Phillies Nation

At a complete loss for words. Congrats, Cole, and Thanks!

here we go phils!

7 wins and going strong, let’s try and win this series so we can prove who the best team in baseball is!

Wow, are the Phillies really this good? I guess its safe to say Cole is 100% back from injury which is huge, hopefully he can stay that way.

Terry: Scott Franzke had to fly back to Philly on personal business. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.

JJ said he’ll (Franzke) be back for the Mets series

2-3 ball counts all night and something like 17 outs with 3 pitches or less per batter..

LA said Maddux once through a CG with 69 pitches once (that’s pure insanity!!)

FYI, Just heard, Victorino has told Sportscenter, He has a “bruised hip” and he will be “fine”

Hamels only faced 29 batters! Did not observe any part of the game, just the aftermath box score. The writeup sounds even more impressive than the box. Talk about a Hollywood type performance. Lets see if the rest of the rotation can follow suit with a now rested bullpen.

This week may end up being the turning point of our rotation for the year. Blanton turned in his second good start in a throw, the youngsters did well, and now we see Hamels at his most dominating. If Moyer throws his second good start in a row tommorrow I am feeling REAL good about things.

Truly excellent job by Cole against the best team (record wise) in baseball.

We really need to the next few games as well honestly. The Mutts play the Nats next, and while they are playing like the Mutts of the last week of the season from last year, the Nats are horrible. Really dont want them to gain ground.

Raaaaauuuuuuuuuuuul, baby baby!

I think this week shows that we need to die down the trade talks, not get rid of them just stop being so insistent that we need to throw prospects away for this super star that everyone wants.

We have a superstar in Hamels.

Lets see what the next 2 weeks brings us

Well you still will probably need something to solidify things there, but with improved performances you may not need as big a name as you thought before.

There are 5 spots in the rotation and 4 in the playoffs, not one. Remember that. And in the playoffs it never hurts to have experienced arms in the bullpen or in the back of the rotation. But Id say 3 of the spots look really good. Bastardo has only had one start which was good but it was one start.

Last night Cole showed why he was the WFS MVP. That was awesome. Thats a good lineup too that got totally shut down.

Cole had a great game but I can’t believe Torre walked Ruiz to get to Rollins!… and it paid off for him… Rollins hit a lazy pop up…

Maybe Torre knows something we don’t about mr “former” mvp..

Brooks, I understand what you are saying, but that being said. Go through every rotation in baseball out side of the free spending Yankees every team has young guys in their rotation some better than others. We are able to have better at this point. I am not trying to sell the world on Bastardo, but a great hitting team can help bring along pitchers, young ones much easier than the ones that can’t hit.

I mean feel our rotation will be different by Sept, but I like where it is heading, I love our prospects in Reading and Lehigh. Our organization has become a World Class Organization the last several years and that includes our scouting and development.

I mean look in the MLB on who was drafted or brought up through Philly and you will see alot of guys playing in regularly

Look at the following

Josh Outman
Michael Bourn
Jason Jaramillo
Nick Punto
Gavin Floyd
Joe Saunders

Not that I am saying regret any of those guys leaving just showing how good our scouting and drafting has been.

The one big mistake was Saunders, Floyd needed a change of scenery. Im not a Punto fan whatsoever. Outman is a major league quality pitcher but he still has to grow. Bourn SUCKS – fast as hell but cant get on base and therefore not good enough to be an everyday player. Jaramillo is good for a backup on the pirates to Ryan Doumit when he comes back.

Thats why theyre called prospects….except Kyle Drabek who is awesome and has reserved a spot in our rotation as early as next year.

I see your point. I mean, look what it took to get Joe Blanton. Theyll get somebody, but who that is depends on whether or not anyone steps up and BECOMES our number 2 behind Hamels. My guess would be either JA Happ or Joe Blanton. Maybe one of those guys elevates their play to that level that they become the guy weve been missing. If that does NOT happen by the time the dealing begins then theyll need to go out and get someone pretty good. If that does happen then maybe they can get away with a RH sinkerballer to stabilize the 4th rotation spot.

The amount of former Phillie prospects around the league just tells you how good Mike Arbuckle is.. he will be missed. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But someday.

And yes, this team could very well repeat. They are very, very good.

It has taken me a while but I have decided that my feelings on Chooch need to be re-evaluated. A major league baseball player who cannot hit can and should be replaced but now that he is at least sustaining an average – there is no doubt the Phils are a much better club with him as the backstop.
You cannot rely on a) scoring more than 8 runs a night and
b) having very young pitchers tossing decent quality starts for you on a consistent basis.
Looking for insurance such as a Bedard for someone the M’s are starving for a catcher and an infielder. As much as it would hurt me to see Marson go (I still have high hopes for this kid), I am sure they would jump at the idea of getting some young talent at either position (the infielder could be Donald if needed – he would not play unless there was an injury at either SS or 2b). Make an offer, see what happens. Getting a proven commodity at pitching could only help not hurt the Phils at this point and oh yes, make sure he takes a physical first (the garcia factor!)!

Oswalt isn’t going anywhere, it’s just the baseball media trying to get water out of a stone. Every single thing apart from one reported possibility with the White Sox has just been hear say and he has full veto powers as well as the Owner making clear he’s not available yesterday.

As for the ex-Phillies draftees in the majors only Saunders is accomplished, Floyd still has a way to go to earn a real deal with the White Sox, Michael Bourn is hardly more than a stop-gap everyday player with speed and Punto left to long ago to be considered part of the bunch. The next best is Marlon Byrd because Jaramillo wouldn’t be on the 25 man roster of any other team and though I’m high on Outman, he’s made only a handful of major league appearances.

I am a little critical the Phils haven’t done more to get guys up without making them sink or swim since getting Utley up but that looks to have changed now the Phils have been burnt by 2nd tier veterans who eat up too much salary. Arbuckle certainly was the architect though Amaro at least on the face of it supports the youth movement.

On a random I just realised who Ken Rosenthal is, he’s the Perez Hilton of baseball…

^Just to get back on theme. There’ll be some bumps soon but boy this team has everything on it to get back to October which is all you can really ask for in reality.

To have your starting pitching take it’s licks early and still have such an impressive record is something we shouldn’t underestimate. If Happ is able to hold his spot in the rotation (which I think everyone here now expects) then I genuinely believe the Phils have everything we can hope for under the circumstances… And when we get some of these prospects up, boy the window of opportunity just blew open.

NAME THAT TUNE.. I wanted to see if you guys could help me out.. my sister’s 30th bday is next weekend, we’re doing a Phillies theme, and we play the RedSox that night.. should be fun. I was going to try to get a bunch of their Batter’s Music downloaded and onto my iPod, just to go along with the rest of the tunes.

I know Victorino = Buffalo Soldier, by Bob Marley
Utley = Kashmir, by Led Zepplin
Brad Lidge = Soldiers, by Drowning Pool?

Anyone know the rest?

The Best guy is Stark I think, followed by Rosenthal. I think Olney is always wrong, Kurkjian only comes out of the woodwork once in a while but his info is usually good. Gammons is overrated and is a NY/BOS homer that I cant stand.

Also..J-Roll uses that song by MIA (forget the title), but you always hear it at the club.

Werth used to use Headbangers in Leather, but I cant remember what he changed it to this year. Victorino changed his too. Ive only been once so far (my plans are backloaded starting in July, though I have the Orioles IL series) and I noticed they changed a lot of their songs.

Feliz used to use Linkin Park, but not anymore. Coste still uses “Rollercoaster of Love” by RHCP.

Ibanez uses “Werewolves of London” – Grateful Dead version and they play it everytime he hits a HR as well.

example on Rosenthal I’ve just seen:
Teams have inquired to see if Guthrie, who makes just $650K this year, is available. The Orioles would only move him if they hear “an overwhelming offer.”

That’s not good insider reporting, that’s just telling any fan with half a baseball brain what they already know.

Howard always has mainstream MTV-type hip hop or club rap.

J-Roll usually has underground hip hop thats still catchy.

Victorino always has hippie music.

Those few here who are critical of Bourn I suspect have not paid close attention to his performance this season. As Keith mentioned, he is currently hitting .297 and leading the league in stolen bases with 18 (on pace for 56 this season). The maturity process varies with each player and Bourn could be described as a late bloomer. So far, he is worth every penny of his $434,500 salary this season.

The Phillies’ entire rotation continues to shine brightly and offers hope that no such drastic move involving a trade and/or unloading the better prospects for another starter is necessary. Certainly, from the management’s perspective, their current success (32-20) allows them to be patient (as one poster here, beta sigma shag, urged) and use the time to gauge the performance of the rotation more accurately and determine their actual needs if any.

I read this oddity on Hamels: He has not thrown a wild pitch in 344 2-3 innings since July 14, 2007, against St. Louis, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Ahh-h..baseball is truly a game of numbers.

I agree with the guys I listed I don’t want them just stating that they have been contributors elsewhere. You have to remember that each team drafts about 25-30 FA and signs many others. so if you get 1/25 most teams would be happy. We have been fortunate to get several per draft that have produced at the major league level.