Gamenight: Phillies (39-28) At Marlins (36-29)
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Thu, June 12, 2008 05:05 PM | Comments: 39
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Two nights ago we fell back to Earth. Last night we crashed deep into Hell. At least that’s what it felt like after Tom Gordon gave up a game-winning grand slam to Dan Uggla. The Fish won 6-2, sending the Phils back one more game in first place in the NL East.
But despite all this, let’s all calm down. It’s June 12. There’s plenty of baseball, trades, transactions, injuries and such to go before we can give any final word on this season and this team. Tonight though, it would be huge for the Phils to score a good win against the Marlins. A sweep wouldn’t be completely welcomed.
The Phils will turn to Jamie Moyer, who is a perfect 8-for-8 for his career against the Marlins, last winning June 1 against the Fish. He gave up five earned runs in that contest, but the offense behind him did the job, and the Phils won, 7-5. Moyer will face lefty Scott Olsen, who has said — more or less — he hates the Phillies. A nice history between Olsen and the Phils includes some fighting and beaming. It’s possible these two teams can go ape on each other tonight. Ryan Howard is 0-for-7 for the series; it would be nice if he found that opposite field stroke again tonight.
Catcher Chris Coste is with his wife, who was in labor last night. He is not with the team.
Phillies: Jamie Moyer (6-3) 4.56 ERA
Marlins: Scott Olsen (4-2) 3.44 ERA
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EST
Weather: 82, possible showers
Lineup: Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Burrell, Werth, Feliz, Ruiz, Moyer
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Your gamenight beer: Scott Olsen is an asshole. Let’s put it out there. So tonight go with the Entire Butt. As in Entire Butt English Porter. It’s one of the best beers you’ll ever have — creamy and coffee-like and strong to the taste. You’ll be swimming after this one. The Phils better man up tonight and put some runs on the board, then start swinging at Olsen for old-time’s sake. It’s time to score some runs.
Go Phillies!
Posts: 0 chris m
tim, i dont know if you saw my comment on the other thread but the grandslam was with 1-out
Posted: 05:23 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 chris m
i took a lot of heat from people when i stated howard has sucked this year and he has. he is a disgrace. great to see ruiz start another game
Posted: 05:24 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Paul
I see Mr. Billy Wagner blew another save for the Mets today.
Posted: 05:37 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Mike W.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGNERRRRRRRRRRRr. WAAAAAAAAAGNERRRRRRRRRRRRR. God it makes me so happy every time this happens.
Posted: 06:17 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 scot
Phils win in the 9th on a Jayson Werth suicide squeeze!!!!
Posted: 06:47 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 chris m
745 start time…..this sucks
Posted: 07:19 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 griffin
Miguel Cabrera agrees with your assesment of Scott Olsen.
Posted: 07:30 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 chris m
looks like howard is making progress. hes still trying to pull the outside ball
Posted: 07:54 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 85
Thank God… It’s about time they manufactured some runs. Annnnnd of course Howard strikes out. Phew.
Posted: 09:04 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 TwoTonsOfIrony
I wonder if Ruiz can figure out how to hit into a double play here
Posted: 09:46 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 BillyPenn
Moyer owns the Marlins….big time
Posted: 09:57 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Clare
3 games ahead is so much better than 1!!!!
Posted: 10:20 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
Wow. Tough loss = 100+ comments. Good win = 14.
Moyer was brilliant tonight. Exactly what they needed.
Posted: 10:24 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
I meant 13 there. Now it’s 14.
Posted: 10:25 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 chris m
ya thats bull shit….i just walked in from softball…..if i was a gambler i would say howard had ANOTHER bad game cuz he sucks
Posted: 10:30 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
Someone said a few days ago that they don’t trust Moyer as the 3rd pitcher for the playoffs. Does anyone remember game 3 of the Rockies series last year? He let up like 1 run in 7 innings. Here’s my response to that after seeing tonights game. If we make the playoffs this year, I want Moyer to be our #1 guy. He may not get the job done all the time, but he gets the job done when it’s needed. He’s a big game pitcher. Tonight was a big game, and he got the job done. He made the Marlins really good offense look like a bunch of high school kids. He located every pitch where he wanted them to be, he got guys to hit the ball where he wanted them to hit it. He was brilliant. Does anyone else here agree with me that he should be our #1 guy in the playoffs because of his big game pitching experience?
Posted: 10:31 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 chris m
at this piont screw howard and his suporters
Posted: 10:42 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 scot
I’d like to point this out.
Today, Johan Santana went 7 innings against the dbacks. He left a game they needed to win and gave it over to an overworked and innefective bullpen.
Tonight, Jamie Moyer went 8 innings. He decided he’d take it into his own hands and not worry about turning it over to anyone except the most dominant closer in the league in 2008.
Should we compare the salaries and the hype?
It’s a GREAT night to be a Phils fan.
Posted: 10:50 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 ryan
wow. negadelphia is alive and well. come on people!!! the phils are 4-2 on a brutal road trip so far. we should be overjoyed if they finish this trip at .500.
Posted: 10:51 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
They only need 1 more win to finish above .500. I doubt they’ll get swept by the Cards.
Posted: 10:52 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Greg V.
Moyer is great and he ought to be our number one guy! The reason he did so well in Game 3 vs. The Rockies is that they were a hot hitting team and Moyer is all about off speed pitches and location. Sure, he has his bad days but so do all of them. He’s had the least amount of bad days of all our pitchers right now.
As for Howard, trade him. Cut him. Do whatever. We’re not going to the post season if we basically have an automatic out in the clean up spot.
Posted: 10:53 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
moyer gets mashed hard by patient hitters. teams like this, young aggressive teams, end up looking silly against him. i gotta give that old man credit. 8 shutout innings at that age is pretty impressive. the rest of the bullpen needed that rest too.
great job there jamie in picking up his seventh win. im really hard on that guy because of his age but ill give him credit when he gets it done. myers needs to watch and learn from him about having CONTROL of your pitches. moyer throws garbage but he locates it and impatient hitters cant get it done against him.
Posted: 10:59 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 chris m
geoff give me the deal on howard what do you think… you as pissed as i am
Posted: 11:02 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
I think every Phillies fan is pissed about Howard.
Posted: 11:03 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 tom
gritty gutty win, ugly, but absolutely needed. moyer was great, this was the perfect stage for him.
however, i am so freaking tired of carlos ruiz. marson is too young to be called up and jaraimelo can’t hit, at this point i’m going to start petitioning lieberthal to come back to back up coste. seriously, another bullpen arm and another starter would be great additions as the season moves on, but we need someone who can play every other day at catcher to split time with coste.
Posted: 11:03 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
One thing I have to say about Ruiz and noone cares to realize this, but he calls an awesome game.
Posted: 11:05 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 danny
i hate the marlins… i’m so happy we won this game. i’m happier we won this game than i am that billy wagner blew another save.
hey everybody, this is the year we go out and get a huge piece before the trading deadline. right?
this is the year.
Posted: 11:26 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
yeah im pissed about howard. he hasnt done anything for like 3 games. hes been really weak this year for what hes supposed to be doing. but what the hell can we do? all youre going to get for him are mlb-ready prospects, guys who are going to be rookies and who will help you next year. id DEFINITELY trade him in the offseason for a nice haul. i dont think we can get established pitchers hitters for him this year. but if he worsens then they will have their hand forced. the yankees and the angels will come in and try to get him on the cheap this year. the yankees are pretty bare, a lot of their prospects are overrated upon further review. the angels have good young players who can help us now. ervin santana, jered weaver, reggie willits, casey kotchman, howie kendrick, joe saunders are all still pretty young. would the angels give you kotchman plus santana? weaver? id trade ryan howard for two of those guys, id do that overnight. howard for ervin santana & casey kotchman? howard for jered weaver & reggie willits?
just throwing some ideas out there. he has yankees or angels written all over him. the angels have some primo young talent there that i want the phillies to get their hands on. imagine a rotation of hamels – weaver – myers or hamels – ervin santana – myers. thats a really good one two punch.
would the angels do that? i doubt it. but id love it if they did.
Posted: 11:28 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
yes htis IS the year. they HAVE to do it this year.
also..ruiz is garbage at the plate. total slop garbage. he is a good catcher though, he just GOT worse at the plate since last year and he was bad last year
Posted: 11:29 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Yea, I have no problem with Ruiz behind the plate. Calls a great game and usually doesn’t kill the offense like he did last night. I’m pretty sure he’s been the Phils leading hitter with RISP, so he usually takes advantage of RBI situations. I’d love Coste to be younger and able to play everyday, but he’s not. Ruiz/Coste platoon is fine with me. Plus, Ruiz is our 8 hole hitter, look around the league and you’ll see almost nobody gets any production from their 8 hole.
Posted: 11:31 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
As for Howard, at this I think we’re gonna have to deal with him being unclutch and inconsistent all year. This was a huge series and he totally shit a brick. In the beginning of the season we were just waiting for him to get hot then we knew he’d be fine. But now he’s gotten hot once or twice and he’s back to being a big joke. He looks like a big clown out there.
Posted: 11:36 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
you cant ground into double plays though. thats a cardinal sin. if he can just not do that hed be a better 8 hole hitter
Posted: 11:36 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
And before last night’s game nobody was talking about how Ruiz hits into a ton of DP’s. He had a rough game but I think he’ll be fine, at least as fine as Carlos Ruiz can be.
Posted: 11:40 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 Geoff
i think hes getting replaced by lou marson next year. theyll trade him for a bad prospect or let him go at the end of the season.
Posted: 11:45 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Yea, I can definitely see that happening.
Posted: 11:53 PM on June 12, 2008
Posts: 0 philspan
I also think that Marson is the Phillies starting catcher of the future. The question is what to do with Ruiz and Coste. I would try to trade Ruiz since I think he has more trade value and keep Coste as the back-up catcher. Coste is a better hitter and has more versatility when it comes to positions.
Posted: 12:13 AM on June 13, 2008
Posts: 0 tom
double plays aside, it’s june 13th and ruiz is batting .221. that’s just not very good, and with howard’s .203 or whatever there are holes in this lineup right now that are contributing to games like the first two marlins games, and to a lesser degree the braves games (which they had to come back or score late in to win). it’s hard to score runs without guys on, and recently on any given night there are 3 or so guys who are putting up 0fers.
ruiz is an average defensive catcher and nothing more, if was a shutdown guy behind the plate and was better at throwing runners out his prolonged slumps would be easier to swallow.
ruiz had stretches of brilliance last year, but his offensive struggles become magnified by this dr jekyl mr howard act. if howard were hitting any hitting from the catcher spot becomes a bonus… but right now they need something from that spot.
Posted: 06:24 AM on June 13, 2008
Posts: 0 griffin
Ruiz isn’t as bad as everyone is making him seem. How many good hitting catchers are out there? The Phillies catchers are about the NL average. Ruiz calls a good game and helps lower the team ERA. You don’t need an all-star hitter at every position.
Now Howard is another story……
Posted: 09:46 AM on June 13, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
I can’t agree with you more Griffin. The only time I like seeing Coste in the line-up is against lefties because, Ruiz is actually better at hitting righties, and because of Utley and the K King being lefties, and the fact that Burrell is better at hitting righties. It makes me assured to see that bat at the end of the line-up ready to do something when there is a lefty starting against us.
Posted: 09:54 AM on June 13, 2008