Game chat: Hamels, Phillies expected to play tonight

Gates will open as scheduled for tonight's 7:05 p.m. game at Citizens Bank Park, but will the Brewers be able to weather the storm known as Cole Hamels and the Phillies?

Preview: Weather forecasts are calling for a line of thundershowers to pass through the region this evening. The Phillies have announced that the start of the game could be delayed, but once the rain has passed, the rest of the evening should be clear for baseball. Once it clears, fans will see Cole Hamels (5-1, 3.46 ERA) go for his fourth-straight victory. The left-hander, who made his major league debut a little over a year ago, is the subject of a news and notes article in today’s Inquirer. The Brew Crew counters with Jeff Suppan (5-3, 3.00 ERA), whose proven to be a nice anchor to Milwaukee’s pitching staff. The right-hander hasn't fared too well against the Phils however; in eight starts, he’s 3-4 with a 7.04 ERA. The Phillies will be going for their sixth win in seven tries and are one game off the .500 mark at 19-20. In other news, Ryan Madson, who's out with a left oblique strain, is scheduled to pitch a game Friday in Reading.

Comments

[Billy Mac]

Lineups

Brewers go with their righty oriented lineup tonight against Hamels. For the Phils - same as last night.

Phils
1. A Rowand, CF
2. S Victorino, RF
3. J Rollins, SS
4. C Utley, 2B
5. P Burrell, LF
6. G Dobbs, 1B
7. A Nunez, 3B
8. C Ruiz, C
9. C Hamels,P

Brewers
1. R Weeks, 2B
2. J Hardy, SS
3. P Fielder, 1B
4. B Hall, CF
5. K Mench, LF
6. C Hart, RF
7. D Miller, C
8. T Graffanino,
9. J Suppan, P

[J. Weitzel]

Looking ahead, we've got day after night tomorrow against another right-hander. I'm thinking sit situation for Burrell, possibly Ruiz. Maybe give Bourn his first start maybe? I'd like to see Bourn play sometime.

[Billy Mac]

Madson is scheduled to pitch Sunday in Reading as well as Friday.

And from the last thread -- Springsteen's Live 75-85 is the best live album.

[J. Weitzel]

I was wondering who would be the first to get the Boss involved in the discussion. BM gets the prize.

[big]

What to do with 10,000 to 20,000 leftover Ryan Howard bobbleheads....... lets see's at 20 dollars a pop on e-bay what garbage BP help could Gillick purchase from the minors?..........anybody else have any good ideas what to with them!?

[Billy Mac]

JW, Not sure about giving Bourn his first start against Ben Sheets. Have to give JRoll a rest at some point, but I can see why Cholly doesn't want Nunez/Helms combo on the left side of the infield. But if you are going to do it, Eaton or Garcia are your logic choices.

[big]

anybody think they'll get the game in tonight?

[Tray]

If you flooded ebay with that many bobbleheads, they wouldn't go for 20 a pop. Supply and demand.

[big]

yeah, yeah....i'm basically kidding, i just think they will have lots of bobbleheads leftover tonight, unfortunately this storm rolled in right around the time the gates opened,

[SVC]

is this game going to be rained out?

[Parker]

Tray: Don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that Alfonseca is a great pitcher. Servicable, yes, great, not so much. I do think he is a better signing than Octavio Dotel, Alan Embree, Chad Bradford at this point. Do tell when Octavio actually pitches in a game this season. Embree has been completely innefective (LH batters hitting at over .330 clip on him), and Bradford has not justified his $$$. Aside from that Gagne is DL waiting to happen. That is pretty much the extent of the fav's on here. At least Alfonseca is pitching. He may not be great but he is doing better than the above mentioned players at a fraction of the cost.

AWH: since when is Barajas a huge financial commitment. He is a catcher with potential 20 HR power, particularly in the short porch LF of CBP. The Blue Jays were hot for him for the exact same reasons, and they offered him more money. Surely the all knowing Sabermetrician, Riccardi would not make that big of a mistake, or maybe Barajas projects better than his stats have indicated this season. He only has 45 at bats and 2 HR. I think he is a good insurance policy, if for nothing else, he might get hot and hit a few HR. Offensive production from the catcher position is a relatively rare commodity. Barajas' potential 20 HR power justifies whatever risk there was in signing him to a non-bank breaking contract. I don't think Barajas is great, but OK. If he hit 15 HR this season I think he would justify his money. Thats more than most could expect from a backup catcher.

[AWH]

Parker, Riccardi and the Jays haven't won anything or made the playoffs. They are 17-22. Since when is Riccardi the be all and end all. You write about him like he's got Billy Beane's track record.

If he was going to spend that kind of money, I interpret it as Riccardi was more wrong about Barajas than Gillick.

Gillick was also wrong about Chooch's potential. Chooch hit .300+ in '05 and '06 at Scranton. Surely Gillick could have used that info to make some kind of projection forward. After all, the esteemed Mr. Weitzel saw him play in the DR and saw the potential. Isn't Gillick SUPPOSED to be better than Weitzel?

The money should have been spent on pitching.

[big]

We really need Cole to go 9 full tonight hopefully the delay isn't going to mess things up, i' take it myers won't be used tonight? i think he pitched 2 1/3's the last 2 nights, any chance he gest used tonight he was already gassed last night, i take it we'll have to go with geary or alfonseca, but this could be huge trying to get to 500.!

[THe Dude]

I used to actually like rain delays back in the day so I could watch those old replays of the Phillies Team Videos especially the '80 & '83 teams. But the last few years the rain delay shows have gotten pretty weak. Mostly Foxsportsnet shows like the List. But tonite's Behind the Glory: DH was really good. Gave me another reason to hate Bill Giles (the then VP) when I learned it was inability to make a decision for R. Carpenter (owner) back in the mid '70 when the NL voted against instituting the DH. Just watching Giles admit that he didn't know how to vote got my skin crawling. And then he had to go on to say that many NL owners are against the DH right now because its more ecomonical to have an 11th pitcher who makes $300k as compared to carrying a DH who could make say $6 million.

Hopefully this game doesn't get rained out cause Hamels in day games is not a good thing. Heard some scouts say that his changeup is much easier to see & hit in the day.

[THe Dude]

While waiting for the game to start a few things have come to my mind and felt i would vent.

To all the comments about Coste. Please, we all love the come from nowhere story but even Jody McDonald of 950 said this afternoon, all the controversy and consipiracy theory surrounding Coste is downright ludicrious and getting pretty tired. I've never seen a guy get so much press for doing almost nothing. I really dont think his media tour the past few days has helped him any with the higher ups especially Gillick & Amaro. While I do realize Davthom is not Chris Coste himself I have to wonder if maybe its his Wife!

No I don't think Gillick has done a good job as GM but in most cases I can see his reasons for the moves he has made. Many are financial but in the case of signing Barajas it was as a security blanket for the catching position. You have to realize we would be ripping Gillick to shreds if we started the season with Ruiz & Coste as our catchers (neither with more than 50 major league games as a catcher). As much as you all think its a conspiracy Gillick needed to go out and get a veteran catcher in case Ruiz couldn't handle 110 games behind the plate. Remember he's had some injury issues in the minors with his shoulder which raised some questions. We all know that Barajas is noting more than a journeyman catcher who should only play about 50 - 80 games a year but a quality defensive catcher and played on a few winning teams. I do remember reading several posts on this board over the years just begging for Lieberthal's head cause he couldn't handle a pitching staff. Many posters wanted a catcher that could just focus on catching and the pitchers. Well we got one all be it he's a backup who was billed as the starter which i believe is the real reason many of you guys are constantly on the guy. But it didn't take very long for that to fix itself once the preseason started.

[Tray]

I've never been a huge Embree fan, he has stuff but consistently has an ERA in the fours. Dotel's been fragile for the past couple years, I wouldn't have signed him either. Bradford though, I think he'll pick things up. Admittedly there wasn't a lot available in free agency, I would've liked to have seen a trade for someone like Otsuka, Linebrink, etc. And I'm not even convinced that Alfonseca is serviceable, to me, when you bring him out there's about a 50/50, 40/60 chance at best that he'll let up a run.

[attytood will]

From someone stuck at a computer...has anyone on TV or radio given an ETA for this game. It's not raining in Center City.

[bay_area_phan]

That was the most impressive inning by a Phillies pitcher this year. Maybe by ANY pitcher, Phillie or otherwise.

[Parker]

Cole Dealing

[curt]

Sometimes this kid is just scary good.

[attytood will]

Nevermind, that answers that question...

[Ed K]

Whoa!

[Ed K]

I think its officially time to find a bar and have a beer and see this game as it happens.

[Parker]

Cole es Primo!

[attytood will]

The meat of the order is up!
Dobbs, Nunez, Ruiz...

[Parker]

Dobb's, Nunez, Ruiz, Hamels. you forgot the slugger attywood.

[Parker]

A-Row! Gone, Lap up that Soup baby!

[Parker]

We should definitely trade this guy (Hamels), he is garbage.

[attytood will]

Hamels must be a total night owl -- I know it's been written up how sub-par he is in day games, but even in night games, the later he pitches, the better.
We should push back all his starts to 8:30, 9-ish.

[Parker]

Wow! I haven't seen a pitcher this locked in, well since Hamels a couple of starts ago. Good grief this guy is the best thing to happen to the Phillies in a long time.

[slappy]

Damn Cole is on a mission tonight. Brewers don't stand a chance.

[SC]

is that THE attytood? philly.com attytood?

[slappy]

Washington up 6-4 over Atlanta in the bottom of the 8th.

[JB]

Burrell's patented unorthodox swing appears to freeze him for a few moments before he gets his balance to get out of the batters box.

That play the other night when Utley beat the throw to second and the 2B double clutched and still beat him was ridiculous.

[Malcolm]

Hollllah.

[attytood will]

Hey, I gotta do something in between blogging and writing and editing stories (and taking care of my kids and doing yardwork and commuting, etc.)
This is my favorite blog...mine included. Actually, for a long time I lobbied the DN to create a site like this for Philly.com, but frankly it's too late now -- Jason is now the Wal-Mart of Phillies bloggers.

[Parker]

Braves lose.

I'm thinking steel cage match. Manual v. Eskin

Manual enters to "Country Boy can Survive," dressed in a Hacksaw Jim Duggan outfit (Complete with 2x4)

Eskin comes in as the $100 Man to the Tune of Pink Floyd's "Money."

I've got Cholly.

[joe]

parker -

i'd prefer it as a celebrity death match

[joe]

15 in a row....

[Malcolm]

Holllllah.

[Parker]

If that bunt had gone for a hit I would have thrown something.

[bay_area_phan]

is it too early to begin wondering if cole can match johnny vander meer's achievement?

[slappy]

shhhh...

[brother]

7 K's, all swinging. Strikes ALL OVER THE PLACE.

[joe]

and he hits, too!

[Parker]

Hamels has twice as many hits as the Brewers.

[bay_area_phan]

i didn't actually use the unutterable words. but i know i'll still get blamed if he blows the "unutterable."

[slappy]

No worries. Just making sure no one gets antsy .

[Greg S.]

Parker:

2 times 0 = 0.

[Parker]

Bay area, were not even talking about what you didn't mention. Which, I of course have no idea what that would be, or even what you are talking about.

[Parker]

Thanks Greg, I went to the University of Charlie Manual. All they taught us is how to properly say "I been all growed up." Which actually works to your advantage a surprising number of times.

[joe]

when do you put bourn in? after ptb's next at bat?

[AWH]

SHUTUP!!!!!!! please.

[The God's of Baseball]

Do NOT Tempt Me!

[krub16]

Did you see the look on cole's face before that strike three? He's got the poise of a vet.

[Jon]

Is there a better young pitcher in the game than Cole Hamels?? What poise!! What location!! What an amazing game so far!!

[Malcolm]

Hollllllah.

[Steve Jeltz]

Shhhhhh....

[curt]

Suppan made him throw a few pitches; pitch count (80) may be too high to go 9.

[ZT]

lmao at The Gods of Baseball

[parker]

What does lmao mean? that has been pissing me off for a while.

[ZT]

laughing my ass off

[SVC]

time for bourn to come in

[ZT]

This is some quality defense

[krub16]

one of the gods of baseball is on the mound I think so we can probably not worry about them

[krub16]

one of the gods of baseball is on the mound I think so we can probably not worry about them

[bay_area_phan]

How typical of the Phillies. The one time all season that you actually want them to just go down 1-2-3, they keep getting men on base & prolonging the inning.

[ZT]

10 bucks says Sarge says something stupid pertaining to Cole Hamels

[The Reverend]

I need odds too, to take that bet.

[curt]

I'm sure there is some reason why Bourn wasn't running for PtB....

[krub16]

Sarge has really grown on me. I'm surprised people still don't like him.

[Unfinished]

Hiya Beerleaguers. Whatchall up to. Watching the game? Oh, is that all. Well, if you don't mind I'll just check it out with you. Anything interesting happen so far...?

[TJ]

dammit

[Jon]

Well, there it goes. Helluva effort by Cole!

[ZT]

I'm kind of glad it ended, if it lasted any longer I would've had a stroke at the tender age of 19.

[krub16]

standing O

[Parker]

Oh well, hell of a performance. Now get out of the inning.

[davthom73]

THeDude -- your comment -- "(w)hile I do realize Davthom is not Chris Coste himself I have to wonder if maybe its his Wife!" --

Wow -- what abject stupidity, my friend. I'm not calling *you* stupid, but that statement was positively moronic! Even if made in attempted jest -- which I doubt -- your dtatement is demonstrably false, and detracts from amy credibility you might otherwise have for your observations and comments about the Phillies on this board.

As for "conspiracy" theories -- I have never once accused anyone of a "conspiracy", where Coste is concerned. I challenge you to find a single post on this board in which I have used the word "conspiracy." I am a lawyer, and I know, intimately, what a conspiracy -- both civil and/or criminal -- really is.

Rather than there being a "conspiracy", relative to Chris Coste, what we *do* have here is merely continuing garden variety, low-rent bias on Gillick's part, against a "non-Gillick-Guy", for whom PG can't take credit for acquiring.

Would it be "conspiracy" *if* Gillick had sent word through some flunkie subordinate in the front office to tell PA announcer Baker to simply "not make a big deal" out of announcing Coste? Of course not? Old man Gillick attempting to do a little damage control "PRwise" isn't a conspiracy" -- its damage control. Did something like that really happen -- I think its possible.

Clearly the Gillick/Amaro crew doesn't like Coste's popularity with -- and affinity for -- Philadelphia and its baseball fans. And I think Gillick and Company miscalculated the degree of bad feeling that there was with the treatment they gave Coste -- first out of Spring Training in 2006 -- and now again this year.

[TJ]

oh what the hell

[J. Weitzel]

You could see that coming. Too long of a wait between innings for the reality to sink in.

Hell of an effort. I have a feeling we'll see more than a few of these games.

[bathtubhippo]

was throwing a lot of pitches, to be sure

[Malcolm]

Hey, let's all stand for that effort. And now he comes back and Ks Bill Hall. Please, give him like twenty minutes for that after this inning.

And he's 2-3 in the game.

COME ON NOW.

[slappy]

davthom73 has to be the least fun person I have ever come across.

[TJ]

in retrospect, gotta laugh at this post from the SA forums:

>COLE HAMELS HAS TWO HITS ON THE NIGHT
>
>THAT IS TWO MORE HITS THAN THE BREWERS HAVE AS A TEAM
>
>WHAT DOES THIS MEAN I THINK IT MEANS HE'S THROWING A >PERFECT GAME BUT I'M NOT SURE

[spoiler] He'll blow it in the seventh. [/spoiler]

[Parker]

Davethom, only you could bring up Coste at a time like this. I'm beginning to think that you are a Coste fan, not a Phillies fan. I dont give a damn about Coste at this moment.

[curt]

I would really like to see Hamels come out here and see a couple of those stiffs in our BP step up and hang onto this win.

[bathtubhippo]

i'm a big coste backer...heck hard to be a baseball fan and not be a chris coste fan...but repeating the same things over and over again isn't helping anyone, and it has gotten old. this isn't the time, anyway.

so forget that crap for now...hell of a job by cole!

[krub16]

Nobody thinks you're Coste man. Everybody's just ripping on you because you're such a supporter of him.

[Malcolm]

10 Ks. Comes back and Ks the last two batters in the 7th after giving up the PG and NH.

I'm 22. He's 23, and he's among Cy Young candidates in the National League.

Let's sign this kid. He's a keeper.

[J. Weitzel]

Cole Hamels, two or three years from now, breezes through those final frames and gets his perfect game.

[Unfinished]

...that'll teach me to break my vow of chastity. See ya!

[davthom73]

As for the timing of my post, I had just logged on and read TheDude's comment -- and junk like that directed my way, I will always respond to --regardless of considerationis of "timing".

[Malcolm]

(Just to let you know, we're OK with Hamels losing the PG and NH. The kid is special, and we'll just keep glowing because of it.)

[MG]

Hopefully the Phils can score another run or two. Castro or Rosario could use the work in the 9th.

[JB]

Cole is the real deal. The fact that he discusses no-hitters with a "matter-of-fact" attitude and actually has toyed with it already is scary.

Nice to have something special in Philly - a young, confident, level-headed, super talented left-handed pitcher.

[AWH]

"Hopefully the Phils can score another run or two. Castro or Rosario could use the work in the 9th. "

heheheheheh

[krub16]

He's losing a little focus here I think

[curt]

I guess our 1-2-3-4 hitters were under orders to swing every pitch for some reason. Rollins should know better.

Hamels should be out of this game. It's a long season.

[MG]

AWH - Sad yet true.

[davthom73]

And . . . after now having just caught up with the game on MLB Gameday -- Wow! --I didn't realize that Hamels had a no hitter going into the 7th inning -- only to have it broken up with Fielder's HR -- Yes, I will now apologize for the "timing" of my post. Had I known what the deal was with Hamels -- I would not have posted anything. Sorry!

Time to take a little vacation from this board, I think.