Game chat: J-Roll expected to start tonight's opener

If Charlie Manuel keeps his word, Jimmy Rollins will resume lead-off and shortstop duties tonight at Turner Field, where the Phillies won all nine games against the Braves last season. Right-handers Joe Blanton and Derek Lowe have the ball starting at 7:05. Lowe is 5-0 with a 2.14 ERA in his last seven starts against the Phillies, including a dominant performance on opening day.

Comments

[Doohickey]

Obviously, that 5-0 stat doesn't include the post season.

[Joe]

Big night for J-Roll

[CJ]

Lineups are out. J-Roll leads off. Then Vic, Utley, Howard, Werth, Dobbs in LF, Feliz, Ruiz, Blanton.

[goody]

Moving Happ up a day means he can pitch the last game before the break, instead of the new guy.

[MPN]

I predict J-Roll goes 3-5, 2R, 1RBI in this game. Maybe even a steal to taunt his detractors on here. Pat Burrell got benched in Philly, Jimmy Rollins got benched in Philly. Players have unique personalities and managers know this and need different ways to motivate some players. Ergo, everyone needs to take a knee and drink water regarding Jimmy.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

Maybe he'll even draw a walk.

[MG]

Lowe has been generally leaving his sinker up his last couple of starts and getting hit pretty hard. Hope he doesn't find it tonight against a team that has struggled with sinkers the past month or so.

[Willard Preacher]

I'd bet against him swinging for the fences on the first pitch...

[denny b.]

I actually like moving Happ up to Thursday.

The Mets (the ones still left) have seen a lot of Happ the past 2 years. The Braves are a lefty-dominant lineup. Plus it buys them an extra day, to keep Sergio up before he heads back on the Escalona Express to Lehigh Valley.

Carrasco (he's the best option and has by far the best stuff) then would only get 2 starts before the break:

Friday July 3 vs Mets
Wednesday July 8 vs Reds

If they wanted to after the July 8 game, they could option CC back to LV (since his spot in the rotation wouldn't be needed until after the break) and a extra arm or bat could be added for the final 4 games of the pre-break season. Maybe this is when Ibanez comes back?

[joe]

denny -

that is WAAAyyyy too creative for cholly to pull off.

or would that be amaro pulling those strings?

[thephaithful]

agreed, moving up Happ is a good decision and will set up the roster for the last series to be able to carry an extra relief pitcher or bat to compensate for the wasted spot that Bako holds.

[lurker]

does bako at least do the bullpen catching?

[CJ]

denny b.: You're insane. According to Beerleaguer conventional wisdom, there is absolutely no way that clear and logical thinking went into the decision to move up J. Happ. No way at all. It makes way too much sense.

I think the more likely scenario is that they couldn't get a train ticket for the new pitcher until Friday and it will be Lopez since it's his regular day to start.

If what you suggest actually happens, Beerleaguer may cease to exist!

[PS]

Guys, have you seen this?

http://rotoinfo.com/read_article.php?articleId=318

It's the supposed list of the 104 players that tested positive for PEDs in 2003.

Deadspin says they are most likely full of crap, but it's worth a gander.

[goody]

I predict Bako goes friday, since interleague is over. He probably was going to go yesterday, but Bastardo saved him.

[CJ]

PS: Yeah, likely just something someone came up with. One reason I don't believe it is because I recognize almost all of the names and there's likely to be at least a percentage of no names who were barely in the majors around that time.

[PS]

CJ:

Agreed. That list could easily be the 104 best players in the league at that time, give or take a few. That's what makes it suspect.

It also looks like they are all from a few teams. Dodgers, Angels, Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays, Mariners, Astros, Cubs. Basically.

Weird.

[RSB]

A little worried about Dobbs playing LF in Turner Field.

[Jack]

Jimmy getting right back at it.

I hate facing Lowe. We can't hit him (regular season edition).

[J.R. King]

Dobbs' defence at third has improved. I haven't seen him in left. Does he still look lost?

[CJ]

Okay, J-Roll strikes out in his first at bat. Let's make broad generalizations about what this means for his career.

[CJ]

Jack: I agree... Lowe would win multiple Cy Youngs if he faced us every start. Other than that playoff game, he really knows how to pitch to us. Not that he's terrible against other teams... but he's a really tough matchup for us.

[hiki]

there's a lot of season left so let's all refrain from judging him on his performance tonight.

[RSB]

J.R. - he catches what he gets to, but there's a lot of ground to cover in that outfield.

[redbeard]

dobbs in left scares the crap out of me everytime the ball is hit to him

[MG]

Dobbs in LF is definitely a defensive liability but Cholly probably figures the Phils could use the possible additional offense. Mayberry vs. RHP who throws a good sinker is likely a definite mismatch. Tend to side with Cholly on that one.

[Phils Fan in MD]

Happy Birthday, Chan Ho Park!

[RSB]

Has Ruiz chopped the ball to third base about 90% of the time in the last two weeks, or is it me?

[johnnysanz3]

Well Ruiz did exactly what they wanted.

[CJ]

Can't miss out on run-scoring opportunities against a pitcher like Lowe. Just can't. Bad at bat for Chooch. Really bad.

[RSB]

MG: I'm with you, especially with the wretched weekend Mayberry had (against lefties, no less). Just expressing the concern anyway.

[Brian G]

Blanton's ERA is under 5!!!

[johnnysanz3]

Brian you may have spoken too soon!

[Brian G]

Nothing like intentionally walking a guy batting .130.

[bensdad00]

8 pitch AB by Blanton - will Rollins see 8 pitches all night?

[Gary Tang]

At least Jimmy is being consistent

[denny b.]

Jimmy still looks lost.

Its sad, to see a player lose it right before your eyes.

J-Roll just looks old.

[Unikruk]

Blanton's ERA plus his batting average is even under 5!

[RSB]

Didn't see that RBI double coming after Lowe buried Howard 0-2. Nice 2-out run after they blew the opportunity last inning.

[denny b.]

Well, that lead lasted a long time.

Things aren't going well for Johan Santana Flande at Reading.

[MG]

Nice job Blanton to keep it tie score.

[thephaithful]

Blanton has not been getting his 2seamer on the inside of the plate to lefties called very often at all, over the course of at least 3-3 starts. A lot of times I think he gets it to come back for a strike, but it must be pretty deceptive to the umps.

[thephaithful]

damn good looking swing by Chase. A pretty nuts stat, that Lowe hasn't been touched up by a LHB yet. Ya'd think he'd hang at last one or two more sinkers to a lefty in the past 3 months.

[denny b.]

Well, that lead lasted a long time (again).

Come on Joe. Its Martin Freakin' Prado.

[kells]

Brilliant commentary by Sarge & T-Mac in the Braves 4th. Sarge "Hernandez made that decision on his own to bunt w/ Lowe on deck" Of course McCarthy says nothing & agrees. I'm sure Bobby Cox who has managed for 50+ years allows a AAA player batting under .200 to sacrifice on his own. You guys are my hereos-Phills TV broadcast's should be on Comedy Central. RIP Harry + Whitey we miss u greatly.

[MG]

kells - Sarge either mentions the same point over and over again or says something that makes you scratch your head. He stinks as a color analyst and makes me glad when Wheels is back on the broadcast.

[kells25]

Feliz continue to have a great approach to Lowe-Go the opposite way. Meanwhile Werth/Rollins swing at 1rst pitch & keep Lowe's pitch count down. Here comes Cooch-double play part 2?

[RSB]

Coste? Ach, this bench.

[tg082]

Coste???????

[thephaithful]

chris coste?! i'd rather take JoeyB.

[Zach Morris]

Slowest game chat ever?
No wonder. This team is really tough to watch, and should clearly be losing by more than one run. 11 baserunners in 5 2/3.

[kells]

What's Blanton's pitch count? Panic move by Charlie. Why is Coste pitch hitting?

[bay_area_phan]

It seems like only a couple weeks ago that we were all talking about Carlos Ruiz's All Star worthiness

[Spitz]

Would be nice for the Gut to get one right...hasn't happened in a while.

[MPN]

kells: He threw over 90 pitches through 5 and gave up 8 hits.

Nice effing job Coste. Sh*t he looks feeble at the plate sometimes.

[Zach Morris]

six, i mean
And yeah, BAP, I was thinking about that the other day. Too weird.

[G-Town Dave]

W/out his cap on Blanton resembles a giant, surprised hedgehog.

[tg082]

I think it WAS only a couple weeks ago, b_a_p.

And great swing by Coste for the strikeout. I've really had it with this guy. He seemed like a breath of fresh air when the alternative was having Sal Fasano on the roster, but c'mon. The story is over for this guy. Maybe he can DH every once in a while on Baltimore, or something.

[bay_area_phan]

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out why Cholly wouldn't use Stairs there. He's not only our best pinch-hitter but it was also a perfect time to use him, since it was highly unlikely that Bobby Cox would counter with a lefty. It's doubtful they'll have another scoring opportunity in which they can bring up Stairs without risking a counter-move by Cox.

[denny b.]

Good move by Chuckles to get Blanton out of there. He didn't have much tonight and the Braves had the top of the order coming up in the 6th. Hopefully the pen holds them the next 3 innings. Lowe isn't exactly fooling them.

Coste pinch-hitting over left-handed hammer Bako?

Bako would have taken Lowe yard there.

[RT]

93 pitches and 11 baserunners through 5. It wasn't an awful time to PH for Blanton, but using Coste to do it... Ugh.

[G-Town Dave]

Coste stunk that up royally, but rather than focusing on his failure we should be celebrating the fact that Charlie used someone other than Gnome in that situation.

[denny b.]

Lou Marson is now hitting close to .270 for the year, after a dreadful start at LV.

Just adding that nugget, for those that are interested.

[G-Town Dave]

Pete Happy!!!!!! :-D

[MPN]

And that's why Feliz plays 3B...

[king0fprussia]

Jason Jaramillo is hitting .265 with 3 HR and 19 RBI in 136 AB.

Coste is hitting .258 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in 99 AB.

Why didn't we hang on to Jaramillo?

[tg082]

I'm beginning to hope bad things happen to J-Roll on a personal level.

[JaredK]

Jimmy is 0-4. Glad that rest helped.

[MG]

You have a new pitcher in the game and you swing first pinch? Nice job JRoll.

[kart racer]

First pitch swinging on pitches out of the strike zone.. Pretty much every at bat.

[MG]

I guess Cholly is saving Stairs to possibly use against Soriano in the 8th but that seems like a stretch.

[The Truth Injection]

When pitchers are kick-saving balls to other fielders you know it is not your night.

[MG]

Coste now 1-10 as a PH and this team is hitting .193 as a team PH. Amazingly, there are actually two worse teams - Astros at .172 and Brewers at .134.

[Kool Earl]

3 of Rollins outs have been to lead off an inning. This is a drag on the offense having a near-guaranteed out leading off the game and so many innings. He has to be dropped to the lower part of the order.

[Jack]

Feliz's arm is just ridiculous. Every throw is a frozen rope.

[kells]

wow Feliz is nasty at 3rd base. Loving Pete Happy this year

[MG]

Wow. Feliz is having a good night in the field and at the plate.

[bay_area_phan]

Cholly has always had this annoying habit of using his bench players in reverse order of talent. If it's the 6th inning, he feels that it's too early to use his best guys. So he's going to use Bruntlett or Coste, regardless of the game situation. It's especially odd considering that this is the same manager who used to substitute Bruntlett for Burrell as soon as the Phillies got a one-run lead in the 6th inning -- seemingly without even a passing thought that Burrell's bat might later be needed, if the other team came back to tie. So, in one scenario, he uses a garbage player, while saving his good player for a late-game situation which might never arise. In the other scenario, he replaces his good player with a garbage player, without any regard to the possibility of a late-game situation which could very easily arise.

[joe l]

i hate this guy's delivery.

[RSB]

Rock that, Gonzo.

[kells]

Bobby Cox is a great manager. He thinks outside the box & smartly brings him in the 8th to face the Phills HR hitters. Take away a bottle of whisky & hitting his wife & Bobby gets my vote for manager of his generation.
Forget it-HR Mayberry!

[joe l]

didn't rock a fourth time and Mayberry made him pay.

[Jack]

YES.

Michael Taylor would have hit a 2-run shot.

[redbeard]

mayberry rocked that one out!

take that gonzalez!

[J.R. King]

"Gonzalez should have rocked one more time." -- Larry Anderson

[EastFallowfield]

Bandbox!

[JaredK]

Keep rocking Mike.....

[G-Town Dave]

Keep on rockin' ... :-)

[Jack]

FELIZ

[MPN]

clout: Do you pick up Feliz's 2010 option now?

[RT]

Back to back JACKS!

[J.R. King]

Tommorrow's batting order should start Victorino-Feliz-Utley

[RSB]

Gee, that movement sure got a lot less pronounced all of a sudden. Maybe he realized it's not intimidating anyone. Howard just missed a homer to lead off the inning, too. Joker.

[RT]

Who's going to replace Feliz? Not Donald.

[joe l]

Do I head for the alkaseltzer now, or in the bottom on the ninth?

[Gary Tang]

RFD

[EastFallowfield]

F Martinez with the classic blooper in the Mets game...tried to slow up as he went too far on a flyball and tripped himself as ball fell behind him. Quite funny.

[Kool Earl]

Everybody start drinking or whatever you do to brace yourselves now as it looks like we will see Lidge tonight

[Mike Scuilli]

I believe that is Mayberry's first HR against National League pitching in his career!

[The Truth Injection]

I know often we've had the argument of Taylor vs Mayberry (which really is a faulty argument started and continued by mvpdummy)

What I think can be said with some degree of certainty is this: Greg golson would not be giving us what Mayberry is.