Results tagged “toddpratt”

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.

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.

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.

Charlie Manuel and Todd Pratt defended their pitcher against home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez's tight strike zone. Marquez, though, fought back and ejected both in the second inning of today's series finale between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets won the series with a 5 - 3 win in today's game. Pedro Martinez pitched six innings for the win. Jon Lieber pitchedo only four innings for the loss. Lieber wasn't bolstered by the support from his catcher and manager. He left pitches up in the zone that inning, as well as in the fourth inning. That was enough for the Mets, who scored all of their five runs in those two innings. Charlie Manuel tried to mix things up with a new lineup that featured Kenny Lofton leading off, Endy Chavez hitting second, and Jimmy Rollins hitting fifth. These three Phils accounted for 6 of the 8 hits that the Phillies had on the day. Going 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored, Lofton made a strong case for retaining the leading off spot in future days and weeks. The Phillies started their scoring with a solo homerun from Jimmy Rollins. They chipped away with two more runs, but couldn't make the Mets' bullpen pay. Manuel and his team will return to Philadelphia tonight. They begin a weekend series with the 2nd place Atlanta Braves. Today's loss leaves the Phillies one game above .500 with the Mets very close in their rearview mirror.