Phillies Nation

I think maybe the Mets are in Hamels’ head, he really didn’t look comfortable from the start. When I saw him doing those weird warm-ups in the dugout in the 1st, I had a bad feeling.

Yeah, but if we won Geoff then the trolls won’t be back for a full season. If we lose then we’ll hear about it the whole off season and all of next season.

On Friday, I said I saw the Phillies taking this series 2-1, and that they would win the first two games…. RIVALEZ.. where you at today, bud????

Gotta like how our pitching staff looked in the first two games, and you gotta tip your cap to the Mets.. they must be paying that 3rd base umpire a hefty salary for him to call David Wright safe… even though he was OUT ..TWICE..

Delgado is a BEAST in the 2nd half.. good thing we dont have to face him anymore down the stretch cause he KILLED us this year.. Nice to see Utley and Howard get a few hits off of an extremely tough Lefty… thats a good sign.

So although you know the Muts fans are going to boast about still being 2 games up… they had the ability to BURRY us in their own park, and instead they had to give it their all to make sure they didn’t get swept!! Great series by the Phillies.. a sweep would have been awesome, but if we knew Friday that we would win the series, we would have all been exited, so we should all still be exited today..

the reality was that santana wins those matchups, regardless of whether or not its against hamels. the first two games were the games they shoudlve won and they got it done.

I heard that during the post game interviews, Hamels was wearing a “Delgado for MVP” t-shirt….I thought that was nice

If we have a 1 game playoff at Shea who else thinks Myers should be the guy pitching that game?

Also remember that Hamels doesn’t exactly have the greatest career numbers vs. the Mets. For whatever reason, the Mets have done a consistent job at hitting Hamels and taking him yard.

Justin, giving up 5 runs is not keeping you in the game against Santana.

I’m only busting your balls, im not trying to argue.. you guys are still 2-up, so I’m not an idiot…. but I did tell you that Myers and Moyer were the real deal as of late.. I didn’t think we had a chance against Santana though.

How come the Braves and Gnats don’t struggle with him as much as we do.. we’ve faced him like 5 times this year, and still can’t get more than 2 runs???? damn

Your perspective is surely a valid one and quite interesting, Justin. I’m sure many Phillies fans would agree with the stance you’ve taken on “[having] the Mets on the rope.” You can also look at it from antithetical perspective. Try this perspective on for size…

Maybe this series win was a shortcoming on behalf of the Phillies. I remember reading an article in the NY Daily News Thursday that essentially argued that even if the Phillies were to win the series 2-1, the Phils would be two games back with twenty-two to go. This obviously entails that the Mets are in the “driver’s seat,” or “in control of their destiny.” As long as the Mets keep winning, the Phils will not win the NL East. Granted, this aforementioned scenario requries the Mets to not lose, but it still seems like a more auspicious situation for the New York Metropolitans. If anything, the pressure still remains on the Phillies. Pat Burrell looked confused at the plate; so did Feliz! Your ace got harrassed by the Mets bats; especially Delgado’s red hot bat thrice in one game. If you look at the current circumstances in the race for the NL East, the Mets sure feel the Phillies’ hot breath behind their necks….

Don’t forget though, for the Phillies to be breathing on anyone’s neck, they must logically be staring at that individual’s neck – essentially behind that individual. In your case, it happens to be a Mets jersey. Which kind? Choose your favorite one. I love the road jersey!

My perspective is a legitimate alternative to your envisionment of the NL East race, Justin. What do you think?

Thrills and chills… we won the series at Shea. A lot of good that does. By dropping the last game we have firmly put the Mets in the drivers seat. With only 19 games remaining we didn’t have the luxury of ‘winning’ the series, we needed to sweep the series.

RiVLez…

Carlos Delgado, post late June, has the best numbers in Major League Baseball. He’s surely a candidate for MVP. It’s not likely that he wins, but he surely is a valid candidate.

Last night was a victory for acquired salary dumps. The Marlins castoff (Delgado) and the Twins castoff (Santana) outplayed the Phillies home grown talent. Congrats to NY and go Brewers in the playoffs!

Brewers are def not a lock to win the Wild Card. 4 games vs the Brewers will be very interesting to watch.

The problem with losing last nite is the Phils now no longer control their own destiny. They can win out the remaining games but if the Mets win also the Phils still finish 2nd. Instead of worrying about winning, the Phils now need to worry about winning and the Mets losing. I would say the odds are not in their favor.

Looking ahead….who is going to start for you game 1 against the brew crew? The double header coupled with no days off this week forces you to use a sixth starter….does Manuel have the balls to throw Eaton out there?

Hamels is ‘filthy’? What…he doesn’t take showers? He has dirty fingernails?

Lets’s look at his last five starts. Dodgers twice, Padres, Nats, and Cubs. Not exactly what you would call Murderers Row.

This late in the season with this much on the line, your ace brings his A game. The Mets ace brought his.

Here’s the bottom line on this series – the Phillies took care of business. They had to win at least 2 of 3 at Shea, and they did it. I don’t have any problem with them losing to Santana.

There are many positives to take away from this series:
Myers is pitching at a career best level right now, and is as dominating as any pitcher in the league.

Moyer is looking like he will make a very good #3 playoff pitcher.

Howard is returning to his usual monster September form (especially with his HR off tough lefty Santana).

Dobbs is a clutch performer and a must start against all righties.

Look at Pedro Martinez’s 10 game log – his only two bad starts were against the Phils – so that’s another big plus.

Ruiz is even starting to come alive a little.

Then there are some real problem areas:

Burrell is completely lost right now – Stairs should start against all righties for a little while.

Utley has lost his power stroke and is not getting on base.

Even though Cole had a bad start I’m not worried about him at all and he doesn’t deserve any flack for one bad start out – he’ll continue to be an ace for the rest of the season.

As for the lineup, I would go with this for a little while:

1. Victorino (higher OBP than Rollins)
2. Rollins (is not striking out at all this year so could move a runner along better from #2)
3. Howard (he’s hot- get him as many ABs as possible)
4. Werth (break up lefties)
5. Utley
6. Dobbs (vs. RH)/ Felix (vs. LH)
7. Stairs (vs. RH)/Burrell (vs. lefties)
8. Ruiz/Coste (Ruiz should play 4-5 week)
9. Pitcher

Dodgers and Cubs don’t have two of the most dangerious lineups in the National League???

Padres and Nationals ain’t the greatest, but how can you discredit 15.1 Innings Pitched, with NO EARNED RUNS allowed against ANYONE..

The Mets ACE is also one of the best pitchers in major league baseball over the past decade.. and the Phillies ACE is a young kid who is still learning how to pitch. he got beat by a dude that is better than him.. not really a huge deal.. 2 years from now you’ll be wishing you had Hamels instead of Santana, so enjoy him while he’s still at the top of his game

David.. where’s Brett Myers??

what is very scarey is the mets went out and got Santana just for what happen last night. To win the must game,Stop losing streaks to be the stopper. They did what it takes to win. Now we go into another off season and the phillies really have no clutch right handed bat. They will lose burrell which I don’t mind if they add a outfielder who is faster and more clutch. Plus they need a ace . The way free agency is going its hard for me to fault them on the money top pitchers are getting. I think they are cheap bast***. But if Santana got twenty four million a year what is cc going to get. thirty or more its crazy. I wouldn’t mind if it was like the nfl were it wasn’t guaranteed. If you make a mistake on a pitcher or hitter at that prices you are done.The phillies say go out and pay twenty three million for somone that is twenty five percent of there budject.So I wish they would not hire amaro and contentrate on drafting top pitching prospects. You have to go and get them in the draft. Amaro isnt a someone who I would trust to build the farm system it Arbuckle or Hunsicker.The owners must not tie the people in charge hands with money issue if they feel there is a prospect who is going to be good and wants big signing money then do it. If they would have done it two years ago Gibson would be in there farm system he is a sure top five pick in next draft. Same with Joe Saunders . Workman. JoeNathan. Azick Top la prospect. So owners please give us hope you will change your cheap ways.

Most Mets fans were ready to kill me last week when I said that I thought our Starting Pitchers were better.. Pelfrey, Santana, and Maine are all very good.. Pedro is done.. Perez is somehow holding together this season, but doesn’t ever scare me.. Random Guy is pretty good, but gets wild at times…

The fact still remains with the loss last night we are now depending on other teams to fail instead of just our team succeeding. Put on it whatever kind of spin you want but now we are dependent on other teams losing.

Nobody is going to win all of their remaining games.. so we’ll see who can win the most. With a chance to make ourselves even with the Brewers by this time next week. we still have a chance. And since nobody has any idea what will happen… lets all be positive about it instead of talking sh!t on them and saying how other teams are in the drivers seat.. we all remember what happened last year

if those prospects pan out then weve got something. if they can step into the rotation, fine, move off older more expensive guys or trade the prospects for some other valuable asset if they are blocked in the rotation or the bullpen.