Comments on: Many Culprits To Blame In 6-5 Loss

By: Tim Malcolm

Tim Malcolm — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:55:28 +0000

Yeah, I may have underserved the Cubs by saying mediocre, but I believe the Phils are a better team.

By: ryan

ryan — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:40:36 +0000

“great teams take care of mediocre ones”. That’s a true statement, however the cubs are certainly not a mediocre team. They are a playoff team. They were last year and they will be again this year. They have one of the best lineups in the league. Ramirez, Lee, Soriano is comparable with Utley, Rollins, Howard. let’s not get carried away. That game was a shame, they shoulda won. but we should be proud of the way the phils got it done in this series.

By: Matt Kwasiborski

Matt Kwasiborski — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:09:41 +0000

Instant Replay anyone? I like the notion of giving teams one play to review per game and giving the umps a time limit on making the decision. The Phils squandered many opportunities yesterday but they shouldn’t even have been at that point. Even the TBS broadcasters made an excellent point of all the potential distractions in the stadium when the umps turn around and make such a close call. And let’s remember Chase Utley’s HR in DC two years ago at the end of the season which may or may not have cost us the WC.

Walks and hitting with RISP is starting to catch up to them a bit. I mean I feel like the Phils should be 9-4 at this point instead of 6-7.

I know Gillick’s big time moves blew up in his face, but he has made some nice additions with the role players, especially Werth, who continues to produce when needed the most.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:35:50 +0000

The Cubs are not exactly a “mediocre” team as described by TM in his blog. After all, some pundits have pegged them as preseason favorites. However, I do agree that the Phillies had squandered opportunities to win the game. I also agree that the team as a rule (with few exceptions) are not good at “situational” hitting. They are more adept at longball than smallball in the cozy confines of CBP. Not having both Rollins AND Victorino at the top of the order obviously limited the team’s ability to captilize on scoring chances.

If one wish to designate a “scapegoat” in yesterday’s game, a good choice would be Utley. He didn’t come through in clutch situations with RISP and committed the costly error that allowed the Cubbies to scored the eventual winning run. Utley was given a perfect toss and in position to throw the runner out. Instead, he rushed and threw low into the runner. Howard tried to may play holding the bag. I don’t think he had enough reaction time to dive after the ball and block it. Howard will never win a gold glove but I don’t blame him for his instant decision to try scooping the errant throw.

The bottom line is the Cubs played better defensively and captilized on their scoring chances by taking opportunties of Phillies’ mistakes. They ended the game with a better bullpen effort as well. Period.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:14:41 +0000

Geoff Jenkins is a fly ball hitter therefore he should NEVER hit leadoff. on the broadcast The Sarge said he asked him about it and he said he had NEVER in his whole life hit leadoff before. When Jenkins is on he should be hitting 6th, when hes off he should hit 7th although he cant because when feliz and ruiz arent on theyre worse hitters than he is. they still need their guys to start hitting, otherwise theyll need to get another bad but they cant “afford” it so it rather have them spend what they can “afford” on pitching. They basically kept the same salary allowing for 10 million in inflation. They needed to inject about 20 million more into the roster (another good starter, another reliever, and another bat that can actually hit off the bench rather than strike out). But feliz should be doing that this year and so should jenkins and if they dont hit 20+ hr and 80+ rbi each then the phillies will be in trouble. If they do, then they will have filled the void left by rowand and then some. This team has less depth than last years team in the lineup. The right field platoon is solid as is Coste, but other than that what do the other guys give you? when they say “oh hes a great defender” that means he cant hit, and you want someone off the bench that can at least get on base when you ask them to.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:52:47 +0000

I’m not placing blame on this (well maybe I am), but I’m really surprised that Geoff Jenkins was put in the leadoff spot. He hasn’t shown much of a spark for hitting in this young season, and his style of hitting really doesn’t suit being any kind of leadoff hitter. With Pat Burrell hitting so well, why not have Utley leading off with Howard third and Burrell cleanup? Utley would get his at bats, and he’s proven his base running skills. It would be very similar to how Rollins, while in the leadoff spot, still has many RBIs. Too many times yesterday Geoff Jenkins came up exactly at the time when you needed a leadoff man to start something or just get on base, only to have him pop out.

By: OZ

OZ — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:55:34 +0000

all signs point to, again, terrible ownership. if those clowns could hire anybody, e.g., scouts, minor league coaches, etc. our great “nucleus” would be have a much better grasp of fundamentals by the time they are in the majors.

not understanding small ball is unforgiveable….Chase’s throw = bad; Howard’s effort = worse.

on a bright note, the Flyers won and the Eagles didn’t lose. niiiiiiiiiice.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:23:40 +0000

Ryan Howard is not a good defensive first baseman at all, he has no mobility. In a few years, hell only be able to DH. Anyways, the phillies have to lead the league in errors and runs left on base by now. You only get one run out of two bases loaded situations? what? everybody gets all amped up and tries to hit a home run because its bases loaded at citizens bank park instead of remaining calm, waiting for a pitch to hit and calmly stroking one into the alley or laying it in over the heads of the infielders. The phillies are clearly not good situational hitters.

By: Gnomicide

Gnomicide — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:27:57 +0000

Yeah every once and a while you just have one of these games that should have easily been won and the Phils let you think they’re in it the entire game, but the writing was on the wall since the first inning.

Oh well. Lead the charge back to .500! Again.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:50:45 +0000

You forgot to mention Ryan Howard’s inability to stretch on a dead double play ball. Granted Utley’s throw wasn’t great, but still, that was a very playable toss. It’s a shame that in consecutive innings Derek Lee makes an incredible scoop that saves the game and Ryan Howard misses a stretch that blows the game… Its making that 10 million paycheck seem very undeserved thus far this season.