Phillies Nation

Good morning. Let’s put it all behind us, and get behind these guys for the home stretch. Jroll got what he deserved last night. Bury the hatchet.

Go Phils!

I like Vic hitting in the 6 hole to give the Phills a little punch at the bottom half of thel lineup. I would love to split up Utley and Howard in the middle. Feliz comes back tonight to hit 7th … hopefully healthy and ready for a stretch run. You almost have to keep Werth in the lineup everyday at this point. 17 dingers and he is producing even against righties. I understand Tim’s point about Jenkins, but he has had his opportunities. Why not go with a lineup like this:

Vic
Utley
Burrell
Howard
Werth
Rollins
Feliz
Coste/Ruiz
Myers

That makes you R-L throughout the entire lineup. Having Dobbs back on the bench for PH duties is nice also … along with the added defense of Feliz. If the starters keep pitching well (aside from Blanton’s rocky start last night) they will make a push in the next two weeks.

One other note on the rotation, has anyone thought about the possibility of having Hamels start Friday on normal rest (because of Monday’s off day) instead of Saturday? Why not push Kendrick back to Saturday, thus allowing Hamels to pitch the second game against the Mets? Otherwise, Kendrick gets that key start. Come on Cholly, put the thinking cap on and make that decision.

Kendrick should not be making another start anytime soon. He should be sent down for a little while to think about things. I think it’s past time to bring up JA Happ! Happ has earned it! Kendrick has been a feel-good story, but he just hasn’t been performing. Last year, down-the-stretch, he pitched very well. It appears that he just isn’t going to be capable or repeating that performance this year.

One other note while I am thinking of it … I believe Cholly used the back end of the pen the way it should be used the rest of the season. Quietly I believe Madson has taken hold of the set-up role. His last few outings have been great. The velocity on his fastball seems to be up to go with his great change. Durbin back to the bridge guy (6-7th innings) is where he has thrived. I don’t think he is a set-up guy. Use Romero strictly as the LOOGY and Lidge shuts the door. Those 4 guys can get it done down the stretch. Use the others in mop-up situations.

Madson hitting 96mph had to make Geoff happy… and how about that Cutter that was 92mph and tailing away from the Righties (looked like a slider to me.. but what do I know?)

If he can hit his spots he’ll be fine.. Durbin needs to get back in the role that made him successful, but needs to be ready to pitch anywhere from the 6th through the 8th inning.. he is that important to this team.

ive seen enough of rollins. victorino is what jimmy rollins shouldve been his whole career but only did last year. plus, regardless of some of the retard things shane occasionally does, he ALWAYS gives max effort. jimmy barely gives any effort.

he short-armed a double play ball last night. if i was chad durbin id have turned around and flipped him off and then got up in his grill in the dugout afterwards.

you can’t knock a guy for diving for a ball up the middle but not coming up with it.. I thought he should’ve made the play too, but thats because of how good he is and we come to expect plays like that on a regular basis… but you can’t say he didn’t try for it

I’ve been to… 6 games I think this year..

Hamels vs. the Cubs in april,
Kendrick vs the Rockies,
Hamels vs the Reds,
Hamels vs the Marlins,
Hamels vs the RedSox,
Eaton vs the Angels

Hamels again on Saturday… and then 3 in Chicago, not sure who is pitching those games. If they stay with the Hamels, Blanton, Myers, Moyer, Kendrick..

Thursday night in Chicago will be Hamels. Friday is Blanton, Saturday is Myers, Sunday is Moyer… I’ll take it..

Then who is the #2 guy, Rollins or Werth?

I wouldn’t mind a flip-flop of Victorino, Rollins, Utley, etc…

Force Rollins to bunt Victorino over and play small ball to get his head around the concept of “team” again..

im fired up about getting hamels again on saturday.

Watching Hamels pitch is incredible. He is fun to watch. He’s like a wizard or something.

i think a large part of pitching is having the hitters hypnotized by your pitch selection, delivery, movements, stuff, etc. having the ability to freeze them. thats so key. hamels is very good at it. moyer is the MASTER of hypotizing people up there. hell throw over to first like 30 times. take his time, take time outs, etc. myers just goes up there and throws because hes not that kind of pitcher.

i didnt like moyer until i saw him in person a few times this year because i never caught him before in person until this year.

Hamels is a better hitter than most of our line up haha

Dude, Kendrick has been disgraceful last two times out. if it happens the next time you have to sit him down and get him right. you cant stand for that in a pennant race. you need WINS. i like him too, but i want to see him do well and i dont want to keep tossing him out there if hes getting smoked. its bad for his confidence. fix him and then bring him back if he cant fix himself here.

as far as rollins. im upset at him because hes blaming his troubles on the fans. it doesnt matter if hes correct in his assumptions or not. hes copping out. hes gotta go. hes trash.

i also bet that if he does to AAA the pitching coach will raise his velocity a bit. because rich dubee = no velocity

there have been many instances of this alreayd. balnton struggled with velocity last night.

joe, rotation: DONT EVER LISTEN TO RICH DUBEE. throw the long toss like youre supposed to, use the waistband things, etc. BUILD ARM strength.

rich dubee is a pitch count guy, and it rather have a pitching coach that build arm strength and stamina while working on mechanics and command. pitch count guys lower velocity and suck in general. rich dubee and milt thompson need to go IMMEDIATELY. i am DEMANDING this.

why do you think all of these guys, including hamels a few times, have struggled to get through 5 innings, 6 innings ALL SEASON. its becaus eof the way they train their pitching: pitch counts, dont throw enough between starts.

the way to handle pitching properly as a coach? well, all coaches are going to preach command and mechanics. but thats not good enough to win unless youre jamie moyer. you have to get stamina and arm strength UP. you do that by throwing more pitches. if youre not ptiching and throwing between starts, you wont get stamina and velocity.

im not surprised at all when half the time guys come here with dubee and a cycle around the rotation is like: 8 innings (hamels), 5 innings, 6 innings, 6innings, 5 innings. um, thats just NOT going to get it done even IF youre not alllowing many runs. STARTERS NEED TO GO 6-7 innings ROUTINELY to be effective.

also Geoff, You’re sayign we need WINS in a pennant race. Who the hell is saying that Carrasco and Happ are goign to come up and dominate. They’re babies!! Just 4 weeks ago, Carrasco was in AA getting SHELLED and people on here were saying trade him hahaha. No pressure kids, just win as soon as you come to the big leagues.

right, thats why if you demote kendrick the better thing to do wouldve been to get a rental starter off the waiver-wire given the current situation. obvoiusly you go for better but the deadline is over.

maddux wouldnt come here, etc. maybe washburn would be a nice 5th if seattle would ease off their INSANE demands of refusing to eat his contract. hey seattle: you eat his contract next year and well take him….

they did at one point, but for two weeks they went through a phase where they only have a few guys go past 6 a few times. there was a cycle a week or so ago where hamels got shelled, blanton got shelled, kenrdrick and moyer didnt last long, myers did well but only went 5 or 6.

thats not going to cut it…

I’m kinda of confused by your theories Geoff, I guess you and I just wont see eye to eye on much. But…

“the way to handle pitching properly as a coach? well, all coaches are going to preach command and mechanics. but thats not good enough to win unless youre jamie moyer.”

that’s completley false. If every pitcher had command of their pitches like Moyer, they would all win. So it is completely good enough.

Secondly, I missed when Dubee takes out the pitchers when they’re doing well? He yanks them they’re sucking. 4 runs in 5 innings last night for blanton against the worst team in teh big leagues. And we’re in teh middle of a rally in the 5th, did you WANT Blanton to hit just so he could meet his “6-7 innings” quota in your world?

“if i managed the team, all 5 of those guys would be going 6-7 innings every time out while limiting the runs.”

hahaha if you managed a team that could do that and win, you would retire the greatest coach of all time. Sure you’re ideas sound good on paper, but in reality, EVERY COACH would love to their pitchers to go 6-7 innings while limiting the runs. Come on now.

im pretty sure i made moyer an exception because hes been around forever and has people hypnotized up there.

you missed my point. If Blanton was throwing in the uppper 80′s instead of the 90′s but had the control of moyer, he would be great. It’s not velocity that wins balls games geoff, it’s location adn change of speeds. where did you learn the game

i understand changing speeds (see ryan, nolan: multiple different fastball speeds, slow curve, 90mph curve) but theyre hanging floaters up in the middle of the plate. yes, location is key, but when youre TOP speed is 88 like blanton and kendrick and myers its GOING TO GET CRUSHED unless your location is as good as moyers. thats why moyer is the exception.

but, blantons velocity range was 91-95 in oakland, myers is 90-94 and was most of his career.

where did that go? myers has just recently fixed it in AAA. blantons has been up and down. one game he can change speeds and dial it up and down, one game he cant.

hence: DEMAND IMMEDIATE reassignment of dubee.

…and.. if their velocity is down, its usually for all the pitches not just the fastball. As long as their is a difference in speeds like Fastball 88, Chang-up 80mph… that is good enough to keep the hitters off balance.

Throwing 98mph is nice.. but if you aren’t locating it, that will get hit out of the yard at some point too.

What you want is the guy that throws hard, changes-speed, and has the locations… Sabathia, Santana, Beckett, ….When Hamels and Myers are hitting their spots, you could say them too. both of those guys throw between 90-94.. with a Change that is at least 10mph slower.