Game chat: Aces clash in Friday night's main event

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Comments

[J. Weitzel]

Let's do this.

[Spitz]

Angel Pagan is the most ironic name I have ever seen.

LET'S GO PHILS!

[Andy]

Spitz, but it looks really good reversed:
"Pagan Angel." Kind of like the demon child of two bikers.

[MG]

Jesus Pagan would be much better though Spitz.

[kells]

Gillick on DNL: Were hoping Rollins will play on Sunday. I guess tomorrow is a no-go.
Dick Jerardi just mentioned that Pat Burrell made a nasty comment(which I can't repeat on camera) to Billy Wagner.Gotta love "The Bat-I mean the body"

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Damn, guess I won't be seeing J-Roll tomorrow.

[sdphillie]

I'm getting out of work early just for this game, and watching it with Mets fans.

Should be fantastic, can't wait.

[Spitz]

Andy, MG - didnt we beat the Jesus Battery (Jesus Colome and Jesus Flores) at WAS for our first win of the season? Here's to hoping that Angel Pagan has a big error that helps us get our first home win against the Mutts.

[AWH the RBP]

Remember, the one good thing about steMs fans is...................................................................................................................................................

[bsg]

Jason, for being snowed under at work ,its pretty cool you have 4 different post for this game!, i don't think there's too many phils fans who were too productive today at work! thank god for Baseball and the Phillies!

[CJ]

Who's airing the game in Philly tonight?

[bsg]

csn, thank got not cn8 i don;t get that here in the lehigh valley

[CJ]

ah, my friend is on the Dish and gets no Comcast

[bsg]

that was thank god...go phils!

[NCPhilly81]

Did those highlights from last season's games against the Mets give anyone else goosebumps? Let's do it again!

[CJ]

Anyone got some advice on IP spoofing?

[bsg]

no, f'n rcn ,i do get comcast sportsnet also no ironpigs on rcn which the way they are playing doesn't really matter to much, but my folks have the dish ,good reason not to visit the folks.....um thank god they won't read this!,......i do think they get the NFL network, ..........

[Sophist]

Thought some of these comments re: Phils' defense were interesting given our concern for both pitching luck and the sloppy defensive play so far:

This game features two of the three best defenses in the majors so far by defensive efficiency, with the Mets ranking first, having converted 74.1 percent of balls in play into outs, and Philadelphia third, at 73.9 percent. That latter figure serves as a good illustration of the meaninglessness of both errors and unearned runs--Philadelphia ranks second in the NL with 16 errors, which have led to 13 unearned runs, tied for the most in the majors, despite the fact that the team has been so good at turning contact into outs. The Mets position at the top of the defensive efficiency rankings is not surprising, considering that they finished fourth in the majors last season, and brought in better defenders at catcher (Brian Schneider) and right field (Ryan Church). The Phillies ranked just 19th overall last year, although the team did bring in an excellent glove man at third base in Pedro Feliz. Eight of 12 Philadelphia pitchers have BABIPs under the league average of .300, with tonight's starter Hamels, who has given up just 11 hits in his first 21 innings, sporting a .164 mark. While that is obviously not close to sustainable, Hamels, like Santana, is a fly-ball pitcher who consequently has displayed the ability to suppress opponent hits on balls in play, with a .282 BABIP last season and .281 projected for this year.

[J. Weitzel]

Chooch needs to start playing better or fans will start turning on him.

[CJ]

Sophist: That's fascinating. Guess we'd be first if some of those errors would have been converted.

[CJ]

Real nice piece of hitting by Wright... ball was down, almost where Cole wanted it, I think... and Wright went down and nearly hit it out.

[drake]

i hate umps with slow strike calls

[Sophist]

It was a nice hit, but the Mets had a base-runner on a walk and a passed ball.

[J. Weitzel]

Well, at least Santana threw a lot of pitches ...

[Sophist]

Chase is a battler.

Two close called third strikes, and some slow calls on Werth. Both looked like strikes, though.

[GM-Carson]

Through 1 inning and Chooch gave the Mets a run on a passed ball and Johan is getting strikes that cross the white part of the batters box. Long night?

[GM-Carson]

I'm sorry, but those called 3rd "strikes" were only strikes because that's what the ump said, otherwise those are balls.

[Parker]

As long as they give the calls to Hamels as well.

[jr]

What does Coste have to do to get some playing time? Cholly does have his favorites.

[drake]

why is taguchi in rf and werth in cf, i thought taguchi was supposed to be the better defensive cf?

[Tray]

Was Castillo's swing always so awkward? He looks like Rod Barajas up there.

[GM-Carson]

I'm still kind of ticked off at Ruiz and that strike that went right past him...Church wouldn't have scored from 2nd base on Wright's double. When you're facing Johan, you've gotta them earn their runs, not just give them away. Remember, I didn't think Ruiz should be starting tonight anyway, so I'm already sour.

[bsg]

i agree , he has some damn blind loyalty sometimes, come on chase we could've have been out of that inning on 9-10 pitches!

[Parker]

Speaking of Barajas, he is playing 1B for Toronto tonight.

[GM-Carson]

I'm confused with Tag in Right and Werth in Center as well, but this is Manule we're talking about here.

[THe DUde]

i think the broadcasting team needs to reconsider the interviewing the fans segment. Its getting old and stupid. At least pre-interview kids you morons. Those two looked like a deer in headlights.

[GM-Carson]

I'm not trying to be negative, only realistic- I'm predicting every time Howard faces Johan that he'll k.

[Steve Jeltz]

Barajas is starting at 1B?!?! Do the rest of the Blue Jays have SARS?

[GM-Carson]

Jeltz- that's one of the funniest comments I've ever read on BeerLeaguer and I've been coming here for well over 2 years.

[Iceman]

Carson -- I was about to post the same thing. If he makes contact tonight v. Johan, I will be shocked.

[bsg]

the in game interviews are a distraction, it seems not to help out wheels and harry also!

[dkit]

I like how patient they are being at the plate. Let's get that pitch count up early on Johan.

[GM-Carson]

Ruiz- do something worth something!

[bsg]

WTF! 186. AVG FOR RUIZ, AND COSTE IS NOT STARTING WHY, DAY GAME OR NOT TOMMOROW

[Parker]

Ruiz looks completely lost at the plate. Horrible right now.

[GM-Carson]

I have faith that Ruiz will put up #'s similar to last year, but he's disgusting right now. He sucks at the plate and he's playing poorly defensively too. Why he's still playing far more than Coste is beyond me...the genius that is Manuel must have a good reason though.

[GM-Carson]

Johan going for the strikeout record tonight fellas...21 here he comes!

[Sophist]

Would be a shame, not unlike the long-undershirt playoff game, if this game is decided on a first inning walk and passed ball.

[THe Dude]

long nite...well actually it should be pretty quick game because our hitters will not take any pitchs and both these pitchers work as fast as any current pitchers...i think it will be a uneventful night where we have to hope that we get to the pen early but its highly unlikely.

[Tray]

Seems like a big waste of the second or third hottest hitter in baseball to have three automatic outs hitting behind him.

[J. Weitzel]

Tray: Absolutely agree.

[Parker]

Walking the struggling Reyes is not a great idea.

[ajc1]

this ump blows

[Sophist]

Can't have men on bases in front of Wright. This is the second time in 4 innings that Cole walked a guy with Wright coming to the plate.

[Sophist]

*3* innings

[Parker]

Jose, Jose, Jose, Jo....se, Jo..., Jo........

[bsg]

chase got lucky, could have f'd up his knee

[Sophist]

Ruiz had him with a good throw too. I hope those fans aren't cheering an injury.

[Parker]

Instead he f'd up Reyes.

[NCPhilly81]

Ouch. I don't like Reyes, but I'm not glad to see that. Chase is also lucky that he did not tweak something.

[NCPhilly81]

Now they're booing?!

[Drew]

That's pretty classless of Philly fans.

[Sophist]

They already have the run that will likely win the game; no reason to leave Reyes in if he's possibly hurt.

Bad decision by werth.

[Steve Jeltz]

Off topic, I know, but Barajas just homered. In related news, pigs are flying over Ontario.

[Sophist]

Drew - It only takes a few bad eggs to make some boo noises.

[J. Weitzel]

Does anyone play defense on this team? Let's go.

[NCPhilly81]

I smell a David Wright cycle tonight.

[Drew]

Still classless, even if it's one guy making all the noise.

[Sophist]

Just can't grant walks to batters in front of Wright. He's their only player who's bat actually worries me, and Hamels is giving bases to the slap-hitters in front of him.

[GM-Carson]

This is a case where I get pissed at Charlie. Why start Werth in CF? He's looked uncomfortable out there since Vic has went down, but I understand starting him instead of Taguchi. However, Taguchi is in the lineup too, therefore he should be in CF. Manuel does stupid things like this that make a bigger difference over the course of a season than people realize.

And yes, bad decision by Werth to dive.

[J. Weitzel]

Yes, because in New York, they'd be more refined about it.

[Run Up The Score]

I believe Cholly just said, "don't give me this olé bulls--t!"

[GM-Carson]

Bruntlett is awesome!!!

[THe Dude]

game over 2 runs tonite is going to hold up plus hamels already has 50+ pitches so he'll be done by the 6th. Bullpen night

way to go bruntlet. way to take a pitch litteraly one pitch!

And the fans who did it in New York would be classless too...

[GM-Carson]

Our ace coming up small, very small. Their ace coming up big, very big. I think he has 19 strikeouts through 2.1 innings already.

[THe Dude]

9 outs 5 k's lol....CAN SOMEONE TAKE A PITCH? Now Tag swings at first pitch

[J. Weitzel]

Looking forward to watching six more years of Santana.

[bsg]

tag way to help out cole!

[Tray]

Dude, Hamels has 45 pitches, putting him on track to go 7.

[Parker]

I wouldn't say Hamels is coming up small as much as Santana has been good thus far. It is after all only the beginning of the 4th inning. There is a lot of baseball to go in this one.

[bsg]

well if he doens't get better control or some more breaks could be less

[THe Dude]

i wonder if Schneider will start to let some passed ball 3rd strikes get past him this way Santana can rack up over 3 K's per inning. Can someone please explain Utley and Howard back to back in every game when Pat is on fire. Common sense would say to break them up...but maybe i'm just a moron.

[J. Weitzel]

You don't need to be scared to use your handle, Drew.

Nice grab, Werth.

[GM-Carson]

Ruiz on the season- 1 passed ball, 2 errors, 1 caught stealing out of 7 attempts. 8 hits in 44 at bats (.182) and 3 GIDP.

Coste on the season- ZERO passed balls, ZERO errors, 3 caughts stealing in 8 attempts. 8 htis in 20 at bats (.400) and 2 homeruns.

[Sophist]

Parker - Hamels has been fair. It's only the walks that kill him, and only because he's walking the wrong guys. He should just pitch around Wright next time he walks one of the two guys in front of him.

[Parker]

If you think Santana is unbeatable then he is, if you don't he is not. So far his record says 1-2. Not unbeatable.

[GM-Carson]

The Phils pitching has been far better than expected this season, but they've walked a lot of men (at least to my recollection).

[THe Dude]

Coste and Ruiz need to split time equally. Coste is just a flat out hitter. Why is it that Church and Schneider kill us every time they play us

[GM-Carson]

I don't think Santana is unbeatable, plenty of other teams will beat him. The Phils...not so much. He's lefty, he's awesome, he strikesout a ton of men. The Phils offense disappears against lefties, they get dominated by awesomeness, and strikeout a ton.

[Parker]

I'm just saying, most of the Phils have seen Santana very few times. In this game everyone but Taguchi has seen him once. Have to be patient. Santana will make mistakes.

[Sophist]

The Phils have 5 more BB so far this season than the NL average.

[Iceman]

Howard: still no contact.

[Tray]

Very possibly the best chance we'll have to score a run all game. Do you think Howard might be standing just a little too far from the plate?

[J. Weitzel]

As a Phillies fan, this start by Santana should terrify you. Just look how he brushed aside Howard there after falling behind. Like nothing.

[Parker]

To Howards credit that pitch he swung at would have been called a strike. You also won't find many lefties that can hit it anywhere that won't be an out. I mean what do you do swing and miss/ hit it weakly or take it for a strike?

[Iceman]

Jason -- I am thusly terrified.

[Tray]

Parker: it would? Looked a couple hairs outside to me.

[Sophist]

JW - How many games can he pitch against the Phils this year, though? It just balances out what Eaton did last year.