Phillies Nation

That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.

I agree with Nick. Seriously though this was a series we needed to sweep. Our offense, God help us. Our bullpen? What happened to it? Jose’s the only arm I trust besides Durbin, and he’s injured. Brad’s on and off too. And this offense? Why is Howard going to the All-Star game? He’s in such a flunk, Charlie should be yelling at his team right now. Where’s a fight when you need one? Evan Longoria yelled in BJ Upton’s face when they were slumping terribly against poor teams like the Diamondbacks, and they’ve turned it around. But we lose 3-4 to the PIRATES including getting shutout once and no one yells, nobody’s aggrivated at eachother. Tough times like these call for dugout fights. Whatever happened to the heart Phillies?

The phils don’t have any players on this team that has an attitude and will speak up…the only guy that had balls to do something like that is brett myers and he’s in houston…vic seems like he can be a hot head,but I doubt he would speak up…I’m not on the fire manuel bandwagon yet I mean this guy has taken us to 2 world series the last 2 seasons you don’t fire him right after that,but his managing irks mr at times like not just trying to stick to one lineup and not benching werth for a few games for example…he’s too layed back and too much of a players manager…

Guys it is a long season, just hang in there.

Don’t focus some of the blame on Hammels here. He pitched like a number 2 should. Pitched out of a bases loaded no out jam by only giving up 1 run. 7 innings and 3 runs is pretty darn good. Blame the offense again. Especially Werth. Pay me 10 million a year and I will stand at the plate and not take the bat off my shoulders.Top 10 the Phills got out coached with the hit and run after the bunt attempt. They threw a ball right down the middle and the braves took advantage. Yes there might be 80ish games left and plenty of time but it doesn’t look good tight now

Why is Herndon get the Jeltz Award? Why not the offense for only mustering 3 hits? Shameless.

I knew at some point Hammels would give up a home run..I still like what i see from him..the offense is not clicking as i said before we have two strike out kings Werth and Howard…RAJ knew this…this is why he brought Polanco here..to some what even things out…(some what) I still like Werth though I love the guys but when you have two strike out kings it will hurt…

Should we all just warm up to the fact that Hamels probably will not be the stud that he was projected to be and thay he will merely be a quality pitcher in the league. I understand that lefties have a tendency to a mature a little bit later sometimes (Cliff Lee…whoops..I said his name), but he has been in the league for a while now. He is not a “shutdown” pitcher. Thats ok, he is still a good one. No more potential. “Potential” is for losers. Am I bashing Cole? No. He’s just not a great pitcher, just like %98 of the pitcher in MLB.

The Dipsy

NJ – Precisely my point. Lets stop expecting him to be an elite pitcher because he is clearly not that guy. He’s a good major league pitcher and there is nothing wrong with that. Once people adjust their expectations about Cole, he swill get off their shitlist. Teams kill to have a pitcher like Cole on their but he is not the 1A behind Halladay that everyone wishes he was. Lets cut him a break.

The Dipsy

I will once again reiterate that while I feel this team has a high ceiling, this may just not be the year. And it’s okay to say that. It really just recognizes the fact that we should try to be sellers at the deadline instead of buyers or, at the very least, come out net zero. It’s a lot better to be modest in expectations given the state the team is in. Will Rollins be 100% anytime soon? Will we still be in it when Utley gets back? Can the ‘pen be fixed? Was 2009 Happ an anomaly? There are too many question at this point and we have lost two major competitive advantages: home runs and good base running. Can we overcome that?

I love risk and the reward that comes with it, but this may be a time when we say the future is now and act on it. The sooner we stop relying on the notion of hope we’ll be able to make better judgments. If the Phillies at least won the series against the Braves, the Pirates debacle would be excusable. But they didn’t. Hope is not a strategy.

Herndon getting the Jeltz just shows how crap-tastic this site is getting. . Herndon pitched a 1-2-3 10th, gave up a run in the 11th, and then Zagurski gives up a 2 run homer with 2 strikes and 2 out, and Herndon is charged with another run.

Meanwhile the offense had 3 hit and 3 runs, and 6 guys on base the entire game in 11 innings, Werth strikes out with Howard standing on 3rd, and Victorino pops up to lead off the 9th on a 2-0 count.

Remember a few years ago when Utley got injured and Gillick immediately went out and traded for Tadahito Iguchi. Meanwhile Polanco and Utley get placed on the DL on the same day so Rube calls up Dobbs, Bocox and now Cody Ransom.

BTW, I agree with Ryan S. Jeltz goes to the Offense, maybe even Jayson Werth. The game should not have gone to extra innings, with Howard tying the game on a near HR, a man on third with nobody out and failing to score? Pitiful

Morris Buttermaker, good points, although we had more talent in the farm back then. The system has been so depleted at this point that you have to wonder what they are going to do. Not what they should do. What they are GOING to do.

David Herndon is a rule 5 pick in his rookie season. That’s weak to give him the Steve Jeltz award. He did his job in the 10th and Cholly shouldn’t have put him out there in the 11th (although I don’t blame him considering he came off a 6 pitch innning).

The Steve Jeltz award belongs to Jayson Werth for not taking the bat off his shoulder in the 7th. You just tied the ballgame and have a great opportunity to take the lead. PUT THE DAMN BALL IN PLAY!!!

You dont have to do this.

Wait a second… I want to make sure I just read this correctly, bfo_33…….you’re suggesting the possibility of trading Cole Hamels.????!!!!????

With all the hype and talk over why the Phillies don’t have Cliff Lee…and with Happ out for who knows how long…why on earth would the Phillies even consider moving their #2 starter???

Hamels is the Phillies most consistent starter behind Halladay…..that’s why he’s a #2. Like I said, with RUN SUPPORT…..Cole probably has 9 or 10 wins.

Just like Halladay would be something like 14-3.

Aside from StL…and their top 2 or 3 guys….Halladay and Hamels are probably the best 1-2 combo in the league right now.

No one could have predicted that Happ would be hurt…and now optioned to AAA…during the offseason. And nobody could have predicted that Blanton would start the year on the DL.

The Phillies knew…or at least had a pretty good idea…that Hamels would bounce back from last year.

That’s why the decision to get rid of Cliff Lee really wasn’t the worst decision…AT THE TIME….

The Phillies went into the year with a MUCH BETTER rotation than what they had going into the playoffs….and they still went to the World Series.

The Phillies just haven’t seemed to be in sync at any point and thats the problem not the names on the back of the jerseys.

When the offense was there the starting pitching wasn’t, the bullpen has been in tatters because of injuries and the starting pitching has been pretty damn good but the offense and bullpen haven’t consistently been in a position their making the best of most excellent let alone good starts most nights out. Other teams more crafty, gritty hitters and pitchers are just putting a spanner in this teams ability to start building momentum.

We’re chugging along and it isn’t because of Hamels not producing, hell he’s on pace for 200 innings, 200Ks but he isn’t consistently in a position he can go out there loose. He’s pitching on the back-foot almost every time out and it’s clearly not helping him go out there and control the game.

Chuck, maybe I wasn’t clear enough – I think the Phils are good enough right now, even with the offensive slump, of taking this division. I believe the Braves are playing above their heads, and will have injury problems. I also think the Mets are a 0.500 team. Pelfrey and Dickey will come back to earth. Put me in Rube’s shoes, and the only thing I do right now is get a utility infielder with some pop.

The only point I really wanted to make was there are really only 4 guys on the team right now that would get any kind of interest/return near the trade deadline. You are not going to get the next Ryan Zimmerman for Ibanez, you may for Cole. Personally, I value starting pitching above any other position, think Cole is a solid #2, wouldn’t put him on the block. Vic isn’t a difference maker – think the team would be where they are with or without him. Werth has strectches where he will carry the team, would ride him out for the rest of the year, whether he’s willing to extend or not. I’d also keep Moyer at least until Happ comes back, and it would have to be a pretty good return.

If the Phils had kept Cliff Lee through the year, as good as it would have been to watch the Phils would have been in flux going forward.

Lee would have been gone, Werth would have been probably harder to retain, Howard would have been harder to retain going into a contract year, Blanton (who is a pretty good middle of the rotation guy) wouldn’t have been locked up and then the team would have had major holes. We weren’t going to get two first round draft picks plus the sandwich picks for Lee and Werth because of the likelyhood of teams signing them having their first rounder gone elsewhere so now the compensation isn’t that great AND your giving out more signing bonus’s especially if you want a higher profile prospect.

Like it or gripe about bad deals but this team is in tact for the next couple of years, we have a future star in Brown and prospects coming up a couple of years down the line who will replace other guys or be trade bait. We don’t have to go to the market and have our roster hinging on the checkbook and that’s good work by the front office to put the players in a situation it’s up to them.

Call it. Its the best I can do.

“They need an infield bat, bad.”

Check out the stats since about May 1st for the OF.

They need *A* bat . BAD.

Somebody who put the ball out of the park.You know, like Homerless Howard and Werth USED to do.

Nick from G, I am just making a point to say the reasons they are 5 games out and in 3rd place on July 7th are in order 1) lack of consistent run production 2) unstable bullpen 3) the rash of injuries 4) last and very least, the starting pitching. With that said, I always believe another quality starting pitcher (aka Dan Haren) would go a long way in helping fix problem #2. I believe the overal OBP and other key hitting statistics will improve over the last 80 games. They really can’t dip much more then they already have. This would put them in a position to get back into the playoffs. Once there, a rotation of Halladay, Haren, Hamels and Moyer (remember Moyer has been fantastic) can stack up against either Atlanta’s or St. Louis and definitely Cincinnati’s.