Bank Park. When Pittsburgh went up by one in the second, many Philadelphia fans (myself included) started to think, “Here we go.” However, that mood soon changed when all-star Bobby Abreu crushed a grand slam into deep right field in the third. Abreu’s homer supercharged this normally lethargic Phillies lineup. The fifth inning quickly turned into batting practice for the Phils as they batted around the lineup, scoring 6 runs. The Phils scored a run in both the seventh and the ninth. The Pirates, after their sole run in the second, were blanked for the rest of the game. The game was extremely promising. I realize that they beat up on the one of the weakest kids in the schoolyard, the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it illustrated the point that this team can get the job done when it comes to hitting. A lot of responsibility comes with being an all-star, and part of that means being a team leader. Abreu will need to stand up and lead this team to victory if they are going to win.