Comments on: Jays Sweep Pathetic Phillies, 8-7

By: Doug D.

Doug D. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:02:11 +0000

It’s a looooonnnnnnggggg season. We’re not even at the half-way point and already we’ve had to deal with (1) JC’s suspension, (2) Jimmy’s slump, (3) Ruiz, Lidge, Eyre and Ibanez on the DL, (4) a rotation suffering from the collective hangover of long previous season coupled with a short off-season. And yet, we’re still 3 games in front of the Mets. LOL…Despite losing again yesterday, it was great to see 3 homers hit off of breaking balls. Mayberry, Jayson and Jimmy all jacked out hangers, while Hobbs turned on a middle-in fastball on his tater. Just like Gary Matthews has said, low fastballs and high curves, not the other way around. It looks like Jimmy and Jayson are coming out of their funks at just the right time, what with Raul going down for at least 15 days. I think Jimmy was starting to hear some boos…Rhyno will continue to have problems with lefties until he learns to take them the other way. For some cosmic reason, lefties’ pitches have more movement that righties. I think it has something to do with the rotation of the Earth, but that’s just a theory. Anyway, lefties get Howard out by pitching him breaking stuff wide of the zone. Once again, he needs to remember the concept of letting the ball travel more in the zone and going oppo boppo. That’s the key to his success against southpaws. By doing so, he’ll have more time recognize the type of pitch and whether it will be a strike.

By: Brian of CO

Brian of CO — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:49:51 +0000

Well at least there were a few glimmers of light yesterday. 1st and foremost, the Metts lost again to a much inferior Orioles team (last place in AL East, and the Yankees lost TWICE to the WORST team in MLB. Not like I care if the Yankees lose, but at least the Jays like it or not came into the series with similar record as the Phils, unlike the two NY teams playing the worst teams.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:09:55 +0000

(From Phillies Fan Dan, Not the Mets fan)

One thing that’s cracking me up, is that the Yankees are losing to the Nationals so much. That is actually really amusing. Hopefully when Lidge gets back he can be lights out again. I’m actually interested to see what happens when we play the Jays again on the road. Might be able to get our revenge then since we are so much better on the road. The pitching is starting to get annoying, we score runs, they give em right back the very next inning. It’s brutal.

By: whack8888

whack8888 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:52:44 +0000

haha for chan ho – seriously though, this is not all that big a deal. Did anybody really think interleague play against the AL East was going to be fun? The thing is, everyone in the NL east is going to have a rough time the next couple of series, and the Phillies werent too bad in the last 6. Yesterday’s game was really bad, and the middle one against Boston was also bad, but other than that there have just been some close losses, which are bad anyway, but it is not like they were blown away all 5 out of 6 losses.

I like the Mets excuses, so I am going to start using them – the Phillies are also going through a lot of injuries, even non DL ones especially in the bull pen. When Lidge gets back, hopefully healthy, games like today probably wont happen anymore.

By: Sports Objective » Yankees lose 2 of 3 to Nats; Willis to DL, injuries, musings

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:46:32 +0000

[...] similar injury has sidelined Raul Ibanez of the slumping Phillies, adding fuel to the [...]

By: Morris Buttermaker

Morris Buttermaker — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:27:40 +0000

I actually was considering driving down to Baltimore if the Phillies game ended early enough. I should have just given away the Phillies tickets and went to Baltimore. That was a much better game.

Here is your sign that today’s game was horrible. There is a good chance that at some point during the game, you said, “Damn, they should have kept Chan Ho in.”

By: BS

BS — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:20:50 +0000

On the bright side, at least the Mets lost 2 out of 3 vs. Baltimore. As bad as we were this series, we only lost a game from our lead.

By: Woodman

Woodman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:55:38 +0000

Thanks Chase. That did cheer me up. Great!

By: mikeB

mikeB — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:40:55 +0000

There is additional disappointment in losing to Toronto because of the two ex-Phillies, Scott Rolen and Rod Barrahas. The Phillies are making Barrahas look like Babe Ruth. Could not hit his way out of a paper sack when he played for the Phillies but now he is batting .500 against us with home runs since he has departed? Is there not any advance scouting done on opposing ball players so that the Phillies pitchers have some idea as to how to pitch to them?

By: Morris Buttermaker

Morris Buttermaker — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:35:48 +0000

Just got back from the game. What a horrible experience. Lackluster game, horrible weather and lackluster fans. I’ll tell you the energy from the fans is totally lacking. There is no cheering unless a home run is hit, and even then most people do not get out of their seats. But there is no sustained “Let’s go Phillies!” Everyone just kind of sits there. Nobody boos either. People looked at me like I was insane at the end of the game and I booed the pathetic effort of the past week. I don’t know if I am still just comparing it to last September and October. But it was pathetic today.

By: psujoe

psujoe — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:52:48 +0000

Why is Cost calling for a high fastball to a fastball hitter 0-2. Come on. Howard is a liability against Lefties which is another reason it’s ridiculous that we came into the season with crap for right handed bats off the bench.

You can never play Monday morning GM, but this team would look phenominal with Lowe and Derosa which was very achievable and two moves I advocated. Of course we be log jammed because I advocated for Derosa with the expectation that Utley and Feliz would need big time rest.

By: mg52

mg52 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:40:35 +0000

We begged for it because what we had been seeing was intolerable. Lidge was even worse than this – it almost seemed a foregone conclusion that he would not command the fastball, that the hitters would lay off the slider and he would give up runs – and the knee damage that probably was impeding him has since confined him to the DL. Madson should have a few more chances at being the relief ace, but the Phils should not hesitate to move him if this kind of inconsistency continues – because it is indeed not much of an improvement from the ineffectiveness that preceded his move to the closer’s role.

By: kreiderr

kreiderr — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:17:30 +0000

Funny…a few days ago we were all begging for Ryan Madson to be our closer…how’s that working out so far?

By: Grrrumpy Miner

Grrrumpy Miner — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:15:29 +0000

Is that TRUE? Ibanez on the DL?

By: John Fire

John Fire — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:07:08 +0000

After seeing Howard strike out three times in the same game again and watching this team piss away a couple nice comebacks… I just have to take a quick step back (and I encourage you all to do the same) and remember that we won the World Series last year, we’re still in first place by 2.5 games, it’s only June and this time last year we were all going bonkers over missed opportunities too.

We were bound to get swept at some point this season. Howard was bound to have another 3K game. The good news is we have 98 games left and they’ll probably be making a few moves shortly to right the ship. Every team is going to go through ups and downs. This is one of those downturns, but hey, it’s only been a few games – 1-5 in the last six if I recall. They’ll turn it around like they always do.

At least, that’s all the stuff I tell myself to feel better.

By: mg52

mg52 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:56:49 +0000

The strikeouts by Howard are making us all cringe. It does seem that he and some of the other hitters ignore not only the scouting reports on the pitchers, but the scouting reports on themselves. One of my good friends introduced this idea, and it describes the team’s plight. I would not be surprised to hear that the Jays had actually written down and rehearsed how they wanted to approach the defending champions in this series. The Phils? They came out with the same home run swings, the same mental errors, the same withering in the clutch, the same tired relievers, the same inconsistent starters. We must remain optimistic because they are better than this. It may just take everyday study of video, scouting reports and analysis for them to return to that of which they are capable.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:49:59 +0000

Anyone else liking what they see with Mayberry? A couple homeruns in his first couple games. And they were split apart, not like he got in the rhythm of hitting big league pitching. Im starting to like seeing this guy. So thats one plus out of this whole thing. And I would not gamble on Pedro or anyone like that. Go for someone who is young and pitching now and good. Not someone that we have no idea how he is going to come back.

By: Greg V.

Greg V. — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:46:24 +0000

Does anyone else think that it’s worth the gamble to sign Pedro Martinez or Paul Byrd?

By: Greg V.

Greg V. — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:35:33 +0000

And we see the B-Jays again in week just to add a cherry on top!