Game chat: Phillies put the sweep in Park's hands

With brooms at the ready, the Phillies send out Chan Ho Park (1-1, 6.00) to complete the job against Jordan Zimmermann (2-1, 5.90) and the Nationals.

Lineups are posted. The hometown nine goes like this: Rollins, Utley, Ibanez, Howard, Werth, Victorino, Feliz, Ruiz. ... According to Elias and courtesy of the Phillies press office, Raul Ibanez became the first Phillie since Harry Anderson on June 8, 1958 to hit multiple home runs in one game of a double header and homer in the second game. ... Not since the Pennsylvania Farm Show have so many Zimmerman(n)s been in one place. Minor news: IronPigs 3B/DH Mike Cervenak broke his wrist when he was hit by a pitch last night (Lehigh Valley has not announced this yet.)  He is going to be for several weeks. No roster move has been announced as of yet. David Newhan is starting at third today. - Gregg Shore

Comments

[NEPP]

Drabek's day (so far): 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K

So far, so good. He's dominated Lakeland in his first two starts against them this year and is off to another great start against the

[bay_area_phan]

Well, so much for the idea of Cervenak as the right-handed bat. The Phillies must have something up their sleeve. Taschner to AAA? 1 of our pitchers to the DL? Surely they don't intend to carry an 8-man bullpen & 4-man bench for more than a few days.

[EastFallowfield]

From Lauber:

The Phillies have pushed struggling Jamie Moyer (3-3, 8.15 ERA) back one day. He'll start Wednesday night in Cincinnati, while Cole Hamels, pitching on his usual rest thanks to tomorrow's day off, will start the series-opener Tuesday night against the Reds.

Guess Cole's healthy now.

[redbeard]

nice lil flare for jroll to get it started

[Andy]

nuts

[redbeard]

and then gets thrown out, ugh

[G-Town Dave]

Nice jo ... SUNUVABITCH!!! :-[

[Andy]

New nickname for WSN announcers: Inane and inaner.

[Andy]

Wow. The wind from LF is wicked.

[Andy]

Good eye from Howard.

And nice hitting.

[king myno]

Rob Dibble is the worst analyst I've ever heard. It's like pulling teeth to get him to give the Phils even the slightest amount of credit.

[G-Town Dave]

Dunn plays RF w/ the hustle & enthusiasm of Bobby Abreu.

[Andy]

Nice knock, J.

[B-Mac]

Now that's a good piece of hitting, great AB.

[G-Town Dave]

All of this criticism of Dibble actually has me morbidly curious.

[king myno]

G-Town: It's almost comical how blindly pro-Nats he is.

[Andy]

Dave - Just run every cliche you've ever heard through your brain at the obvious...go Vic!

[G-Town Dave]

Excellent AB for Vic!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D

[redbeard]

wow i thought vic would be in tripple land automatically with a hit in dunn's corner like that

either way, nice atbat and rip vic!

[Andy]

Wow. Don't think I've ever seen Pete Happy called out on strikes before.

[NEPP]

Good so far, eh?

[NEPP]

Dibble on several occasions on XM has spouted the greatness of Jordan Zimmerman. He's very pro-Nats. You'd think he had played for them for years instead of being an out-of-town guy that got a job a few months back.

He's annoying as hell on XM most of the time.

[Andy]

Great start for Ol' Hittable.

[Josh]

Not looking like we're getting a pitchers' duel in game 4 here, either.

[Andy]

Bring up Drabek!

(j/k: I wouldn't want to seem impatient.)

[NEPP]

Could park just have a good game to get us the damn sweep? Is that really too much to ask?

[redbeard]

this three run lead is feeling smaller by the pitch

[Andy]

Zimmerman is pounding Park...foul fortunately.

[Andy]

Great pitch on the 3rd strike.

[Andy]

First two balls to Dunn were strikes last year.

nuts

C'mon Chan Ho "Please at Least Keep'em in the" Park.

[NEPP]

Park sucks. Can we end this farce and put Happ in the rotation now? I dont care that he skipped the WBC to prep, that he had a good Spring, blah blah blah. He had his chance, he sucks, move on.

[Andy]

Sheesh. Park, what's with the bouncy-bounce to the screen?

Stupid.

[G-Town Dave]

NEPP: Amen, brother. Park is what he's always been, exceptionally mediocre.

[NEPP]

Have I mentioned Park sucks? Get a lead for him and he can't even hold it...he's a bum.

[borders]

great another day of Park pitching and the Park hate comes out. might as well not even read this place on Park days. he's certainly not getting much help from Werth or the Umpire.

[Andy]

NEPP - I was wondering...got any feelings about Chan Ho Park? I mean, you usual are kind of calm about people and all; I just thought maybe you might, like, have some feelings about him. Well?

Did you see Willingham swing through strike three only to get it called ball three? Sucky umpiring, too. Can Happ pitch today?

[Knight]

I'm done with Park. Need a real starter please.

[king myno]

Jesus. This is awful - that was such a strikeout.

[B-Mac]

Happ to the rotation, Park to the bullpen, it's pretty simple.

[NEPP]

Upside here: Happ is fresh and should be able to give us 3-4 IP once Park is knocked out by the 3rd. He's only pitched twice since the 7th going a total of 2.2 IP since his long relief effort of 3.2 IP on May 7.

[redbeard]

wow what a terrible call. couldnt have been more obvious.

[Jack]

Yeah well, here's the real Chan Ho again.

[Matt]

Yeah, why can't Werth catch those scalding line drives hit in the gaps and against the right field wall?

[Sophist]

Park is bad. Umps are bad.

[bay_area_phan]

Well . . . maybe carrying 8 relievers for the rest of this season isn't such a bad idea after all . . .

[Andy]

Hope the ump crew gets a look at that swing after the game. I wonder if all the major league umps were instructed to deny appeals this year just to keep the walk numbers up.

[joe l]

One step forward and two steps back for Park.

[Andy]

C'mon, guys. It's a 162 game season. Have some patience.

Oooooo. Taschner's up!

We need to start having the wide-outs run long patterns.

[NEPP]

Why would they shrink the strike zone anyway? Its not as if offense was way way down last year. It was down a little bit but nothing ridiculous. These offensive explosions games are brutal. Its almost as if they're trying to say "See, all that offense before wasn't steroids afterall...See???"

[Tray]

I think you'll ultimately see Happ for Park and someone acquired from the outside in July to replace Moyer.

[joe l]

NEPP - god forbid we have to watch a pitchers' duel in this day and age. [/sarcasm]

[NEPP]

Taschner?!? Really?

What a waste. Why not just forfeit, UC?

[phargo]

Park is to Taschner as frying pan is to fire.

[Lake Fred]

Chan Ho has reverted to form....bad form. The BP awaits. Happ's time is about to come when Park's turn is due.

[bay_area_phan]

When his command is on, Park is certainly capable of looking very good, as he did in the last 2 starts. Problem is, when he's bad, he tends to be really bad. At 38 pitches through 1 inning, it looks likely that, for the third time in 7 starts, he won't even make it past the 5th inning. That's just murder on a team's bullpen.

[bay_area_phan]

Tray: I think that's an excellent bet. Seems the Phillies never get through a season without replacing 2 starting pitchers. Cliff Lee anyone?

[NEPP]

~checks script~

This is the part where the rookie pitcher settles in and dominants the Phillies lineup for 7 innings.

[IOP]

Chan Ho Park seems to have developed the pitching equivalent of the "yips" when he throws the fastball. I knew he was going to throw a fastball to Dukes when Dukes hit the double because he stood still longer than usual before delivery. He must be overly concerned with location.

For the non-golfers, the "yips" is a term that golfers use when a player stands over the ball for an excessive amount of time because they have lost all confidence in their ability to put.

[IOP]

put="putt"

[NEPP]

Someone I could see the Phillies getting: LHP Doug Davis from AZ. He's on the block most likely and he just smells like a Phillies acquisition.

[Jack]

NEPP: Wanna bet? The Phils will hit Zimmerman.

[phargo]

"For the non-golfers, the "yips" is a term that golfers use when a player stands over the ball for an excessive amount of time because they have lost all confidence in their ability to put (sic)."

I thought that was called the Mickelson.

[NEPP]

and if IOP has noticed it...you can be damn sure the Nats hitters have noticed it and will cheat on fastballs.

[curt]

With Feliz hitting .300 and Cairo dumped, not many guys left to hate on. If Park didn't exist, BL would have to invent him.

[NEPP]

We'd still have Traschner...I mean Taschner.

[NEPP]

Drabek's day so far: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K. Cruising along so far.

[NEPP]

58 pitches through 1.1 IP for Crap Ho Park.

[G-Town Dave]

I had to stop watching for awhile because I was so *bleeping* pissed off at Park for being utterly unable to pitch even after being staked to a 3-run, 1st inning lead.

Things have not improved.

[Hellfish]

Chan Ho Park chan ho sucks.

[bay_area_phan]

NEPP: Doug Davis is slightly too good. It has to be someone who epitomizes mediocrity like, say, Jason Marquis. In fairness, mediocrity would be a big upgrade over our present situation, just as it was in past years. But now that the Phillies have a better collection of prospects than in past years, it would be nice to see them go after someone who can make more impact.

[Phils Suck]

Is it just me or does Chan Ho always get squeezed?

[redbeard]

pathetic

[curt]

Park just wrote his own obit.

[NEPP]

Park to the Pen. Please put him in the Pen and put Happ in the rotation.

[G-Town Dave]

Charlie needs to pull this clown ... & here he is. Goodbye, Chan. You suck, & I can't stand the sight of you.

[IOP]

Park looks more and more like Adam Eaton. Both guys can make some hitters swing and miss, but when it is time to make an out, neither can locate. When they do go over the plate, it gets hit hard.

I'd like to see Eaton and Park both hooked up to a machine that measures stress levels. I bet Park and Eaton have very similar brain wave patterns and stress levels when they pitch. Neither one believes that they will win the battle with the hitter.

[G-Town Dave]

NEPP: From your keypad to Charlie's ears ...

[NEPP]

Way to murder the bullpen you fvcking bum. What a complete piece of crap. As good as the Ibanez signing has been the Park signing has been brutal.

[NEPP]

Why not just use Happ and then slip him into the rotation? Seriously, why Taschner? Why continue to give Park chances? He hasn't been a good starter in 8 years.

[AFish]

This is a nightmare.

[bathtubhippo]

serious jv squad today

[NEPP]

Taschner does understand that we could just as easily send him down instead of Escalona? right?

[B-Mac]

Phew, man that was lucky, way to escape.

[redbeard]

well that was nice

[NEPP]

Taschner still sucks.

[bay_area_phan]

By not even making it out of the 2nd inning today, I think it's fair to say that Park squandered all the leeway that he had earned in the previous 2 starts. Nonetheless, as bad as he was today, I doubt the Phillies will remove Park from the rotation after 1 horrific game, following 2 good ones. But, after today, I'd definitely guess that he's back to being 1 bad game away from losing his spot in the rotation.

[NEPP]

Park should be gone...the 2 games were the aberration, not this game. I guess, one more bad start and he's gone. Sad that, knowing our luck, he'll be just good enough in his next game to prevent his departure. He sucks, he sucks, he freaking sucks.

[NEPP]

What's Dibble saying about his boy Zimmerman right now?

[AFish]

This ump's strike zone is way too small. Two of the balls to Utley were over the plate. So was the second pitch to Ibanez.

[joe l]

There is not enough pitching talent around the league for this year's strike zone.

[NEPP]

This is painful to watch...how do you strand them like that?

[Andy]

Can't believe Werth took a hack at that cap high FB.

[Jonesman]

The strike zone was huge on the first pitch to Victorino.

[Andy]

Didn't someone have a theory that the small zone was because the electronic tracking of pitches was showing that the strike zone was actually wider than the plate?

If he had to pitch his career with the 2009 zone, Glavine would have ended up with a career ERA over 5.

[NEPP]

The upside is that Zimmerman has thrown a lot of pitches and we should see their bullpen soon. Downside: our pen is tired and Traschner is still out there on the mound.

[Andy]

The Park and Taschner Show, where we play ALLLLL the hits!

[NEPP]

Perhaps UC is making a point to management that Traschner sucks? Or he is just saving his pen for the rest of the week.

Drabek's day: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K

[Andy]

Nice toss, Chooch.

Way to replace the baserunner, Trash.

[J. Weitzel]

Happ to the rotation, Park to the pen and Majewski to the pen would be one solution to this mess. Park would be better than Taschner, so Taschner has to go.

[NEPP]

Trash probalby figures the only way he can get outs is through Ruiz's arm...