Game chat: Phils aim for second round rebound

After letting one slip away last night, Brett Myers (1-1, 5.54) and the Phillies square off with Shawn Hill (1-0, 3.60) and the Padres 7:05 from Citizens Bank Park. Rookie Lou Marson earns another start behind the plate. It's beautiful night for baseball. Enjoy the game, and let's go Phillies.

Comments

[redbeard]

that ball was almost too high

[Steve Jeltz]

For out-of-marketers: tonight's game is on MLB Network.

[Lake Fred]

What's this bases loaded crap?

[davthom73]

Cleveland Indians 21 -- Yankees 4 -- with Cleveland batting in the top of the 9th inning -- of course in New York. The Yankees' first two pitchers' ERA's: Wang 34.50; and Claggett 43.20.

Guess the Phillies pitching performance thus far this season seems positively Cy Young-like compared to the Yankees' pitching disasters. The Yankees used Swisher on the mound earlier this week.

[redbeard]

oppo

[joe l]

Outta here!

[king myno]

GENERIC PRO IBANEZ POST

[mikes77phillies]

"Ibanez's power is a down grade from Pat Burrell".

[redbeard]

well that sucks

[The Truth Injection]

doesn't really matter how hard you throw- a fastball where that one was is going to get murdered

[Knight]

Phillies pitching is so bad I can hardly stand to watch the games anymore. You can't throw that pitch ahead 0-2 on a batter.

[bathtubhippo]

i wonder if anyone will request the phillies SP staff to pitch to them in the HR derby this year.

[Steve Jeltz]

bathtubhippo: Maybe. But only if Chien Ming Wang is unavailable.

[redbeard]

nice hustle shane

[The Truth Injection]

Ibanez was going for the fences there

[Johhny]

Does anyone else think Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen should make the move to TV? I can't take McCarthy all game. He's knowledgeable but his cookie cutter voice becomes intolerable for 9 innings.

The rotation would work like this:

1-3 in: TV- Franzke, Anderesen. Radio- McCarthy, Wheeler

4-6 in: TV- McCarthy, Matthews. Radio- Franzke, Andersen

7-9 in: TV- Franzke, Andersen McCarthy (roaming reporter). Radio- Wheeler, Matthews

If you agree with this or would like to tweak it please say so!

[Knight]

I knew he was going to strike out. Sigh.

Not going to win games if you blow opportunities like that.

[clout]

Is it just me or does anyone else think the Marlins are going to be a headache all season long?

[Johhny]

@clout

I see the Marlins being this year's Rays

[clout]

Well, it's the 4th inning and Myers has unveiled the curveball.

[CRD]

clout- It may be too early to tell, but its been six years. I guess they are do.

[joe l]

I would prefer LA and Franzke on the TV and can't wait until MLB.TV implements their radio sync feature, so I can watch but tune out Wheels and McCarthey.

[Knight]

I don't believe the Marlins have the capability to go the distance in the playoffs, but it's possible they could be extremely annoying all season depending on how injuries and such turn out.

[Johhny]

Is there anyone who wouldn't prefer them on TV?

[clout]

Dubee needs to give Brett permission to throw the deuce in the 1st inning.

[clout]

Franzke and Andersen are clearly superior to McCarthy & Wheels.

[CRD]

Clout- do you think Myers lack of use of the curveball has something to do with Dubee wanting him to establish his fastball early?

[Sully]

"Is there anyone who wouldn't prefer them on TV?"

People who only get the games on the radio?

[redbeard]

im all for franzke and la (with a little sarge here and there) on tv, and would also like one broadcast for radio/tv.

[clout]

CRD: That's possible and there's a certain logic to that. But he sure seems to have shaky beginnings.

[CRD]

I bring it up for a reason. my memory may be bad, but I feel as though Myers excelled after coming back from the minors because he used his curveball as effectively if not more than any other pitch.

[The Truth Injection]

The curveball does look good tonight. Agree with you clout- not sure who does it (I'm assuming Dubee tonight) but they need to turn the curveball loose earlier in the game

[thephaithful]

pretty weird call, usually contact between the runner and fielder that comes after the base is awarded isnt called against the runner.

[thephaithful]

anyone else unable to get their info save after posting? a few days ago it stopped saving for me.

[clout]

Brett the Bat

[redbeard]

rally time!

[clout]

The ball is definitely carrying tonight.

[The Truth Injection]

Finally someone told T-Mac that was the left fielder who argued the third strike call. No one could do that during the break?

the phaithful: on a play like that it is akin to catching a ball and establishing possession. Giles came in to hard at the bag and when he popped up his momentum had him off balance. As the fielder you just put the glove on the runner and see what happens. It's the umpirie's discretion as to whether the runner was pushed off the bag.

[redbeard]

way to manufacture that run, brett

[philsphan]

Brett makes up for one of those runs!

[joe l]

dig the hussle from Myers

[redbeard]

come on utely, that was awful

[B]

t-mac pulled a harry thinking that guy was the catcher

[EastFallowfield]

Giles front foot came off the bag on his pop up slide. SD coverage had a higher angle where you could see it landed just off the base too. Then Feliz made his tag.

Somehow I have both TV feeds tonight. Not as clear on "My17"

[clout]

Sarge offers this nickname for curveball: "Bowel locker."

[brother]

YEAH!!!!

[michael]

RYNO

[redbeard]

big brown delivers

[Knight]

Big man coming through with the opposite field shot!

[The Truth Injection]

Love that nickname from the Sarge. I know some don't really like him but I've grown pretty fond of the guy. He really does have good insight. Sometimes he says some really weird things to get to the point though. That's part of the fun.

The big man is starting to show the ability to go the other way and up the middle on pitches. That is really bad for opposing pitchers.

[clout]

Truth: It really is a cool nickname. It should go in the books along with duece, Uncle Charlie, hook, 12-6.

[Manuel]

i'm baaaaack

[clout]

Phils starters have been getting a lot of heat, but fact is, they've gotten quality starts in 2 of past 3 games.

[thephaithful]

uh oh, myphl17 getting 21st century on us, inlcuding the OBP in the players stats graphic.

[redbeard]

nice job eyre

[G-Town Dave]

I've got nothing against McCarthy, but he's no Scott Graham. That club politics (apparently) drove him out of the Phils' booth is a real shame, esp. now that Harry has passed. And for what it's worth, I dig Sarge. He says what he means & he means what he says.

[philsphan]

I like Sarge too, he has grown on me. His voice isn't that great but the usually has an interesting take on things and some good anecdotes.

[king myno]

Eyre doing his job this year. Should work out real well when JC gets back and Trashner hits the road.

[Knight]

I swear, does Eyre take every single batter to a full count? It feels like it.

[clout]

Yeah, that Cairo addition was really smart.

[Manuel]

Gritty Rollins, The Leader

[tk]

Cairo should just go back to Egypt.

OOOOHHH

[G-Town Dave]

Sarge also mentioned a great term from seasons past, re: a player who jumps for a ball that is far out of his reach - "False hustle". :-)

[bay_area_phan]

I haven't felt the need to say anything all game but was about to pop on and make a smart-ass comment about Cairo. But clout beat me to it.

[Goody]

That should have punched Cairo's ticket out of town.

[redbeard]

way to leave marson at first, guys. that was weak.

[Manuel]

SUGAR SHANE

[TK]

Bad bad job that inning. Gotta bad feeling about this inning...

[redbeard]

went right after him, nice.

[joe l]

Spectacular bunt attempt.

[bay_area_phan]

3 hits in 5 innings off an exceedingly average pitcher. That's pretty weak.

The pitching has obviously been the main culprit to our bad start, but the top 2 guys in the order are also killing us night in and night out, as is the terrible bench.

[MG]

Why the fans hate Wheeler:

Cairo had to sac bunt to get Marson over to 2nd and completely failed by popping up for an easy play to the pitcher. It wasn't even close.

The second that the play is over Wheeler has to jump in with a comment about "how lucky the Phils are to have a guy like Cairo on the bench because he can do so many things." Of course McCarthy agreed right away.

Don't expect Wheeler to criticize Cairo per se but why do you praise him in a situation where he clearly failed (and was getting booed) in a critical situation?

If Wheeler ever learned to shut up at times and keep the "Wheelerisms" to a minimum, knowledgeable fans would actually appreciate him a bit more.

[bay_area_phan]

Phillies will already be 5 1/2 out if they lose this game. They are in serious danger of falling so far off the pace that it will be very difficult to come back. It's a long season, but 5 1/2 games is no slim deficit. If the Marlins can bump it up to about 8 games, the chances of a comeback are about 1 in 20, at absolute best. Anyone who thinks otherwise is engaging in self-delusion.

[redbeard]

WTF

[Knight]

Madson is just killing the Phillies in this series.

[MG]

McCarthy isn't Kalas and no one expects to him to be. Still, the broadcast tonight has been pretty poor. Made several small errors but what drives me nuts is that he obviously can't tell what offspeed pitch was just thrown. It's embarassing. He either says "xxx" pitch or "xxx" offspeed pitch.

How can you not as a MLB broadcaster identify what offspeed pitch was just thrown? There are only 2 or 3 possibilities at the most with each pitcher. Frankly it's embarassing. He either needs to do more prep work or watch some more damn video to know what a pitcher is throwing.

[MG]

At least Madson kept the game within striking distance but he hasn't been hitting his spots with the fastball the last two nights.

[The Truth Injection]

Yes- 5 1/2 games out with 152 to play is clearly insurmountable. It's like people just want to be miserable.

Baseball has a way of catching up to you. Lead off runner, a complete utter failure to drop a bunt and the runner doesn't score. Next inning the other team scores.

Madson had good heat here tonight again. Threw the bad fastball and also made a good pitch that went for a single to move Headley from 1st to 3rd.

Hopefully our heart of the order can at least tie this back up

[Indiana Sarge]

BAP: Uh, 7 games out with 17 to go ring a bell?

[brother]

CHASE, YEAH!!!!!!

[Knight]

UTLEY!

[redbeard]

UTZ!

[philsphan]

CHASE UTLEY, YOU ARE THE MAN!

[Sylar]

Duaner Sanchez is a scrub

[bay_area_phan]

It's very fashionable for fans to rant about how a particular player should be released. But before the team releases someone, they need to ask themselves if the average joe off the major league scrap-heap would actually be an improvement. More often than not, the answer is no. In the case of Miguel Cairo, however, the answer is yes.

[MG]

Phils need to take the lead here and hopefully Lidge can close it out because I don't have much faith in a bullpen of Condrey/Durbin/Taschner/Happ right now.

[The Truth Injection]

Chase has such a great swing. Short, compact and just one fluid motion.

[G-Town Dave]

Chase rules!!! :-D

Never say never, but I don't know how much comfort can be taken from the Mets' epic choke of '07. Last season the Phils were never more than 3.5 games out, & that was only for one day. I'm just sayin' ...

[michael]

CHASE F UTLEY GIVES ME GOOSEBUMPS

[philsphan]

Truth, BAP didn't say being 5.5 games behind at this point in the season was insurmountable. He just said that if the Phillies get 8 games behind the Marlins it will be very tough to catch them. I agree with this, but you never know what can happen in baseball. The Phillies were able to make up 8 games (7 down) with 17 to play in 07 and made up 6.5 games (down 3.5 ended up 3 games ahead) over the Mets last season.

I think the Marlins will be a very good team this year, but its way too early to draw year end conclusions right now, a baseball season is too long and too many injuries/trades/streaks happen. The could be the next Rays since they have a nice young team, but since they are so young it might not be until next year or even 2011. They have time on their side though.

[G-Town Dave]

Truth Injection: Amen!!!

[EastFallowfield]

Mets last year were 7 1/2 back in June, and made up that deficit by mid-July.

[MG]

BAP - Cairo fills no roles on this team. They would be better off with a natural OF who bats right-handed.

[MG]

WTF Cholly. You have two left-handed bats on the bench and you don't pinch hit? You dope.

[thephaithful]

BAP: i will glady take you up on those 20-1 odds that the Phils will finish ahead of the Marlins by game 162

[redbeard]

nice sac fly pedro

[Knight]

Oh well, Feliz got the run in, now the game is up to Heart Attack Lidge.

[pblunts]

Scary thought of the day: imagine this Marlins team now that their pitching is healthy if they hadn't traded Miguel Cabrera. Good God. Still, it's early and people panicking at this point is absurd. Not going to tell everybody that I'm not concerned, because I am since there are many bad signs/trends, but no need to freak out. It is still April.

[brother]

Good job by Ibanez to get to third on Werth's single, and good job by Feliz to get the run home. Credit where credit's due, nothing more.

[MG]

Really glad that Feliz was able to get ahead into the count there and get a fastball to drive out.

Still, you have a right-handed guy on the mound and there was a good chance that Feliz could have hit into a DP there. Don't understand why Cholly matches up lefty/lefty with relief pitchers but doesn't do the same with PH.