LA Takeaway: Despite The Finishes, A Fine Split
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Mon, June 08, 2009 11:42 AM | Comments: 12
Opinion, Posts
The West Coast leg of the Phillies’ 10-game road trip has finished, and with it our good guys are 5-2. They swept San Diego, then walked into Dodger Stadium, home of their new rivals, and seemed to outclass them almost all weekend.
We know about Brad Lidge. Tough. If not for a Pedro Feliz error and a bad pitch to Andre Ethier, we’d be partying at Frankford and Cottman, elated that the Phils swept through the sunny side of California without a bruise. Imagine a 7-0 trip – the Phillies would be sitting at 35-20, actually possessing the best winning percentage in baseball. Instead, they’re a still acceptable 33-22, a .600 team with the second-best record in the game. But man, that series could’ve been even more.
The Phillies held a lead for 21 of the 39 innings played this weekend. Credit the Phils sterling starting pitching yet again. Three of the four starts were of the quality kind, with starters going a total 27 innings, giving up just five earned runs (1.66 ERA). Twelve strikeouts, two walks. Meanwhile, the bullpen wasn’t taxed badly. Chan Ho Park’s three-inning hold was a beautiful capper to the weekend. Take Lidge away – 9.2 IP, ER, for an ERA of 0.93. Only one inherited run scored.
Offensively, the Phils hit the skids against some tough Dodger pitching. For one, Hiroki Kuroda owns the Phillies. They should’ve capitalized more off Eric Milton, but they did enough off the always-tough Clayton Kershaw and punched Randy Wolf pretty good. And finally realizing that Jimmy Rollins needed some punching himself, his push to the six-hole worked in spades. Maybe he’ll come around. We’ll reserve judgment.
Overall, the series was a success despite two poor finishes. A split in Los Angeles, any way you slice it, is a positive. Now the Phillies have a tough three-gamer against the Mets, but there’s no reason to think they can’t take that series.
Posts: 0 Marc H
I would be happy to get out of the New York nut house with one win. Sanatan is as good as they get., Pelfrey can be tough and Tim Redding is Cy Young against us for some reason.
Posted: 12:00 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 NJ
You hate to throw away games and there are MANY areas we can criticise but again the Phils have done the business and beaten a team considered to be as good if not better than the Phils by many insiders.
Whether things go his way from here Bastardo is showing he has a future in the majors (and that’s a beaut of a change-up). Got to tip you hat to Park, as I said a couple of weeks ago he’s not going to star but he can be a valuable asset and he came up big in that 6th inning.
Posted: 12:02 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 NJ
^need to re-phrase beaten to done enough to get a positive result
Posted: 12:04 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 Joe
We did get lucky that we missed Billingsley…
Posted: 12:13 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 Max
I think we need to win, if not sweep, the Mets. Sure, Johan’s good, but there’s no reason we can’t pitch great right along with him! Hell, Chan Ho Freakin’ Park went one-for-one with him last month! And, with all their injuries, both to the offense (Reyes, Delgado) and the bullpen (The Putz), we need to make sure we capitalize on it. If we only take one of the three, our division lead will be slimmed down to 2, instead of a golden opportunity to blow it open. Remember, they may be a 17-9 home team, but we’re a 21-8 road team, with Happ, Hamels, and Met-Killer Moyer pitching.
Posted: 12:44 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 The Dispy
Look. Johan is gonna win that game. Then there are the other two. I like us for two outta three. What I would like to see against Santana is a little small ball, try and get 4 runs somehow and let your pitching do the rest. RE: Bastardo. Love his stuff. Love it. They just can’t seem to hit that fastball even when they know its coming. IF we trade for another starter, I would love to see Bastardo get in the late innings mix as a reliever in close ballgames. He’s perfect for it right now. Until he gets that change up down and feels comfortable throwing it, he’s a two pitch pitcher and you can get away with that in the pen. Just a thought.
The Dipsy
Posted: 01:07 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 AGH
This series reminds me of the 4-game set in Chicago last August. If you remember, the Phils coughed up late leads in games 1 & 2, but managed to salvage a split by winning the last two games (including a bit of a laugher on Sunday). The Cubs had the best team in the NL at the time, like the Dodgers this year. All in all, the fanbase seemed pretty satisfied with the outcome, despite the fact that the Phils could have swept. It was the prelude to a strong late-season push in 2008. I hope the same is true going into the All Star Break this year.
Posted: 01:20 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 Greg F.
Anybody else notice the pronounced Dodger homer bias during the Fox national broadcast on Saturday? Listening to Dick Stockton and former Dodger Eric Karros heaping praise on the Dodgers, you would think they were the defending World Series Champion and the Phils also-rans. It wasn’t until the eighth inning that Karros begrudgingly acknowledged the Phils as a “gritty intense” team. And Dick Stockton may be the worst play by play guy I’ve ever heard. One missed or late call after another. Where was Buck and McCarver? At least they’ve seen the Phils and know something about them.
Posted: 01:43 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 Georgie
Greg F, I definitely noticed that, thought maybe it was just me. Seemed like there was only one team out there, it was getting pretty annoying. Can’t stand Buck and McCarver either, so that was kind of a lose/lose on the announcers for me.
Posted: 02:36 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
The last time we matched up against Johan he was phenomenal but we weren’t playing like we are now and the Mets were 100% healthy (which they are certainly not). Regardless, we missed opportunities and threw that game away… literally. A Feliz error and Werth double clutch cost us that game. I like our chances tonight (Happ should be anxious to do well)… Hamels goes tomorrow and dazzles… then all we need to do is give Moyer a few runs of support; keep it close late, bully a couple relievers and send them Ter-mets back under the rocks they crawled from.
Posted: 03:23 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 AmazinCiti
The Mets are going to go 12-8 over their next 20 games, Philies, Yankees, Baltimore, St Louis, Tampa, Yankees. It starts tmrw night with the Johan. Lets go!
Posted: 08:58 PM on June 8, 2009
Posts: 0 SuperFan
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Posted: 08:40 AM on June 9, 2009