Comments on: Phillies Can’t Buy A Run

By: karen

karen — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:38:46 +0000

Say what you want about the offense….I certainly have…..but when you have a lead going into the 9th, you need to have someone who is able to close the game and give the win……mistakes happen and no closer is 100percent all the time, but when there is a closer with the history of and current performance of lidge, that person cannot be going into the game. I am sick of hearing about how we need to be gentle with lidge to not mess with his confidence, but what about the confidence of the phillies? or the fans who the team needs for support and money???

By: Phil mays

Phil mays — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:54:05 +0000

I really think you need to CLOSE Brad Lidge and PASTURE Charlie Manuel

By: john mays

john mays — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:52:10 +0000

Brad lidge sucks.

By: j reed

j reed — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:15:25 +0000

if Don M wasn’t banned – thanks for the Jamey Carroll info…still wished we would have gotten someone like him before the trade deadline.

By: if Don M wasn't banned

if Don M wasn't banned — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:32:54 +0000

… Jamey Carroll has been starting for the Indians.. they didn’t want to move him to another team because he’s among their best players right now

By: Don M

Don M — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:31:15 +0000

I am around.. but Brad Penny on 26-days-rest looked freakin awesome last night!!!!

And because he beat us, and because I’m a man of my word.. I am banned for a week from Phillies Nation

By: j reed

j reed — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:00:52 +0000

joey – when 46% of your runs come from the long ball it only takes a couple of slumping batters to cost you a ball game. Think about the number of hits to the number of hrs in all of baseball…I can’t imagine that even substracting hits made with no on base will make a huge difference between hits to hrs. Futhermore as many hrs. are mistakes made by pitchers, it is reasonable to infer that 46% of our runs come at the expense of hitters not only taking advantage of pitcher’s mistakes but waiting for these occurences rather than adjusting to pitcher. I mean with a runner in scoring position you sometimes have to hit for contact, yet more often that not i see swings and belt buckles….that is, when I see a batter’s belt buckle after he swings, he’s not looking for contact but to drive the ball hard with extra momentum he gains by completely rotating of his hips. But what you gain in power you can lose in accuracy. That’s one of the reasons we as a team strike out alot. And striking out with runners on base is a cardinal sin in baseball unless your facing Bob Gibson. This crap would have Ashburn rolling over in his grave. What’s so frustrating is that small ball really requires heads-up play which means its learned. It’s much easier to go from power to contact hitting than the other way around. Why our guys don’t grasp this is puzzling. Think about how that much more deadly our offensive would be with a modicum of consistency. Granted all teams slump…look at the Red Sox in August, dreadful RISP numbers, but that was more anomally than anything else. Our batters are consistently inconsistent which can burn you in the post season. Hopefully it won’t this year. And it’s not complaining but voicing a legitimate, quantifiable concern. Besides is there something wrong with wanting to improve things that can be done just by playing better fundemental baseball?

By: Boz

Boz — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:23:05 +0000

Since the Cards are now tied up with the Dodgers for the best winning %, who do we root for as far as NLDS matchups are concerned? The Phils may not get home field if paired up with the Dodgers, but do we really want to face the Giants as the Wild Card. Best case scenario would be for the Phils to get the best overall winnnig % and draw the Rockies as the Wild Card and get home field advantage.

Long story short, the Phils need to start worrying about the Cards and Dodgers so that we get the best possible NLDS scenario. If nothing else, home field advantage should be a goal that the Phils strive for as 2009 NL East Champs is in the books.

By: Marc H

Marc H — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:54:01 +0000

The Phillies offense is as overrated as their pitching and defense are underrated

By: Joey

Joey — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:26:38 +0000

I guess it doesnt really matter where the runner scored from as long as he scores, right? a run from first and home is worth the same as a run from 2nd and 3rd. I get frustrated too, but as long as they keep winning its not really worth complaining about.

By: j reed

j reed — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:19:31 +0000

What the bench needs isn’t another slugger or free swinger but a small baller, utility guy like a david eckstein type…i was hoping we would have picked jamey carroll from the indians

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:05:39 +0000

I read this: Since July 26, the Phillies are batting .209 with runners in scoring position, and in their last nine games, they’re 12-for-80 (.150) in that situation. Overall this season, they’re batting .253 with runners in scoring position, 11th in the National League.

Fortunately, the team have been riding on the success of their starting pitching and the longball of “The Big Piece” (Howard).

However, as the concerned manager Manuel stated…“We have trouble manufacturing runs.” …“If the right guys don’t get on base and we don’t run, we have a tough time scoring. They know. They definitely know when they don’t knock somebody in from third. I played 20 years. I knew every time I didn’t get somebody in from third. And if they don’t know, please come and see me.” Take note of this Werth, Ibanez, etc.

As a matter of fact, the bench can share some of the blame the way Stairs has gone oh-fer in his ABs since July. The Phillies now are in a greater need of a productive bat off the bench than the Dodgers. ;-)

It would have been nice if the Phils could have picked up Thome given that they’re already paying part of his salary for this year from when they traded him a few years back. :-)

By: bob

bob — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:02:44 +0000

I am very comfortable with a 7.5 game lead.

And I think the Phillies can beat anyone, anywhere in any type of series. Of course I am worried about any matchup, it’s the playoffs. But this team has more than enough to get the job done once again.

I think we need to take a step back after a loss and recognize how special a team this really is. We sometimes tend to forget that with the slumps and ups and downs of the season.

Raul is slumping since coming off the DL, but would we be 7.5 up without that production? I doubt it. Blanton has been nothing short of an ace since June. JA Happ, unbelieveable. Lee, Hamels when in form?

Also the best offense in the NL and a top 2-3 in MLB.

This is special, something that we haven’t truly seen before. Enjoy the ride and maybe we’ll get another parade down Broad Street!

By: Evan

Evan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:56:42 +0000

Ibanez is really struggling and the bench is terribly thin. I hope Charlie uses September wisely as a month to tweak things in preparation for the playoffs.

Overall I’m not too worried. Victorino, Ibanez, and Werth are kind of slumping. That won’t last forever.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:10:29 +0000

To make a further point about a potential series with the Giants, I am MORE scared of the Cardinals at this point than I am of the Giants. The Cards have pitching, Ryan Franklin is a stud, and their offense is MUCH better than the Giants’.

By: JeffS

JeffS — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:06:59 +0000

Stairs et al need bats to see if they still have anything. Raul, if his groin still hurts, needs more days off. Do we have a match? Anyone feel confident enough with the lead in the division?

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:52:41 +0000

I think the Phililes will beat this team in a 5 or 7 games series. Once they get back to the postseason they WILL settle down and be more focused again. They had the SAME prodblems last year in early september, don’t you remember? They were coming off their late august slump but were still being inconsistent. Ryan Howard was already on his tear liek this year, but the team was still collectively playing poorly in too many games for our liking. Last year, at about 2 weeks from now, they REALLY finally started to get it together and tighten things up for the remainder of the season.

This team really is followiung the same pattern more or less as a whole as last year. Though I was really pissed about that last night because I can’t stand Penny.

By: The Dipsy

The Dipsy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:36:50 +0000

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

By: bob

bob — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:27:55 +0000

In we wanna look to a potential playoff matchup with SF here is how I see it:

The Giants rotation as a whole might be slightly better than the Phils but its not like Blanton and Happ are sloutches.

The Phillies have 5X the offensive punch of the Giants. Some of this maybe taken with the Giants rotation but we have seen the Phillies able to shut down the Giants with their top 2 pitchers already.

This offensive slump is not going to last forever and they have actually hit Tim Lincecum pretty well outside of our last trip to San Francisco.

Both teams have very good bullpens. Pretty even.

Phils have the experience and ask Aaron Rowand from the 07 Phils, it means alot. Playoff baseball is totally different, how much experience does that team have, even Mr. Wonderful Lincecum.

I see the Phils taking it in 4 or 5, even if their offensive production is limited. We have a very scrappy team and a very experience team.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:06:28 +0000

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.