Keep the Change: Tales from the Aisles
My plane touched down just in time to watch last night’s debacle of a team effort by Cole Hamels and company. I, like you, can only shake my head in despair. What is wrong with the Phillies right now?
From the Road Warriors to the Bushwhackers
A few weeks back we joked that the Phillies were as dominant as the 1990s WWE tag team of Animal and Hawk, however lately the team’s play on the road has been pitiful. With the exception of Tuesday night, the losses on this road trip have been something to forget. Twice, the Phillies have gone late into the game without a sole hit, and four of the team’s five losses have been by five or more runs.
A win tonight can put the team at 4-5 on the nine-game swing; however, I highly doubt that I am the only one who wouldn’t think this trip was nearly as close as the record indicates.
Burning Cole
The job of an ace is to go out and get you a win the day after a loss – to stop the bleeding. When the Yankees were racking up World Series wins in the late 90s, nobody was better at getting a win after a loss than Andy Pettitte. However, during this road trip Cole Hamels has had that opportunity twice. To say he has dropped the ball would be an understatement. You can claim he was squeezed by the umpires, but excuses are like, well the word rhymes with cassmoles, we all have them, and they all stink.
Hamels line during the road trip: 8.2 IP, 13 H, 11 ER, 4 BB and 5K to go along with an 0-2 record.
In fact, in those 8.2 IP, Hamels has thrown 193 pitches. In his complete game shutout of the Dodgers on June 4, he threw 97 pitches. That start was also the only time he has gotten a win in his last six starts.
Jimmy Rollins
I really just don’t know what is wrong with the former MVP. Nothing makes sense. You just can’t forget how to hit, right?
During this upcoming home stand – a HUGE home stand might I add – I will be asking the fans two questions: What do they think is wrong with the Phillies shortstop; and how would they fix it? I will post some of the results in next week’s column.
The Beerman’s Pick of the Week
I’m not much of a shill, but when I find a product I love, I will share it with the readers. Having just bought the new iPhone, I was curious as to what the MLB.Com “At Bat” Application was really about. It seemed like every other inning Chris Wheeler was hawking this mini-commercial. I figured why not, and spent the $9.99 on the application.
Let me tell you, if you are a Phillies fan on the road away from the team, or even just a baseball fan, do yourself a favor and invest the ten dollars.
I was able to sit poolside on my vacation and listen to the Phillies radio feeds during the road-trip, a big treat considering a few of the games weren’t available at the sports books. (By the way, thank you J.A. Happ for Saturday’s shutout…a little +125 action, might I add.) The application puts up all the radio feeds for every game, both the home and away team, and also has one or two live TV feeds of a different game as well.
The best $9.99 a baseball fan can spend according to the guy who is selling $6.75 beers.
