Phillies Nation

Well, the Marlins beat the Braves, so no lost ground.

Wes Helms had the game-winning HR, however. I feel dirty being happy.

something is def wrong with raul….he needs to sit for a few…..get ben francisco some abs…..ibanez just looks totally lost….hes pressing and just hacking at this point…

The highlight of the game was the shot of Jupiter and a couple of its moons. That was really cool.

Great choice for the Jeltz Award, Amanda, which after this game should also include Victorino, Utley and Feliz. The pitcher cannot win if you do not score him any runs. Too bad that Dobbs is out injured because probably would have started tonight instead of Feliz against a righty. Ibanez should be sent to Clearwater for a week for hitting rehabilitation. When Burrell was playing for the Phils and was in a slump, at least he got a hit every now and then. Ibanez is ice cold at the plate.

I agree with Jeff. If the Phillies had to play the Giants a playoff 5-game series right now with the way the Phillies offense is going, I would have to say the Giants would win in four games with a sweep not out of the question. Let us all hope that Colorado or some other contender beats this team out for the Wild Card.

Joedad – thanks for the heads-up about Jupiter. I’m just about to drag my telescpoe out.

mike B. – definitely the Rox, esp. if its true that Aaron Cook’s gone for the season….

It seems that each loss exposes more problems. Raul is in some major funk…whether it is just him returning to earth or an injury or both…he needs to sit out for a while or something. The bad thing is that our bench is dead….bruntlett, cairo, stairs? The other teams in the playoff hunt added something the last few weeks…the Phillies only did the lee/francisco trade which was awesome but Lee cant be truly effective without run support. Raul is just such a flop…..the bad thing is that he is hitting into a bunch of double plays which compounds the problems.

In an earlier post today, I commented:

“If Brad Penny is on his game and he is highly motivated with his new team…I be concerned about tonight’s game. The Phils’ continued struggles with RISP does not help. Besides, the Giants are in badly need of a win to keep pace with the Rockies for the WC.”

Many thought Penny “sucks” and even Don M stated..”But no seriously, he’s terrible at pitching.. If we lose to him tonight, I’ll ban myself from this website for a week.” (chuckles)

Headline news: Penny dominated Phillies with 8 shutout innings.

Well, what do you know… Penny being “highly motivated” and as Giants manager, Bochy said “.. I just think this guy was on a mission tonight and it showed…”, displayed his all-star form of years past.
After the game , Penny said..”This is what you put a uniform on for, to get into the playoffs and play in the World Series.” He knows he has an opportunity to help the Giants get past the Rockies and other contenders to win the WC and enter the playoffs.

The Phillies continued to struggle with RISP going 0 for 5. Happ again was vulnerable to the long ball. He gave up two more HRs (one on soft breaking pitch that hung and the other a fast ball down the middle). Happ has now given up 7 runs including 4 HRs in the last 14 innings in 2 starts (0-2). Let’s hope that is not a trend.

The only good news is the Phillies didn’t lose any ground as Atlanta lost to Florida.

btw ryan howard batting average is officialy higher than rauls.

Well , let’s see…i guess this about sums it up:

1.) the phillies are in a serious run scoring slump and with The Freak pitching tonight, it will continue (no way Phils win tonight)
2.) Happ seems to be in a decline. How does he give up 4 runs in 6 innings….bad time to pick up a slump Unhappy Happ..
3.) Pedro is mediocre at best…..(it’ll be proven tonight) but the Phils can’t score runs , so if Pedro allows only 1-2 runs it won’t matter because Linsecum will virtually get a no-hitter……
4.) Hamels and Lidge will revert back to true form (Losers)
5.) Ibanez went from Triple A fodder to Single A. Terrible. Possibly contributed to going off Roids after the witch hunt after the small talk that those first half numbers were so “un Ibanez” – like”all star game.SEND HIM DOWN!!!
6.) Brave not that far off. Phils go into a mini slump and the braves on a mini roll and they are all caught up.

How do you not score against Penny? You don’t if your in a Runs – scoring slump….normally the highest scoring team in the National League (don’t forget – it’s the Phils!) would have scored against Penny.

What then, is the answer? you go with what you have, obviously…..and don’t use Lidge in save situations, use Chan Ho or Meyers when off DL; bench Ibanez; use Moyer in earlier appearances (5,6 innings).
Have a nice day…..

shit happens. move on to tomorrow

Few Things: Baseball is a marathon not a sprint, don’t worry about the offense. Raul should sit for a few days to clear his head but again he is going to be fine. Finally, the playoff rotation should be Hamels, Lee, Blanton, and Happ. I love Lee, but he has never pitched in the post season and Hamels has. Also, Hamels is coming around and when right he is the best we got. The reason Happ pitches game 4 is you don’t want him to press himself like billingsly did for the dodgers in the NLCS.

Check back in a month. If they still can’t score runs then, we can panic.

The thing that seems wrong here is so many people forget the struggles hamels has had this year. he has the third-lowest run support of any NL pitcher who has thrown at least 100 innings. The Phillies’ playoff success/lack of success will be determined by the offense. They did not score at all last night……..That first run Happ allowed was enough to seal the deal in the loss once again. Last week in Pittsburgh, the exact same problem. The loss against Arizona in late July…..no run support.

Don’t worry about a thing, we’ll be fine. Scoring runs is overrated!
This team will be just fine. Playing through a full baseball season is like setting a tile floor. You can’t pick out individual pieces and say “I don’t like it” before it’s finished. You need to look at the whole floor. Let’s enjoy the finished product. I know we’re going to love it.
GO PHILS!!!

Everybody cool off for a minute. Remember how bad they looked for a two or three week stretch in June? Couldn’t pitch, couldn’t hit. Then Charlie lit the fuse and they took off. There’s no point in him doing that right now because the lead is comfortable. They’re going to maintain it, and riding the guys hard right now will only make it less effective when it’s time to do it for real.

Unfortunately, it seems like this team gets hot and cold together. Aside from the Big Man, who’s still hitting it hard, they seem to go into funks as a team. I agree with everyone who says Ibanez needs to sit out some more games. It’s pretty likely that he’s been nursing that groin for months, and with a lead like they’ve got now is the time to give him a few days off per week. It’s not going to get perfect, but any rest will help, and he can work himself out in the meantime so that when they need him the most he’s set to produce.

Last night was a bad game, but the Giants are also a good team. You’re going to drop a series now and then. Better it’s two of three to a good team while you’re sitting on a healthy lead. Step away from the ledge boys and girls…

The “good ” news is that it wasn’t like their bats all of a sudden got hot in the post season last year. With a couple rare exceptions, the offense was almost as anemic as it is now . Very similar to now in that any time they got RISP, they went into choke mode.-weak popups,groundouts, k’s…the stuff that doesn’t move runners and deosn’t score runners.

Some of you guys are the biggest Eeyores I have ever seen.

Only 14-6 in their last 20……LMAO! Boy do we suck!!! HAHA.

I’m throwing in the towel because we got shutout in September. I’ll meet everyone at the Walt Whitman at noon today. Or I’ll just go be a Nationals fan, a model of excellence in the MLB.

I want to hit Lincecum tonight. I’m selfish but I also think the bats are due to come alive. Baseball is full of ups and downs.

Tonight will mark the return of RAUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

I think Raul is hurting from the groin pull.. ask any hockey player, that stuff just doesn’t go away, especially when you’re 37.

His groin is either causing him pain now and affecting his mechanics, or he was nursing his groin after he got back and picked u some bad habits.

I’m obviously no hitting instructor, but I did think I noticed some really basic problems. He has a good eye for balls and strikes still, but his swing looks like a drunken frat boy at a softball game. I’ve noticed he keeps pulling his head up rather than keeping it down with the eyes focused on the ball through the end of the swing. His shoulder keeps flying outward,.. similar to his head movement.

I’ve also noticed he’s doing a twitchy, stutter thing with his front foot as he’s awaiting the pitch.. maybe he’s always done that but I don’t recall it in April-May,.. too much weight on the back leg?

Again, I’m just a schmo watching the game with a beer in my hand.. but those are the things I’d be looking at.

I almost got out of bed at 3 am to write on here after watching the game on DVR. Cause I felt like a lot of these posts. But now it is today, I know that baseball is a long season, and ups and downs are part of it. Penny was out to prove something last night and got the best of the phillies. Happ pitched ok but has lost some control, and for the first time showed some emotion on the mound after a strike was called a ball then gave up two homers, he will be ok. But I do think Raul needs a day off maybe 2
but I am not as pissed as I was earlier. I think they will hit the freak tonight and take 2 out of 3 from the Giants

Like I said earlier in the post what scares me is not scoring with runners at second and third. They dont get big hits. Now the whole team is slummping. the Giants offense is horrible. Happs command has been off for the past three games. Maybe teams are figuring him out. I dont have a good feeling about the playoffs. We are so lucky this division is horrible.

The one thing I remember about the post season last year was that the Phils were taking more pitches per at bat AND were actually trying to move runners over, even from the top of the order. It was vey effective for them. P.S. Don’t be surprised if Bochy goes with a three man rotation.

The Dipsy