Phillies Nation

It’s all on Fat Joe tomorrow. We should be able to tag Volstad. Of course, we should have hit Mendez this afternoon, too. Regardless, a quality start from Joe would go a long way towards a win.

Cant lose Jimmys glove. Or what he means to this team.
When hes not in there ( see game 1 today) they show no movement on the EKG. Flatliners anyone? 1 hit anyone?
I dont know why.
Not batting him 1 every day no matter what should definately be in the discussion though.
You cant break up the core here till they falter big time.
Like if they didnt make playoffs this year. coming off 2 Pennants and WS title and being 1 game out of best record in NL. These are our guys. Enjoy them.

OK – nice game, very nice game. Poly was on target, so was Vic and Utley. Roy did not look bad at all, the mistakes he had were hit a long way. He did have a certain nastiness on his fastball and slider which sometimes hung over the plate – he was hit for 3 hrs today.

As the resident seamhead.
The Padres just beat the Dodgers. at 1 08 AM

Somehow I still see the Friars in the playoffs. With SF or Colorado.
The Braves? No shot. Unless they take the phillies spot. Which is highly unlikely.

Andrew, I’ve been waking up for 40 years this time of day, and you are the first one to make me laugh. A french Frie for every strike! Your a genius master motivator! LOL

So Dubee got on Kyle for his HR…but the Roys surrendered how many HR’s..that blast that Roy 2 gave up was a Rocket…ease up on by boy Kyle…Yea Jimmy has a great glove but .236 BA…his leadership skills.. but this a team with Veterans certainly someone can step in ..(next year)…I understand if this was the Phils of 07…Idk…im just Thinking here…

No easing up on your boy Kendrick – I’m sure he would appreciate the fact that someone is standing up for him!

With the performance that Worley gave us yesterday, would you even consider subbing Kendrick with Worley? It’s crunch time, we are not sure what we’re getting from Worley, with KK, it looks to be a certain Eatonesque performance – in the whole by 3 by the end of the first and hold on for at least another 2 perhaps 3 spotted to the opposition before the Phils wake up. No, 3 outrageous performances in a row, when we need courageous efforts will not do.

First, and most importantly, only 1/2 game back while taking only 3 of 5. I felt the Phils would take over first, but figured we wouldn’t be within striking distance until we played the Braves. I wouldn’t count the Braves out yet, but don’t think they have enough to finish much better than 0.500 for the month. KK looks bad, but the other 4 starters look very solid (except every mistake from the Roys seems to wind up being a home run).

I don’t look at the computer on weekends or days off. Read some of the Werth string this morning. First, I’m not going to diss Werth. He’s a solid player, one of the few 5 tool rh outfielders, and we wouldn’t have near the success of the last three years without him. Sometimes he spaces out, but we are a better team with him, and I enjoy watching him play. He is a lot better all around player than Bay, and stays healthy – deserves that kind of money. With that said, I don’t think the Phils should pay what he can get. Let him go to the Red Sox, Angels,…..

Next year, platoon Ben Fran (can alternate between Ib and Brown, depending on who is hitting well at the time), give Mayberry a last shot, or see who else is out there cheap. I wouldn’t dump Werth to pick up a $10M player, even if only for a year.

Dipsy: Maybe Ibanez was signed before the economy tanked, so he got more. But look at some of the signings since: Bay for zillions, Wolf for 3 years at nearly $30 million, Marquis and Figgins for too much. I don’t think the economy has that much to do with the salaries of MLB players. It may affect the marginal types, but not those with real talent, and despite the low RISP (which has only been this season) and a diminished stolen base total, Werth does have talent. He hits, hits with power, fields well, throws well, and can run. How many other outfielders can do all that? How many outfielders that can do all that have been signed for what YOU’D pay?

Let’s face it. The Phillies have a history of not offering players massive, long contracts. I think it’s only recently that managemnet has started to realize what it truly has with this franchise. But, historically, they’re cheap.

The one exception is Ryan Howard. One could argue that he was overpaid…and maybe he was. But the reality is that Howard puts a$$es in the seats. Jayson Werth really doesn’t.

Here’s hoping that Brown will help us to forget Jayson rather quickly.

After the second game all I can wonder is where was the effort during the first?

Right now the strength of this team is it’s weakness, the offense is not consistently there, the winning or production would be byproducts but it just leaves you scratching your head when good hitters surrender outs to mediocre pitchers without making them throw great pitches and hit their spots to the inch…

The starting pitching is nothing short of great, the back of the bullpen has returned to being as good as you can expect it to be and the young arms are protecting the back-end by pitching well enough to give those guys rest.

I don’t worry about Kendrick or Baez or Blanton being great, I’m really worrying about the bungee-jump line-up because the bats aren’t showing consistent effort at the plate to stabilize the line-up.

It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen NJ – how is it that the entire offense is stymied especially against no-name rookie pitchers or proven mediocre entities like Randy Wolf?

Some of the Phils actually double clutched when Wolf was throwing that junk. Rollins and Howard both started swinging, pulled back then swung again making contact but dribbling balls to the second baseman or a weak pop up. Frustrating, extremely frustrating. Some team, some one is hitting the crap out of these guys and its not us.

Victorino should stay in the leadoff spot. He absolutely thrived there early in the season. I’m also beginning to wonder about how much longer we keep Rollins–but who would take him at this point? I don’t understand how a whole team can go into a slump in one game and then hit the next. I have no hope that last night’s offense means a thing when tonight gets here. IF this team makes the playoffs, I don’t think they will get very far unless the pitchers throw shut-outs and learn how to hit home runs as well.

Sportsphan, disagree completely. Vic has ocassional nice games at lead off, then completely loses all plate discipline, especially from the left side (which makes last night so surprising). Rollins isn’t ideal (never really was, doesn’t get on base enough), but he’s the smartest baserunner on the team, far less frustrating than Vic. When he gets on base, the Phils win. Hopefully, yesterday will light a fire under Jimmy.

With next year being his last, he’ll be the 2011 version of Werth (must sign one day, he’s crap the next). There is some talent in the farm, esp at 3rd – could see PP playing short for a year if needed.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Phils make the playoffs. How far we get once in will depend on the offense.

Really wasn’t that funny… it’s not like it’s Rich Garces out there.