Phillies Nation

Ryan Howard

Posted by Brian Michael, Wed, August 30, 2006 11:06 AM

Maybe Ryan Howard should go to famished countries in Africa during the off season.  He could hit baseballs into the troposphere and bring much needed rain to drought laden regions.

No one on Earth can say ‘I told you so’ when it comes to this guy.  It’s crazy to think that  2 years ago a large percentage of the fan base wanted to trade this guy when he was slugging 46 minor league home runs between AA and AAA ball for the hopes of acquiring top flight pitching.  I’m just as guilty as you are.

As of now, Howard is on track to have a statue created in his honor outside the 1st base entrance at The Ballpark.

Tonight, he looks to eclipse the greatest player of any Phillies generation (no offense to Mariano Duncan) as the single season home run leader.  Currently, Howard sits on a measly 48 home runs going into tonight’s action.  The Kid has 5 home runs in his last 6 games and is 1 for 2 against projected starter Ramon Ortiz.  Coincidentally, Howard’s only hit is a home run against him back on August 19.  That night, the Phillies chased Ortiz off the mound after one and two-thirds innings in a 11-2 rout.

News on the home front: Coming up in September, Phillies Nation will be chronicling the day-by-day chase for the Phillies hopes of a playoff berth. We will be going around the league highlighting what pieces need to fall in place for the Phils to either glide into the Wild Card lead or crash land into the off season.

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College Night At The Ball Park

Posted by Brian Michael, Sun, August 27, 2006 11:17 PM

After brutal heat waves and dozens of days without rain it’s September again in Philadelphia. The temperature is a little cooler and the smell of autumn is filled within a stiff cool breeze.  Once again our Fightin’ Phils are in the thick of the Wild Card chase.  The Phils have only 13 home games in September and they need all the help they can get from their passionate and wild fan base.

On Tuesday September 5th, Philliesnation.com heeds the call to propel the Phils into the playoffs by declaring that we will be hosting a tailgate party for all Phillies fans prior to game time. The festivities begin at promptly 3 PM at the Lincoln Financial Field Parking Lot on the concrete median which separates section K and L. The party ends 30 minutes prior to game time.

Click Here For A Detailed Map Of Our Location

For any more information don’t hesitate to contact us through our Contact Page or through our MySpace Profile.

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Phillies Acquire Jeff Conine

Posted by Brian Michael, Sun, August 27, 2006 04:49 PM

The Phils may have been rained out but the never diligent Pat Gillick made yet another trade for a veteran player, Jeff Conine, a.k.a. Mr. Marlin, a.k.a. Phillie Killer, for a player to be named later.

With Aaron Rowand done for the season and David Dellucci nursing hamstring tightness this move for Conine makes sense.  He is a proven veteran with two World Series rings and a boatload of knowledge for a team making a playoff run.

For the season, Conine is batting .265 with 9 home runs and 49 RBIs in 114 games. He will provide the Phillies with a better option in the corner outfield spots on days they wish to rest either Dellucci or Burrell and also will be able to give Ryan Howard the occasional reprieve from first.  I hope that the Jose Hernandez era in the outfield comes to an end with Conine now on the team.  Hernandez, true to form, has recorded four strikeouts in just seven at bats.

Orioles VP of baseball operations Jim Duquette  has this to say about Conine…and the Phillies:

One caveat on this trade is Conine’s $2 million option for next season which vests at 450 plate appearances this season.  As of Saturday, he has a total of 428 plate appearances on the year so  barring an injury or an explicit campaign to keep him on the bench with 33 games left, he should get his 22 appearances.

Looking ahead to next year the Phillies have to decide if they want to pick up Rowand’s $5 million option (though he could also choose to stay under his own $3.25 million option), try and resign Victorino and hope that Dellucci decides not to test the free agent market.  This, of course, is not to mention Pat Burrell and his remaining $27 million over two years.  It will be an interesting winter for the Phillies when it comes to their outfielders, someone is bound to be left out in the cold.

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Matt Smith Called Up

Posted by Brian Michael, Fri, August 25, 2006 12:52 PM

The Phils recalled LHP Matt Smith to replace Brian Sanches, who has been disappointing as of late.  You may recall Smith was acquired in the Bobby Abreu trade, which will give Pat GIllick a chance to see if his addition by subtraction success can mirrored by the addition by addition (did that make sense?).  White has impressed in his AAA-level performances with the Yankees and Phillies teams posting ERAs of 2.08 and 2.00 respectively.  He has recorded 28 strikeouts in 35 innings while allowing 32 hits and 14 walks.  In 12 games with the Yankees this year, opponents batted just .105 against him.  Also working slightly in his favor is the fact that he has already pitched four innings against NL East teams during interleague play.  This is his first full season as a reliever and will likely be used in a setup role now that the Phils are going with the closer by committee strategy.

In other news, as a follow up to the suggestion that Jamie Moyer and Mike Lieberthal might take some time to get comfortable with each other, the two had this to say:

"He’s very easy to catch, except for the 10 different signs. He’s got four pitches on every side of the plate. It’s even tougher when there’s a runner on base." — Mike Lieberthal, on catching the soft-tossing Moyer

Moyer’s response: "He’ll get used to it."

Well, hopefully Mike’s a fast learner since he’ll only be catching Moyer at most seven more times in the regular season.

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Moyer’s Debut

Posted by Brian Michael, Wed, August 23, 2006 06:03 AM

Last night the Phillies new acquisition took to the mound.  Jamie Moyer, pitching in his first start National League game in 15 years, got off to a rather rough start.  Juan Pierre knocked a ball right off Moyer’s glove to open the game and the Phils starter was charged with an error.  Moyer, however, quickly settled in, picked Pierre off and pitched decently the rest of the way.  In fact, he had no-hitter going through four and a third innings until he allowed back-to-back hits which later scored on a Pierre single.  His line for the night read: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks on 94 pitches - 58 of which were thrown for strikes.  His fastball topped out in the mid-80s but he did well to throw a lot of junk around the plate to keep the Cubs swinging.  Moyer has allowed 25 HRs in 160 innings this season, so when he misses a spot, he usually pays for it.  This is likely why we saw a lot of changeups and sliders around the corners.  I did also notice that it might take a while for Moyer to gel with his battery partner.  You have two veterans in Lieberthal and Moyer who are likely set in their ways.  We all know Lieberthal isn’t great at calling games, but at the same time Moyer has been in the AL for a while (he was 0-3 wit 2 Ks at the plate), so there will have to be a certain adjustment period for the both of them.  Not surprisingly there were a lot of trips to the mound in last night’s game.

A few quick facts about Moyer, before we get into the rest of the game:  first, college basketball analyst Digger Phelps is his father-in-law.  Second, in 1992 the Cubs decided Moyer didn’t fit with the club and released him, but at the same time offered him a coaching position with one of their minor league affiliates.  With a chance to retire 14 years ago, Moyers proved to the Cubs that he still had more than half a tank.  It would have been Jamie’s second stint with the team that drafted him, since in 1988 he was part of a big trade that sent Rafael Palmeiro to Texas and none other than "Wild Thing" Mitch Williams to Chicago.  Then again after pitching 20 seasons with 7 teams a person’s bound to have plenty of stories and degrees of separation like this along the way.

On the offensive side, the Phils did enough to give Moyer run support and eventually win the game.  Chase Utley had the night off due to general soreness from last night’s collision and was replaced with Danny Sandoval.  With Rowand out, the top of the line up read Victorino, Sandoval, Rollins.  With Rollins batting third and a chance to be more of an RBI guy than an OBP guy perhaps Rowand’s absence might have some unintended silver linings.  That is, if his pop ups can make it out of the infield of course.  On that note, the Phillies scored 2 of their first 3 runs on ground outs, so it was productive outs that actually gave Moyer the early lead. 

The Phils notched a big (but could’ve been bigger) inning as they batted around in the sixth inning.  They scored three runs, two off consecutive Burrell and Dellucci doubles, but ended up leaving the bases loaded (on a Rollins pop up).  The inning and the game in general stretched an already thin Cubs bullpen which is certainly good news for the remaining two games of the series.  Also, it must be highlighted that Abraham Nunez, after clawing his way above the Mednoza line on Monday, continued his upward trend with a 2-for-4 night.  The Phils hung on and with Ryan Madson recording his first save of the season, they won 6-3.

In the grand scheme of things, the Phils did not gain any ground in the Wild Card standings.  Cincinnati, who do not appear to want to relinquish its lead, spanked the Astros by a score of 14-0.  San Diego also won 1-0 over the Dodgers.

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Help Wanted: Outfielder

Posted by Brian Michael, Tue, August 22, 2006 11:58 AM

If you have watched any type of sports highlight show over the last 24 hours there is no doubt that you witnessed the bonehead collision between Aaron Rowand and Chase Utley. In the bottom of the 8th inning former Phillies outfielder John Mabry hit a bloop fly ball past into shallow right. Chase Utley ran in pursuit of the ball verbally and physically calling off Victorino and Rowand. Aaron Rowand disregarded Utley as the replay showed Rowand never looked away from the ball during his run for the ball. The end result was a collision, Rowand breaking his ankle and John Mabry ending up on third base.

I’m not the one to tell you "I told you so."

I still am not.

When do we say enough is enough. His ability at the plate reflects his play in the field, reckless. I wish I could get behind Rowand and proclaim him a champion of the outfield who is willing to do whatever it takes to catch that ball. Then I wonder what is more important , the eagerness to catch a ball at all costs or to catch a ball without regards to the safety of one’s self and his teammate?

Today I will not praise Aaron Rowand. His bonehead disregard for Chase Utley as a leader and a player cost Rowand the rest of the season, Chase Utley and the result of the game.

Now the Phillies have some moves to make. With September only nine days away they can not expand their roster until the 1st. With Flash Gordon and now Rowand on the DL for the remainder of the season the Phils can bring up two players from the minors to fill their roster spots or make a trade.

The outfield Free Agent list is quite unimpressive. An option for the Phillies is to call up Michael Bourn. He has split time between AA and AAA this year and his combined minor league numbers for this season include a .276 batting average , 5 home runs and 41 RBIs. He also has a combined 45 steals which would improve the speed of the outfield if he is called up.

More than likely GM Pat Gillick will pull off another waiver trade for a veteran outfielder such as Reggie Sanders or Shawn Green. But, we will wait an see as the Phillies attempt to now limp through the 9 remaining games of their road trip.

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Jamie Moyer and Road Trip

Posted by Brian Michael, Mon, August 21, 2006 01:52 PM

Prelude
First and foremost I must apologize for the lack of content over the weekend. With Brian on hiatus and with my attempt to finalize my school dealings for the upcoming ‘06 Semester the Fightin’ Phils had to take a back seat to some more important life matters. Yet, while we were gone the Phils were holding their own.

It appears that Pat Gillick is a reader of Phillies Nation. After I trashed Scott Mathieson for the last two weeks he was sent back down to the minors to make room for the newest Phillie acquisition, Jamie Moyer. Solidifying the rotation with a crafty veteran for the playoff run and sending down that Canadian stiff to wallow in Scranton for all of eternity sounds good right?

I think so.

Jamie Moyer was born in the same year as my mom, 1962. Though my mom does have a blazing Truman era fastball and a backdoor slider she is even better than Scott Matieson. Moyer has posted big success with Seattle over the last ten years winning 13 or more games in all but one season, 2004. Moyer has been a victim of no run support while playing with the Mariner’s this year due to the fact they are awful offensively. In his last four starts the Mariners didn’t score a single run while he was on the mound.

It should be interesting to see how we will pitch at the Ballpark when the Phils get back from their road trip in September. Jamie had a 3.80 ERA at Safeco , helped by the infamous Yellowstone National Park dimensions of the outfield

He makes his Phils debut on Tuesday in Chicago where he will be looking for his first win since July 26th. Possible fan group ideas:

Moyers Lawyers
A group of St. Joe’s law students come to the game in suits while weilding breifcases. Even have a guy dressed up as a judge to top off the fun.

or

Jamie’s Babies
A contingency of people dress up in diapers also equipped with rattes, bottles and other baby items.

Tonight, the Fightin’s kick off their 10 game road trip in Chicago. Hopefully, they can do a lot better than they did during their 10 game homestand only going 6-4. In order to gain games in the Wildcard they have to do a lot better than winning 1 game more than .500 in 10 game streches.

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Mathieson’s Worst Enemy = 4th Inning

Posted by Brian Michael, Thu, August 17, 2006 09:33 PM

I was out at a local drinking establishment watching the Phillies game Wednesday night when John Lieber threw the first legit complete game of the season. As soon as the final out was recorded the patrons started shouting "Sweep Tomorrow." My relish of victory was soon soured after I heard this proclamation. Do these people know who is pitching tomorrow?

The 4th inning seems to be Mathieson’s Achilles Heel. He has only gotten out of the
4th inning 3 times in 7 starts. His combined starts for the 4th inning read as followed:

To further prove the ‘forth inning theory’ is when he turns over the order. Opponents getting a second plate appearance against him are batting .389 with 21 hits , 19 RBIs and 4 home runs. All of that in 11 2/3’s innings. During that span his era is a lofty 13.89.

News Flash : Scott Mathieson isn’t getting the job done!

He can’t pitch any more than 3 innings of baseball without getting rocked. Any constant Phillies observer can see the same thing I do. He can’t get the job done.

So, where do we turn too?

 As of right now there are only limited options and short term solutions to replace Mathieson in the rotation. With Flash Gordon day to day it makes the Phils short with bullpen arms with only 12. Since Rhodes is assuming closing duties it is plausible to insert Ryan Madson back into the rotation. But, with his limit success in that role it weakens the bullpen of one of its best right arms. Even thought Madson is night and day as a starter he is a lot better than Mahieson but still doesn’t garner any confidence from Phillies Nation.

The other option is to recall Gavin Floyd. Yes, Gavin Floyd. The story of this guy’s life is this :

He gets bombed in the majors only to get sent back down to AAA where he decides to pitch like he’s Bugs Bunny against the Gashouse Gorillas.

On a more positive note the Phillies and the American Red Cross are hosting a blood drive August 26th from 7AM to 3 PM. The requirments for donation are for those people who are at least 17 years old and weigh 110 pounds. Advanced registration is suggested but not required. To register you can call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or vist www.pleasegiveblood.org

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Wacky Wonderful Wildcard

Posted by Brian Michael, Tue, August 15, 2006 02:30 PM

With the Phililes a meager 3 1/2 games back in the wildcard standings fans from all over Phillies Nation are chopping at the bit on returning to the playoff  since 1993. Though 3 1/2 games seems like a meager amount to gain on the Wild Card leading Reds, the journey isn’t going to be a smooth ride.

Despite the 3 1/2 games, the Phillies are separated by four teams which they do not play for the remainder of the season. Their best opportunity to grab hold of the Wild Card came this weekend where they dropped two of three from the Reds. With an uphill battle to climb the Phillies are going too need some prayer, luck and to play great baseball from here on out to have a chance to win.

During this time there are four N.L. West teams attempting to lock up both the Division Title and a Wild Card berth. Four teams are separated by 4 1/2 games or less with 3 teams ahead of the Phillies in the Wild Card standings. If the Phils hope to gain any ground in the Wild Card they must hope that one team emerges from the West and starts to break away from the pack to take the Division.

Meanwhile, The Reds and Cardinals are apart by 1 1/2 games going into tonight’s series where they play each other in St. Louis. Phillies fans should be praying for a Cardinals sweep and Phillies W’s against the Mets for the next three days. The last thing that we need is another N.L. West scenario  to have yet another team, The Cardinals, get into the mix of Wild Card/Division leaders.

Looking forward to the remainder of the season the Fightin’ Phils have 45 games remaining on their schedule, playing a bulk of them on the road. Following the Mets series Thursday, the Nationals come to town for a weekend set at the Ballpark. Then the fun begins.

Our team embarks on a 10 game road trip to round out the end of August making stops in Chicago, New York and Washington , D.C. The Phillies need to come out of this road trip with a winning record. It is going to be hard to gain games in the Wild Card race while the N.L. West is beating up on each other. That’s why we stress that the Dodgers need to destroy that division for us since we can’t do it ourselves. Also, the Padres and Reds will lock up six times before the season ends making the Phillies even more in a bind to gain ground against both teams.

The Battle for the Wild Card is not in the Phillies favor. They need to go above and beyond their ability and find the strength somewhere inside themselves to beat the odds that are up against them. If not, we will be stuck saying "Maybe next year" or start and irrelevent Eagles Chant just because we can.

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Romp and Unforseen Circumstances

Posted by Brian Michael, Mon, August 14, 2006 11:59 PM

Sidebar: With Brian Michael away traveling Spain and being buried in school work yours truly will be running the show for the next two weeks. I intend to maintain the quality and integrity that you, our reader, expect when you visit our site. Thank You.

6 runs. 4 hits. 2 misplays in the field. 2 hit batsmen. 1 throwing error. 1 balk.

The bottom of the first inning tonight was one of the strangest innings of baseball I have seen in a while.Though you can point out many reasons why the Mets had the hammer dropped on them tonight , the major factor in today’s game was the ineffectiveness of Pedro Martinez.

From the get go any baseball fan with knowledge of Perdo’s ability had to know that something was up. Even this late in his career Pedro can still bring the heat. Tonight, Pedro Martinez looked more like Jamie Moyer throwing an array of off speed and breaking pitches. He registered 4 fastballs in the first inning. Two of them for strikes and two hitting  Aaron Rowand and Chris Coste.

Reports cite a calf strain for his poor pitching performance. He was feeling the pain during warm ups. and further aggravated the injury while attempting to make a play on a slow dribbler past the mound hit by Jimmy Rollins, resulting in an infield single. From there, the wheels came off for Pedro tonight. The Mets are keeping quiet with details on the injury only declaring he is "day to day" and not setting a timetable for his next start.

On the flip side, Cole Hamels pitched a really great game. The Phils 6 run 1st  deflated the Mets hopes of winning while King Cole’s 4 hit gem took the hearts from their chests. I think its safe to say that Cole Hamels is the best pitcher on this team. His continuing dominance of National League hitters will be a huge factor on if the Phillies can make a legitimate run at the Wild Card.

After the game, Tom Gordon said on Comcast SportsNet that he has been experiencing shoulder inflammation for some time while still continuing to pitch. We can assume that him blowing a save and giving up a lead over the weekend can be attributed to this unknown shoulder injury.

In the midst of a half hearted playoff race can Charlie Manuel justify putting a hurt closer on the mound against the Reds this weekend?

If the Phils happen to find themselves in the ninth inning during a save opportunity I’d imagine they call on Madson to slam the door. I really don’t want to find out though. The way they have been hitting the ball the Phils may not need a 9th inning fill-in while Gordon is day to day.

Tomarrow, I’ll be mapping out the Phillies wild ride to make it to the post season, like i promised.

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