PHILLIES WIN! METS LOSE! DIVISION ALL TIED UP!

The Phillies smoked John Smoltz for six runs, five earned, en route to a 6-4 victory over the Braves at Citizens Bank Park. Meanwhile, in Flushing, Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro threw eight innings of three-hit, shutout ball in dominating the sinking, drowning, dying Mets 3-0 at Shea Stadium. The division - gone! All of it - gone! A share of first belongs to the Phils, owners of a brand-new magic number! It's a new season with three to play!

Comments

[Alby]

Anybody else watching Comcast 8? Nice of Mitch to get all dressed up...

[diggitydave]

I am delirious right now! Can't believe it - GO PHILS!!!

[RSB]

It's a miracle! Hallelujah!

Pimp that headline!

['64 survivor]

Is this Mets debacle possibly the choke-er-ino of all time ?? If they do not recover this will surely be worse that the '64 fightins famous September romp....trust me I recall every excrutiating day ...I was in Jr High !

[Malcolm]

Boys, boys, boys.

Big game TOMORROW. Let's WIN.

[bathtubhippo]

can't wait for the game tomorrow....will be there....finally will get to see king cole pitch live (after seeing durbin start in his place at a game earlier this season). time to roll on and WIN OUT!

['64 survivor]

Having seen or listened to nearly every single Phillies game since 1962, this team has just moved into the vaulted spot held by the '93 team as my most exciting Phillies team of my generation. Move over Kruckster, Lenny, Dutch and Hollins the NEW Broadstreet bombers have taken over no matter the outcome of the rest of the year.

[AFish]

This is very exciting, but someone has got to ask Cholly why Pete LaForest is being used as the first pinch hit option off the bench. That double play was potentially costly.

[Jack]

Ok. We took care of business against Hudson and Smoltz, which is truly awesome. Now its time to really take care of business. Win out and you're guaranteed a playoff game. Have to win. No letdowns

[Chstk of Sffrng]

Brewers in the top of the seventh: 2R 4H 5E.

No help there.

It's a very good thing the Mutts are sinking ...

[amazed]

Congrats to the Phillies, this division is yours.

Sincerely,

A shocked and disgusted Mets fan.

[curt]

Brewers join Mutts in serious choke mode - FIVE errors in 6+ innings tonight

[Mike]

One more day of incredible euphoria. It's in our hands. LET'S GO PHILLIES!!!!

[College Phan]

Props to CJ:

"Should we take a poll on which list members will leave the bandwagon should we lose tonight?

Maybe I'm in a weird state, but I can really see this team blowing tonight's game and then pulling out wins against both Hudson and Smoltz... just seems to be the way it goes this year..."

CJ predicted this on Tuesday morning. Wow. Great Call

[Sad Panda]

See you guys in section 422 tomorrow.

No, seriously. From where I am, I can probably see you whether you're at CBP or waving out the window of One Liberty Place.

[Mike H.]

158 games of baseball in the books and in first place for the first time this year. What an amazing season.

'64 survivor, we've argued that the two worst collapses were the '64 Phils and the '95 Angels.

In the Brewer game, there was a come-backer right above Ray King. Seeing him jump was hilarious! There might be earthquake activity in Green Bay tonight!

[Chstk of Sffrng]

Interesting doings in Boston. 5-4, bottom ninth, bases loaded one out.

[MG]

Brewers are useless. Clowns have made 5 errors already tonight.

[Ira]

I want to get happy for this team, but still 3 games is a lot, and the Nats always play us well. When we have a 2 game lead with 1 game left I will be ready to believe.

[Chstk of Sffrng]

BoSox can't bring one in.

['64 survivor]

Panda - Were the 95 Angels another Mauch team ??

I have the same question on LaForrest - does he have pics of Manuel a ta gentlemans club ?? Why isnt he using Gooch ??? We're basically telling him we dont want him on next years team.

[mets fan]

i'm speechless - i have never in my life seen such a poor and effortless performance from a team with so much talent. i give all the credit in the world to the phils, they've got heart. gonna be an interesting last 3 days - i'm off to wallow in a bottle of captain, enjoy your evening gents - we'll see you tomorrow

[Chstk of Sffrng]

7-2 Padres now. Brewers are in the tank.

[svc]

BUNG HUNG KIM is pitching for the Marlins tomorrow, do you think he has any chance against the Mutts?

[Tartan69]

AFish, I completely agree...why is LaForest getting key pinch-hit at bats? Was he seriously our best lefty option on the bench tonight? I think I heard country music as his batting entrance music...maybe he and Uncle Cholly are cousins.

Seriously though, the guy's a bum.

[Mr. Mac]

I was at Back To School Night, missed everything, only to hear the 8'th inning on the radio and watch the 9'th on TV. I am queitly euphoric. I thank the Blog Gods for Beerleaguer and being able to share this exciting moment with all of you great and loyal Phillies fans. Now let's get into one of those circles like they do after the NFL games and join in a gigantic group prayer...either that or whatever might work to get them into the almost always elusive post season.

[Jack]

If there were ever a time for Cole to declare himself a true Ace, tomorrow night is it. A shutdown performance, and we're golden, and he is considered one of the top pitchers in the league. This is where legends are made

[MG]

Someone needs to get LaForest to eat some bad seafood or something tonight or tomorrow before the game. No reason he is seeing so many PH opportunities.

[madubbs]

???? Are there still tickets on sale for tomorrows game???

[Mr. Mac]

I'd rather bring back Branyan for pinch hitting. What is this sudden love affair with Laforest and Cholly? Cholly can't see LaForest for the trees.

[GSL]

Hearing Sarge and Harry's voices after the final out was something special. I am not ashamed to admit that I shed a tear. I know that nothing has been truly accomplished yet, but that was a great game to be apart of.

[king myno]

We can't say enough about that Nunez spear with 1 out. That was a rally-starter, and Abe made a beautiful play. Plus, he was so fired up after - I love seeing the boys love it as much as we do.

[Cacks]

MG, maybe tomorrow night we could get a lead like 30-3, have LaForest pitch and wear down his arm. Or do you think cholly would still let him bat one handed?

[limoguy]

Yes, tickets remain for Friday & Saturday. Sunday sold out

[king myno]

I love the Mets fans stopping by to pay their respects - let's hope the team is giving up as much as they are.

[AWH]

This hysterical ditty from metsblog.com:

"Matt Cerrone should change the picture of the magic number…here’s what I think:

Mr Met, bent over, with a pained look on his grill…with the fanatic behind him slapping his @ss…is that wrong?"

[Sad Panda]

Re: Tickets for Tomorrow

CBP has standing room only.

[BENTZ]

Not done yet in Milwaukee...Brewers have closed to within 9-5 in the 7th...man, Ryan Braun is good.

0-0 after 2 innings in LA.

[Slocs]

GSL: I keep replaying the last out. You hear Sarge scream "Yes" and him high fiving someone. The team, the broadcast team, the city, everyone is fired up.

The LOVE plaza at 16th and JFK had the fountain's water died Philly red today.

[Sam Fan]

Brew Crew showing signs of life...9-5 going into the 8th.

[Andy]

Jason - nice thread title. Couldn't you find any bigger fonts though?

P.S. Who needs cheerleaders when you're in

*****FIRST PLACE******

[erich]

Laforest is the first pinch-hitter because the better ones - Iguchi, Coste, Dobbs/Helms - are being saved for 9th inning comebacks.

[Bob]

Let's not be gloating about the Mets. We have been there, done that and while we might not want to change places tonight, we know how quick things can turn around. They have some great players on that team who are capable of getting up off the mat. Anyone remember 1986? Don't mean to be pessimistic, I love this Phils team and had a bit of mist in my eyes too. But my Dad had 1964 world series tickets for he and I, and we all know what happened then. It's over when its over.

Anyawy, time for one more cold one to celebrate where we are tonight. Thanks, Phils, and please, show up with game faces on tomorrow. Thanks, Beerleaguer, for a place to express all these thoughts. Not sure I need that last cold one. Typing is a bit off whack already.

[Cacks]

in Sports Illustrated this week, they polled 257 MLB nonpitchers on the most meaningful individual hitting stat:
41% RBI
19% OBP
13% AVE
11% OPS
6% Runs
3.6% HR

[mike nutter]

hate to rain on the parade but the fountain is red for showtime's new show dexter. but i am sure its cool if we all think its phillies red!
ok 3 game season.
the pro
the phils have momentum. the mets are falling apart. the phils have a wild crowd behind them and their ace tomorrow.
the con
the mets have maine and glavine in the last two. they face kim tomorrow.
i still like our guys chance.

[Ben Rivera]

Need a little help from those Dodgers tonight.

Keep on Phightin' Baby!!!

[ae]

reposting from the last thread, BP's top ten biggest collapses, by peak pct. chance that the team would make the playoffs.

10. '64 Phillies 96.15% on 9/12
9. '83 Braves 96.39%, 8/10
8. '05 Indians 96.50%, 9/24
7. '78 Red Sox 96.54%, 8/12
6. '42 Dodgers 96.90%, 8/15
5. '69 Cubs 97.90%, 8/19
4. '03 Mariners 97.91%, 6/18
3. '93 Giants 98.25%, 8/7
2. '51 Dodgers 99.74%, 8/12
1. '95 Angels (managed by the great Marcel Lachemann, not Gene Mauch) 99.988%, 8/20

the Mets would rank second if they missed the playoffs, with a peak probability of 99.80% on 9/12.

obviously the probabilities are higher for wild-card era teams, since there's more playoff spots. but one of the reasons the Mauch Phillies don't rank so highly is that their opponents from 9/18 to the end of the season had a .548 WP, compared to a .470 WP for the Cardinals opponents (as the article points out). that's a pretty huge disadvantage.

[erich]

On Saturday, Rollins should break Lenny Dykstra record for plate appearcnces in a season - 773 set in 1993.

[THe Dude]

boy have the dodgers come up small for the past two weeks....they've lost every game vs. padres/d'backs/rockies lately.

Can one of those friggin teams start losing? Guess not with only 3 games left...btw how the hell does Arizona have this many wins with an expected W-L record under .500 per MLB's website.

[BloodStripes]

Mets face Willis sunday who has a had a few good starts in a row. Florida won't be easy beats. They won a couple in NY last time there I think.

Its all up to the Phils now. Win and they can't lose ground.

[Andy]

So ae,
Since the Mets would pass the '51 Dodgers, IMHO, if we manage to beat them out, we need to have someone post over and over:

THE PHILLIES WIN THE EAST!!!!THE PHILLIES WIN THE EAST!!!!THE PHILLIES WIN THE EAST!!!!THE PHILLIES WIN THE EAST!!!! ABE NUNEZ HITS A THREE RUN HOMER AND...

Okay. Don't get caried away Andy.

[Andy]

Dude: expected W-L favors hitting teams and not pitching teams. If you win big a few times it's good for your expecteds. If you win close many timeas but lose big several times, you look worse than you are.

It's a bogus stat, IMO. Especially since everyone usually says that pitching wins out in the end.

[Ribbies]

Wow, what a night. I'm just getting online now and watching the highlights on mlb.com (missed the game unfortunately). I wish I could have been there.

I'm a bit worried about the pitching matchups this weekend. Hamels will be great but Saturday and Sunday are real question marks. Will Eaton FINALLY stand up? Can he? I don't know, but at least we know we'll have some arms ready to go in the pen and an offense that can put runs on the board.

This season could not be ending any better. I made my first trip down to clearwater this spring, and I could never have imagined we would be here the third week in September.

[Ribbies]

The magic number has been taken off metsblog. Thank you.

[Ribbies]

LA is actually showing up tonight. 3-2 Padres in the fourth.

[p. Red]

So when is Beerleaguer going to get a magic number pic?

[ae]

it's not a bogus stat. Arizona is just an extreme outlier. the vast majority of the time, run differential is going to give you a close approximation of W-L records. this is like the 1960 WS; New York outscored Pittsburgh 55 to 27 and lost 4-3.

when you play 120+ seasons of organized baseball, you're going to get weird results like one team clumping a lot of blowouts and close victories. and their margin's only -19 runs...over 158 games that's not a whole lot. it's not like they've been outscored by dozens of runs.

[Malcolm]

No magic number here. No way. Let's be real here. We got three games left. Win all. Then we'll see what the number is.

[kells]

Listening to the Fan 660am in New York is pure comedy right now. I love this team.
LaForest move tonight by Manuel is beyond comprehension. At this point I'm not going to let it bother me. this team is on a mission.

[squatter]

Update from metblog:
"You gotta crap yo' pants"
"You gotta bereave"

A lot of people there are of the opinion that the Mets will win this weekend if only the fans show up and loudly support their team. Numerous post exhorting people to buy a ticket and show up to cheer. I don't ever remember the Phils having this problem. Can you imagine someone posting here that we should go cheer the team on? We would give eyeteeth to go, we don't go out of pity.

[kells]

squatter: CBP will be rocking. Fortunately the Phills will be playing in front of crazy crowd w/ bright lights-as opposed to Washington where the last year was so bad-Utley was robbed of a homer.

[CubeHostage]

as a Phils fan in NY, who has seen everyone of her Phils games at Shea this year, i just have to say that "everybody crap yo' pants" is hysterical! i hate that damn cheer... this is so fitting...

[bay_area_phan]

The Dodgers are just a flat-out embarassment.

[Bridoc10]

What a fantastic night!!! I'm so sorry I had rehearsal and missed the game.

Check out this post from Metsblog:

i was at the game tonight.. the best seats i’ve ever had.. on the mets dugout.

i think.. i smelled the stench of death.

this is probably the worst season ever.. nothing really worthwhile all year.. and the most exciting and incredible noteworthy thing is this unprecented and epic collapse.

I think that sums up what Mets' fans are thinking...

Go Phillies!

[kdon]

Beautiful! Jason has a great banner headline, the best poster in beerleaguer history (ae) is back, wonderful!

Tonight was the off day, watching the Sox in Boston. Those fans (at least the younger ones) have nothing on us!

[BloodStripes]

LA with something going 2 on, 0 outs. 3,4,5 to bat.

Vin Scully doing a good job yet again.

[BloodStripes]

Man I love that Tori Hunter commercial crack me up everytime. It gets better though because always after that they show David Wright for MLB.com. He's smiling but in real life right now you know he is gagging. HAhahaha....cough, cough....choke.....

[Ribbies]

LA tacks one one. 4-3 Rox

[Ribbies]

I just watched the "highlights" of the NL Central. The Cubs and Brewers both stink. I can't believe one of these teams will have to make the playoffs.

Of course I thought the same thing about the Cards last year and we saw how that turned out.

[kdon]

Blood, the best part of the Hunter ad is the kids' excitement when he first walks in. And then the cute woman showing her utter disdain at Hinter's antics. Classic!

[kells]

On August 26-NY Post declared the phills dead!. E-mail the great Kevin kernan at kevin.kernan@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08262007/sports/mets/its_not_official__but_nl_east_.htm?page=0

[Ribbies]

Just heard on Baseball Tonight during video of Phils fans going ape sh!t crazy - "Compare the Mets fan to the Phillies fan now. Wow!"

[Sean]

Why is the fountain dyed red for "Dexter"? It's prob my favorite show on tv but i still cant miss the Eagles game this Sun night. When another NY team will catch a beatdown from Philly. Lets Go Phils!!!!!

[mike nutter]

hey you guys know what gives a close of a team's win loss record...a team's win loss record!
also why is it when a team is out hit, but wins everyone says they are lucky? they aren't lucky they got it done when it counted. their pitchers got out of jams by making the pitches when the pressure was on. their hitters came through in the right spots. stats are good for certain situations but lets not over think the game. you score more and you win. you get the outs. you win. its an easy game, harry.

[BloodStripes]

kdon its awesome isn't it. Very funny. Lots of the ads on mlb.com are funny. They write good stuff. Only seem to get them in september though. During the year they just put up a pac-man screen or something. Not that I care about commercials but Hunter is great.

Thanks kells. It will be a pleasure to write to that man.

The best thing about all this is the fact that the 7 game lead on sept 12 was the season high. Man, its not just a NY collapse, its a Phillie bullet run. Phils on phire!!!

[bay_area_phan]

Kells: I remember the article well & I very nearly did e-mail the guy just now. But then I thought about how horrifying it would be if he were to send me back a smarmy e-mail three days from now, saying, "See, I was right all along." I think I'll wait til Sunday night to send my e-mail.

[control13]

I'm still concerned about Eaton and Moyer starting the last two games at CBP.

The WC route seems to be going away as well. Dodgers are laying down like dogs, as the Brewers did earlier.

Sincerely,
Nattering Nabob of Negativity

[BloodStripes]

Good idea bay_area_phan, I think i'll wait as well.

THe hook will be out very early if there is any trouble on the weekend. Maybe Hamels can give the bullpen a day off and pitch a CG tomorrow. He is rested and ready to blitz. For his final home game of the regular season he will not disappoint.

[kells]

bayareaphan: I already e-mailed Kernan & have demanded a full retraction & an apology to phillies fans(lol).
The New york media(including Mike & the Mad Dog) continue to label Philly as a terrible baseball town(false).Phillies ownership/management has insulted the fan base for the better part of 2 decades.When given a good product-Philadelphia has supported the team. I believe the Phills are 7th in attendence this year. CBP was rocking tonight while shea looked like a ghost town. The New york/national media seems to forget that Yankee stadium was 1/2 empty for most of the 1980's when the Yanks struggled. It's about ownership boys-get it right. Go phills!

[Mike H.]

I wrote Kevin Kernan after the sweep. I sent him a polite e-mail. I figured one out of thousands would be ok. But it was bounced back to me as undeliverable a few days later. That, I believe, is geek code for "run away, run away!"

Thanks for the correction on collapses, especially on the mighty Marcel.

It was great to not only win, but to eliminate the Braves outright with their two best pitchers.

[kdon]

Jason, you have one of the great all-time banner headlines...but Piniero is not left-handed.

(Trying to protect your site for posterity on one of the best Phils nights in recent history.)

[Matt]

OK I am seriously asking myself at this point how good this team would be if they actually had good starting and relief pitching. I'm starting to think that we should let Rowand walk IF we are prepared to spend the money on a quality starting pitcher.

Also, it is just so great to see the mets radio and blogs turn on them!

[Mike Cunningham]

What a game tonight was! I'm watching the replay as WE SPEAK on Comcast Sports Net.

I took video with my camera phone, of the final strike tonight. The CROWD was amazing tonight.

You can see the video at my site, along with my 9 thoughts from the game:

http://www.hammradio.com/HammMedia/articles.asp?ArticleID=1301

You can also find the video on YouTube.

3 games. Win Out. And it's the playoffs, baby!!!

[MG]

control13 - Now that rationality has set back in, I totally agree.

[BloodStripes]

Exciting stuff mate. Spine tingling. Wooooo! Phils baby yeah!

[Ben Keeler]

is this is a dream? got to take care of business vs WSH

[Mike H.]

Control13 - I could not disagree more. Split out the pitching stats in the last seven days. As hard as it is to believe, Phils pitching is 5th in the NL in WHIP and K/BB ratio and 7th in ERA.

[sdphillie]

phirst place.

wow.

way to go gents, don't fail us now.

[Mike]

Let's see a Phillies sweep, Padres lose 2, Rockies lose 1. Wouldn't even matter if the Mets somehow find a way to win out. I'd love the Phils taking the division on head-to-head record just to make it extra painful for Mets fans who thought the Phils' ownership of the Mets wouldn't matter come October. Then they could whine about Marlon Anderson's interference, Rowand's spinner down the third baseline, the 11-10 game, Pat's one-track swing. And Jimmy would be a prophet just for kicks.

[Mike]

Ehh, well I don't want them slipping into the wildcard, so let the Mets lose 1 and then the playoff to the Padres.

[Tray]

Great... I'm going to the Eaton game. Should be interesting, I guess.

[Mike]

Oh nevermind all that, just gimme a Phils sweep and let the rest fall where they may. Go Phils!

[Mike]

Eaton kept them in the last game he pitched I guess. If you offered 5 innings and 3 runs I think I'd have to take it. 6 and 3 and I'd rejoice.

[BloodStripes]

Phillies will get there hits and runs against Nats pitching. Its all about pitching. The hooks will be out very early for any strugglers.

[BloodStripes]

sorry....its Its all about pitching

[BloodStripes]

oh damn. I did it again.

Its all about OUR pitching.

[BloodStripes]

there will be no tolerance in a close one.

[MG]

Don't tell Manny Acta, but Howard has really picked it up when this team has needed him. His numbers over the past 10 games:

32 AB, 11 H, 9 R, .343 AVG, 6 HR, 15 RBI, 15 BB, 13 K

Most of the media seems so fixated on the MLB-strikeout record Howard set but the really story is that he has been driving in a ton of runs and getting on base a ton lately.

Without Howard's late season push, I doubt this team would be tied for the wild card. Instead, all of the mentions about Howard have been on the meaningless K record (which is only 10 K more than last year).

[MG]

Utley has also been generally overlooked too but he has really hit well the past 10 games.

JRoll has been a great story this season but Utley and Howard are the true cogs behind this offensive juggernaut.

[MG]

I am totally psyched about this potential playoff run but the white towels have to go.

They reek of being a crappy gimmick that was thought up by the Phils' marketing dept. First of all, why white? And second, who do knowledgeable baseball fans need stupid white towels to express themselves? The cheering and noise seem pretty clear enough for me last night.