Phillies try to avoid two-game sweep in Washington

Good news: Ryan Howard will not need an MRI on his left knee, according to Phillies GM Pat Gillick, but the reigning NL MVP is out of this afternoon’s lineup and is listed as day-to-day.

Gillick told an AP baseball writer he didn't think Howard would have to go on the disabled list. The diagnosis appears to be a sprained ligament that connects the tibia to the fibia just below the knee. This could have been worse.

Howard will get at least a day off, which may not have been a bad idea anyway. Howard’s April swoon is one of the main reasons why the Phillies find themselves 3-10, the team’s worst start in over 20 years. The Phillies slugger, hitting just .213 with one homer, has looked off-kilter ever since spring training and his frustration became visible to the naked eye during last night’s loss.

In the meantime, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has made some minor adjustments. Greg Dobbs will replace Howard at first base and hit fifth. Pat Burrell slides up one slot and will hit fourth. Jamie Moyer (1-1, 3.55 ERA) makes his third straight road start. John Patterson (0-2, 7.07) seeks his first win in more than a year. [Live boxscore]

Comments

[Lake Fred]

That's good news about Howard. I'm still in shell shock from this pitiful 3-10 start! We'll see if Pat the Bat cleans up batting fourth. On paper, we should win today. This scares me. The Phillies will go in big headed and cocky and lose.

[Tom Goodman]

Maybe the Phils can bring up Wally Pipp.

[JB]

Looks like Patterson has numbers to be a Phillie.

Let's get this train back on track starting today.

[GM-Carson]

I'm glad Howard's injury isn't serious. Hopefully this is a nice mental break for him.

A thought:
The Phillies = The Titanic

Just like the Titanic was hyped and deemed "unsinkable" the Phils were hyped by players and media this offseason, but just like the Titanic we're failing miserably and ultimately sinking...such a shame for something that had so much promise.

[ZT]

Sarge "We've had a little bit of bad luck"

I hate this guy, thats the understatement of the century.

[Stephen]

"General manager Pat Gillick said X-rays done Wednesday showed nothing was torn and that Howard wouldn’t need to have an MRI exam".

Why are the Phillies not giving Howard an MRI? X Rays don't diagnose tears, MRI's do. Why on earth would you not want to make sure that there is no serious damage in there?

[GM-Carson]

The Phillies have a disease- it is ridiculous the amount of time a runner is on third with less than 2 outs and the batter fails to hit a sac fly or even an rbi groudout...nope, our boys k or popup...pathetic!

[curt]

0 for 3 with RISP in ONE inning...seen this movie before

[GM-Carson]

Clout- remember you said you'd buy me a Morton's steak dinner if Victorino stole 20-40 bases this season...he's off and running buddy.

[Brad]

Row is swinging a hot bat, I love it!!

[laramie]

Stephen: keep in mind this is the same team that didn't make Freddy Garcia take a physical before the trade. After all, the team that was trying to trade him said he was ok! No need to double-check!

[GM-Carson]

The man without shoulders necked one out of the park...Rowand has been decent this season. It's a shame Utley, Howard, and Helms haven't produced like they should.

[GM-Carson]

Yet, this is the same club that wouldn't sign Joe Borowski (Indians' closer) because of a medical exam.

[curt]

Surprising fact: Utley now leads the league in doubles.

[primodudes]

Dobbs at first and Helms at third still? I find it hard to believe that Dobbs has a worse glove than Helms.

[Lister]

I guess Gillick doesn't have enough money to pay for an MRI for Howard because he's paying Adam Eaton 24.5M dollars too much over the next three years.

[Steve Jeltz]

I'm at work looking at Gamecast. Can anyone explain how Lopez hit an "infield single to the pitcher"? Was it a bunt?

[joe l]

Uncanny.

[Parker]

Steve, he hit the ball hard and it bounced off of Moyer, then rolled in between Utley and Dobbs. With Lopes' speed and Utley playing up the middle it was impossible to get him out.

[curt]

Helms actually has a nice barehander today.

None of that stuff matters until Helms and the rest of them figure out how to drive in RISP. They're piling up again in this game.

[JH2]

This team plays like a bunch of tims.

[curt]

Nat announcers are highly impressed with all aspects of Vic's game.

[loctastic]

Runner on third, no out.

Get ready to slam head into desk, repeatedly!

[Ed in Westchester]

The Phillies organization is stupid. How do you not send Howard for an MRI? An X-Ray for a possible soft tissue or ligament injury? Geez, no wonder you guys are 3-10.

Management should be fired for Incompetence. You do not take risks with your big guy.

Then again, what do you expect from that group? Good luck.

[yt]

I'm not watching today, just following along by box score. Never the less, I sort of doubt "a bunch of tims" is compliment.

[Steve Jeltz]

Anyone want to take bets on how the Phils avoid scoring this situation.

Put me down for pop up, strikeout, groundout.

[joe l]

I smell a bang-bang triple play...

[Ribbies]

I'll go with triple play

[curt]

Sounds about right.

Say what you will about Vic, he's 4 for 8 with RISP.

[J. Weitzel]

They have GOT to put them away here.

[Bridoc10]

Dammit. Levale Speigner is in...

Put me down for K, Double Play.

[Parker]

Have to say something about this following other teams business.
1.) I think it is alright to say that you follow a certain player, or that you think that a team has a good team, but following them? C-mon, well the Phillies aren't winning this year, so, now I follow the Yankees. I dont think that I could stomach the feeling of personal treachery to even make the comment. If you are a Phillies fan, you are a Phillies fan. If you want to be the fan equivalent of Roger Clemens then I think this is fine, but at least admit that you sell your loyalties to the flavor of the week.
2.) I have to say, as much as I am down about the Phils start this season, the majority of the comments on here make it seem ridiculously worse. In fact some of the commentary strikes me as so utterly outrageous that it suggests that some don't even really keep up with what is going on. I hate to rant, but it's getting me down. I have to at least hold on to the idea that this team may be able to turn it around, particularly considering the season is less than three weeks old. I am guilty of this pessimism myself, and I have to admit that some of the negative comments would be amusing if they were not just damn depressing. I just have this to say:

THIS TEAM IS NOT DONE! IT'S NOT OVER. THE METS SUCK!

[Sad Panda]

Dobbs loses his hits a dribbler but releases his bat. Dobbs is out at first, but the bat hits Burrell in the forehead. He's tagged out. Ten minutes later, Victorino takes off for home, but Schneider, having just caught a pitch, tags him.

[GM-Carson]

I like Vic. He's going to progress as the season goes along.

[Steve Jeltz]

1/3 of the way there!

[GM-Carson]

2nd f'n time Dobbs popped out with a runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs...cut 'em!

[JZ]

6-4-3 for Helms? I don't bet, but...

[king myno]

you know it's a bad year when i give a bases loaded sac fly a standing ovation

[JZ]

Hence why I don't bet. Yay! A run! We have 3 now!

[GM-Carson]

That's the killer instinct I'm talking about. Bases loaded no outs and only score 1 run. That's the kind of stuff championship teams are made out of....bunch of losers!

[Bridoc10]

I'm not sure if they keep this stat, but this team has GOT to lead the lead in bases loaded scoring efficiency.

1 RUN?!?! With no outs and the sacks full.

[ZT]

That last part of that scenerio by Sad Panda had me rolling.

[curt]

One SF RBI...well, gotta start somewhere.

[JZ]

These guys are the exact opposite of the Gashouse Gorillas Bugs Bunny faced back in the day, that is, before that crazy Bugs started whiffing fellas left and right.

[kdon]

Parker, the following the other team was just a joke (for me , at least).

They started Dobbs instead of Nunez, so I'm still a fan. I only threatened to bolt if they made Nunez the everyday 2B and put Utley at 1B.

[RickSchuBlues]

This is the third consecutive year a team pegged as a legitimate contender has played like a last-place loser out of the gates. I don't understand how that is acceptable. Even today, with a 3-0 lead, they've blown all kinds of opportunities and it should be at least 6-0. I realize that 'votes of confidence' don't mean much, especially by notoriously obtuse general managers. But the only person who possibly would have wanted to hear it at this point was Manuel.

I agree that Howard's injury may be a blessing in disguise. He needs some time off to get his head cleared out a little bit. What worries me is that it's a knee. Not a good sign for someone of Howard's already notable girth.

[curt]

Let it rain.

[yt]

JZ, Come on man, I have yet to see the Phils have their side stuck out on one pitch. "Yet" might be the operative word here.

By the way is Bugs Bunny available for the BP, I don’t know what he called that pitch, but talk about efficient!

[Will]

Is there a stat somewhere that has the worst % of runs scored after a team has bases loaded with no outs? I feel the phillies this year may destroy that percentage.

[ZT]

yt I believe he called it his slow ball.
BTW I could totally see Howard, Burrell, and Helms in a line all strike out by Bugs' slow ball.

[longwood]

My take on the season so far...

1. DENIAL --- They can't be this bad.
2. ANGER --- They freakin suck!
3. BARGAINING --- If they can jsut get a hit this time with runners in scoring position, it will restore my faith.
4. DEPRESSION --- I can't believe I have tickets to 20 more games still. I should have spent the money on movie tickets.
5. ACCEPTANCE --- Ok. Its Philadelphia and the Phillies, it is what I should have expected.

[JZ]

Sorry. If you have to clarify the joke, it totally bombed.

I met the Gashouse Gorillas were *creaming* the ball before Bugs came in and bedazzled them.

*Creaming* the ball, which is exactly what the Phils don't do, collectively, especially with the bases loaded and nobody out.

Somehow, I have a feeling Wes Helms could strike out on one pitch, though. So that visual, upon further review, was the joke.

I'll stop talking now.

[stjoehawk]

I can't say about the 0 outs part, but for this year, I took the number of runs scored with the bases loaded & divided by the total plate appearances with the bases loaded. It's quick & dirty, and probably not too valuable, but whatever... Anyway, the Phillies are 25th in the majors, at 0.428571 runs / plate appearance. They're ahead of the Padres, Pirates, Dodgers, Nationals and Indians.

Of course, the team leading the majors is the LA Angels & they have a total of 3 plate appearances with the bases loaded. So take this with a grain of salt.

Also, I don't know if the stats on ESPN.com are updated in real time, but my guess is that this is going into today.

[yt]

I laughed outloud when I got the visual of Ryan, Pat and Helms in line all wiffing on three swings at the same pitch, but then I was a huge BB fan in my youth.

[Dave Kingman]

Parker, You must not know the history of this team. The are the original heartbreak kids. They are beating a bad team I wouldn't order world series tix yet. They have 18 LOB after 6, SOS.

[curt]

Seems to me that Moyer could probably pitch every 3 days. I don't think he even breaks a sweat.

[Lister]

You all need to go read what Joe Sheehan has on BP about the Myers/Lieber move.

I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment that Cholly has to make lemonaid out of Gillick's lemons.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6124

[RickSchuBlues]

One of Very Few Good Acquisitions Pat Gillick Has Made In 22 Months as Phillies' GM is pitching a two-hit shutout through six.

[RickSchuBlues]

Wes Helms runs like a 78 year-old catcher with gout.

[curt]

Wonder if he can get away with 70 mph fastballs next year....

[Mike H.]

He can't break a sweat out there... it's got to be 55 degrees...

[joe l]

Thank you, Moyer. Seven innings, two hits and NO runs. Attention bullpen - blow this game and you're all on the street.

[curt]

Zero rbis from 3-4-5 again. Doesn't look like Dobbs is the answer.

[zach]

Man, Moyer's looking good... could we really win???

[Steve Jeltz]

If I were Moyer, I would be disconnecting the bullpen phone.

[fletch]

Oh no.

[curt]

Why does it feel like the Nats(!!) have us right where they want us?

[Parker]

This is unbelievable. What did the organization do to piss off god?

[loctastic]

oh come on now.

[Parker]

Perhaps this is why Myers moved to the bullpen. In fact I would not mind him being in right now.

[RickSchuBlues]

All those runners left in scoring position always come back to haunt a team. The Phillies never learn. Same garbage every day. the game should never have gotten this close.

[Parker]

I know it just seems that there are higher powers working against this team right now.

[stjoehawk]

"This is unbelievable. What did the organization do to piss off god?"

I was going to wait a bit on this, but I'm fairly sure that the answer is that they didn't bring Scott Graham back. God was not happy about that.

[RickSchuBlues]

Parker - whatever. Observe how this team sabotages itself. It's got nothing to do with bad luck or 'higher powers'.

[Steve Jeltz]

Seriously, I would have torn the thing right off the wall.

[Parker]

RSB, you act as if the Phillies, or any other team for that matter, can produce hits at will. What are they supposed to learn? How to hit? I think they know how to do that. They sure as hell did it last year. Swinging a bat is not like riding a bike, or getting burned for the first time. I'd hate to play golf with you: "You never learn, why did you hit it in the woods? Bunker? Doesn't work that way. Tiger loses, the Yankees lose. And the Phils just won. Hallelujah!

[fletch]

Thank God. Moyer gets his 'W'. Why was this game even close?

[clout]

Another easy save by our closer

[RickSchuBlues]

Clutch pitching there by Gordon when it mattered most. Tying runners in scoring position, he nails it down with some unhittable pitches.

[curt]

Good to know that Gordon can still handle (barely) the deadly trio of Fick-Schneider-Snelling

[clout]

stjoehawk: God has far better taste than that. But it might Coste he's unhappy about.

[Parker]

Obviously the god thing was a joke. C-mon people as much as people exaggerate here, I figured people would pick up on that.

[Bridoc10]

I think I'm going to have a stroke.

Why was that so difficult?!?

Can anything be easy with this team this year?

[fletch]

An update on Howard reported at ESPN.com:

"The Phillies listed him as day-to-day, saying he sprained the ligament that connects the tibia to the fibula just below the knee."

[Tony]

Phils win!

Playoff tickets go on sale tomorrow!

215-463-1000

[RickSchuBlues]

Okay, Parker, you're right - no problems, it's just bad luck which will right itself and the Phillies will run away with the division of we believe hard enough. They might as well play these the season with a Strat-o-matic board rather than actual players, since everything is determined by purely random chance.

[kdon]

"Another easy save by our closer"

Yeah, Gordon did such a bad job: hitting Kearns on a fastball four inches off the plate, a broken bat single, easy fly out, weak dribller, K.

Yep, the guy is just brutal.

[clout]

I must say, these past two games have been very enjoyable. Close, tense, interesting. Nothing like the blowout losses to the Mets. If I didn't know better, I'd think these were two evenly matched teams.

[clout]

kdon: Not saying it was his fault, but it sure wasn't easy.

[kdon]

Actually, RSB, there are about a million studies that show that getting hits with men on base *is* luck; meaning that there is no seperate skill for "clutch" hitting.

I know you don't care though, you just want to insult the players, the very players who last year were supposed to be the "new blood." Have fun with that.

I'd like to string your posts together for about two years. The only coherent argument that you would find is that there is a mystical force that affects players who put on the Phillies uniform.

Not too far from Parker's "God" comment after all, eh?

[Greg]

clout - Brilliant

[Parker]

RSB, there is no room for any interpretation that I said that hitting amounts to luck. If you cannot hit off professional pitching, you wont be in the big leagues. The Phillies didnt score the most runs in the NL last year becasue they cannot hit. It amounts to human error, and I guess there is a bit of luck. If Utley hits a screaming line drive right to an outfielder, that could be considered luck, maybe good defense, but if you hit it hard enough there is only one way that a person gets to it.
My point was, with regard to your comment about them not learning, that you cannot learn to swing the bat perfectly every time at the precise vertical and horizontal plane to strike the baseball on the barrell of the bat every time. It is impossible to say that someone hasn't learned to start hitting when runners are in scoring position. Tell the Tiger's that. Do you think they just forgot to hit W/RISP in the World Series last year? They must have had amnesia, becasue they were hot the month before.

[bathtubhippo]

we're going to the world series again!

[joe l]

This bullpen is sponsored by Rolaids. They don't spell relief, but boy do they make you reach for 'em.

[Parker]

For the last time, GOD comment=JOKE (if I seriously believed that, I probably would have joined a new church, perhaps Ryan Church), at this juncture in the season.

[GM-Carson]

I'm going to be the "typical Phillies fan" and still point out the negatives. Tom Gordon's pitches have nothing on them, much like when he returned from the DL late last season. His control is poor and the pitches have no bite, which makes him very hittable...not closer worthy.

10 more L.O.B.'s...seriously? Bases loaded with no outs, and 1 runs scored...sersiously? This team sucks ass in regards to situation hitting.

I'll take the win...thank God for it, but it's only 1 win, remember we still have 10 in the loss column after only 14 games...NOT GOOD, VERY BAD!!!

[RickSchuBlues]

Mystical force? No, kdon - I'd call it a team with tight assholes. I write snide comments about the players because I'm trying to maintain a sense of humor about this latest train wreck, rather than succumb to wild-eyed rants of desperation being dished out by a lot of the posters here - i.e. rip the team apart, fire this one, fire that one, I hate the Phillies, ad infinitum. Don't tell me I "don't care" about your supposedly infallible 'evidence' that situational hitting is based than nothing more than luck. If a guy is pressing and anxious and swinging early in the count and getting himself out time after time after time, and an entire team full of hitters does the same thing repeatedly, IT IS NOT BAD LUCK - IT IS BAD BASEBALL. Yes, Parker - if Utley hits a screaming liner at an infielder, it is bad luck. If you put together a good at-bat, get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard and it finds a fielder - no doubt, that is bad luck. If Greg Dobbs hits two weak pop-ups with runners on 3rd because he's trying belt the ball to Virginia Beach, that's just poor situational hitting and Dobbs himself would probably tell you the same damn thing. Let's try to make *distinctions* here instead of just saying, oh, it's all luck, clutch performance doesn't exist, it's a myth, you just don't know any better. You sound like a goddamn ignoramus spouting that crap and making excuses for these guys, and saying that my criticism is purely for the sake of taking cheap shots at the players. The players on this team generally have a poor approach to big at-bats and offensive situations of all kinds, and there's nothing 'mystical' about saying they bear some responsibility for the wretched results of their combined efforts with men on base.

[RickSchuBlues]

Carson, try telling Chris Snelling that Gordon's pitches had "nothing on them". Were you watching the same game I was? I'll grant you, his command is not there and he looks shaky, but the quality of his stuff cannot really be in question., If he's getting his pitches over, he's hard to hit, period.

[Tray]

It's nice to see kdon and Parker taking up for stats as opposed to, as kdon so nicely put it, "a mystical force that affects any player who puts on a Phillies uniform." Like I said earlier, I would chalk up our struggles to bad luck - and that said once again we were very unlucky, if you get 10 hits, six of them extra-base hits, one of them a home run, and 5 walks, you ought to be able to score more than 4 runs. If you take Rowand's home run out of it actually, that's 14 baserunners for 19 total bases that translated into 3 runs. Kind of bizarre. Nevertheless, we won.

[kdon]

A lot more heat than light there, RSB. Fine, call me "ignoramous," if you think that will help support your argument. I've yet to see you use anything other than ad hominen attacks to make a point so it's not surprising.

And the only reason you're not doing "wild-eyed rants" anymore is because you did all that last season. Or don't you remember that *you* wanted to tear the team up too.

Well, the old guard is gone and the new leaders are in charge. You got exactly what you wanted. What, you didn't want "tight assholes"?

For the specific example of Dobbs, I think I'll take clout's "lack of talent" argument over the pressing argument. He popped up because he is a fring ML player, not because he is tense.