Results tagged “nationalleague”

The Phillies won the pennant! The Phillies won the pennant!

Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2008 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know! Twelve months and ten epochal collapses later, we're nearing 2008 and a fresh calendar year for career (or structural) decimation. Let's count 'em down from 10: 10. Pete Doherty (again) 2007 hasn’t been...

If you haven’t heard already, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins is the MVP of the National League. And there is absolutely no one that’s more deserving of the award, except for Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday. You can argue for any player winning the award. Rollins gained 16 first place votes, finishing with 353 points, edging out Holliday’s 11 first place votes and 336 points. This year’s MVP voting was precarious in that J-Roll wasn’t...

It’s still hard to believe. The Phillies have found their way into October, alive and thriving. And they are National League East champions. Sounds a little foreign, but we’d be lying if there wasn’t a sweeter sound in Philadelphia. The moment when Brett Myers struck out Wily Mo Pena, threw his glove straight into the air, and his teammates mobbed him was a defining moment for this Phillyist. After years of hearing Harry Kalas drone...

It’s finally over with. The Phillies have lost their 10,000th game. That being said, and accepted, it barely matters to the realist who watched the Phillies get hammered by a score of 10-2, thereby losing a game to the Mets and the Braves in the NL East standings. At least they didn’t really tease us into thinking they could win the game. The Phillies have long had the most losses of any sports franchise in...

Since spring training, it’s been the same story for the Phillies – they hit the snot out of the ball, but have huge question marks in the bullpen. Flash forward half a season and the same problem still exists. They're an average team that makes three-run leads in the seventh inning nerve-wracking. In the latest episode of late-inning drama, Geoff Geary has been so bad lately he's shaved his goatee and cut his hair in hopes that he'll get out of his recent funk.

Coming off a three-game sweep of the Mets, the Phillies headed to Kansas City to face the second worst team in baseball. “Hello, two sweeps in a row,” we thought. Our confidence soared as Ryan Howard hit a two-run home run in the first inning. “They’re not even putting up a fight,” we said, comfortably smirking. Until Freddy Garcia started pitching, with a strained right shoulder. Garcia didn't make it through two innings before he had given up six runs, en route to an 8-4 loss.

After last night's loss to Houston, we no longer care what Will Bunch (Ryan Howard doesn't pitch) or ESPN's Alan Schwarz (and his interestingly anonymous Phillies fan reader) say. We're ready to say that the Phillies are out of the Wild Card race, and we're so sure of it that we're writing this post before San Diego inevitably beats Colorado and takes a three-game lead over the Phillies.

We couldn't let the day pass without noting that legendary Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas was given the honor of singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch of last night's Phillies-Cubs game at Wrigley Field. The Hall of Famer did quite an impressive job, too. He was right on tune throughout the game, and -- like any good broadcaster -- didn't tell the fans who to root, root, root for. Then again, Kalas grew up in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, and told WGN TV during the eighth inning that he grew up listening to Cubs games on the radio.

The Houston Astros lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates last night, 7 - 0 at PNC Park. No no, this isn't suddenly Pittsburghist. We're interested in this game because the Astros were sitting a game and a half ahead of the Phillies heading into last night's action. After the loss, the Astros find themselves only one game ahead of the Phillies, sure to make the eventual Phillies collapse that much more heartbreaking.

Even though the Eagles are starting their season tonight, we're going to annoy you for a moment with some Phillies news. After some heartbreaking losses to the Astros, the Phillies came roaring back by taking 2 games out of 3 from the Florida Marlins over the weekend. The wins pulled the Phils to a game and a half behind the wild card leading Astros and a game behind the second place Marlins.

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.

Much maligned Phillies third baseman has been able to stave off the critics a bit this week. The other night, Bell's two-RBI single helped the Phillies to a much-needed win over the Mets. Last night, Bell stepped up with the bases loaded and two out and hit a grand slam, launching the Phils to a 7-1 win over the Washington Nationals. The win left the Phillies four games behind the NL East leading Atlanta Braves. The Phillies sit one-half game over the Houston Astros in the National League Wild Card chase.

The Phillies swept the San Diego Padres this weekend at Citizens Bank Park. The weekend got off to a great start on Friday night when Chase Utley, struggling through an 0-for-5 evening, stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eleventh inning and made everyone forget about his previous at-bats by slamming a game-winning homerun towards the bullpens in right-center field. The win came after another strong Vicente Padilla start.

What happened? Can you tell me? How does a guy go from a 6+ ERA, a reputation for being the worst pitcher on a team’s starting rotation, and being in jeopardy of losing the said starting position to pitching back-to-back near-flawless games and decimating the best pitcher in the National League? Well, you’d have to ask Vicente Padilla for the answer to that question. The flotilla seems to have bailed out and set sail again.

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.