Gameday: Phillies (74-62) At Cubs (85-51)
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sun, August 31, 2008 01:21 PM | Comments: 49
Posts
Headline: Moyer looks to put stamp on series
The Major Players: Jamie Moyer, Ryan Howard, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Madson
The Venue: Wrigley Field, Chicago
The Number: 1 game behind (Mets)
The Phillies grabbed a huge victory yesterday with huge contributions by Brett Myers (7 IP, 2 ER), JC Romero (IP, 3 K) and Jayson Werth (2 HR, 4 RBI). Jamie Moyer is on deck today to slam the door on the series, and a split is very much necessary.
Zam-basted: Three of Carlos Zambrano’s last four starts have been horrendous. He gave up a season-high nine runs to Saint Louis, then five to Florida and six to Pittsburgh. In between the latter two was a one-run gem against Cincinnati.
Toughie: Before Tuesday night’s bad start, Jamie Moyer hadn’t had a bad start since June 1 against Florida. Every start between those yielded three runs, at most.
Not The Light! Part III!: The Phillies are 17-22 in daytime.
Phillies: Jamie Moyer (11-7) 3.81 ERA
Cubs: Carlos Zambrano (13-5) 3.53 ERA
Gametime: 2:25 p.m. EST
Weather: 85, sunny
Lineup:
MLB TV
MLB Gameday Audio
MLB Gameday
Your gameday beer: Let’s go with a light, crisp witbier today. This is Allagash White, a favorite of mine. Very cool and summery, it has a bit of citrus to it, and smells just a bit spicy, like most wheats. Very nice. Better than Blue Moon and a great sleeper pick. Eat a fresh summer salad with this choice.
Go Phillies!
Posts: 0 NEPA
I thought it was Sean Marshall starting, or is it back to Zambrano?
Posted: 01:25 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Clare
Zambrano’s not pitching today anymore.
Posted: 01:26 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 fred
It’s Marshall, thank god
Posted: 01:29 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Today’s lineup:
Rollins/Utley/Burrell/Howard/Victorino/Werth/Feliz/Ruiz
Posted: 01:30 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
YAY NO ZAMBRANO! In a way, I’d like to face him to see if we can get to him too. If we had an NLCS matchup against the Cubbies I think we can beat them, I really really do. We got to Dempster, we somewhat got to Harden, and if we could get to Zambrano it would make me think we can beat them. If we win today and the Mets lose then we have a lot of momentum going into the series next weekend against them. We have the nats this week and they have the brewers. I see us taking 2 out of 3 and them taking 1 out of 3.
Posted: 01:43 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Phil, what worries me is the next two weeks, the Mets play Washington, then Atlanta, then Washington, then Atlanta. They have a sweet schedule while we’re playing Milwaukee, Florida, etc. We have to play better ball than what we’ve been playing to make sure we keep pace with New York over the next two weeks. If we do, our last two weeks favor us, with the Mets’ schedule getting a little harder.
Posted: 02:00 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 fred
I think we’ll sweep the nats, and NY will take 2/3. Both sides will win today, and the series next week will begin with the teams tied. I can’t wait till next friday, sitting in Shea in my Utley shirt as we take charge in the divisions gonna be awesome.
Posted: 02:00 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Phil
I really wanna go to Shea Friday. None of my friends would wanna go though. :(
Posted: 02:01 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
I’m looking forward to the Nats series. Three games of Don Sutton and the gang’s color commentary. Absolutely a treat!
Posted: 02:08 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 fred
Damn that sucks for you. Me and my dad are coming over from england for the friday and saturday games, then going to philly for the eagles on sunday and phillies-marlins on monday. After watching games all season long on the laptop at crap times it’s gonna be so sweet being there. I’m really curious as to how many phillies fans will be at shea on friday, hopefully enough to make a real difference.
Posted: 02:10 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 fred
Lol to jamie. The nats announcers suck.
Posted: 02:13 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Here we go, boys and girls!
Posted: 02:20 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 stefan
The Phillies WILL make the playoffs. And here’s why:
The race is too close between the Mets and the Phillies to give any team an advantage in standings position. I just can’t bring myself to say that the Mets and their horrible bullpen are going to make the playoffs. I will give that honor to the Philadelphia Phillies, who lead the NL with home runs as a result of a potent lineup stacked with the likes of Howard, Utley, and Burrel (each of whom has 30+ hrs).
Hope you enjoyed this post. For more insight on the MLB and the rest of the world of sports, check out my blog at:
http://talkaboutsport.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Stefan
Posted: 02:20 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Werth, 3 run HR here? That’d be nice.
Posted: 02:28 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Nice, these are some big hits. We need this game.
Posted: 02:31 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 fred
Werth has been amazing recently. Picking up Burrells slack in a big way
Posted: 02:34 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 CARLOS BELTRAN
stefan keep dreamin buddy!!! WE ARE THE TEAM TO BEAT !! AND OFFENSIVE DOESNT MEAN EVERYTHING AND YEA YA GOT HOMERUN HITTERS BUT IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT WE HIT MORE THEN YA DO!! AND LAST TIME I CHECKED PITCHING WINS WORLD SERIES AND PENNANTS!! DONT MAKE A FOOL OUT OF YOURSELF
Posted: 02:38 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 JeffR
I think we’re going to need a lot of runs. I don’t have agood feeling about Moyer against this lineup.
Posted: 02:38 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Fran
so far so good
Posted: 02:41 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 JeffR
Get Burell out of here. I don’t care what the number geeks say about his OBP or that he had a good 2 months. He’s your number 3 hitter with 2 outs and 2 on, and he’s just looking to walk. Always take the easy way out.
Posted: 02:57 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Fran
damnit howard
Posted: 02:58 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
oh jesus christ
Posted: 03:00 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Fran
you gotta be kidding me
Posted: 03:00 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Fran
the way this is going soriano is gonna blast one out right here
Posted: 03:01 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Man, what a way to take advantage of baserunners…not
Posted: 03:16 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
they really, REALLY could have used a run that inning. oh well, just gotta settle in.
Posted: 03:18 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
You aren’t kidding. After Victorino’s gift in the bottom of the 2nd, we need to get those runs back.
Posted: 03:24 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Aaron Heilman on in relief…Mets 6-2, bottom 7th, 2 outs, runners on 1st & 2nd.
Posted: 03:25 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
moyer with that nasty stuff
Posted: 03:33 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
and again!
Posted: 03:47 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
And the Jayson Werth show continues!
Posted: 03:53 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Werth’s an animal.
Posted: 03:53 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 CT
Charlie best not put Stairs into the lineup for Werth, at least not while he’s on fire like this.
screw Jenkins
Posted: 03:54 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Werth is going to need a day off sooner or later, as will Vic and Burrell. Stairs and/or Dobbs may be a good choice.
Posted: 04:05 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
great situational hitting. great bunt from moyer. i like the way they’re playing this game!
Posted: 04:07 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 philsphan
Burrell could certainly use a day off soon. Maybe we will see Stairs instead of Burrell against the righty Tim Redding on Monday?
Manuel always plays the hot hand so I don’t see him taking Werth out of the lineup anytime soon. Maybe for a day off but he would probably still be available to pinch hit/run.
Posted: 04:10 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Philsphan, that’s a good idea. I like Stairs over Burrell tomorrow to give him a day off. In 25 plate appearances against Redding, he’s only hitting .240 with 0 HR’s.
Posted: 04:15 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
big inning from durbin. moyer gives a solid start, i would have liked to see him go 6, but it’s good to see him back to his old self (no pun intended) either way
Posted: 04:27 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
oh no… madsen
Posted: 05:07 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 CT
:-( Madson
Posted: 05:07 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Fred
That Madsen is great
Posted: 05:09 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
madson =D
Posted: 05:11 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 christopher
splitting that series was huge. realistically that was what i was hoping for coming in, i’d have been ecstatic to see them take three, and crazy enough they very well could have done it (or even swept). they were right there in every game, and to take two of four in wrigley against this cubs team is not only big for the season, but also big for this team to prove where they’re at right now. great stuff.
Posted: 05:31 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
Tyler Green? What the hell? Is this normal? Boy this is weird.
Posted: 05:33 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
And wow, Tyler had a bad night last night. Damn you HD.
Posted: 05:33 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 mikemike
Christopher. The thing that is crazy is that with any other manager,we have a chance to win the last game against the mets. And at least three of four against ,maybe a sweep if the manager wasn’t a idiot. And the thing that is unbelievable is to lose the mets game and the first two in chicago and split is great.
Posted: 05:42 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 ryan
this was a really good series for the phils. about as happy as you could be with a split. they easily could have swept all four against the best team in all of baseball who is nearly unbeatable at home. so you gotta be glad with the way the phils played. the cubs had their rotation set up perfectly and still couldn’t win the series. the phils proved they can dance with the big boys IMO. they have a winning record this year against the cubs.
Posted: 05:50 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Not that beggars can be choosers, but we really should have swept them – and would have – if the pen didn’t falter those first two. What a boost that would have been. As I said yesterday, though, at least we proved we could play with, and beat the almighty Cubs. I still don’t like to see Madson in there in the 8th with the game on the line, but Durbin seemed to be back to his old self. Great win, and I look forward to Don Sutton and the Nats!
Posted: 05:51 PM on August 31, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
Oh, and Werth with a second consecutive Ashburn??
Posted: 05:51 PM on August 31, 2008