Phillies Nation

When Griffey came up there were camera flashes all over; it looked pretty awesome. And yes, our bullpen did make me sit on the edge of my seat a bit but we got the job done!!

You’re asking for a lot Geoff. lol I’d give him the thumbs up if he could do that 3 times. Hamels can’t even go 5 in a row 7+ innings 3 or less runs, you’re gonna ask Myers to do it?

get Griffey out*

Geoff when you say that Coste will win the spot by the All Star break I have to disagree, I don’t think there’s a spot to win. It’s not like Coste is a normal back-up player in the sense that he is battling for the starting spot and ready/willing to play every day even if Ruiz is around and healthy. He and Charlie have both said numerous times that Coste is better off playing around 2 out of 5 games because anything more than that and the law of diminishing effects takes over. I think that anyone in their right mind can see that the offense is more potent with Coste in the line-up but he can not do it everyday. Also, when it comes to Ruiz, we’re talking about an 8 hole hitter here. Not too many teams get production from their 8 hole, and if any team can afford not to its the Phillies. I say stick with what they’re doing, if it’s not broke don’t fix it.

Hey listen, why would we even pitch to Griffey on an historic night when they intentionally walked Utley on his possible historic night with the franchise. I want him to hit 600 as bad as Utley hitting 6, but not at the expense of the game. Gordon did the right thing !!

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Totally different situation with the walks of Utley and Griffey. Every manager in the NL would have made the decision to walk Utley in that spot. He’s the hottest hitter in the majors and already had 2 hits at that point last night. Yes, it would have beeen nice to see him go for the franchise record 6th sraught HR game, but it was purely strategy by Baker. Griffey, on the other hand, is not Utley. He’s batting in the .250′s with 6 HR’s. There is no reason to pitch around him with Hairston on deck and Bruce up 3rd. They are both much hotter than Griffey right now and I would much rather not have the tying run aboard and the go-ahead run at the plate when either of them comes to bat.

I was at the game – a very sloppy one all around. Howard looked horrible (must trade), offense left too many men on (flashes of inconsistency), and the bullpen had zero location. We’re going to have to score with runners on tonight if we want to win, Volquez is no joke.

Harang is no joke either. The guy is a good pitcher. That’s why we had trouble hitting and scoring runs in. Hopefully we know how to hit Volquez after seeing him once this season. That guy is lights out.

It’s very clear that people (Philly sports fans in particular) love negativity. I’m guilty of this myself sometimes, but come on. The Phils won, they’re 10 games over .500 and 2.5 games in first place, and it’s the beginning of June!! I watched the game, and I don’t see how anyone can say it was very sloppy all around. Eaton pitched a great game, Burrell came through huge, and we got two big double plays at key spots. It was a great win for a good team. We’re not going to score 15+ runs every time out. Baseball is a streaky game, understand that. Howard striking out with the bases loaded hurts without a doubt, but he’s hardly a MUST trade. I’m not saying if the right deal comes along where we can get some quality players that it shouldn’t be looked into, but he’s not exactly a lead weight dragging the team down. He wants to produce, and he wants to win. He’s already improved over the last month; give him a chance to work it out. Despite his struggles, his numbers are still respectable. I also think Gordon made the correct move in walking Jr. I think it’s pretty obvious in the fact that he got out of the inning and we got a win. How can anyone argue now, after the fact, that it was a mistake? Hindsight is 20/20, and it worked, where is the argument? The Phillies fans who booed are idiots. So what they didn’t witness history. It wasn’t his last career at bat, he’s still going to hit 600. If we’re up 10 or down 10, pitch to him, but in that spot, it was the smart decision. If every Phils win from now till Sept 28 is a 3-2 win in that same fashion, I wouldn’t be the least bit disappointed. Two more home games and then two huge series at the braves and fish, lets up the Phils can keep it up.

Tim, why did Lidge gete the Ashburn Award for that game? Dont you think it should have been Eaton or Burrell? Lidge seemed almost off lastnight….

they walked chase utley to get to howard, thats so funny. when they start calling howard out like that the other teams know he isnt right. dusty baker is a slippery old manager who would not do that unless he knew howard was really messed up. howard had a nice few weeks where he rebounded but in this homestand hes cooled off. its june, he should be mashing now. his average should be between .270-.300. your cleanup hitter CANNOT have a batting average of .208 or whatever it is now. trading him now is selling too low. i want to trade him, absolutely, but i want to wait til after the all star break and see if anyone will splurge prospects and current players on them at the deadline. otherwise, you flip him at the winter meetings. theres no way id keep him on the team next year unless he is so bad this year that you cant get good value for him and then youre stuck with him.

I shouldve played baseball in college man. clay condrey makes 385k? im pretty sure i could be doing that for a living if i had put the time in. heck, almost anyone in this forum probably could do what he does and collect that money each week. if i cant throw hard enough then i could certaintly play first base. oh well.

geoff im pretty sure your not as good as clay condrey!

Take a look at Griffey’s career numbers against Gordon and pitching around him makes a lot of sense.
Come on: one-run lead, 8th inning, facing one of the greatest sluggers of all time, who also just happens to own the guy on the mound? Of course you walk him (plus, you know the Reds have got to use another bench player to run for the guy).
If Griffey weren’t sitting at 599 we wouldn’t even be having this debate.

obviously not right now but if you worked at it you could be, so could i or anyone. hence saying shouldve played in college and played more in middle and high school than i did. thats the ultimate sports regret. looks at some of these guys, theyre not ultra talented. hes there becuase he worked at it, and you can tell he doesnt have the talent. anyone can fill a role like that if they work hard enough. thats why baseball is so great.

Mike, I read the posts and comments the first time around, but thanks. It’s easy to post on a blog and throw out all kinds of trade possibilities until you’re blue in the face. But the reality of these deals going down is very slim. And just because we ship Howard out and bring in some other players, what’s to say they don’t shit the bed like any number of the scrubs we’ve had over the years. Howard is proven, he didn’t win rookie of the year and MVP by accident. Don’t get me wrong, it’s embarrassing to have your 3 hitter walked to get to the clean-up, and he was absolutely awful last night, but a guy with his kind of power and attitude in the clubhouse isn’t a cancer to this team.

phillies fans acting absolutely shameful once again last night. when griffey came out to pinch hit the place went nuts. this is absolutely unacceptable. in a one run game in the 8th inning , despite the fact that griffey would have tied the game with a homerun, you could clearly tell that many of the fans in the crowd would have overjoyed to see griffey smack no. 600 even though it might mean the phillies would lose. i am very upset with the way the fans are at the park. people were standing and cheering a player from the other team?????? i’m a big griffey fan, but this is absolutely disgusting behavior for philly fans!!!!

Dude, Ryan…you’re a d-bag. How can you not cheer that on. Regardless if the Phillies lose or win because Griffey breaks his record, it would amazing to see live. Have some fucking respect.

anyone who was routing for griffey to hit that homerun in that situation last night is not a true phillies fan. you shouldn’t be allowed to go to CBP from now on. you probably do the wave in one run games in the bottom of the ninth while lidge is going for the save. probably the same type of people who show up in the third inning and leave in the 8th.

fraud