Game chat: Phils try to complete perfect homestand

Kyle Kendrick (6-4, 4.60) and the Phillies try to make it eight straight against newly acquired left-hander Joe Saunders (6-10, 4.60) and the Diamondbacks tonight at 7:05. After a scorching debut Wednesday, Domonic Brown sits for Ben Francisco against the left-hander. Actually, between last night’s excitement with Brown and tomorrow’s debut of Roy Oswalt, tonight sounds a lot like this.

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Comments

[dlhunter]

Wait, did any of you guys know Raúl Ibáñez's first ML hit came off Kyle Drabek's dad?

[phlipper]

. but did Charlie get any credit from Beerleaguer for trying to mix and match in the 9th?

Yeah - it was unbelievable: MG, Heather, and G-Town each posted about 5 times in praise of Charlie.

[philwynk]

@CJ -- not that I recall. I think one comment observed that leaving Madson in was a good move, before he gave up a double on a fat fastball down the middle of the plate.

[MG]

philipper - It was a questionable move to have Madson start the 9th but no issue with Cholly matching up after that point. Romero just didn't get out of the jam & was a bit shaky to say the least.

[Dukes]

I really think they make a bullpen move yet...nothing to back this up, just a feeling...a lefty from somewhere.

[Dukes]

Note...I am not posting this in any way to say that Valdez should start over Rollins, just asking opinions...

Tonight I saw defensive plays from Valdez that I'm not sure even Jimmy could have pulled off...others agree? Valdez has one of the strongest arms I've seen in a long time...and his turn at second is crazy quick.

[Jack]

I didn't get to watch the 9th, so that's a huge caveat. I have no idea how Madson looked, or what the feel of the game was. I didn't tune in till the bottom of the 9th.

That said, it seems like playing the matchups was fine. He wanted Madson for one batter--Upton, a righty. I see no problem with Madson facing one more batter after getting a quick inning in the 8th. If you bring Lidge in there, you're either wasting him for one batter (with Laroche and Montero on deck), or keeping him in to face 3 out of the next 4 guys as lefties. So going Madson for one batter and then Romero for the lefties seems like it was the best move.

It just didn't work out, because Justin Upton is a damn good hitter. Then Romero's job is to get lefties out, and he gave up a single to LaRoche. Sometimes guys just don't execute even when put in positions to succeed--Howard and Werth both had awful nights, too.

With the caveat that I wasn't watching at the time, just looking at the play-by-play, it seems like it was actually a pretty good job of managing by Charlie--the guys just didn't get it done.

[CJ]

MG: Did you want Charlie to bring in Lidge for one batter and then Romero? Or burn some other RHP for one batter before Romero?

Madson had a fairly easy 8th... can't imagine there was a smarter way to attack the 9th than what Charlie did.

[awh]

Jack, where "the guys just didn't get it done" was earlier in the game when they only scored 2 runs off a mediocre starter.

But, no matter. Lulls happen in baseball to good offensive teams - even ones that are in the middle of a streak.

Before tonight the Phils had scored 45 runs in 6 games - 7.5/game. Including tonight the Phils have scored 48 runs in 7 games - 6.86/game.

I think if they score 6.86 RPG the rest of the season we'll all 'be more than satisfied'.

[DPatrone]

Raul's G~ I don't if anyone answered your question about Oswalt's option, but I have the answer. The option is still in place, and I beleive it's a mutual one (both player and team have to agree). The buyout was increased to 3 million. That was probably done to get him to waive his NTC to come to the Phils. The option can be restructured as part of an extension if need be. I would think that if Oswalt pitches say 180+ innings next year, the option will be exercised. Hpoe this helps.

[awh]

I have no problem with the way Charlie used the BP. After Lidge tossed 64 pitches in 2 games - with the trouble he had - I don't believe Charlie wanted to use him at all.

The matchups were fine, but sometimes they just don't work out. Remember the HR Howard hit off of Mike Gonzalez? I wonder if Boobysocks expected that?

Lidge looked like he was pitching angry. IMO that's good. Maybe getting passed over will piss off Bromine Brad enough that he turns into Brilliant Brad the rest of the season.

[Iceman]

CJ- pretty much universal praise. Except for G-Town, who twisted logic around enough to find Cholly to blame for the entire 9th inning.

[awh]

Stan McNeal has a couple of interesting insights here:

http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/article/2010-07-29/what-roy-oswalt-trade-means-for-phillies-others

Most interesting line:

"
1. This is bad news for the Cardinals, Reds and any other club thinking wild card. The Phillies already had closed to 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Braves and within 2 1/2 games of the wild-card leading Giants on the strength of a seven-game winning streak that was fueled by an offensive resurgence.

With Oswalt, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, the Phillies have the second-best 1-2-3 rotation trio in the league (after the Giants). Count on the wild card coming out of the NL East, which should make the races in the Central and West even more entertaining."

[awh]

McNeal has a couple other interesting points:

"""
4. The Phillies gave up more to get Oswalt than they received from the Mariners for Lee.

5. Trading for Oswalt doesn't hurt Philly's chances of retaining Jayson Werth."""

[GTown_Dave]

phlipper: My phone battery died, which is why my posting stopped before the game did. My issue was w/ Charlie bringing in Durbin in the 6th, only to PH Brown vs. the very same LHP he wasn't allowed to face earlier in the game, which ended both Durbin & Brown's nights earlier than I felt it should have. Otherwise, I liked the mix 'n' match. Naturally it didn't work & the Phillies had to use Lidge (who actually looked pretty good; dude is baffling) anyway. And Contreras. But if you'll remember I was perfectly OK w/ Halladay finishing off his CG last night, & defended Charlie on that point, because I felt a situation like tonight's coming. I'm not always in agreement w/ the man, but I don't go out of my way to blast him, either.

[CJ]

Lincecum, Cain, Zito > Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels?

I don't buy it.

WAR
Lincecum 3.6, Cain 2.3, Zito 2.1
vs.
Halladay 5.2, Oswalt 2.7, Hamels 1.6

Advantage Phillies 9.5 to 8.0

[CJ]

awh: I would guess that Oswalt would cost more because you were getting 1.5 seasons out of Oswalt with the option for another vs. just 1 year out of Lee. Not sure that's so shocking.

[Old Phan]

WAR...if it makes the Phils look better, then I'm all for it.

[Old Phan]

Looking forward to the Vice Roy go at least 7 against the Natinals.

[awh]

CJ, isn't it Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez?

[bay_area_phan]

CJ: It was unprecedented. First, I praised Cholly for pulling Kendrick at exactly the right time. Then I praised him for his perfect handling of the 9th (even though it didn't work out) Really. Those posts are right there in the game thread.

I did think he burned up Domonic Brown too soon, though, & should have left him in the game after he used him to pinch hit. He is, after all, the best player in baseball history.

[Old Phan]

I'm too young to have seen Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, but now that I've seen Dom Brown, I feel like I've seen all of those players combined.

[GTown_Dave]

"I'm too young to have seen Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, but now that I've seen Dom Brown, I feel like I've seen all of those players combined."

That's the way I feel when I see Joe Blanton. I am, of course, speaking in terms of total physical mass.

[awh]

Wow, now comments this morning.

Are the BL posters suffering from "win-streak burnout"?

If so, I hope the burnout gets worse.

[awh]

One other thing:

While Exxon gets credit for playing an outstanding game, a ton of credit goes to Kyle Kendrick who, despite some nicks and cuts, was pretty darn good last night.

He came into the game with a horrible track record against the Dbacks, and despite a tough first inning, "manned up" the whole night and left the game eith his team in the lead.

Good job, KK!

[awh]

oops, should say "Wow, no comments this morning".

[johnnysanz3]

He's allowing a lower opponent batting average (.229), on-base percentage (.280) and OPS (.652) than he has in any season in his fabulous career. His strikeout ratio (8.4 per 9 IP) is his best since his rookie year.

And his swing-and-miss percentage (20.7 percent) is almost identical to that of Halladay (20.8), Carpenter (20.6) and Jimenez (21.0), according to our friends at FanGraphs.

So if this is how this man pitches when he's not into it, imagine what the Phillies might get if this trade gets his adrenaline pumping again.

[phlipper]

Fair enough, G-Town. I wouldn't want to unfairly give anyone the impression that you're an overly harsh critic of Charlie.

(I think the criticism about Durbin is legit - but I think you're stretching it a bit about him burning Brown. I mean, I know he's the best player to ever grace a baseball diamond, but honestly, I think it's a bit much to think that Charlie should consider each and every aspect of every game on the basis of "Gee, I wonder if this move is the best possible move for enabling G-Town to watch Dom Brown.")

[Chris in VT]

From Verducci at SI:

"The Phillies fill Citizens Bank Park every night. Their local TV ratings, which are up 16.5 percent this year, are higher than every team except the Cardinals and Twins, who are regional draws. If you go by the average number of households watching the local team, the Phillies have more eyeballs on them than every team except the Mets and Yankees. Think Red Sox Nation is big? The Phillies' viewing audience is 41 percent bigger than the Red Sox's audience and 60 percent bigger than the Cubs' audience."

Time to create our NESN/YES Nwtwork, it seems.

[AL]

I think a lot of teams could do much worse than Kendrick as their 5th starter. Cost controlled for awhile (arbitration may exceed his performance in 3 years), still developing and durable. He will pitch great games and terrible ones but if he ever gets consistency (by getting lefties out and getting more missed bats) he could be a low 4 high 3 ERA guy potentially.

[PHinBK]

I'll bet the mortgage that Kendrick will never finish a season with a 3 as the first number of his ERA.*

*i don't have a mortgage

[phlipper]

if he ever gets consistency (by getting lefties out and getting more missed bats) he could be a low 4 high 3 ERA guy potentially.

Adding another 15 mph to his fastball would probably do the trick also.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Kendrick either keeps hte other team's bats quiet or he gets lit up like a Christmas tree. He's done the former frequently enough that I no longer cringe when I see his name as 'tonight's probable'.

Manuel did a nice job with his pitchers last night. Bullpen didn't hold it but, 2-1 leads are dicey for most teams. Great to get a win when the lineup looks like swiss cheese. Whodathunk that the offense would need heavy contributions from Ransom and Valdez, and a homer off a lefty by Ibanez? I look for Howard and/or Werth to make some noise tonight and, hopefully, Brown and Rollins are in teh lineup so Manuel doesn't feel compelled to bat Ibanez 2 and Francisco 3.

[Lake Fred]

I'm listening to the Houston radio driving to work and the announcers are questioning the Astros paying $11 million of the $23 million owed to Oswalt. People act like $12 million dollars grow on trees. The Astros are probably popping the champaign and celebrating, "We just saved $12 million!"

[Sophist]

Kendrick not only could be a low 4, high 3 ERA pitcher, he was a high 3, low 4 ERA pitcher (in 2007, a year in which he struck out fewer batters per nine than he does in 2010).

The key was command - he walked just 1.9 batters per nine innings. In 2010, he has his best BB9 since that year (2.5). He's allowing fewer hits per nine innings this year and striking more batters out.

Kendrick's last 18 starts:

113 IP, 1.22 WHIP, 2.4 BB9, 4.3 K9 -- 3.89 ERA

The only thing is that the advanced run-prevention metrics don't have his 07 season as that much better than his current one. To sustain an ERA that low over a season Kendrick probably needs either some well-placed GB (as he got last night) or to up his GB rate 5-10% across the board.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Don't know if it's old news but, Murpy reporting that Moyer has been told surgery is unnecessary. He plans to rehab aggressively and be ready in time for Spring Training, somewhere.

[Dukes]

Now all the Phillies need is for the Nats to trade Dunn before tonight's game because let's see...they missed Tulowitzki with the Rockies because he was hurt (came back next day), missed Haren because of a trade, will miss Strasburg because of injury, and will miss Matt Capps (having a good year) because of trade. I love it.

[jody reed]

I'm meeting a bunch of friends in DC for the game tonight what would be an acceptable time to leave the Philadelphia area to get down there?

[mainerob]

"I'm meeting a bunch of friends in DC for the game tonight what would be an acceptable time to leave the Philadelphia area to get down there?"

With the weekend summer traffic plus commuter and construction congestion, yesterday anytime would have been the most viable plan.

Have a great time and root our latest acquisition on to victory!

[J T. Ramsay]

Yeah, I drove down to my in-law's last night in Annandale. We'll be there nice and early for today's game. Cannot wait!

[mainerob]

I hope and pray that Rube has not shut the door on getting some heat in the bullpen. Surely, he must have at least in the back of his mind and plan to incorporate someone who is not presently on the roster, but who does have major league experience, into the closer mix just in case Lidge comes up short once again.

Octavio Dotel from the Pirates comes to mind.

[mainerob]

@J.T.: I envy you. I expect you and thousands of other Phillies fans to stand up in the top of the 7th and give Osy a loud shout-out for his brilliant debut in the red pinstripes!