Game chat: Phillies free J.C. from the disabled list

The team has announced several moves leading up to tonight's game. 

J.C. Romero has been activated from the disabled list, J.A. Happ has been placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 16 with a strained forearm and the club announced that Nelson Figueroa will have the ball Saturday in Arizona. Happ, who first spoke out on the injury after his start against the Nationals, tried throwing this afternoon, but the session was cut short. Meanwhile, the Phillies and Braves - considered the early front-runners to contend for the division title, wrap up their exciting series tonight with veterans Jamie Moyer and Derek Lowe making their case.

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Comments

[Meyer]

Playing the infield in?

[NEPP]

That wasn't luck there...just a good hit.

[NEPP]

Too easy Herndon...too easy.

[Old Phan]

Thanks, DYE-AZ

[Phillies Red]

Love the ABs this Phils team is taking, btw. Raul and Chooch in particular. If Raul ever gets his bat speed back, he'll be very productive with this approach.

[GTown_Dave]

I feel much better about this game now.

[lwrSlwrGeorge]

Ready to put the cap on the Maalox

[Murgatroid]

Matt Diaz just went hitless in a series against us.

[NEPP]

Boooo, Juan...Booo

~not serious~

[NEPP]

Maybe Herndon hurt himself there? 60 day DL!!!

[Phillies Red]

fangraphs had an article on Herndon a couple weeks back. Says he should never face a lefty. That seems to be showing here.

[MPNPhilly]

If only Dobbs were taller there...

[NEPP]

Great non strike 2 call there...brutal miss by the ump.

[Old Phan]

Beautiful!

[GTown_Dave]

Man. Herndon in the 9th w/ a comfortable lead hasn't been very comfortable lately.

[Murgatroid]

It seems to me that Raul's batting stance is slightly more open this year than it was last year. It seems like it's making it harder for him to get his bat out on those outside pitches. Has anyone else noticed this?

[NEPP]

Not a bad game and series overall.

Oh, and one other thing. That's Herndontastic!

[Phillies Red]

I'll take it. Would have been nice to take all 3, but it's always good to take 2 from this team in Atlanta. I don't think we even hit one HR. What's Bobby gonna complain about?

[bay_area_phan]

No one in this bullpen has ever heard of a 1-2-3 inning.

Oh well. 2 of 3 on the road against our main division rivals. It should have been a sweep but, considering all our injuries & the recent performance of our pen, I won't complain.

[Old Phan]

Bobby can always find something to complain about

[GTown_Dave]

What b_a_p wrote.

[LwrSlwrGeorge]

Nice QS by Jamie Moyer. Offense took advantage of an early error and some walks and played good small ball. Defense was not what we usually expect (or get). BP still not a strong point, but not neccessarily a bad showing. Baez did better than OK.

Glad to be putting the Maalox away and finish sipping the Maker's.

[NEPP]

Is anyone gonna take the time to cut and paste the comments from earlier in the week saying how we were guaranteed to lose both the Kendrick and Moyer starts?

It would be a bit funny, eh?

[Josh M]

0 ER for the starters for the series, pretty impressive.

[LwrSlwrGeorge]

NEEP: It was the BL reverse jinx in the making.

[Phillies Red]

NEPP, don't reverse the reverse jinx. Jesus dude.

[MPNPhilly]

NEPP: well we did lose the KK game, just not for the reasons we thought! Last week we praised the pen and badmouthed all not named Roy. Baseball is a funny game.

[CJ]

Like NEPP, I'm amused that only the "blind optimists" predicted us winning at least 2 out of 3... and, frankly, it should have been a sweep. We were clearly the better team this series despite playing three on the road and pitching our #5 and #6 starters.

Nice series after losing 2 of 3 to the Fish.

[GTown_Dave]

Zolecki (via Twitter): "Amaro said he got good reports from Lidge's outing. Velocity consistently 90-92."

See? Consistent Velocity = Mound Domination. We've got nothing to worry about!

[Hot chick from cougarlife.com]

Phils just need to withstand the injuries for another month and be in first on June 1.

[Iceman]

Atlanta's "improved" lineup against our bottom-end starters: 14 innings, 2 unearned runs. Again, I'm not impressed.

[EastFallowfield]

Remember when the season ended two nights ago?

And the statement the Braves made that night?

The series statement from Atlanta seemed to be, "We can't even score against bums like Kendrick and Moyer".

[gobaystars]

The current daily pattern of Beerleaguer:
11:00am JW posts wrap of last night's game.
11:01am-7:05pm Outcome of the evening's pending game debated. Half claiming no chance of winning. Half claiming no chance of losing. Bickering ensues.
7:05 Bickering subsides slightly for semi-game related discussion.
10:30pm game over. One side berates the other over poor predictions. Heavey use of block quotes required.
Repeat until October.

[philwynk]

Chase Utley is actively hurting this team.

(C'mon, somebody had to say it...)

[awh]

Gotta say, some great comments on the board tonight.

bap: "With these 2 extra runs, Cholly has the luxury of using some of our garbage-time relievers to close this out. He has 7 choices."

LwrSlrG' and Old Phan: "Maker's and Maalox".

Great stuff!

[awh]

EF, don't forget that Halladay bum they couldn't score against either.

I must say, I am extremely surprised at how well the SP was in this series. Three very different pitchers (styles), and essentially the same result - no earned runs.

Just a chance occurence?

[I drool for you]

Hey, hot chick from cougarlife.com, please send me an email.

[EastFallowfield]

Braves leadoff hitters did not reach base in the series. 0-13. And we complain about our guys.

[EastFallowfield]

In case you miss the tweet on the right...Chipper sez, "Credit their defense for making the plays. (Juan) Castro is playing shortstop like Ozzie smith. Victorino is playing center field like Andruw Jones. (Chase) Utley has made some great plays, (Ryan) Howard has made some great plays, third baseman whoever it’s been."

[EastFallowfield]

Here's my goofy stat of the season:

In just 15 games this year, the Phils have played in front of 3 current or former US Presidents. (And I think Bush attended 3 games, so it's 5 out of 15 games).

[Meyer]

Consistently above average defense does seem to be the X factor on consistently winning teams. I wish I knew more about defensive stats that were meaningful. Great defensive players must have a real offensive stat somewhere that corelates to good defense.

[Meyer]

Ex-Presidents at games is comforting and should balance the fools like PVG.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Castro has more than held his own at short. And, did he have 3 more hits last night? Braves fans must be disheartened - not a single earned run against Phils starters over 23 innings. But for a pair of Utley Es, no runs.

[Meyer]

Even jinx ex-Brave JF must be a bit disheartened at the sub-play.

[gm-carson]

No Edwin Jackson or Dan Haren this weekend...sweet!

[awh]

carson, the Braves probably said:

"No Cole Hamels or JA Happ this week....sweet."

[awh]

BL is known to be a site where the gripers come to gripe, but at least we're not from Boston.

16 games into the season the Red Sox are already 67 games back.

(Wonder what it would be like here if the Phils were in the same position?)

[awh]

errrr..."6 games back".

[Meyer]

Thursday night wins really change the weekend outlook even if it rains.

[joe]

>16 games into the season the Red Sox are
>already 67 games back.

I thought that was only possible for the cubbies.