Phillies Nation

Just unbelievable.

@ Fran
Yeah, and I have to sore throat to prove it. I regret nothing.

Ryan Howard, MVP. I agree. Has anyone meant more to their playoff-bound team down the stretch this year? If memory serves, Rollins didn’t make the All-Star team last year and won it. This should happen again. Who cares about .250. 45 HRs and 136 RBI — he may well end up with 50. Again. He is willing this team into the playoffs.

All you idiots need to start following the only sport that people care about in Philadelphia – football, of course.

The Phillies are going nowhere. They will either not make the playoffs or lose in the first round.

great night of baseball all around. i love the atmosphere this time of year. let’s keep that momentum rolling!

Ryan Howard is thee most feared hitter in baseball right now.I can’t believe they are still pitching to him. But maybe it’s because the Brave are out of it I don’t know but if they were smart they wouldn’t let him beat them. But thank GOD he is ours.

1 word… HOW? How can we lead the division after the season we’ve had…? How can Howard be an MVP candidate after the season we’ve had…? How can all the teams around us be fading again…? Just how? Philly teams aren’t lucky so HOW??

Wow! Things suddenly look awesome for the Phils. Six teams, the Phillies, Mets, and Marlins, and the Brewers, Astros and Cardinals are in contention for two spots. Of these, only the Phillies (7-3 for the last ten, 5 straight wins) and Marlins (7-3, 6 wins) are winning right now, and the Fish are 5 and a half back. The other four teams are fading; the Mets (4-6, 3 losses, endless injuries) look good in the Wild Card only because of who’s trailing them: the Brewers (2-8, 5 losses), the Astros (6-4, 3 losses), and the Cardinals (2-8, 6 losses). If the Phils keep playing with intensity, even assuming they drop a few to inconsistent pitching, it’s hard to see two of those teams catching them.

I keep reading about Hamels pitching the last day of the season. It’s great at this point that we’ve set that up, but honestly, I hope to see Eaton pitch the last day. By which I mean, I hope we’ve locked up the East by then and Eaton can fill a spot before going home for the post season – leaving Hamels fresh for the playoffs. Should we get greedy and hope for two throw-away games the last two days? Kendrick-Eaton to clean up the regular season and Meyers-Hamels to open up the playoffs? It’s not unreasonable, and I like our chances in any five game series if that happens.

Howard was unreal last night. Certainly reminded me of him down the stretch two years ago when he won MVP even though they missed the playoffs because they choked vs. the Nats. I hope that doesn’t happen again this year.

Utley had some good cuts last night even though they were outs. Hopefully this is a good sign he may be coming out of the 3 month non-chase like slump he is in.

Burrell was just awful with 5k’s. I can’t see any team giving him more than 10-12 million per year this off season.

I am still waiting for this team to fire on all cylinders.

Fear the Fish…..

Football is different. I hate the eagles. Like some of the players, but the franchise is a loser, arrogant, evil franchise. They do business like theyre the government. Anyone that acts like that in pro sports deserves what they get: ZERO superbowl championships. they can go to hell as far as im concerned.

I actually dont consider the eagles part of phildelphia. theyre shoved down your throat because all NFL is shoved down your throat in every city. the difference is in pittsburgh and elsewhere with a LEGIT tradition there is already a football culture.

I feel that in this city a lot of the football culture is artificial and recent.

Football fans by nature are more agressive and macho-like, so of course they would feel the need to belittle baseball fans. I am generalizing, but a little observation of both teams’ fans is the proof. When I was at PSU in the 70′s, half the kids were from Philly, the other from Pittsburgh area. Every Sunday the Steeler fans would have big rallies and go all over campus with signs and stuff, but I never saw that with Eagles fans. Steeler fans are completely obcessed with their team and always have been, and they drove me nuts back then.

This is Phillies Nation … enough of the Eagles talk.

My take on last night … Howard was obviously huge and he is seeing the ball right out of the pitchers hand. You can tell when he is locked in as he tracks the pitch right into the catcher’s glove. Early in the season when he was whiffing so much he was flailing away at those sliders down and away from lefties. Now he just watches them go by and gets ahead in the count. When that happens and they have to come in to him … look out!!

With that being said, I am very concerned about the major hole we have in the 5th spot. Teams have got to start pitching around Ryan to get to Burrell. He is painful to watch at the plate right now. Cholly has got to adjust the lineup somehow. I think putting Werth in the 5 spot to protect Howard and sliding Vic back to the top of the order might work. Or better yet, just sit Burrell down against righties and play Stairs in right and move Werth to left where he will be playing everyday next year anyhow. If Burrell remains in the 5-spot we are going to pay for it sooner than later.

And how about Ryan Madson?? He was freekin’ dealing last night. He was spotting a 95-mph fastball and mixing in that nasty change. Durbin’s arm looks tired the past few weeks … but Madson has been electric. Madson, Romero and Eyre have to be the bridge to get to Lidge. And Brad, try to make it a little easier on my heart. I am having Mitch Williams flashbacks lately.

Now everyone is on Burrell..i cant disagree. why would you want him here at all next year for all that money if he cant move and hes not consistent?

Geoff… the best thing to do is be a fan of another city’s team. I’m a NYer and a phils fan, also a redskins fan. I get to ignore all of the media and idiot townie bullshit, but get to enjoy every other aspect of the sport.

the idiot townie bullshit is so annoying for the eagles too. WIP is unlistenable in the mornings and afternoons during the week ALL YEAR AROUND…i still own my TO Eagles jersey, I didnt bury it or throw it away or burn it like the rest of those idiots. When they kicked him out, tahts when they really lost me. Because they were basically saying: we dont want to win, PERIOD.

Richie, don’t forget about Victorino’s solid game as well.

Geoff, I completely agree with that, i was SO pissed off when they let T.O. go, apparently Andy and/or Donovan couldn’t deal with his “unique personality” so just forget the fact that he was a big factor in getting the team to the SB. DON”T get me started on the Eagles and T.O., my blood is starting to boil already, I’ll stop now.

Well, howard is different. Baseball is different. contracts are guaranteed. In the last season of hsi team control, if they arent going to keep howard, theyll trade him. Ill be pissed if they DONT get a lot for him when they do trade him.

for hamels, he hasnt entered arbitration yet. its actuallyt still too early to tell if he is even durable enough. making it through this season will help taht notion.

but, for the sake of argument, lets say that hamels stays healthy and productive through the early arb years, then yes, you HAVE to sign him to an extension. guys like hamels usualy blow their elbows or arms out and miss an entire season anyway…so lets see how durable he is first.

in baseball with star players and philadelphia ownership, you have to either get something for your stars or resign them to extensions. theres none of this “letting them walk.” HOWEVER, they failed to resign burrell and they failed to trade him at the deadline, but im not going to be pissed when burrell walks. same with the nhl, the flyers signed carter, richards, and coburn to contract extensions, and many of their star players arent going anywhere for YEARS….

the nfl isnt a trade-friendly league, so its dkind of different. and since you can rip up contracts overnight and make new ones theres NO reason to let TO get away and get out of control.

in baseball, your investment is guaranteed to the player so you have to be more cautious.

but the eagles PERMANENTLY lost me as a fan when they screwed up the TO situation. that team was a 2-3 superbowl ring team and they let it break up and degbenerate. its a diferent team now.

the ONLY way for it to be permissable for me to EVER be an eagles fan again is if the ownership group changes. then you get a fresh start, and its ok to CONSIDER coming back.

Frontrunners? I STILL want to get rid of Jimmy Rollins. All Rollins did by playing well was increase his trade value.

Yet, I would openly release him and buyout his contract and move on if you cant find someone to take him. I mean, hey, Id rather trade him for some shitty prospects that will never amount to anything as opposed to keeping him around. Screw that guy, who cares about his defense. who cares about his fake mvp numbers. hes a fraud and a disgrace STILL.

The people that call other fans frontrunners are low-level trash that feeds off the scraps that the organization provides for them.

Once again an excellent written post from you. Keep it up!