Rocket, Lieberthal return to action tonight

Roger Clemens and Brett Myers take stage as the Astros and Phillies begin a weekend series. Clemens takes the mound after missing a start with a groin injury, while catcher Mike Lieberthal returns after missing time with back spasms.

Clemens (6-4, 2.27 ERA) was forced to leave his start with the Phils back on Sept. 4. Before that, he hadn’t missed a beat since rejoining the Astros midway through the season.

Brett Myers (10-6, 4.05) is looking to bounce back after a mediocre start at Florida. Myers allowed two earned runs and nine hits over six innings.

The Phils will try to stop Lance Berkman, who burned the Phillies badly last time they met and is single-handedly carrying the Astros offense on his back. Berkman in coming off a 3-for-4 effort with a home run in a 5-1 win over St. Louis.

For the Phils, Mike Lieberthal returns and gets the start behind the plate tonight.

Comments

[Drama Queen]

Here we go...stupid Clemens!

[Drama Queen]

I'm thinking Howard goes deep against Rocket tonight.

[Billy Mac]

Phils doing a nice job making Clemens work -- especially coming off the groin strain.

[Mike]

PATTTT!!!!!!

[joe]

Pat EFFING BURREL!

[Greg S.]

Yeah, hoping for a RH HR tonight. He hasn't gone this many games without one since July.

- Greg

[Billy Mac]

That was huge. Very patient AB by Burrell. Got to 3-2 and waited for pitch over the middle of the plate and made Clemens pay.

[duder]

burrell plates FOUR!!! after three walks!

[shocked]

!!!!! GRAND SALAMI BURRELL !!!!! Hit 'em where they can't throw you out Pat!

[Greg S.]

Nice Pat. Hero for a night!

[John Salmon]

Pat Burrell just can't hit good pitchers.

[Drama Queen]

didn't see that coming

[Drama Queen]

Salmon- shut the hell up! Leave it alone

[John Salmon]

Why?

I repeat, it's been demonstrated on this site that PB sucks-how did he ever hit a homer off HOF'er Roger Clemens?

[Billy Mac]

Come on Myers. No time for bad first inning. Tavares with another infield single.

[John Salmon]

I'd think, DQ, that you'd be HAPPY Burrell came through.

[Drama Queen]

I never said he sucked. I even admitted to being a fan of his. We simply pointed out his struggles of the past month or so.

[Drama Queen]

I am excited Burrell hit a homerun. I'm excited when any Phillie goes long, even Nuni. But you don't have to throw Weitzel's statement back in his face again, leave it alone.

[John Salmon]

Who was even talking to you in the first place? Did I address the comment to you?

And the criticism of Burrell was that he can't hit good pitchers, never gets an important hit, etc. Not just that he's had a rough month-which everybody knows already.

[J. Weitzel]

Thanks for the gesture, DQ. No need to defend me. I stand by my statement.

[Billy Mac]

Clemens is struggling.

[Drama Queen]

Salmon- you didn't address me, I took it upon myself to tell you to shut up...so shut up! I have no problem discussing meaning thoughts on here or having fun, but the stuff you were slinging the other day was just pitiful, especially at the author of this blog.

Nuni can't even buy a bunt hit...this is one of the worst offensive seasons EVER by a man with this many at bats.

[Billy Mac]

DQ, that was a good bunt by Nunez. Caught them off guard -- just great play by Ensberg.

[J. Weitzel]

Easy. Up 4-0 on Clemens in the first. Let's even it out here.

[joe]

clemens *is* struggling. he seems a bit hurt, actually.

Pat had a pretty good night last night, too.

clemens will not make 5, and it might only be 3.

[Drama Queen]

Billy Mac- never said it wasn't a good bunt by Nunez. Indeed it was, and it was a good idea too. I was simply pointing out that he can't even get hits that way and that he is having one of the worst offensive seasons ever.

[Billy Mac]

Love how Victorino busts it on routine grounders. That was close.

[Billy Mac]

DQ, Gotcha. No argument here about Nunez being bad of historic proportions.

[John Salmon]

I didn't read the "statement" (The Bloggers' Manifesto?), but if you run a sports or politics website, and allow comments, you have to accept that some comments are critical.

Especially when you criticize a player in personal terms. Burrell's numbers are ABOVE his career norms (OBP/SLG). A fact to note in all the silly criticiam.

[Drama Queen]

Let Vic play an entire season as a starter and he will make the defense make many errors due to his hustle...great stuff.

[Drama Queen]

Salmon- it's over, I'm sorry I opened my mouth.

Now, let's get back to Phils baseball.

[John Salmon]

Fine, DramaQueen. I usually agree with you anyway!

[John Salmon]

I like the way they're running on Clemens. It's easy to over-rate SB's but it's a nice tool to have in your arsenal.

[Drama Queen]

Salmon- we normally agree?

I know we didn't the other day, but I don't remember much beyond that.

[Billy Mac]

Clemens has a decent move to first, but he can be run on. Slow to the plate and throws a lot of splits now.

[John Salmon]

Even Garner won't walk Howard now!

[John Salmon]

DQ-Great...now we can't agree on whether we agree!

I think we can agree to disagree when necessary, and vice versa. Or something.

[Drama Queen]

Howard is in a mini-funk...was bound to happen. Still the MVP. Destreda on Baseball Tonight was saying it's Pujols because of postseason...bullcrap!

[John Salmon]

It's gotta be Howard. And Frank Thomas in the AL.

[Drama Queen]

Salmon- honestly you really ticked me off the other day when I was saying baseball is a combo of stats and observation and you didn't want to hear any of that, rather stats stats stats, but I need to let go of that and not be petty. I know I've pissed people off on here before too, so whatever. We're good to go brotha!

p.s. Frank Thomas in the AL? Great season, but he's a DH only and Morneau, Jeter (yuck), Ortiz, and Dye are having just as good of seasons.

[Billy Mac]

Orestes Destrade is biased toward Latin players.

[Drama Queen]

Always trying to keep the White man down...wait, Howard is black.

[John Salmon]

Okay to get ticked off.

Thomas, because the A's have so little hitting. Don't think they'd be there without him. Even the Twins have Mourneau and Mauer.

I'd only vote for Jeter under torture.

[Drama Queen]

Nuni needs to do something positive here...even a productive out would be nice.

[Drama Queen]

Really- there's only been a few Phillies I've ever hated: Rob Deucy, Mike Williams, Jose Mesa, David Bell, and Abe Nunez.

[kdon]

Just turned the game on...CLemens has terrible body language...I think he'd rather be watching Kody play

[John Salmon]

The Mendoza Line was .200 in the 70's, when there was a lot less hitting. The newly named Nunez Line should be about .240.

[Drama Queen]

Salmon- Frank Thomas has been one of the biggest suprises and bargains all season ($500,000)...wow.

[kdon]

So where was the pitch Burrell hit? Must have been a mistake.

[Drama Queen]

Bullcrap. Horrible inning. I hate it when the Phils do this. Guys on 2nd and 3rd with no outs...end of inning and no runs...chumps!

[Billy Mac]

kdon, Burrell's Slam was tailing fastball that was middle in. Burrell did a nice job working the count to 3-2.

[Drama Queen]

kdon- we've already been through the whole "mistake"/"good pitching" thing

seriously though- it was about damn time Burrell went long. he's considered a power hitter after all, isn't he supposed to hit homeruns?

[Billy Mac]

Biggio really has lost it. He's a shadow of his former self. He should retire if not for his pursuit of 3000 hits.

[Drama Queen]

See, even Morgan Ensberg went deep tonight.

[Billy Mac]

By the way, why are the Phils throwing Wolf Sunday with 3 days rest -- 9 starts off of TJ surgery ?

[kdon]

Thanks BM.

Sorry DQ, I know my second comment was somewhat sarcastic but I really was curious. If Clemens didn't groove one on 3-2 w/ the bases loaded, there may be room for optimism.

Arg...J-Roll grounds into a DP on 3-1 and now this! WTF!

[Drama Queen]

Things I hate seeing replayed on tv: Billy Wagner surrendering homeruns to the Astros last season, Joe Carter's walk-off homerun in '93...oh and Myers letting the game slip away.

[Drama Queen]

This is Phillies baseball by the book. They strand very scoreable runners then pitcher starts coughing up runs...this pattern needs to end soon!

Dammit Myers!

[Billy Mac]

Quick -- Who's given up more HRs this year, Brett Myers or Eric Milton ?

[John Salmon]

Wolf only threw 52 pitches in his last start, so CM in his infinite wisdom thinks, "Hey! That means he can go on three days' rest! Who was Tommy John again?"

[clout]

One of the things that's hilarious about this site is posters who say something and then claim they never held that position when it's proven wrong. There's 2 or 3 that do this consistently.

On another subject, Jason I really like when you post info about the prospects (i.e. the Blue Claws). Info from the team can't be trusted (all their prospects are future stars) so to the extent that independent analysis is possible, it's a great resource for the fans.

[clout]

Myers is a fine pitcher who still needs to mature a bit. If you watch him closely, all of his trouble usually follows when some small thing goes wrong: an error, a bad call, a lucky hit. He seems to have trouble getting past that. It weighs on his mind and he makes mistakes.

[Billy Mac]

And Wolf only gives you 4 or 5 when he is fully rested. Phils want to get their $9 Million worth I guess. Tell Brito to be ready.

[Billy Mac]

Clout, I agree on your Myers assessment. But I am not sure his temperament will ever change. This is his 5th year in the majors.

[clout]

Re: The Burrell HR. The Phillies announcers said it was the same pitch (inside fastball)that Pat has been pulling off of. They said the fact he stayed with it could be a sign he's fixing his swing. I'm still skeptical but I also know veteran players usually wind up close to their career averages at season's end.

[clout]

Billy Mac: You may be right. At age 26, some maturity ought to kick in. But as we saw with that incident in Boston, it hasn't happened yet.

[Drama Queen]

I keep holding out hope that Myers will learn to control himself soon.

[Tray]

So where is RSB everyone? Burrell hits a grand slam off the greatest pitcher of our time, a guy who's only given up 7 all year, and... he's worse than a 50-year-old Jeff Conine, right? Sorry, I'm already drunk.

[clout]

DQ: To me that's key. He certainly has the talent. His curve is a knee buckler and he's got the 93 mph heat to set it up. just needs to get his head straight. Like Nook LaLoush!

[John Salmon]

Where's Crash Davis when you need him?

[clout]

Tray: C'mon, no teasing. Pat might fan with the sacks full next time up. Besides, RSB's opinions are set in stone. That's why he can argue seriously, as he did earlier this year, that an out is better than a walk.

[Drama Queen]

Where's our Crash Davis?

[Drama Queen]

see Salmon there we are agreeing again already.

[John Salmon]

Chris "Crash" Coste.

He spent enough time in the minors to earn a cool nickname.

[John Salmon]

It's more fun when everybody's arguing, DQ.

Just kidding-I think.

[Drama Queen]

I came up with these two nicknames Chris "East -vs- West" Coste and Christ "Coste-to" Coste

[Drama Queen]

no you're right, arguing is fun sometimes.

[Tray]

Oh Clout, you know outs are better than walks. Because... at least a ground out is a productive out. Yes, doesn't that make sense?

[Drama Queen]

the "Christ" was a mistake above...although Davthom might think he's the 2nd coming of the man.

[John Salmon]

Davthorn and I are EXTREMELY close...

[John Salmon]

just the man to lead off the inning...

[Drama Queen]

Salmon- what does that mean? Are you the same guy? If so, then I know where we've agreed many times in the past.

[Drama Queen]

I'd rather Nunez leadoff an inning then kill a rally in the middle of it. Every passing at bat amazes me he's still a starting 3rd baseman in the Majors for a contending team no less!

[John Salmon]

Oh, davthorn thinks I "polluted" the site by making a political joke once. Directed at RSB, who didn't really take offense. But our buddy davthorn did!

[clout]

Tray: I grew up under Earl Weaver. Outs, he said, are like gold. There's only 27 of them and you NEVER give one away.
That went against "the book" and virtually every other manager in the game.
All he did was go to the World Series four times and league championship 6 times in 10 years.

[clout]

davthom will be back when Coste starts hitting again.

[Drama Queen]

Why does it seem like we're losing this game even though we're ahead? What happened to the offense?

[Drama Queen]

I'm signing off, I've spent too many hours on blogs on a Friday night...I'm pathetic.

[Billy Mac]

I want the Phils to win this game, but the Met's hater in me wouldn't mind spoiling their on field NL East Division celebration.

[John Salmon]

Gee, DQ, you start talking like that, we'll all log off.

[clout]

I'd like them to get 1 more run for the bullpen. I just don't have confidence that this 'pen can hold a 1 run lead for 2 innings.

[J. Weitzel]

Thanks, Clout.

The Phils are showing incredible faith in Matt Smith. I have to believe some of this confidence comes from the front office, because it's not Manuel's style to trust a newbie in the eighth inning of a 4-3 game.

[clout]

I'm embarrassed for Bourn.

[J. Weitzel]

Another point on Smith: I wonder how much of this trust is earned just from wearing a Yankees uniform, the MLB mark of quality.

[Billy Mac]

JW, And how much of the trust is your other lefty options are Fultz and Castro ?

[clout]

This always seems to happen when you squander earlier opportunities.

[clout]

This reminds me way too much of last season.

[clout]

Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. Somewhere DQ just threw a shoe through his TV screen.

[clout]

Maybe the karma is back.

[MAW]

Whew.