Gameday: Nationals (59-100) At Phillies (90-70)
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sat, September 27, 2008 03:15 PM | Comments: 278
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Headline: Win, and they’re in
The Major Players: Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Jayson Werth, Ryan Howard, Jamie Moyer, Chad Durbin, Brad Lidge
The Venue: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pa.
The Number: 2 games ahead, NL East
And now the Phillies sit on the precipice. Win today, and they’re National League East champions. Johan Santana did his job for the Mets; Jamie Moyer now has the ball in his hands, and will look to pitch the Phils to the promised land yet again. Moyer will be gunning for his 16th win, making him the second player to do such at age 45 or older. He would join Phil Niekro (who did it twice) on the list. Amazing.
Last night Ryan Howard collected four RBI, including his 48th home run of the season. He has 11 HR and 32 RBI in September, breaking a Phillie record held by Sarge. On the other side of that fence is Pat Burrell, who has struggled this month. He has three HR and nine RBI, his thinnest monthly total yet.
The offense will be teeing up against John Lannan, who has faced the Phils twice this season with mixed results. The first performance was horrendous, as the Phils knocked him around for eight runs in 5.2 innings. But his next start against the Phils (Sept. 2) wasn’t so bad. He gave up two runs in six innings, though he lost to a Brett Myers’ shutout. He’s a good strikeout pitcher, so the Phils need to capitalize if he’s throwing early strikes. Knock him out early, get the crowd pumped.
It’s simple. Win the game. I’ll let this finish the talking:
Phillies: Jamie Moyer (15-7) 3.78 ERA
Nationals: John Lannan (9-14) 3.86 ERA
Gametime: 3:55 p.m. EST
Weather: 74, isolated storms
Lineup: Rollins/Werth/Utley/Howard/Burrell/Victorino/Feliz/Ruiz/Moyer
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MLB Gameday Audio
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Your gameday beer: Today we go back to Yuengling, and to Black & Tan. I like black and tans, but I also like the combination of Guiness and a cider. But that’s me. It’s good to drink this on a rainy day such as today, but really, I want you to grab whatever you want. Drink whatever. Eat whatever. Sit and focus. Cheer. Go nuts. Go crazy. Get crazy. Get rowdy. This is the day. Cheer on your Phillies all day, party all night. Let’s get this baby done.
Go Phillies!
Posts: 0 Jeff
Get it done! Not to sound sympathetic to enemies, but Johan is a beast. Too bad the Mets aren’t really putting the numbers up around him though. Smells like a bullpen defeat
Posted: 03:22 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Excellent choice with the Rocky montage!
Posted: 03:22 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 LH
Ryan Howard’s crack of the bat, through the mist and lights of Sept. 26, reminded me I had heard that noise and saw that flawless flight before. I previously heard that sound during the ‘Pride of the Yankees’, ‘Babe Ruth Story’, ‘The Natural’ or a dozen other baseball movies. But those sounds were generated by a sound engineer to provide the audience with a feeling of the power it took to drive the ball off the bat. But this was live and there was the ball soaring through the air. The winds were blowing right to left in the park last night. The center field flags stood at attention pointing to Pattison Ave. The ball pushed against the wind and the wind fought back but relented. Little boys dressed as men jumped into the air as the baseball landed into the center field’s bullpen and moved us one game closer to the division title. One day maybe someone will write a book or a movie about the gentle giant who played baseball in the city of Philadelphia and was the greatest home run and RBI man to wear a Phillies uniform. He should remain here throughout his carrer. No he must, so that one day we can all tip our hats when he strolls off the diamond one last time. And tell our grand children the stories of when Howard played for our Phillies. And during the re-telling of those stories I will hear that crack of the bat again and remember, like it was yesterday, that I was listening to the most exciting sound heard in Philly baseball generated by a young Ryan Howard.
Posted: 03:27 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Very poetic, LH.
Posted: 03:28 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Jeff
LOL. Just want to suggest you browse the comments section from earlier games regarding Howard.
Posted: 03:29 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
God, that Rocky clip just got me so pumped. Time to start drinkin’. I’ll be drinking some Harvest Moon today. Not my favorite, but it’ll do.
Posted: 03:34 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
Jesus, Santana is wheelin and dealin. Guy is nothing short of amazing and deserves to be at least top 2 in Cy Young not that shithead Webb.
Posted: 03:39 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Tyler
Let’s Go Cubs!
Posted: 03:41 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Santana is a great pitcher, no doubt or arguments from here.
I just hope the Phils can win and clinch it today.
Posted: 03:42 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 LH
thanks SJMike & will do Jeff. I’ll be raising my cheer with the last of my Samuel Adams Pale Ale during the next three hours. (although a little jealous that my son is there and I’m not)
Posted: 03:45 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Webb’s a pretty great pitcher too and Haren ain’t half bad…
Posted: 03:47 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
LH, my brother just called to rub it in my face that he was there. And I’m up in CT trying to find a way just to watch the game. Very jealous.
Posted: 03:49 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
Remember I told you guys like 3 weeks ago that the Phillies are not done and I believed in them. Everyone on here is like f*ck the Phillies the scumbags, they suck, the front office sucks, hamels sucks. They did their job and I expect Moyer to continue you that today. He’s a good big game pitcher. Good luck Phillies.
Posted: 03:49 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
Webb is not even comparable to Santana IMO.
Posted: 03:49 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 KM
RIVlez, the front office does suck, haha.
Anyway, it wouldn’t be a playoff push without that Rocky video.
Marlins threatening in 9th. GO FISH!
GO PHILS!
Posted: 03:54 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Craig
Cubs score 2 at the top of the first…
Posted: 03:54 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
Mets win, 2-0.
That’s why they acquired Santana.
Posted: 03:55 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Cody Ross came very close but amazing performance by Santana. But I feel very confident with Moyer on the mound, let’s win and then let the Mets and Brewers fight it out for that 4th spot.
Posted: 03:56 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
Santana is the f*ckin man. The guys is ridiculously clutch it’s not even funny. like 4-5 game games here in September and just dominated them all. Worth every single million IMO. THANK YOU CUBS BEAT THOSE IMPOSTERS!!!!!
Posted: 03:56 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Love watching Moyer pitch.
Posted: 03:56 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Have to say that’s a pretty weak line-up from the Nats. What’s happened to Young, Pena and Johnson?
Posted: 03:59 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
Moyer is great to watch. He’s like Tom Glavine. They just paint the corners and don’t have anything over powering. The thing that sucks about both them is when they have an ump that doesn’t give them those 3-4 inches off the plate, they got rocked.
Posted: 04:00 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Chris C
Fox picked up the game and is howing the brewers where I am. because its national TV, I can’t get in on the internet. Blacked out of what could be the biggest game of the year. Thank you Fox and major league baseball.
GO PHILS!
Posted: 04:01 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Yea, it was supposed to be Yankees/Sox but now its Brewers/Cubs up here in CT. What the hell?
Posted: 04:02 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
That was an interesting way to break a bat.
Posted: 04:02 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
Yeah I get the Cubs on fox in NYC also.
Posted: 04:02 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Cubs plus the Brewers probably have more national appeal in their eyes since that game has more of an impact on multiple teams in the playoffs then ours.
Posted: 04:04 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Georgie
Did anyone notice when they were talking about Cole, they showed him on air and he was rubbing and examining his pitching arm in the elbow area, then stopped when he saw the camera was on him?????
Maybe he just does that….
Posted: 04:08 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
Lilly just hit a ground rule double for the Cubs – Soto would have scored on it too.
Posted: 04:09 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
Yeah that was pretty terrible that it went over. Fukudome has to be the worst batter, it’s like he knows he going to get out and the runs to the dugout on his swing. I still can’t believe that POS beat out Beltran for CF in the All Star Game.
Posted: 04:11 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Tim Malcolm
Yeah, Cubs/Brews has interest for the Mets, so FOX will show that up here in CT. I got Harry on the gameday audio. Not complaining.
Posted: 04:11 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
I hope that when Jamie Moyer eventually retires, he can be a pitching coach. He’s just too smart.
Posted: 04:12 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
The Cubs should have had some runs there. Damn ground rule double. I’m listening on the internet because I’m blacked out too. What a crock of shit!
Posted: 04:13 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
Rivlez hadn’t you noticed the hard-on baseball has for the Cubbies this year, they would have voted Zito onto the all-star team if he was there this year.
Posted: 04:14 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
I feel like I’m one of the only ones here who is in the Philadelphia region (South Jersey) and can see this game!
Posted: 04:14 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Beth
I’m in NYC and am going to a bar to watch the rest of the game. Do you guys know if it will be blacked out with MLB Extra Innings?
Go Phils!
Posted: 04:15 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Georgie
SJ, I’m in Lancaster, Pa, and I’ve got the game.
Posted: 04:16 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
NJ that is so true. There were way too many scrubs on the All Star team IMO. Hamels and Santana didn’t even make the All-Star Game for Christ’s sake.
Posted: 04:16 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Goergie, we might have to give the visual play by play then for those who are in New England, ha.
Posted: 04:17 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
How terrible is Josh Lewin and Mark Grace as broadcasters?? They really suck and are hard to listen to.
Posted: 04:18 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Georgie
I’ll do the color commentary, SJ. haha
Posted: 04:18 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Tom McCarthy is doing our game for Fox with Tim McCarver.
Posted: 04:19 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NEPA
I’m watching it online from that p2p site. But it’s way behind and kind of jumpy. So I’m relying mostly on MLB Gameday.
Posted: 04:19 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 RiVLez
I hate McCarver. Almost as much as I hate listening to the Yankees with that POS Michael Kay.
Posted: 04:20 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
I rarely listen to 1210 for our radio broadcasts. On national games, when Harry then does primarily radio, how does it work out with Scott Franske and Larry Anderson?
Posted: 04:20 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
the all-star game is a bit of a joke, MLB needs to decided what it’s all about but at least it’s not like the truely spectacular and childish NBA and NHL all-star games. Some guys don’t even need to be on the field to get the nod and the fan vote completely takes away from it’s credibility, put Soriano back on the Rangers and injured like this year and he’s no all-star this year.
Posted: 04:22 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 Jamie
C’Mon Pat…you gotta be smarter on the bases.
Posted: 04:23 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 NJ
ouch tought play… Come on Phils!
Posted: 04:23 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
I love how McCarver said that was a “very baserunning play” by Pat Burrell.
Posted: 04:24 PM on September 27, 2008
Posts: 0 SJ Mike
Sorry, “very smart baserunning play”
Typo.
Posted: 04:25 PM on September 27, 2008