Comments on: Gamenight: Phillies (39-28) At Marlins (36-29)

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:54:14 +0000

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.

By: griffin

griffin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:46:24 +0000

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……

By: tom

tom — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:24:46 +0000

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.

By: philspan

philspan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:13:05 +0000

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.

By: NEPA

NEPA — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:53:19 +0000

Yea, I can definitely see that happening.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:45:40 +0000

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.

By: NEPA

NEPA — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:40:58 +0000

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.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:36:55 +0000

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

By: NEPA

NEPA — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:36:12 +0000

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.

By: NEPA

NEPA — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:31:05 +0000

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.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:29:39 +0000

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

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:28:31 +0000

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.

By: danny

danny — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:26:08 +0000

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.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:05:45 +0000

One thing I have to say about Ruiz and noone cares to realize this, but he calls an awesome game.

By: tom

tom — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:03:54 +0000

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.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:03:51 +0000

I think every Phillies fan is pissed about Howard.

By: chris m

chris m — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:02:02 +0000

geoff give me the deal on howard what do you think… you as pissed as i am

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:59:50 +0000

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.

By: Greg V.

Greg V. — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:53:27 +0000

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.

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:52:19 +0000

They only need 1 more win to finish above .500. I doubt they’ll get swept by the Cards.