Phillies Nation

Dodgers are going to be tough. Thome gives them great power and Garland becomes the starter they have been looking to fill in. I just bought Phillies tickets to see Happ vs. The freak. Stubhub for 35.00 a piece. 103 Section. Cant wait.

Thome has said he does not want to play first base which pretty much designates him to the role of a bench warmer. On the plus side (?) Manny said he was happy to be reunited with Thome – gee.

@ Corey Seidman: sorry for re-stating your point.
“Should the Dodgers use Thome as merely a bench bat, think of him as the super-Matt Stairs. Perhaps they’re hoping for similar postseason heroics from the aging lefty slugger.”
I couldn’t sleep and didn’t thoroughly read your article. Keith E
GO PHILS!!!

The Phils didn’t get Nomar because they have no more money? Gimme a break. Just shut up about or say you just weren’t interested or you couldn’t work out a deal. Just don’t insult us.

The Dipsy

Dip…I think they could have worked out a deal if they wanted to, and I honestly don’t see why they didn’t go and get Nomar? Maybe they think Bruntlett has turned the corner and see him as more valuable than Nomar because he can also play more positions than Nomar? I have no idea. Maybe the fact that he did not play all weekend scared the team off into thinking he may be hurt. I am obviously just speculating but Amaro has shown me at least one thing this year, he is willing to make the moves to improve the club. If he doesn’t make a move as he didn’t in this case, I will give him the benefit of the doubt and believe he did the best thing for the team.

I can accept that. But if John Finger (?) is right, and the Phillies have “no more money” left to spend, and thats why they didn’t do it, then I say, “WTF”? Ruben could have reached into his pocket and taken out the money it would have cost to pay Nomar. PUH-LEEZE.

The Dipsy

i love, and i mean LOVE the fat chick comment. It’s about time this blog started pulling some punches. Three cheers for skinny Phillies fans!

Well he did add Frisco as a “throw in” so it’s not like he did absolutely nothing. But I do agree that he does seem to have a bit of misplaced loyalty to Stairs and E.B.

Look, I will forever be grateful to Stairs for his moon shot vs the Dodgers. If I ever see him at a bar, I will gladly by him a drink. But at this point what is Stairs good for? He can’t field, he can’t run, he can’t hit anymore. And with a team that can’t hit with RISP, do you want a guy on your bench whose mind set is to hit the ball out of the park every time? Even when a single will do the trick? I don’t.

And the Giants got Brad Penny, who sucks. Whoop-dee doo. It adds depth but I wont worry about him.

I dont keith. I am going off of phillies.com. They have him going Wed. Thursday its says to be announced

Dodgers might not even make the playoffs … I bet Thome punches either Manny, or Russell Martin by this weekend, because they are both PUNKS

Garland is the bigger news for them, but even he won’t help that much..

They need Kuroda to rebound off the DL for them to be tough in the playoffs (which the might not make with a month to go)

..Cardinals are the only team that scares me in the NL

NJ agreed… the Cards are scary…. Sir Albert and Halladay..are a tough 2 outs. Not to mention Carpenter and Wainwright are 30-10 with combined ERA of about 2.3

What the Cards lack however is depth in the rotation and in the line up.

Ok…we didn’t get Nomar. Would have been nice but I think our more important issues are an effective Lidge and Hamels…..and getting Matt Stairs out of his slump somehow.

Bruntlett is better…more versatile in the field….than Nomar anyway…AND…..he’s actually been hitting the ball a little bit lately.

So I don’t know if Nomar Garciaparra would have made THAT much of a difference.

Regardless if our egos’ don’t want to give them credit, the Dodgers made some pretty good moves. Nomar would’ve been nice, but it’s not the end of the world. The Dodgers moves only mean that they have very little faith that Manny will turn it around. That’s a good sign. The G-men of baseball, The Rockies and the Dodgers will continue to slug it out for the next month. It should be very entertaining. We will take two of three from the Giants9at least) and nobody will care about these signings because we will be done with the N.L. West’s top dogs until October.
In October we will hit Garland. If need be. And Scott Eyre or JC will take care of Thome….. and his homies…..
P.S. If I find that missing ring…..never mind..

word is that we were not going to sign nomar unless he showed that he could fill in at short. my guess is that the FO watched tape and scouted him and determined that if jimmy went down nomar wouldn’t be able to play short. bruntlett is still the only viable option to fill in at short. if thats the case, nomar wouldn’t have made the post season roster and thus it doesn’t make sense to pursue him.

this isn’t the nomar of old, his range is way down at this point. if jimmy goes down we need a solid defensive replacement, which unfortunately is bruntlett.

i guess you could argue nomar could have replaced stairs, but thats another discussion.

Well, the postseason is a place where all your warts tend to get exposed. All the teams are good, and in the NL, the top three teams are pretty much dead even. You need every edge. That said, your bench guys are going to be called on at various points for key at bats. Knowing that, I can’t believe that Ruben is now content with three guys on the bench hitting below .200. To me, thats unforgivable. Bako is a catcher. Fine. But Bruntlett and Stairs?? At this juncture of the season Stairs can’t do any of the following: 1) Hit: 2) Field; 3) Run; 4) Pitch. Which pretty much makes him useless. But now that you’re stuck with these guys you better work them in the lineup so when they do have to bat in the post season they might have a 1 in 5 chance of getting a hit instead of 1 in 6. And please, please, don’t anyone tell me that the bench doesn’t matter.

The Dipsy

Bako and Bruntlett. Oh yeah! Are u kidding me?? The greatest 1/2 combo since Jordan and Pippen!

…ain’t easy……

thinking about it, our bench situation further emphasises our need to wrap this thing up early. it would be great to have stairs, dobbs, bruntlett, bako, ben franklin all get regular ABs that last week going into the post season so that they can find a rhythm.

not to mention our bullpen with arms that aren’t being used. would be great to get them in more than a few games too (myers, jc, etc.)

i don’t want to jump ahead, as there is still a chance we don’t make it if we collapse. but we have an opportunity to really help ourselves out.

You know what Stairs can do … he can hit mistake pitches a long, long, long way ..

and those are the kinds of pitches that relievers tend to throw in intense, late-game situations ..

Lets not bash Stairs for his 0-for-27 off the bench, because LOTS of Major League players go through extended slumps in the season

The Dodgers are DESPERATE… they let the Rox make it interesting again and Manny has been giving people a reason to believe that he’s nothing more than a steroid-induced jackass (since his return, he’s been pretty bad). Manny-Hood is a ghosttown… fake dreads are cheaper than ever in LA. With Kuroda (aka Phillie Killer) on the DL, they needed to do something because everyone knows that the Padilla Flotilla ain’t gonna cut it in October. Garland (RH) has been TERRIBLE against the Phillies; 4 GS, 0-3, 8.02 ERA… Thome is going to get a few AB’s a la Matt Stairs but Loney’s the first baseman. I guess they did something, which is better than nothing but it’s not changing the power rankings.

It’s not just Stairs or bruntlett or Bako or an injured Dobbs, it’s the grou in total that concerns me. Highly doubtful all 4 snapp out of it in less than one month. the one thing Gillick I loved about Gillik is he never stopped trying to improve the club

@ Chuck P because we already have a guy who goes up the plate and swings for the fences and can not play OF…his name is Matt Stairs. Mayberry exercises no patience at all at the plate. But I guess that is the Phillies M.O, save Jayson Werth.

I’m not real high on Mayberry’s bat either. But at least he play a little D.

Mayberry does have a lot of talent, but he still hasn’t really shown that he can do it for a full season, and that’s more than troubling at his age.