The Phillies hit the road after tonight’s Game 3 between Cole Hamels and Jaret Wright. The Phils are searching for their first series win since June 7 in Arizona.
Hamels (1-2, 4.91 ERA) is seeking his first win at Citizens Bank Park. Since returning from the DL, the 22-year-old left-hander is 1-2 with a 6.28 ERA. He’s hoping to bounce back after a career-low 3 2-3 innings in a 10-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Friday. Wright (3-4, 4.86) has had similar misfortune in his last three starts, going 0-1 with a 6.19 ERA.
Ryan Howard was the hero in last night’s losing effort, mashing 7 RBIs to take the NL lead in that category with 66. Bernie Williams went 5-5 the opposition for the first time in his career.
I can't wait for this rubbermatch. I hate to throw around superlatives, but the effort shown in tonight's game could make or break the rest of this season. This is a big one.
I know I'm holding out hope, but is there any chance that Charlie might actually consider moving his lineup around a little bit?
Posted by: Willard Preacher | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 04:31 PM
Ya, he's gonna move Abreu to lead-off, sit Bell, and not use Rhodes with a slim lead in the 8th.
In other news: pigs will fly out of my butt.
Posted by: yt | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 04:46 PM
In that case, I guess we'll have to hope for Hamels to get it together and for another 7 RBI night from Ryno.
Posted by: Willard Preacher | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 04:51 PM
yt - hilarious, man!
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 05:20 PM
And to top it off, this little note from Phillies.com:
Player to watch
Jimmy Rollins is 7-for-17 (.412) in his career against Wright.
That means 0-4 with 2 K's and two fly outs.
Posted by: Willard Preacher | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 05:24 PM
This is like listening to Waldorf and Statler talk about the Phillies. I love it...
(That's a Muppet Show reference, for those not in the know. Remember the two old men who would make wisecracks about everything from the balcony?)
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 06:15 PM
My favorite muppets, though animal was a close second.
Posted by: yt | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 07:17 PM
Cole off to a nice start here. Seems to be back in form by throwing a lot of strikes and getting ahead of a lot of hitters. Hopefully he keeps it up!
Posted by: Jon | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 07:40 PM
This team is simply not very good. The Yankee announcers keep talking about how good the Phillies lineup is..I wish they would take some of these guys off our hands!
Posted by: Greg | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:13 PM
...and Hamels is a more adept hitter than Nunez.
Posted by: Greg | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:24 PM
Where is Delucci? Is he on the DL or what?
Nunez is a DEFENSIVE substitue Charlie! Get it right!
Posted by: yt | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:26 PM
Unofficial Wolf line for AA Phillies:
3 2/3innings/6hits/6runs/5Ks/2BB 70+ pitches
radar gun read mid 80s most of the night for the fastball, 65 for the curve. Miscued on the curve a couple times. But for the most part it was solid.
Note to fans: the Reading gun runs a couple mph high.
Wolf had the bases full in the 4th with 2 outs, Erie guy came up and laced a ball by the second baseman, who the phils had just called up from A. I feel he should have gotten it and gotten Wolf out of the inning, which would have left Wolf with 2 runs/5 hits.
Posted by: Will | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:29 PM
Nice outing by Hamels. He looked sharp against a tough lineup. It actually may have been his most impressive game yet.
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:32 PM
I came in late, but was impressed with how he handled giambi - cole seemed to get him out every way possible.
Posted by: Oisin | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:34 PM
I would love to see numbers on what the phillies bullpen's ERA is while the phillies are +- 3 runs.
I'm sure it sucks.
Posted by: Greg | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:41 PM
Greg, damn good point. A lot of that sparkling ERA is surely compiled in already lopsided games.
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:46 PM
Wait, did a reliever who didn't pitch yesterday just pitch a 123 inning, could there be any explaination for this?
I think we know Charlie's opinion on this.
Posted by: yt | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:04 PM
Stick a fork in 'em, they're done.
Time to back up the truck and rebuild.
Posted by: theragtopguy | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:05 PM
The Yankee bullpen (minus Rivera) is not good. How could they not manage a single hit against them?
Time to start counting the days until College Football...
Posted by: Greg | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:11 PM
I have to stop staying up to watch the phils. they don't win when I'm watching this late, and I get even less sleep, tormented as I am by dreams of endless relievers and no relief.
sigh.
Posted by: Oisin | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:11 PM
And so a 2-7 homestand is punctuated by a flatter-than-flat shutout loss. There is every reason to think it will only get uglier. Why shouldn't it? Nobody does anything about it.
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:14 PM
Wolfie aint ready boys and even if he was he is a marginal pitcher.
Posted by: That Dude | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 10:23 PM
Exactly right. The Phillies finish a 2-7 homestand in which they were not even competitive in 4-5 of the losses. They have a below .500 record for the season. They have effectively played themselves out of the division race by mid-June.
They have no apparent answers to fixing one-third of the batting order that produces nothing. They have no apparent answers at the leadoff position.
The two players that I was hoping could add spark and some competitveness to this bunch, Utley and Rowand, seem to be finally getting worn down by the passive losing.
Sal Fasano epitomized the team in one of his at-bats tonight. He thought he had a walk and started down to 1B. It was a strike, and the umpire called it right. Fasano got all indignant about this 'obvious' bad call. So he swings at the next pitch at eye level, which would have put 2 men on with none out, and then hits into a tailor-made 6-4-3 DP. In the dugout he was still crying about the injustice of it all. Hey, Sal, it was a strike, ok?
(I had to laugh as Wheels noted that he should be quiet or he might get tossed. Are you KIDDING ME? We should care if Sal Fasano gets tossed?)
Posted by: George S | Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 11:02 PM
So, George, I guess you're not one of Sal's Pals. Come on now, this team needs the comic relief that only he can provide. So far the highlight of the season was that double steal where Sal got confused about what to do with the ball so he shot-putted it over toward the on-deck circle. Sad to say, I think that is the lasting memory of the Phils I'll take from this season. But it still makes me chuckle when I think of it. Thanks, Sal!
Posted by: Nat | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 12:08 AM
I enjoyed watching Sal blow a gasket, even though it was over absolutely nothing. He's the kind of guy who you can tell has had to learn how to be calm, but who has a dark side which could make him unscrew someone's head. I was laughing too when Wheeler said he'd better be careful. For what? Let loose, Sal! Kill the umpire! It would be the first sign of life from this team in weeks, Manuel's unconvincing tirades notwithstanding.
Nat's right: in the future, perhaps all we'll have to distinguish the 2006 Phillies from so many faceless years before, is Rowand's gushing nose and Fasano's gushing hair.
Posted by: RickSchuBlues | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 01:51 AM
I am in no way one of Sal's Pals (easily the most ridiculous Phils fan club yet) but people should lay off him a bit.
He has had a decent month offensively (OBP .319 SLG .545 OPS .865 AVG .273) and has played better defense than earlier this season. It is not Fasano's fault that he is getting overexposed by having to play every day due to Lieberthal's injury.
Hate to kick a horse when it is down but Bell deserves the wrath of the Phils fans. His defense has been awful this month and his stats have been anemic in June (OBP .313
SLG .263 OPS .57 AVG .228). A SLG percentage of .263 is just pathetic, especially for a supposed everyday starter.
Nunez has been equally as offensively inept as Bell but he is a defensive upgrade at this point. I say to Manuel, unleash the Nunez!
Posted by: MG | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 02:02 AM
While Phils' offense took the night off, at least Hamels had a really strong outing agains t a very solid lineup. I was really impressed by his location and offspeed stuff night. Always a good sign for a rookie pitcher. Since this season is looking more and more like a lost year, Hamels' development is one thing worth following closely.
Posted by: MG | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 02:07 AM
We've been complaining about the Phillies starters going 5 or 6 innings and giving up 4 or 5 runs. Last night, we have a promising pitcher go 7 innings and only allowing 2 runs. What does our prodigious offense do to support such a good effort? They lay a big goose egg. This team is very frustrating.
I predict that the Phils will have a hot streak in mid July to get back to within 5 or 6 games behind the Mets. We'll get all excited, then the Phillies will revert back to form causing alcohol consumption, crime, wife beatings, etc. to increase in the Delaware valley in August and September.
Posted by: Lake Fred | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 08:30 AM
Yeah, it was a wasted effort in support of a great game pitched by Hamels. He looked like the best pitcher on this staff last night. Unfortunately, the offense was offensive (yet again), as was the bullpen and defense.
I agree, the bullpen stats are highly overrated on this team. Their numbers have to be terrible with runners on base or allowing inherited runners to score.
With regard to the offense, no one bothered to show up other than Rollins last night (and he would have been my last guess to do so). Charlie really needs to start trying some new things.
And what is with Aaron Rowand in the field these days?? He continues to misplay balls and might have the most inaccurate arm when it comes to his throws to third base or home plate. He can't hit a cutoff man to save his life and when he overthrows, its never to the third base bag or home plate, rather travelling up and down the lines. Runners are ALWAYS taking the extra base on his illadvised throws. I really think Victorino could do the job Rowand is doing. I am wrong here, or could Rowand be trade bait? Yes, I would rather move one of the corner outfielders, but if Rowand brings us something decent in return, I would definitely consider moving him.
Posted by: Jon | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 08:52 AM
I was nervous that King Cole might be a little star struck facing this Yankee lineup going into this game, but he REALLY impressed me. It was mentioned on Phillies.com that he has been pressing, trying too hard to strike guys out. I think he calmed down last night and provided at lease a small amount of optimism to look for in the second half of the season.
Other than that, I throw my hands up. I was at the Fasano "shot put" game in Florida (a game that the Phils won, but he played awful). I, too, will associate that particular play with this season, assuming things don't turn around dramatically soon. All that being said, I echo Greg's sentiments above - only 72 more days until Penn State kicks off the '06 season.
Posted by: Willard Preacher | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 09:38 AM
It's the Phillie vortex. Doesn't matter who it is, they will eventually fail in Philly. Is it any surprise that they play better on the road? Tear it down NOWWWWW!!!!!! They all look like they're doing Valium before the game, for the most part. Lifeless!!
Posted by: SamDracula | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 10:40 AM
If nothing else, at least we can take some solice in the fact that the rat blew another save last night, after Reyes hit for the cycle no less. That's nice.
Posted by: yt | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 11:10 AM
72 Days until Penn State? But the real game dosent start until 8 PM that night when Notre Dame warms up for PSU with GT.
Wow. Just writing that made me forget about the Phils..
Posted by: Greg | Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 12:27 PM
Thnx to all.
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