Phillies Nation

Philadelphia Phillies (33-36) vs Colorado Rockies (36-33)

Cole Hamels (2-9, 4.45) vs Jhoulys  Chacin (4-3, 4.52)

TIME: 2:10 (4:10 ET), Coors Field
TV: MyPhl17
WEATHER: 76, partly cloudy, chance of rain
MEDIA: Facebook or Twitter

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!  May the Phillies’ gift to you  be a win!

Cole Hamels will make his fifteenth start of the year today.  Hamels has improved in his two starts in the month of June, continuing his roller coaster 2013 season of ups and downs.  Hamels was tagged with the loss in his last outing, but the offense was to blame.  Like Hamels, the Phillies offense has been very inconsistent this season.  All Hamels can do is pitch his game that he is capable of.  On the other hand, the Phillies offense should be taking advantage of a hitter friendly Coors Field.

Jhoulys  Chacin will oppose Hamels.  Chacin suffered from a back injury back in April, and has had his share of struggles.  However, Chacin has had some success against the Phillies in the past, posting a 1.21 ERA in 5 games against Philadelphia.

Lineup: Revere CF, Frandsen 2B, Rollins SS, Howard 1B, Brown LF, Mayberry RF, Galvis 3B, Quintero C, Hamels P

Gameday Beer: Rolling Rock, suggested by Liz P. via Facebook.  Celebrate Father’s Day and try one of these sweet-tasting beverages.

GO PHILLIES!

It was another standard Coors Field-type game on Saturday, one which featured 15 runs and 29 hits, but also a 10-5 loss for the Phillies at the hands of the Rockies. The Phillies tried to mount another comeback like they did on Friday, but fell short as they dropped the middle game of the three-game series.

Jonathan Pettibone was chased from the game after the third inning, as the Rockies jumped on him for seven runs. Right-hander Tyler Chatwood held the Phillies in check for his five innings, allowing just two runs and scattering seven hits.

Pettibone hit hard again

Jonathan Pettibone struggled for his second straight outing, and was chased after allowing seven runs in three innings Saturday. (AP Photo).

Pettibone struggled mightily for his second straight outing on Saturday afternoon. He allowed a season high seven runs (six earned) on ten hits in just three innings of work. In his last two outings, he has allowed a combined 10 earned runs in just eight and one third innings. His earned run average has skyrocketed a full run over those last two outings, from 3.40 on June 4 to 4.40 after exiting the game today.

Middle of the Rockies order kills Phillies

I use ‘middle’ of the order loosely, it was really everyone but basically the very top and bottom of the order. The Rockies’ three through seven hitters went a combined 12-for-21 (.571) with a home run, triple, four doubles and eight runs batted in against Phillies pitching. When Carlos Gonzalez struck out in the fourth inning it was the first time he failed to reach base in the series.

Horst’s struggles continue, Brown cooling off

Jeremy Horst has never been the most dependable reliever, but lately things have been much worse for the left-hander. In his last six appearances (six total innings) Horst has allowed eight runs and has stranded none of his four inherited runners. He threw 41 pitches in his one inning of work, and only 21 of them were strikes.

Domonic Brown has been the backbone of the Phillies offense since the middle of May, but lately his production has started to taper off. Since going 2-for-4 with a home run on June 8, Brown has gone two for his last 21 (.095) with no extra base hits and just one RBI. In Saturday’s game he was 0-for-3, and his average is down from .293 on June 8 to .278.

Up next…

The Phillies still have a chance to win the series on Sunday, with Cole Hamels (2-9, 4.45 ERA) scheduled to take the hill against the righty Jhoulys Chacin (4-3, 4.52 ERA) for Colorado. First pitch is at 4:15 ET.

Philadelphia Phillies (33-35) vs Colorado Rockies (35-33)

Jonathan Pettibone (3-2, 3.70) vs Tyler Chatwood (3-1, 2.14)

TIME: 2:10 (4:10 ET), Coors Field

TV: Comcast SportsNet

WEATHER: 76, partly cloudy

MEDIA: Facebook or Twitter

The Phillies will look to win their third straight game and second straight against the Rockies on Saturday, after a dramatic come-from behind 8-7 win on Friday night.

Right-hander Jonathan Pettibone will be on the hill for the Phillies. He struggled a bit against Milwaukee his last time out, going 5 1/3 innings while allowing six runs on four hits. Pettibone has pitched pretty well for the Phillies overall, however, and in ten starts he has allowed three runs or less in eighth of them. He will be facing Tyler Chatwood, who has allowed just four runs over his last five starts with Colorado.

Despite the Rockies missing start shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Pettibone will still have some tough customers in the Todd Helton and the red-hot Carlos Gonzalez. Gonzalez was 4-for-4 in last night’s game with a home run, and reached base five times.

For the Phillies, Freddy Galvis is coming off a huge game in which he had two-run triples in back-to-back innings, and finished the night with four RBIs. He is back in the lineup again tonight, hitting seventh. Rollins is also back in the lineup after missing a game with a sore foot and hip. Here is the full lineup:

Lineup: Revere CF, M. Young 3B, Rollins SS, Howard 1B, Brown LF, Mayberry RF, Galvis 2B, Quintero C, Pettibone P

Gameday Beer:

With summer right around the corner, it’s time to make the switch into a true summer brew, and Shocktop Belgian White is a perfect summer beer. This wheat ale is brewed with lemon, lime and orange peels to give it a refreshing taste and subtly sour finish. It’s the perfect beer for relaxing and watching the ballgame on the weekend.

My wife and I bought our first house and have been doing our best to make it our home for the past two or three weeks. Even as we continue to empty boxes, a distinct pattern has emerged: use the dining room as the central unpacking location, move to appropriate or desired future room, place in semi-organized pile. Following these steps, my wife and I will root through said semi-organized piles and make more little piles: things to keep in this room, things that really belong in other rooms, and things that are due to the trash. It’s almost like the famous George Carlin “stuff” bit but in reverse.

The Phillies have a lot of “stuff” right now in the bullpen and nobody has taken the Mrs. Riccaboni role of “jumping in and throwing anything that isn’t of significant financial or sentimental value”. The Phillies have taken solid steps recently, optioning Raul Valdes and releasing Chad Durbin, but there is still a lot of “stuff” floating around. After the positive output of the bullpen last night and good vibes still flowing, today would be a good day to sort out what the Phillies have going in advance of the return of John Lannan. With Lannan returning Monday, somebody has to go back down to Lehigh Valley. Let’s take a look at the candidates.

The Living Room – The Keepers

The living room is the premiere spot for “stuff”. This is where your guests see your best stuff, the stuff the little superficial/proud/egotistical part of you wants everyone to see. This list, in reference to the Phillies bullpen, is very short: Jonathan Papelbon is the $600 mirror, antique coffee table or whatever other item you can think of that is analogous to “really expensive item that does exactly what it is supposed to do but looks tremendously out of place in a living room full of shoddy stuff”.  Papelbon obviously stays but the Phillies want their best friends, like the Tigers, to be absolutely certain that he is everything he is advertised. He stays in the living room and there is one less person in the bullpen pile of stuff.

Mike Adams, who could not find a consistent landing spot last night in his follow through but managed to pitch effectively, also fits into this category. He’s the really cool piece the Phillies found at the flea market that is still too new to get rid of but they aren’t quite sure why it doesn’t fit.

Continue reading “Stuff”, Or My House as the Phillies Bullpen

The Phillies continued locking in last week’s draft picks on Friday as the team came to terms with their second round pick Andrew Knapp and officially announced the signing of their third round selection Cord Sandberg.

Knapp, taken 53rd overall, is a switch-hitting 21-year-old. The University of California product led the Golden Bears in batting average this year with a .350 mark while mashing eight homers with 41 RBI. Knapp’s deal is said to be for $1.03 million.

Reports last week stating that Sandberg has signed almost immediately for the amount of $775,000 seemed to be fully on point as the amount proved accurate with details released by the Phils.

High school prep catcher Jake Sweaney, who was selected in the 4th round with the 121st pick out of Garces Memorial High School in California, signed for a reported $400,000.

Other signees include 25th rounder Cody Forsythe, a lefty pitcher out of Southern Illinois.  In his senior season this year, the 22-year-old sported a 4-5 record with a 3.03 ERA in 15 games started. Continue reading Phillies Continue to Sign Draft Picks

Photo: Joe Mahoney

If you were out last night, went to bed early, or simply changed the channel, you missed a good one. Freddy Galvis hit a pair of two run triples to make up for a rare defensive mishap and help erase a 7-2 deficit, leading to a 8-7 Phillies victory. The win pulls them back within one of the Nationals for second place and back to just 6.5 back of the Braves for first.

Pedestrian Kendrick

Kyle Kendrick did not make it through the fifth inning tonight, giving up seven earned via ten hits and two walks, including Carlos Gonzalez’s NL-lead tying 19th homer and a home to Josh Rutledge. Jeremy Horst entered the game in the fifth with a runner on and induced a double play but, down 7-2 by then, the game seemed quite out of hand.

Wake up the bats!

In the top of the sixth, the Phils started to chip away. After a Ryan Howard walk and a Kevin Frandsen single, Galvis hit his first triple. He would score on a Humberto Quintero ground out. In the top of the seventh, Domonic Brown led off the inning with a single and stole second base. Following a John Mayberry walk, Galvis hit his second triple of the night, scoring both Brown and Mayberry. Jimmy Rollins entered the game to pinch hit for Quintero and hit a single into right to put the Phillies ahead for good with the score 8-7.

Fantastic Bullpen

The bullpen went five and 2/3 scoreless, giving up three hits and a walk. Horst pitched 2/3 of an inning, while Michael Stutes picked up the win by pitching a scoreless sixth. Jake Diekman made his 2013 Phillies debut and joined Justin DeFratus and Mike Adams as Phillies pitchers who earned holds tonight. Jonathan Papelbon got his 13th save in 13 tries.

The Phillies send Jonathan Pettibone to the hill tomorrow at 4:10 PM as they look to win the series.

Philadelphia Phillies (32-35) vs. Colorado Rockies (35-32)

Kyle Kendrick (6-4 3.22 ERA) v. Juan Nicasio (4-2, 4.61 ERA)

Photo: me

Pregame: Phillies Nation TV at 7:30pm on CSN
Time: 8:40pm , Coors Field
TV: PHL17
Weather: 82, Mostly Cloudy
Media: Twitter and Facebook

The Phillies are in Denver to take on the Rockies for 3 games to close out their 3-city tour of the Midwest.  They are 2-5 on the road trip thus far, which is not surprising given that the Phils are averaging a paltry 3.06 runs per game on the road this season, worst in the majors.  On the flip side, they are 23-7 in games in which they have scored four or more runs and were 7-2 versus the Rockies last season.

Opposing the Phillies on the mound tonight will be Juan Nicasio, a 26-year old righty from the Dominican Republic.  This will be his first career start against Philadelphia and has just one win in his past eight outings.  You may recall back in 2011, he was drilled in the head with a batted ball and fractured a vertebrae in his neck.

Speaking of injuries, Rockies star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right rib fracture sustained in yesterday’s game against the Nationals.  Utilityman Josh Rutledge was recalled to take Tulo’s place and is hitting .242 in 43 MLB games this season.  In addition, two of Colorado’s hottest hitters, Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler, are listed as day-to-day after being injured in yesterday’s game as well.

Pitching for the Phillies is Kyle Kendrick who has has allowed two earned runs or less in 15 of his last 21 road starts dating back to 2011. He is 8-6 with a 2.84 ERA in those 21 starts.  Michael Young is 3 RBI away from 1,000 in his career, while Jimmy Rollins has the night off.  And finally, vote for Domonic Brown to start the All-Star Game!

Lineup: Revere CF, M Young 3B, Brown LF, Howard 1B, Frandsen 2B, Mayberry RF, Galvis SS, Quintero C, Kendrick P

Gameday Beer: Chocolate Rain

This imperial stout is carefully brewed by The Bruery out of Orange County, CA. The jet black beer is aged in bourbon barrels along with cocoa nibs and vanilla bean. It comes in both cans and bottles and has great stats – 19.5% ABV and 99/100 score from Beer Advocate.com. Try one with some grilled venison.

Cliff Lee made headlines today for his comments to Jim Salisbury when asked “You came here to win. How tough is it to be here on a team that’s spinning its wheels around .500 and has a real uphill road?“:

The past year and a half hasn’t gone the way I anticipated, but that’s why you play the games. You never know. I don’t think anyone here is happy with the way we’ve played over that time frame. It’s due to a lot of injuries. There’s some good excuses. But they’re still excuses. We’re the Philadelphia Phillies. We should play better than we have. There’s not a good excuse for it, but we have had a lot of key guys injured, so it is what it is.

Salisbury then joined 97.5 The Fanatic today and said the following, fueling more trade speculation.

Salisbury: If [Cliff Lee] didn’t have a wandering eye he would’ve said, “Yeah, I’m absolutely committed to this team.”

— 975TheFanatic (@975TheFanatic) June 14, 2013

The truth is, the Phillies will get some tantalizing offers for Lee and there will come a point in time where they will have to decide if what they’re being offered is fair market value. But as we found out with both of the Cliff Lee trades involving the Phillies before, there really isn’t a blue print for trading a player like Lee.
Continue reading No Blueprint For Trading Pitchers Like Lee

Revere’s legs put the Phillies ahead for good yesterday. Photo Credit: Jesse Johnson

Ben Revere was traded to the Phillies on December 6, 2012 for popular, but injury-bitten starter Vance Worley and former top prospect Trevor May. Revere came to the Phillies fresh off a 2012 where he hit .294/.333/.342 with 40 steals in 49 attempts as a 24-year old player. Revere combined those stats with excellent play in center and right fields for the Twins, stunning crowds with his glove and winning MLB Network’s GIBBY Award.

After an exciting Spring Training where Revere hit .326/.368/.382 with 10 steals in 13 attempts, the Phillies looked like they were getting exactly the player they traded for, except that maybe he was even better, with a year more experience.

You wouldn’t believe that if you read the opinion of fans: here, here, here, here, etc. Some of those comments came in the middle of a four hit game last night, where Revere was almost single-handedly responsible for the game winning run, using his speed to bunt for a base hit, go first to third, and then take home on a ground ball to first base. All of them came during Revere’s recent tear: since May 5, Revere has hit .321/.362/.376 with nine steals in 11 attempts, raising his average by 62 points in that time frame.

The point being: Ben Revere is exactly who he is supposed to be. And he’s a pretty good ball player. It’s time to change the inaccurate narrative surrounding him among Phillies fans.

Continue reading Time To Change the Revere Narrative

We know the Phils are on a bit of a slide, but cheer up, we’re giving away an easy $100 to be used on tickets to a Phillies game or just about any event.