Comments on: Commentary: I Called Those Blasts

By: HARRY

HARRY — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:58:58 +0000

i said to my brother, when stairs came, that broxton’s best pitch is his fastball because of the velocity on it and all stairs does, is crush fastballs. so i felt pretty good when he came up. ruiz has had a lot of under the radar clutch hits in the post season. i don’t think he has got enough credit for what he has done.

By: nate

nate — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:09:03 +0000

you guys realize that ruiz is batting better than .450 this series?

By: SJ Mike

SJ Mike — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:41:23 +0000

Sean, I’ve read countless comments from Dodgers Thoughts saying how the Phils’ bullpen is an awful bullpen, nothing special, and just all around bad middle relief.

So one of the best bullpen ERAs in baseball is bad?

I’ve learned very quickly that Dodgers fans seriously have no freakin’ clue.

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:36:44 +0000

from dodger thoughts: “I don’t mind being beaten by better players and a better team, but we’re being beaten by their bums. Stairs, Victorino, and Ruiz? C’mon.”

victorino had the team’s best average this year and has been nothing short of outstanding this postseason. dodgers fans are clueless.

By: frankenslade

frankenslade — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:06:24 +0000

I love seeing how composed the Phils are compared with the Dodgers. They’ve got some good young players, but their veteran leadership is lacking. What’s Lowe doing freaking out in the first inning? Manny’s a fantastic hitter, but you know he’s all about Manny. Jeff Kent only looked like a relatively good egg next to Barry Bonds. No wonder Martin’s trying to smash his helmet at first base, Loney’s whipping his bat across the plate in disgust, Kershaw’s bugged two pitches into his appearance last night… Has anxious Larry Bowa poisoned their squad?

Here’s something a Dodgers-loving friend put together to help the sour grapes he’s tasting go down a little easier:

http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/2008/10/14/all-star-jam-sour-grapes-edition

The series is not over, but the Phils seem to be the team able to keep their heads together. Go, Charlie!

By the way, I too wondered how far Stairs’ home run traveled and never heard it mentioned on the Fox broadcast. The other thing I’ve yet to see, with all that Pitch Tracker and “mole’s view” nonsense, is a simple, slow-motion side angle shot for checked swings. They must have 10 times as many camera angles covered for these playoff games and they can’t show me the standard shot across the plate as a batter tries to check his swing?

By: phlorida

phlorida — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:39:11 +0000

they said on one of the video clips on mlb.comit was 450+ but who the hell knows

By: phlorida

phlorida — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:37:56 +0000

How can they get away with skewing the broadcasts so badly to one team? They wouldnt show the sections of the stands with huge gaps in the seats; mannymannymannymannymanny; hollywood pricks in the crowd; i could go on and on. Oh and Mark Grace needs some new material “they throw things/rowdy/angry/blahblahblah” a$$hole. I live just outside of Tampa, and cannot ask for anything more than a DEVIL RAYS and PHILLIES WORLD SERIES!

By: T Marty

T Marty — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:35:48 +0000

Hey, did anybody see what the distance was on Stairs shot?

By: NEPA

NEPA — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:25:02 +0000

Not sure if this is repeating, but Victorino is going to be on Sportscenter after the commercial break.

By: Nationals#1

Nationals#1 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:17:18 +0000

There was one for the Phils, Tim. It was on the called strike 3 that struck out Utley, but they only showed it the next inning after they played the “Sounds of the Game” with Utley talking to the umpire. It was way outside according to pitch track

By: Don M

Don M — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:02:23 +0000

I was beginning that think that the PitchTracker was not allowed to show pitches INSIDE the strike zone.. since none ever are… Utley got called out on a pitch that was as low-away as it can go on the PitchTracker.. but in real time did seem to be THAT bad of a call.. yes it was low and away, but not by 4 feet..

The home plate umpire was all over the place last night.. and both teams were complaining..

There was a time, I forget who was batting, but the 4th pitch was close, they called it low.. and when they went through the pitch sequence on the TV, the showed pitches 1,2,3, and 5 …. and then back to live action.. weird, right??

By: bonezy

bonezy — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:02:00 +0000

Vic right now is the most valuable Phillie on the team to this point. He is involved with everything and his stats are right up there… Even if he is passed by them the intangibles that he brought this series is enough to get my vote.

By: Nationals#1

Nationals#1 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:58:41 +0000

I dropped a wing in my friends beer while Victorino was at bat, and he made me drink it. Mid-chug, Victorino blasted it out. Two batters later I see Stairs come off the bench and i just knew he was going to hit it out. I didn’t say anything, because i didn’t want to jinx him, but I knew it, I think everyone kind of did

By: doubleh

doubleh — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:52:02 +0000

Never mind the fact that their Pitch Tracker is also hideously flawed. It shows where the balls ends up, not where it crosses the plate, which is all that matters.

By: Tim Malcolm

Tim Malcolm — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:44:40 +0000

A raw count at last night’s telecast showed FOX used the pitch tracker usually in calls that seemed unfair for Dodger hitters. There were a couple pitches that Phillie hitters probably got hosed on, but there was never a pitch tracker to see.

By: doubleh

doubleh — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:39:58 +0000

And if McCarver says one more time that Madson has the best change-up on the Phillies, I’ll scream. I really will.

Hello, Tim? I would like you to meet Cole Hamels. Ever heard of him?

Not to mention they question every strike called against the Dodgers but not the Phils–and every play at the plate the Dodgers are safe but the Phils are out. But then, those are the cheerleading points again…

By: NEPA

NEPA — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:36:34 +0000

Yea Tim – as soon as I saw that on the pitcher scouting report graphic I was thinking the same thing. He uses the entire strike zone but he’s usually very accurate. He had some control issues when first coming over, but they seem to be totally worked out for some time now. Probably had a lot to do with that minor bicep (or maybe elbow?) injury he had.

By: Tim Malcolm

Tim Malcolm — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:33:43 +0000

In the pregame McCarver noted that Blanton was a wild thrower. Uh, considering Blanton has one of the best BB per INN ratios out there, I wouldn’t say he’s wild. Yes, he throws all around the strike zone, but that isn’t wild. Just idiotic. Do your homework.

By: SJ Mike

SJ Mike — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:30:57 +0000

I think that the home announcers should at least get a couple innings in for these national broadcasts. It isn’t uncommon for ESPN to allow the local guys to a couple innings.

I’ve heard Harry in the booth with John Miller many times on Sunday Night. I wouldn’t have minded hearing some of the LA team. From what I hear, they have a good broadcast team also.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:29:20 +0000

Doesn’t everyone who is a Phils fan call shots everytime a Phils batter comes to the plate? We never hear when they’re wrong but when someone hits one everyone says “I called that!” Of course you did, a Phils batter comes to the plate, you think to yourself, “Homerun…” Relax people don’t go buying crystal balls anytime soon, GO PHILS!

Oh yea and…. “I HATE JOE BUCK!”