Game chat: Phillies play the second in Milwaukee

Cliff Lee and Manny Parra duel in the second of four from Miller Park. First pitch is 8:05. Coming down the home stretch, within short reach of clinching, the injury bug is starting to hit rather hard. It was announced that Kyle Kendrick will start in place of Pedro Martinez tomorrow; Pedro appearantly still ailing from a neck strain. Meanwhile, Raul Ibanez is suffering something of a stomach bug, according to reports. Ben Francisco starts in left for the second night in a row.

Comments

[joe l]

Lester hit hard in the knee by a line drive up in the Bronx.

[SmokyJoe]

Lester came out of the game, limping in pain.

[SmokyJoe]

Lee not hitting his spots early on. I hope he can settle in.

[bay_area_phan]

Old Phan: You noticed the same thing I noticed. Just like when Moyer went to the bullpen, this announcement came from Amaro, when it would normally come from the manager. Very interesting.

Lee looks mighty shaky. I hope he straightens it out.

[joe l]

Hmmffph.

[G-Town Dave]

Booooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-[

[Radd Bilge]

Too late.

[SmokyJoe]

Ouch

I don't think Phillies will come back against Parra, who is on. Think I might go watch something else with the Mrs.

[Knight]

And the magic number will remain at 4 for another day.

[bay_area_phan]

Well, that's just great. Does Cliff lee have Multiple Personality Disorder? He's either brilliant or hideous. There never seems to be any in-between.

[Old Phan]

I could have hit that pitch. Not very far, but I could have hit it.
Settle down, Cliff.

[SmokyJoe]

I guess the Phillies are going to try and conserve energy down the stretch. They're only gonna give full effort every 2 or 3 games.

And that's how you follow up a big inning by your opponent: a 9 pitch inning w/ 2 strike outs. OK, I'm definitely done now. I may come back and check on them in a couple of hours, if the game isn't already over by then.

[bay_area_phan]

Consisdering that our pitcher is the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, and their pitcher has a 6.42 ERA, you'd be awfully hard-pressed to find 2 more hideous innings of Phillies baseball in all of 2009.

[Old Phan]

This can't last. Parra isn't that good.

[Scott]

Old Phan: It can last. Our offense has often made mediocre pitchers look like All-Stars. Lately it seems we fare better against relief pitchers than starters...

[bay_area_phan]

Old Phan: I doubt it can last either, but you never know with the Phillies. They do have a tendency to throw a real offensive stinker out there once every 7 or 8 games -- and, when they do, I think they could even make Brad Lidge or Adam Eaton look good.

But I'm feeling a Paul Hoover homerun this inning.

[G-Town Dave]

If the Phils offense keep their heads in the game, & manage get the Milwaukee 'pen out there relatively early, there's still a chance. So far, however, this has looked like another "mail it in" night.

[kilbillrain]

Really Brew Annoncing Crew comparring Parra with Lee?

[Old Phan]

Parra is coming off of an injury, so they probably won't keep him in too long.

[bay_area_phan]

I can't wait until the 5th or 6th inning, when I have to start reading the posts about how "You've just gotta tip your cap to Parra; he was really dealing tonight."

[Old Phan]

He is 6'3", so that could be a problem.

[curt]

I'm predicting a perfect game.

[joe l]

I feel a breakout inning coming eventually. I don't think Parra continues rolling all night. (Just a hunch.)

[Old Phan]

Nice inning by Lee. I think we see 2 hits here.

[Petey Pablo]

Uh oh...RISP...here comes a pop-up, K, and groundout

[Old Phan]

I should have said I think 2 guys will reach base this inning.

[bay_area_phan]

Utley is literally the last guy I want to see at the plate right now if the Phillies have men on base. He has been absolutely atrocious this month.

[curt]

Some semblance of a hot streak from Utley is well overdue.

[LSG]

woohoo ..

[bake]

Nutty idea for Howard: lefty-lefty, just try to put the ball in play and get a run or 2 in.

[Old Phan]

Way to go, Ryno.

[Petey Pablo]

Utley got robbed; at least Howard hit it hard and we got those 2 in. Hopefully Lee stays settled and we can touch this bum up.

[LSG]

Take 'em anyway we can ge them.

[joe l]

Maybe not "breakout", but that inning was a start.

[Old Phan]

I'll take those 2 runs. I'm not convinced about that call on Fielder, but so be it.

[bay_area_phan]

2 runs without the benefit of even a single hit. Does it count as "small ball" when you score 2 runs because the other team drops everything hit to them?

[Sophist]

Taylor for Soria would make me sick.

[curt]

Laughable scoring in Milw. Last night some Brewer got a hit because Howard couldn't catch a throw, but Fielder's failure to field that in was an error?

[Old Phan]

Very small ball. I know it's coincidence, but since they call that Howard hit an error, he doesn't get the RBI. If they weren't in Milwaukee, might that call be different?

[LSG]

Yikes .. 8 pitches to get Parra out, when it looked like Parra was going to look at 3 pitches

[goody]

Listening on radio(Brewers no less). Was that really an error, or are they keeping the RBI's from Howard for Fielder's benefit.

[LSG]

Maybe the MIL scorer wanted to give Fielder a chance to earn a "Howard". (See WSBGM)

[joe l]

Hooooooverr!

[sdphillie]

How many other teams in history have scored 2 runs, despite being no-hit?

[Old PHan]

Goody, that's what I was thinking. It could have gone either way, but I think they made the call to benefit Fielder

[bay_area_phan]

I'm watching on Gameday & didn't see the play, but maybe they called it an error because Parra hadn't allowed a hit yet -- in which case, maybe they'll change it now.

[Old Phan]

They finally reversed the call. Ryno gets his RBIs.

[bay_area_phan]

So I suspected. The call was driven by the no-hitter. So now it oficially counts as small ball.

[Old Phan]

Crap.

[joe l]

Anyone in the pen need some work?

[Scott]

And Prince just got his RBIs...

[bay_area_phan]

Lee is more erratic than Brittney Spears. Does anyone really trust this guy in the playoffs?

[chstk of suffrg]

Looks like they're going to be stuck at 4 for another day ...

Good thing the division isn't closer, I'd hate to be holding my breath depending on either the Nats or the Mutts.

[denny b.]

How has Lee looked since Chuckles stupidly extended him in a 6-0 game against Washington?

Lee's IP are getting way up there; and he threw a lot of IP last year too.

[Iceman]

*doom and gloom, doom and gloom*

[Greg V.]

What's Andy Ashby doing out there with Cliff Lee's jersey on?

[MG]

Iceman - Lee has been lite up in 5 of his last 7 starts and looked really pretty poor tonight. There is some legit concern that he is pitching with a tired arm.

[MG]

Meant 4 of last 6 starts but you get the point.

[ozark]

There's a good Monk episode on now.

[kilbillrain]

Amazing how its either feast or famine with this guy. Guaranteed he delivers a clunker in the POs. Was this his MO in Cleveland this year? if not what the hell is going on? NL>AL?

[curt]

This would be 4 starts out of the last 6 that Lee has been absolutely shelled. Could be tiring.

[Old Phan]

MG, true, but I doubt that tonight's troubles are due to one of the few good games he's pitched recently. He does look tired, though.

[G-Town Dave]

With Pedro hurting & Lee pitching like this, can the Phillies afford to remove Happ from the rotation?

[SmokyJoe]

Iceman, it's OK to call a spade a spade and a stinker a stinker. It's not doom and gloom. Lee has missed his spots, and two 3-run homers have cost him. It happens. However, over the last month, every other game seems to be a low effort performance by the offense. The offense has been on cruise control. The Phillies hitters have made some down right average (and below average) pitchers look like 20-game winners. When they return to Philly, they will owe the paying customer a better product than what they've been producing. They are much better than what they've been showing.

[Greg V.]

Hey Brad Lidge is coming in! Perfect time!

[G-Town Dave]

Lidge is warming in the bullpen. White flag time.

[curt]

If Milw. really wants to mess with Phillie heads, they'll go down 1-2-3 to Lidge, with a couple of whiffs.

[MG]

I will say this about Lee - he is a fly ball pitcher and has been very good/lucky at keeping those fly balls in the park since '08. Basically, this HR/9 dropped in half and it really helped his overall numbers especially his ERA.

When he has got pasted (like he did tonight), he left a pitch in the zone and it was crushed out.

[Iceman]

Smoky: sorry, maybe I'm a little over-done on the negativity after JW's season death-clock post earlier today. And it happens after/during every loss. The reactionary stuff by some people on here is incredible. It is a 162-game season; sometimes, a loss is just a loss.

[GBrettfan]

Lee's also reached a career high in innings pitched now. I agree, he's probably tiring. Yet another wrench in our pitching situation. Maybe use KK out of the pen?? Or in the rotation and still move Happ?? Too early to say...But what to do with Lee? Give him an extra day rest, or skip his next start (wouldn't that be his last of the season?) altogether?

So Lidge will be mop-up guy tonight, apparently? Well, Mitch Williams always claims that's difficult pitching, b/c opposing hitters are very relaxed with a good-sized lead. We'll see how he does. The games' not completely out of reach yet, if the offense can rise from their slumber.

Boy is Larry Anderson pessimistic tonight. Oh wait, he's always rather dour. Still, for a reigning World Champion team and one headed for the postseason, we sure seem to have a lot of issues lately.

[Old Phan]

What kind of AB was that? There is this thing called the take sign. They should use it once in a while

[SmokyJoe]

The Mets/Marlins game is much more interesting. Mets down by 1 run in the 9th, w/ bases loaded and no outs against Nunez.

[denny b.]

Bases drunk for the Mets with 0 outs in Florida.

CLAP YO HANDS!!!

[GBrettfan]

Iceman, thanks for the reminder that we don't have to look at the glass half empty.

[SmokyJoe]

And the Mets take the lead.

[Wade Baker]

Lidge on mop up.

Wish I could get tonight's broadcast to enjoy that.

[MG]

Joe - Yeah the offense has made way too many mediocre guys like Parra look like All-Stars since August and I get tired of listening to TMac and Wheels talk about what great stuff Parra has tonight. Give it a rest guys.

[clout]

It's just dawning on McCarthy that Lidge's problem is location, not velocity.

[kilbillrain]

hahaha....he sucks w/ or w/o pressure...thats gone in most parks btw

[Scott]

*sigh*

[SmokyJoe]

Mets score another on a bases loaded walk.

[G-Town Dave]

Lidge should be shut down for the season.

[kilbillrain]

seriously this guy cant be on po roster

[SmokyJoe]

Never mind, gameday changed it from a walk to a strikeout????

[SmokyJoe]

We'll see if K-Rod can get a 1-run save for the Mets against the Fish.

[clout]

I forget which poster was posting Lee/Halladay comparisons in every start they made, but he stopped a couple weeks ago.

I can't imagine why. Anyway for those who enjoyed those posts, here ya go:

Halladay: 9 IP 0 R 0 BB 9 K
Lee: 6 IP 7 R 0 BB 6 K

[kilbillrain]

matters not as bravos win no?

[bay_area_phan]

Lidge is the only reliever in baseball who can pitch 1 inning, allow 2 hits and a run, and have his ERA and WHIP increase by no more than .02.

[Scott]

This has nothing to do with anything, but I truly feel sorry for Lidge. I've never seen a professional athlete look so lost out there, and by all accounts, he's a really good person. He's trying so hard, but his look suggests even he knows he just can't do it right now. Maybe he needs to take a page from Cole's book and "stop caring."

[SmokyJoe]

2 outs in the bottom of the ninth w/ Cantu up...

[SmokyJoe]

Marlins lose, their E# is 2. I now know who I'll be rooting for when Marlins and Braves play.

[chstk of suffrg]

Marlins lose. Who woulda thunk the Mutts had it in 'em.

[curt]

The humane thing to do would be send Lidge home.

[SmokyJoe]

I think it's time for Werth to snap out of his 1-19 slump.

[Mr. Mack]

Lidge is so done it's sad. Why did Cholly not have a problem finally benching Burrell when he sucked, but not Lidge?

Is it me, or does every pitcher, that Cholly had last year, sans Madson, have arm problems this year? I have stated this before, but IMO, they all have dead arm syndrome from all of the over-use last year.

[EastFallowfield]

But the Marlins are hungry and red hot!

[clout]

I'll be shocked if they leave Coffey in to face Ibanez.

[SmokyJoe]

Clout, they don't have anymore lefties in the pen.

[clout]

well, I guess it doesn't matter with a 4 run lead.

[clout]

SJ: Ohh, OK, that explains it.