Phillies Nation

1. Call To Arms For Nats Fans from NBC Washington

The other day, two brave Nationals fans put a video on YouTube, a call to arms for fans to make sure that those pesky Phillies fans don’t intrude on Nationals Park this year. After taking a beating in the comments, they pulled the video.

Fortunately the movement didn’t die with that video. A Twitter rebellion has started with #SaveNatsParkApril14th as the battle cry.

Last year, thousands of Phillies fans loaded up on buses and infiltrated Nationals Park. PhilsFever.com is planning it again, although possibly not in such large numbers.

“Last year, it was the season opener and we knew Roy Halladay was on the hill and that was a catalyst for one of the largest invasions ever,” explains the site’s owner, Quimby. “We should still roll in with 3-400 strong, but a far cry from the 1,500 we had last year.”

Other Phillies fans aren’t quite as realistic. Brian Michael of PhilliesNation.com had this to say about Nationals fan reaction to the invasion:

“They don’t like it one bit. It’s more that Nats fans, in particular, want the rest of baseball to feel sorry for them and give them special treatment like not allowing opposing fans into the stadium.”

Clearly it never dawned on Michael, who actually lives in D.C., that maybe opposing fans with that attitude aren’t wanted there because that line of thinking is obnoxious.
Continue reading 2 Phillies Nation News Mentions

On Monday afternoon, in Dunedin, FL, the Phillies won their second Grapefruit League game, as they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 6-3.  Read ahead for key notes from the match up.

-Roy Halladay made the start against his former team, earning the win with 2 shut out innings of work. Halladay allowed 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 1.

-Ben Francisco continued to make a firm case to be the Phillies’ everyday right fielder to start the season. Through 3 spring games, “Benny Fresh” is batting .571. He collected his fourth RBI in two days with an RBI single off of Jays hurler Carlos Villanueva in the 4th inning.

-JC Ramirez, who was named the Phillies’ #15 prospect recently by PhoulBallz.com and PhilliesNation, looked tremendous, throwing 2 shut out innings against the Blue Jays starting lineup. Ramirez struck out 4 and walked 1, while allowing a hit and reached 95 MPH with his fastball on the stadium radar gun.

-Carlos Ruiz and Placido Polanco each drove in 2 runs in the victory for Philadelphia.

-Domonic Brown played the entire game in right field, going 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored in the contest. Brown is now 0-for-9 in Grapefruit League action.

-Former Phillies prospects Anthony Gose and Travis d’Arnaud each went 0-for-1, striking out. Gose drove home a run with a sacrifice fly in the 9th inning against Scott Mathieson. Gose was dealt to Houston in the Roy Oswalt trade last July, before being flipped to Toronto in a separate deal. d’Arnaud was part of the trade that brought Roy Halladay to Philadelphia in 2009.

_________________________________________________________

Jay Floyd is PhilliesNation’s minor league contributor. You can read more from Jay by visiting his site, PhoulBallz.com.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Roy Halladay vs. Jo-Jo Reyes

Time: 1:05 pm, Dunedin Stadium
Weather: Sunny, 83
TV: N/A – Phillies.com for audio
Follow Phillies Nation on Twitter

Continue reading Spring Gameday: Phillies vs. Blue Jays

Chase Utley has been sidelined to begin Spring Training games with patellar tendinitis. That’s not a good sign as Utley is now 32 years old and has gotten nipped by the injury bug lately.

Utley says, with rest, the knee should be fine, it’s just not going away as fast as he or the team would like. Some are worried about this setback, some are not. Which category do you fall under? Let us know on the poll below how worried you are about Chase Utley’s knee. (Photo: Mcall.com)

Have you noticed Nation? Of course you have. Baseball is back. Spring Training games have started.

The Phillies started it off on Thursday taking on the Florida State Seminoles in their annual tune up for the Grapefruit League. Ryan Howard, looking to forget in the now infamous ‘caught looking’ moment wasted no time showing the fans his approach this season. Howard laced a two-run double of the wall in the first inning against the Seminoles in route to an 8-0 victory.

The fans in attendance, a little over 3000, got a chance to see some of the young talented crop of pitchers the Phillies have in the system do work. Drew Naylor started the game allowing only one hit in his two innings of work while striking out two. Scott Mathieson, Michael Stutes, Michael Schwimer and Justin De Fratus each had an inning of work. Stutes allowed one hit and struck out three hitters for his inning. After the game Mathieson and De Fratus talked with our Minor League contributor Jay Floyd about pitching in the Spring Opener.

Continue reading Week In Review: 2/21 – 2/27

A day after opening the exhibition schedule with a win over the New York Yankees, their AL rivals took the second game of the back to back, 7-3. Here are some notes:

-Ben Francisco is looking great early on, he stroked a double and a home run today, giving him three extra-base hits through the first two games. Yes, it’s early and no, it means little, but it’s certainly encouraging to see.

-Domonic Brown, on the other hand, does not. He is struggling mightily thus far after going 0-for-3 with three K’s. The youngster has plenty of time to get back on the horse, but dating back to September 1st, Brown is 4-for-48.

-Justin De Fratus and Michael Schwimer struggled as well. De Fratus walked two and gave up two earned in two innings. Schwimer was torched for four runs on four hits in one inning in which he threw just eight pitches. The two young relievers are high on our Top 25 Prospects list.

-Clearly, the most important news of the day surrounds Chase Utley’s knee. He’s dealing with patellar tendinitis, which is why he’s been out of the lineup. The whole “general soreness” excuse was just a facade for what is really going on, although it doesn’t seem to be too serious. Utley says it’s something he’s dealt with in the past but hasn’t loosened up the way he’d like. I know people are holding their breath, but don’t. They’ll give him some rest now before it counts and all should be good.

-Up next are the Toronto Blue Jays tomorrow. Kyle Drabek was scheduled to start against Roy Halladay, but he’s been scratched with a stiff neck. Jo-Jo Reyes, the idiot circus boy, will start in his stead.

The Phillies took down the Yankees in the Grapefruit League Opener from Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, 5-4. Here are some thoughts from today’s game.

-I watched pretty much the entire game and I’m glad baseball is back.

-The opening tribute to George Steinbrenner was long, but if you think about it, some of the Yankees fans in Florida would not have gotten to see that live. Tampa is their second home, so I thought it was fitting.

-Cole Hamels had some pop today. I believe he hit 91 on the gun, and for his first real work of the spring, that’s exceptional. Hamels has drawn rave reviews thus far and he continued to build on those today. Looks to be an exciting year for him.

-Ben Francisco tripled in his first at-bat off of Bartolo Colon. Ben Fran looks fit and ready to brawl for the RF spot. It was a nice start for him.

-Bartolo Colon looks awful. You’d think that if you’re trying to win a starting position with the Yankees, and it’s been two seasons since you’ve pitched, that you’d at least show up in the best shape of your life. Not Colon. He looks HEAVY.

-Vance Worley had some life on his fastball, too. I think he touched 94. He’s one of those guys I root for. Although he won’t be in the starting rotation, he might be the first one to get the call should something happen with one of the Big 5.

Next up: Tomorrow at 1:05 pm against the Yankees in Clearwater.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees

Cole Hamels vs. Bartolo Colon

Time: 1:05 pm, Steinbrenner Field in Tampa
Weather: Sunny, 75
TV: MLB Network
Follow Phillies Nation on Twitter

Continue reading Spring Gameday: Phillies vs. Yankees

Before examining the cost and benefit of obtaining outfielder Mike Morse from the Nationals, let’s first recognize that just because Jon Heyman tweeted it doesn’t mean it will actually happen. For better or worse, we’ve gotten used to every rumor becoming a Ruben reality.

It could happen, of course, it’s just that it does not make a whole lot of sense for the Nationals. Morse is coming off of his best year as a major leaguer, slashing .289/.352/.519 with 15 homers and 29 total extra-base hits in 293 plate appearances. His big year resulted in a $700,000 raise, but he will still only make $1.1MM in 2011.

Cheap? Check. Productive? Check. These are two reasons right off the bat that the Phillies should want him, but the Nationals should probably keep him.

Next, let’s talk about team composition.
Continue reading Morse Trade Unlikely, Unless…

Join Phillies Nation and Green Legion as we invade Nationals Park in Washington D.C. once again! Last year, we packed the stadium on Roy Halladay’s first career start as a Phillie, this year, we intend to do the same for what looks to be Cliff Lee’s first road start back with the team.

And, lest we forget Jayson Werth in Nats red, rather than red stripes. It’ll be the first series between Werth and his old squad, so why would you want to miss any of it!?

The first Phillies Nation road trip is Thursday, April 14 with the Phillies/Nationals game starting at 7pm. Here’s our itinerary:

• -Kegs N’ Eggs starts up at McFaddens at 10 am. $10 there gets you a hearty breakfast and a pint of Miller Lite.
• -The buses roll out from the parking lot at 1 pm., and we’ll be sitting comfortably in our chartered buses, filled with refreshments for the ride.
• -Upon arrival outside of Nationals Park, we’ll have a full spread of food catered by Randy’s Ribs, plus more refreshments.Randy’s Ribs will provide us with barbecued beef ribs, barbecued chicken, pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, sandwich buns, hot and mild barbecue sauces, bottled water, and Miller Lite… Hell Yeah!
• -When we get into Nationals Park, we’ll have sweet seats. We’ll be sitting in lower right field, a perfect place to cheer (or boo) our old pal Jayson Werth.

Please join us as we watch Cliff Lee kick ass on Thursday, April 14!

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKET PACKAGES!!