Results tagged “thephils”

The Sixers are still motoring along, posting a win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night (101-89), and fueling… playoff fever? We’ve felt this before, haven’t we Philly? Breathe through it. It’s not worth the morning after remorse. They’re not home again until March 7; hopefully they’ll keep up the winning away against Golden State (tonight 10:30PM), Phoenix (tomorrow 9PM), and the LA Clippers (Monday at 10:30PM); you can catch all on SportsNet.

by Ryan Dougherty

What long, strange game it was at RFK last night. What matters most is the results: after 14 innings, the Phillies topped the Washington Nationals, 8-7 in 14 innings.

Another not so hot night for the Phils. They failed to capitalize on those little things called “base runners,” and fell to the Washington Nationals, 4-3.

If the Phillies manage to hold on to this half game lead in the wild card race until the season runs out (pleasepleaseplease), the third inning of yesterday’s 10-7 win over the Florida Marlins will encompass the long strange trip this has been.

How did they do it? Go from holding a blow out Fire Sale to being tied for the wild card? A lot of good pitching, a home run champion and a good dose of luck.

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.

They’re up, they’re down, they’re all around. The Phillies halted a five-game losing streak and a possible sweep by the Boston Red Sox, on Sunday afternoon. But they blew it in an up and down, 16-inning marathon 9-8 loss last night to the New York Mets. Ryan Madson might as well have been the starter – he came into the game in the ninth inning and pitched seven innings of relief, his longest outing as a major league pitcher. He was near perfect until his last pitch, which turned into a Carlos Beltran home run that gave the Mets the win.

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.

A three-game winning streak? Could it be? We think so. The Phils took one out of three from the terrible Pittsburg Pirates and then won both in a set with the Florida Marlins.

The most interesting facet about the Phillies' just-concluded search for a new general manager isn't that they hired a proven winner who had built three other franchises into playoff teams and was the architect of the fantastic Blue Jays squads of the early '90s, squads that won a pair of World Series.

The Phillies played in front of the smallest crowd in Citizens Bank Park history last night, but the lack of attention suited them just fine: the Phils, behind winless rookie pitcher Eude Brito, topped the Braves and ace starter Tim Hudson 4-1.

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.

If we were old school, we'd believe in baseball gods and Skip Bayless. If were nu skool, we'd believe in Stephen A. Smith and Moneyball. But we sit comfortably in between, so we believe in heartbreaking baseball and anyone but Charlie Manuel.

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.

. It’s the second in a row of Lieber’s starts where the he had pitched an excellent game and the team could not score a few runs to get him the win. In his last start before last night, the Phillies lost 1-0 to the Dodgers; last night, they lost 2-1 to the Astros. Just score some freaking runs and give this guy a break! Phillies, you have no excuse for last night: you had all of your starters playing (except for Lieberthal, but that’s a good thing), you had an excellent game from Lieber, and you even had that ridiculously shallow 315-ft left-field wall.

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.

Sometimes there is a dramatic difference between a first and a last place team - just look what happened when the Phillies played the Red Sox. Other times, there are subtle differences that differentiate the two. Last night’s game was a perfect illustration of the latter. The game was not a blowout, but the Washington Nationals displayed the well-tuned playing style that keeps them in first place. The Phils showed the sloppy playing style that holds them in last. The Phils’ usually-competent rookie starter Robinson Tejeda had a very rough outing. He lasted only 3 1/3 innings and gave up 5 earned runs. This was clearly his worst start as a major leaguer. It seemed that Washington knew exactly how to play him: they saw that he was getting frustrated and just kept taking pitches, forcing Tejeda to get behind in the count. The thing that lost this game for the Phils was a series of small mistakes that stacked into a mountain. Their catching deficiencies were once again obvious as they blew a play-at-the-plate – a mistake they make routinely – that cost them a run, a run that would be the difference in the ballgame. In addition to player errors, there were also management mistakes that cost them big. For example, the Phillies waved Pat Burrell around third toward home plate where he would get gunned down by a perfect throw. Everyone knows that Burrell is not a fast runner, yet they sent him anyway. The Phils also got David Bell caught in a run down between third and home when they used the contact play - the contact play is when the runners are told to run as soon as the bat makes contact with the ball, regardless of where the ball goes; it's usually used in 2-out situations - on an infield grounder. Washington, on the other hand, did what they do best: close games. They brought out their all-start closer Chad Cordero and shut the Phillies down. There was a brief moment in the ninth when it looked like Ryan Howard had hit the game-tying homer, but it was caught at the fence by Brad Wilkerson. Howard (and just about everyone watching) thought that the ball was going to leave the park. Wilkerson later joked, "Probably in our ballpark it would have been 20 or 30 feet short," which is a jab at Philadelphia's hitters paradise, Citizens Bank Park. On a side note, relief pitcher Geoff Geary fouled a ball off home plate that bounced up and struck him in the eye. Geary left the game and was taken to Wills’ Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. We will try to get a follow-up on Geary’s condition. The Phillies should look at the Nationals as a model of what they could be (or even be better than) if they tuned their game. If any of the Phils’ aforementioned mistakes were avoided, they could have won this game. Instead, the errors – mostly the management errors - grew into a large handicap that cost Philadelphia this game. Can we please have a new manger now?

Look at the box score of this game; just look at it. How can you have 9 hits and just one run? In last night’s game versus the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Phillies could not find their way if home they Mapquested it. The story of the night was “stranded runners.” Even with their ace pitcher, Brett Myers, on the mound, the Phils could not pull out the win. Brett Myers pitched a very good game, but it was not enough to overcome Pittsburgh's rookie sensation, Zach Duke, who pitched seven shutout innings. The game was won by a fourth-inning, two-run homer by Humberto Cota. Myers said of his performance, “I made one mistake and I lost the game.'' We can be very rough on our home team, but we give credit where it is due. Brett Myers is an excellent pitcher and we, in no way, fault him for losing this game. It’s true that he gave up the homerun that put the Pirates over the top, but 2 runs should not be an insurmountable lead in Major League Baseball. The Phillies’ bats were just cold when it mattered. The Phillies did manage to find home in one way, though: they found their way home to the basement of the NL East. The Phils are back, once again, to .500 and a half game behind the Mets. They will try to temporarily climb out of the basement tonight, as Robinson Tejeda takes on the first-place Nationals’ Ryan Drese at 7:05pm.

I’ve always been a person of extremes. I believe you should jump in head-first or don’t even bother putting on your bathing suit – and by that I mean, “Don’t swim,” not “Swim naked.” And that is why it’s infuriating to me to see the Phillies be a perpetually mediocre team. If they win a game, they lose the next. I wish that they would either win or just concede the season and become the worst team in baseball. Then, at least they would have some distinction. Last night’s game was a perfect illustration of my point: the Phils decimated the Pirates in the first game of the series and then went on to get shutout last night. What will it take to get a little consistency? Last night started off downhill when, in the first inning, starting pitcher Jon Lieber was struck by a line drive ball on the same elbow where he received Tommy John surgery – a ligament reconstruction procedure – earlier in his career. Later, X-Rays would show no fracture. Lieber will be further examined to determine whether he will make his scheduled start against the Nationals on Sunday. This game should have been titled “The Kip Wells Show,” because that’s exactly what it was. Struggling Pittsburgh pitcher, Kip Wells, was determined to prove himself last night, and came up big. Wells struck out 12 and allowed only 4 hits. He even contributed to the scoring with an opposite field double, from which he would later score. It just seems incomprehensible that this is the same Phillies team that won the game before this one by a score of 12-1. This sort of inconsistency has been present all season. For example, in early June the Phils swept the (at the time) first place Texas Rangers. Shortly after, they went on to lose series against the horrible Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s. The Phils will battle mediocrity again tonight, as the sure-to-lose Vicente Padilla takes on the Pirates’ Mark Redman. I’ll start writing about the loss now.

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.

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?

Today, all of us suffering from the heartbreak of watching the Phillies come off of a 12-1 homestand in early June only to plummet to last place in the NL East were dealt a very small dose of relief as Brett Myers and the Phils shut down the Altanta Braves to escape last place. Could this be the beginning of the next great Philadelphia winning streak? Probably not. The Phils really needed a win today and Brett Myers came up big for our struggling home team. Myers pitched a stellar game, where he gave up no runs and only one hit going into the ninth inning. It looked like he would pitch a complete one-hitter. Unfortunately for Myers, he struggled in the ninth, giving up 3 runs. Fortunately for the Phils, Billy Wagner was able to close the game. Myers was even able to contribute to the scoring with an RBI single in the fourth. Other Phillies’ runs came from a 3-run homer by David Bell, a solo homerun from Pat Burrell, and an RBI single by Jason Micheals. Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said of Myers, "That's one of the best jobs against us all year. He was absolutely dynamite." Dynamite, indeed, Bobby. May you receive many more poundings like this one from Brett Myers. The only way the Phillies could avoid being demolished this season would be to have more pitching performances like Myers’ today. Maybe seeing today’s performance in contrast to yesterday’s shelling of Vicente Padilla will inspire the Phillies to make some big moves for starting pitchers before the trade deadline. Even with this pitching clinic that Myers put on today, this writer refuses to get his hopes up. Too many times have the Phils looked like they were going to pull themselves together only to fall short. We'll see what happens tomorrow as Robinson Tejada takes on the Braves' Jorge Sosa at 8:05pm.

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.