Game chat: Happ has the ball for Phillies in Houston

J.A. Happ and right-hander Bud Norris collide when the Phillies open a weekend series with the Houston Astros starting at 8:05 from Minute Maid Park. Jamie Moyer and Roy Halladay will follow on Saturday and Sunday. Lineups are posted with Carlos Ruiz back behind the plate. Have a great start to the weekend everyone.

Comments

[Willard Preacher]

Need Happ to do his best Blanton impression and eat innings tonight. I hope the 'pen won't be leaned on too much tomorrow, but if so, I'd prefer they're fresh.

[awh]

Happ seems to have a competitiveness that is unusually high.

I am want to make predictions, but I would not be surprised if he really gets the season off to a good start.

Gotta keep up with Roy, you know.

[Joel]

Happ will shut them out. CG. Heard it here first.

[Meyer]

Don't hit the ball to their 3rd baseman.

[gm-carson]

bud is chuck norris' nephew.

[Greg V.]

I think Happ has a gem in him tonight.

[NEPP]

Happ wasn't hanging out with Roy all spring was he? I dont want a repeat of last night.

[Brian G]

NEPP: haha... I really enjoy that running joke. Somehow it became conventional wisdom during ST that Halladay's presence would somehow make Kendrick better. It was also CW that Moyer was only going to be in the rotation over Kendrick bc of his contract. But in reality, besides health, there's no reason to expect better results from Kendrick than we'd get from Moyer.

[NEPP]

Braves/Giants heads to the 12th inning all tied up at 4. Good game so far.

[GBrettfan]

Congrats to Michael Bourn on his Gold Glove award tonight. I like him. He really shows his enthusiasm for the game in his demeanor on-field. Now let's hope Happ can keep him off the basepaths tonight!

[G-Town Dave]

I enjoyed the camera shot of Moyer sitting next to Halladay in the dugout Wednesday night. Jamie was kinda lookin' at Doc sideways like "Damn. I can't teach this guy *bleep* about pitching."

:-)

[NEPP]

Rollins showing some nice plate discipline so far this season.

[NEPP]

Good swing by Polly...so happy that MLB.tv froze as soon as he made contact.

[NEPP]

Why the hell didnt Polly tag up? Lee doesnt have that good an arm

[NEPP]

Nice RBI single, Ryno.

[Old Phan]

Nice contact, Raul.

[krukker]

Great slump buster right there

[joe l]

Ibanez finally knocks some in.

[G-Town Dave]

Welcome to the new season, Raúl Ibañez!

[gobaystars]

alright Raul! that's what we've been waiting (3 games) for. I guess your career isn't over yet.

[Harry & Lloyd]

To Raul:

Just when I thought you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this... and totally redeem yourself!

[bay_area_phan]

Cool. Ibanez is cured. Now we can turn our ire toward Vic.

[Jack]

This team mashes.

[bay_area_phan]

I'm beginning to think Vic's time as a useful major leaguer is over.

[NEPP]

Good AB for Raul...perhaps he's not washed up yet.

[NEPP]

Syncing up Phillies radio with the online broadcast=BRILLIANT

[Sophist]

NEPP - how do you do that?

[NEPP]

Nevermind...thought it was...damn delay.

[joe l]

NEPP - didn't MLB.tv promise this feature last year?

[NEPP]

Ruiz should have blocked that...weak...crappy deflection.

[NEPP]

Pete Happy 3 run blast incoming.

[JB]

Time for a pop-up.

[NEPP]

Good first inning by Happ. Nice K there.

[Phillies Red]

I think Happ just wanted to remind the sabermetric community how good he is with RISP.

[Cliff]

I can't tell if Happ pitched good or bad that inning. Lots of strikes, but lots of iffy stuff too. Ahhh, his 1st inning of the season, I guess.

[bay_area_phan]

Pedro Feliz killing a rally. I never thought I'd see it. . .

[NEPP]

****NEPP - didn't MLB.tv promise this feature last year?****

I tried to get creative and use the radio broadcast in one window. I thought it was synced for about 5 sec so I posted. Oh well, I've since switched the FSN broadcast as I the delay is too annoying and I dont want to listen to our broadcast team.

[TTI]

So Ibanez is not a bum now???

Happ has a female admirer in the first row to the left (from our viewpoint) of home plate. She is clapping and smiling everytime he does something right. She's smitten

[NEPP]

Well, at least Happ will have someone to keep him company after the game then.

Pete Happy kill a rally?!? NEVER!

[NEPP]

Please make them pay here Ryan.

[bay_area_phan]

So if all our guys are hot at the same time right now, doesn't it follow that they're all going to go cold at the same time too? Perhaps this hot start is the worst thing that could have happened.

[joe l]

I've tried the dual window trick to synchronize with subpar results. This year I'm experiencing a lot of video rebuffering, so I'd think that the two would lose sync really quickly. :(

[NEPP]

Definitely not giving Norris the low fastball, eh?

Just missed that one...damn.

[clout]

I want to give a shout out to awh on the last thread for a subtle reference to Hondo at the end of the last thread.

[NEPP]

Happ's getting the low strike call though.

[Iceman]

Howard is garbage. He has to know about the deep CF in Houston. How do you not adjust to avoid that? Just a deeply flawed hitter.

[NEPP]

Polly really deep there.

[NEPP]

Happ just cruising along.

[bay_area_phan]

Happ with ultra-cheap hits allowed in each of the first 2 innings. If he keeps up this pace, his career BABIP should be normalized within about 2 games.

[NEPP]

This is just a rough outing for Norris. He's got no control at all right now.

I dont know if that's standard or not.

[NEPP]

Vic really needs to do something here.

[clout]

Wait, Wheels is making fried chicken jokes about Sarge? Good grief.

[NEPP]

Cant hear Wheels on the FSN broadcast for some reason.

[NEPP]

Just brutal Vic...stop chasing the damn slider.

[clout]

NEPP: Astros have a bunch of guys with great stuff/bad command. Felipe Paulino is another one.

[Mike Scuilli]

Bad strike out by victorino there, that pitch never looked good to me. Happ does look good though, it's refreshing to see

[Mike Scuilli]

Jimmy will have 9 at bats tonight

[NEPP]

MLB.tv crapped out on me...did Happ walk?

[G-Town Dave]

Happ walked.

[bay_area_phan]

They need to score here. A 3-run lead isn't safe on what looks like will be a short night of work from Happ.

[G-Town Dave]

... & for anyone who didn't know, Wagner blew a save today. Gotta love it! :-)

[Hope SE]

Beginning to feel like the kind of game where you don't put it away early, lots of LOB, and then . . . they get life. Need JH to keep them from getting any thing started for a couple more.

[NEPP]

Stranded a small village on the bases so far.

[NEPP]

1 swing ties it...

[NEPP]

Huge popup there...good work JA

[curt]

Mark the BP down for 8 more innings of work tonight and tomorrow. Yuk.

[bay_area_phan]

Hope is exactly right. They will lose this game. Too many runners stranded and Happ's just throwing way too many pitches.

[clout]

Nice location on those pitches by Happ against Lee.

[NEPP]

I'm sorry but Happ just elevates his game with men on. That pitch was nasty.

[NEPP]

Happtastic!

[clout]

Feliz is exactly the guy you want batting there, unless you're an Astros fan.

[NEPP]

Happ continues to impress. He's a solid #4. He could have a fairly decent career in the making. The difference between his game and watching KK is amazing.

[G-Town Dave]

The Man!!!!!! :-D

[Iceman]

The game isn't official until BAP predicts a loss.

[NEPP]

Nice hit Chase.

[Mike Scuilli]

Chase Utley is pretty good at this game eh?

[bay_area_phan]

Wasn't there a poster a few weeks back who expressed concerns that Utley may be starting the downside of his career? That assessment qualifies as bizarrely pessimistic even by my standards.

[Hope SE]

First 4 hitters in the lineup now hitting over .400. Not bad.

[NEPP]

RAULLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

[Mike Scuilli]

Oh yeah, Raul

[gobaystars]

Rauuuuul!

[GBrettfan]

Raul is back!

[clout]

Felipe Lopez is another great stuff/bad command guy.

[Cliff]

Yikes. Great catch by the Bourn Supremacy.

[GBrettfan]

And how about that hit to LF by Howard?

[NEPP]

Yeah...that was a pretty impressive catch.

[NEPP]

Sarge is just brutal.

[NEPP]

Tough battle but a nice K there.

[GBrettfan]

82 pitches--I don't think Happ will make it past 5

[GBrettfan]

I do like the way Happ battles. And is composed and calm at all times.

[curt]

Impressive 10 pitch whiff after going behind 3-0. Hope it doesnt cost Happ a chance to complete 5.

[NEPP]

Jimmy just rocking it so far this year.

[GBrettfan]

I was just about to post almost the identical comment, NEPP! Way to go, Jimmy!

[NEPP]

POLLY WANTS A CRACKER!!!

[G-Town Dave]

I like Start of the '10 Season Jimmy a lot better than Start of the '09 Season Jimmy.

[krukker]

Hittin' season came early this year!

[GBrettfan]

That Polanco guy is pretty good, too! Nice 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup thus far into the season- ok, not very far at all, but it's nice to start off so well!

[NEPP]

Mr. Utley...YOU ARE THE MAN!

[Matt]

Okay, this offense is officially scary.

[NEPP]

AL Lineup against an NL Central team.