Results tagged “jimthome”

The Philadelphia Phillies entered their weekend series needing a sweep of the Washington Nationals to keep hope alive in their Wild Card chase. They got their sweep, but unfortunately, they needed something else: the Cubs to take three of four from the Houston Astros in Texas. While the Cubs were able to take the first two games from the Astros, they dropped the last two games, sending the Phillies home for the winter.

It's happened a few times this season: Charlie Manuel makes a bad move. Bill Dancy makes an even worse move. An Ed Wade acquisition, like David Bell or Michael Tucker (better yet, David Bell AND Michael Tucker), hits into a key double play.

Chris Mustazza and Phil Sandick, our resident Phillies writers, return this week with talk of one-game wonder Eude Brito, Jim Thome and the Phils' playoff chances heading into September.

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.

Chris and Phil are back again this week to talk about Citizens Bank Park, Jim Thome, and Ugueth Urbina, among other things. This will be Phil's last post for a while, as he's on something he likes to call "vacation." Personally, we just think he doesn't like staying up late for the Phils' west coast swing.

Let’s play a game of word association. We’ll toss out a word or phrase and you tell us the first word that comes to mind. OK, here goes. “Jim Thome.” Yep, “trade” is correct. One more, “last night’s game.” Right again: “train-wreck.” That’s exactly what last night’s game was. It was horrible but you couldn’t look away. Everything looked like it was going fine, running smoothly along the tracks. Then, BOOM: the 5th inning hits and the Phils are derailed. We stared at the wreck intently hoping that Phillies would recover, but no luck.

Chris Mustazza and Phil Sandick, our regular Phils followers, are back again this week to talk about five issues surrounding our Phillies. This week, the duo examines how likeable this team really is, Ryan Madson's role, and Jim Thome's future in Philadelphia, plus much more.

We'd like to introduce to our newest weekly installment: Chris, Phil and the Fightin' Five. Each week, our resident Phillies writer, Chris Mustazza and Phil Sandick, will talk about five issues currently surrounding our flounderin' Phils. This week, the duo talks about Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins at the All-Star Game, Ed Wade buying and selling, and much more. 1. What should the Phillies do to resolve their first base situation? Chris: I know that Phil will disagree with this, but I have seen enough of Jim Thome this season. The sole reason they are playing him is the amount of money they are paying him, not for his performance - .207 average and 7 homers. It’s unthinkable to let a prospect like Howard rot away in the minor
leagues while the overpaid and under-motivated Jim Thome plods through the season without a care in his guaranteed contract world. So to answer the question, I would platoon Howard and Thome at first,
and, if I did not see significant improvement from Thome, begin to phase him out altogether. I would be willing to wager that you would get exponentially more production from Thome once his starting position was threatened – look at Padilla. Phil: Start Jim Thome when he's healthy and send Ryan Howard back to Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Thome is not at the end of his career, he is just hurt. The steroids rumors are inconsequential. You cannot bench Jim Thome, even if he were hitting .185 and striking out 3 times a night (which he's not, by the way - he has less than 200 AB's and 30 RBI and a .360 on base average). Ryan Howard needs at-bats everyday, even if he's ready to play in the big leagues. Howard is only 25. He will not help the Phillies as a bat off of the bench. Many good hitters are groomed extensively in the minor leagues. The Phillies are not in dire straits. It's not a preposterous suggestion that Thome should be benched but it is out of the question for this season.

We're not the type to say we told you so... We told you so. While so many were looking through their rose-colored glasses last month as the Phillies completed a 12-1 home stand, we knew that this was only a setup. Now, as the Fightin’s are hovering around .500 going into the All-Star Game Tuesday night, we must once again say, we told you so. We weren’t always this cynical. It was only last year that we scraped together some money and purchased our first ever season ticket plan. For it seemed that, finally, the stars were aligned. With a beautiful new ballpark, a flame-throwing closer in Billy Wagner, a real live giant-of-a-man in Jim Thome and a young nucleus, a division title seemed likely. At the very least, it looked like the team would be competitive until the final weeks of the season. But as the loses mounted, so did our frustration. The manager became a scapegoat. And the organization just spouted out the same lines over and over again. “Blah blah blah playing up to potential. Blah blah blah competitive team on the field.” And as the trading deadline passed without any major moves, we made a move of our own. We would do what seemed almost treasonous weeks earlier: root against our home-team. We came to realize that it is only through losing and the embarrassment of the organization that any good can come about. The one final piece in our plan would be to stop attending games. Sure, we already purchased those tickets, but the Phillies weren’t going to get any more of our money. No concessions. No parking. No plush Phanatic dolls. We were going to hit the Phillies where it hurt: in their pocketbooks. This season has been no different. We have not watched a game on TV; have not attended a game in person. If anything, we have focused on telling others not to get their hopes up. You will only get your heart broken yet again. As we continue to root against our once beloved Phillies, we tell ourselves, “It’s for the greater good.” And so we have the Phillies of 2005. 73 games left until the end of another dreadful season, where we will hear the inevitable excuses. We’ll watch as another scapegoat is brought out to slaughter, and nothing fundamentally will change. The team will underachieve, they will spend money unwisely, and they will acquire players either past their prime or not worth their pay. Unless there is a drastic change at the upper levels of the organization, .500 ball and mediocrity will be the norm. And we will year after year be able to say, “We told you so.”

Un-freaking-believable. That’s all that can be said about tonight’s heartbreaking loss to the Atlanta Braves. Never before were the Phillies’ relief pitching needs as apparent as they were tonight. Robinson Tejeda had another sterling start, as he led the Phils through 6 shutout innings with only two hits surrendered. This kid is on fire. He hasn’t allowed a run in three of his five starts. No one expected Tejeda to come up this big when he filled the void left by the injured Randy Wolf. It really looked like the Phils were going to take this one. It actually took more effort to lose this game than it would have to win it. The loss can be chalked up to horrific relief pitching. The blame can be divided amongst Rheal Cormier, Ryan Madson, Ugueth Urbina, and Billy Wagner. All of them contributed to the Braves coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the final innings to win 4-3. The Phils’ runs were scored by a 3-run homer from young prospect Ryan Howard. Howard will continue to play for the Phils while Jim Thome is on the DL. So what do the Phils do now? Do thet need to make some trades by the deadline and pick up better starting and relief pitching? Do we really want Ed Wade to pull the trigger on such a decision? Who would the Phils trade – Howard, Wagner, Burrell, Utley? These are all questions that will need to be answered in the near future. Here’s what I think they should do: in true Philadelphia tradition, the Phils need to trade some of their most valuable prospects for a washed-up player who used to be good. The Phils need to offer this player a big-money deal for a long time-period. Also, whoever the Phils trade should promptly become a spectacular player – ala Scott Rolen. Might I suggest Ryan Howard for Mike Piazza at 10 million a year for 7 years?

I began to write this post before tonight’s game even took place. Really, all I needed to do after the game was to fill in the correct losing score for the Phillies and add a couple of details about the game. So, how did I know what the outcome would be, you ask? Well, it doesn’t take Miss Cleo or any other 1-900-PSYCHIC to see that the Phils were in trouble when they started the perpetually-struggling Vicente Padilla against the Braves ace, John Smoltz.

Smoltz pitched 6 strong innings, allowing only one run and five hits. In contrast, Padilla tossed four innings, giving up nine hits and four runs. I was relieved when the Phils finally decided to remove Padilla from the game, but relief soon turned to dismay when I saw Vicente’s replacement the making his way to the mound. What’s the best way to complement your worst starting pitcher? By bringing in your worst middle reliever – Geoff Geary.

Geary gave up a 3-run homer to Andruw Jones to make the score 7-1. The Braves remaining runs would come from a ninth inning homerun off of Amaury Telemaco by Adam LaRoche.

Aside from abysmal pitching, the other factor plaguing the Phillies has been injuries. Jim Thome was just placed on the 15-day DL with tendonitis in his right elbow. His intended replacement for tonight’s game was Ryan Howard, but he encountered weather-related delays on his way from Buffalo. Tomas Perez ended up playing first based and knocked in the Phils’ sole run. On the DL in addition to Thome is Randy Wolf. He will undergo elbow reconstruction this Friday that will put him out for at least the rest of this season, and up to half way through next. Wolf was the Phillies only starting left-handed pitcher.

The Phillies are in some real trouble. With the Mets’ win tonight, they find themselves back in last place with a .500 record (40-40). They'll try again tomorrow against the Braves, as Brett Myers (3.18 ERA, 5-4) takes on Horacio Ramírez (4.75 ERA, 7-4) at 1:20pm.

As reported on Phillies.com, Jim Thome has been placed on the disabled list due to an elbow problem. Thome has been struggling at the plate this season. He has had well-known back issues this year. There's no word right now whether or not this elbow problem is a nagging injury, or a new problem. Hopefully Phils fans aren't sick enough to be celebrating an injury (although Dallas Cowboy fans think otherwise), but this injury does have a silver lining. In sitting Thome down for at least fifteen days, the Phils called up stud prospect Ryan Howard to replace him. Howard has been tearing up the minor leagues, although he hasn't had much major league success due to limited at-bats. While Charlie Manuel is capable of many stupid moves, the logical assumption to make is that Howard will start every day in Thome's absence. The Phils are scheduled to face the Braves tonight at 7:05 pm here in Philadelphia. The Phils send Vicente Padilla to the mound. Padilla has struggled recently, and many think this may be his last start if he doesn't turn it around. The Braves will counter with John Smoltz. Rain forecasts may delay tonight's game. We do not yet know if Howard is with the team yet, and if he is, if he will start.