Game chat: NL contenders clash in Philadelphia

Left-hander Barry Zito (8-6, 3.44) and Roy Oswalt (7-13, 3.34) do the honors when the Giants and Phillies start a crucial set beginning tonight at 7:05. (Getty Images)

Notes: The playoff race feels like it officially begins tonight with two combatants locked in a virtual tie for the Wild Card lead with 45 to play. Time for scoreboard watching. Time for four daily blog entries. Just full-throttle Phils until the final pitch of the season. Looking at this matchup, the Phils have not been sharp against the pitching-strong Giants lately, going 4-8 and hitting just .184 against them in their last dozen games. However, they are 12-4 in their last 16 meetings at Citizens Bank Park where they have been fire hot lately, going 15-2 in their last 17. Chase Utley is back. When we last saw him, he was sort of sputtering along. Time will tell whether the time off was the "blessing in disguise" as many had hoped. Certainly, the loss column didn't suffer greatly. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard is not expected back for this series, according to reports. Strangely, this will be Oswalt's fourth start against the Giants this season; all of them have been against Tim Lincecum, and despite pitching decently, he's lost every single one of them. As for the Giants, they are one of only three National League clubs that play above .500 ball on the road (30-29), but are just 24-34 against teams over .500.

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Comments

[dlhunter]

I don't think I can handle four daily blog entries, JW.

It's never been tried, like Warp 9 or something.

[Jack]

Yeah, but if he did four entries a day, all of high quality, his WARB would be pretty damn good. Wins Above Replacement Blogger, of course.

[Jack]

Damn, Polanco almost had that. Would've been a big play.

[MG]

Take that tradeoff any day.

[dlhunter]

Thank you Mlb.com, for only providing the Spanish radio feeds tonight.

[Pizzda]

PtB gets the expected standing O.

[Pizzda]

Wow.

[MG]

Booooooooo!!!

[Jack]

Why the hell is Oswalt throwing that changeup? Come on dude.

[MG]

That was a textbook meatball.

[Pizzda]

Nice meatball served up there.

[Dukes]

A high changeup to a powerhitter...are you kidding me? His command is way off.

[dlhunter]

Radio feeds back and, oh hell. F@ck, Pat. I never liked that guy anyway.*

*I would have said something different a couple minutes ago.

[Noah]

Question for someone watching: is Oswalt getting squeezed or does have have no feel?

[MG]

I thought Oswalt was starting tonight. Not Blanton.

[The Truth Injection]

if that changeup was where it was called it works. When it tailed that far back over the plate it's going to get crushed.

And by works, I mean it probably stays in the yard.

[Pizzda]

Oswalt isn't getting squeezed.

[Dukes]

He has no feel. He got squeezed on the second pitch to Burrell but that was it.

[MaDubbs]

It is the 1st inning, plenty of time to come back here, Utley is back to spark the line up, they need to work counts against Zito.

[Spitz]

Don't worry, his dead arm will be fine by the beginning of the 2012 season.

[Dukes]

Why did the Giants look like such a bad hitting team against the Braves? Hmmmm...

[awh]

Did Joe Blanton pitch the 1st? WTF.

[MaDubbs]

Come on Utley!

[Dukes]

Well, look at it this way. Somehow Valdez would have made that a double play.

[phatti]

Hey guys--good pitchers give up runs sometimes. Oswalt will be fine.

[The Truth Injection]

God I missed Chase's hustle.

[TK]

FEET FIRST!

[MG]

5 changeups for Oswalt in the 1st. Wonder if the scouting report said the Giants are a bit more vulnerable to it.

[wejssw]

ugh

[MG]

Ugh. Another terrible AB by Werth with RISP.

[brother]

C'mon Vic, let's get some runs.

[The Truth Injection]

crushed right at someone. That always sucks.

[Pizzda]

Let's go, O. Easy inning here.

[NEPP]

I'm at the point where I officially wont miss Jayson Werth next year...how many times can a single player sh!t the bed with RISP?

[MG]

Werth is 16-102 (.157) with RISP. Literally has got into his head at this point.

[BobbyD]

Roy Oswalt gives up 2 runs in the 1st and the sky is falling.

[aksmith]

Charlie insists on putting Werth in high leverage positions. He has proven this season that he is simply not up to the task. If ever there was a guy who should be leading off it is Werth. He'd be having a hall of fame season from the leadoff spot. And it's obvious he can hit because with nobody on he's having a great season.

[MG]

Oswalt threw changeups against Posey and Burrell who both have very good numbers against changeups this year.

[Pizzda]

That's what I'm talking about.

[NEPP]

I agree completely, aksmith. Just bat him leadoff already.

Its purely mental...maybe moving him to leadoff jolts him into hitting with RISP again. So odd to be that terrible suddenly.

[MG]

No changeups that inning. Went with the 4-seemer/sinker primarily. Some poor pitch selection from Chooch.

[MG]

Meant in the 1st inning.

[curt]

When I complained about Sweeney at cleanup, it never occurred to me that Cholly would go to the worst guy (by far) in the ML with RISP.

[GTown_Dave]

Charlie batting Werth cleanup ... again ... proves once & for all he's dumber than a bag of hammers. And why is Ibañez, who has been hitting very well, now buried in the 7 hole? Unbelievable.

[Dukes]

Take that, Jack! (JK)

[MaDubbs]

Gtown Dave, I agree with you, It looks like he was trying to do, righty lefty against Zito, I don't agree with it at all.

[Pizzda]

How dare Raul get a hit and ruin the BL script!

[The Truth Injection]

I guess Ibanez just showed all of you that complained about him starting tonight. Second hardest hit ball off Zito so far.

[MG]

Nice swing by Ibanez. Guess he won't go for that 0fer.

[MG]

F@ck. Didn't turn over the lineup.

[The Truth Injection]

It's really amazing that Zito looked as bad as he did when he first came over to the Giants. Since about the ASB last year he has looked much more like the Zito that pitched with the A's

[Hope SE]

Zito appears to be about 2 mph+ Moyer territory. Fastball at 85, change at 75 or less.

Phils do not hit left-handed junk ballers.

[bay_area_phan]

This is the kind of game the Phillies absolutely never win. It would simply be too easy to grab the WC lead when it's there for the taking. That isn't the Phillies' way. They are the best chasers in all of baseball, but they are absolutely horrible leaders.

[MG]

Hope - Topped out at 85.7 MPH and he has been below 85 MPH so far tonight. Changeup has been at 75.

[curt]

Jimmy's still a step slow.

[Fatalotti]

I wonder if Zito is going to pitch until he's 47. I wonder if the Phillies are going to put up more than 2 runs this series. Last year they only put up 2 runs in the series when SF came to Philly, but ended up winning 2 of 3.

[Pizzda]

Mr. Roll, what was the rush?

[Fatalotti]

This feels like more than a loss. This feels like it's going to be a very frustrating game to watch.

[curt]

Werth would look real good leading off for the next 2 1/2 months.

[dlhunter]

This feels like a blah.

[denny b.]

JRoll looks old.

He needs to be hitting much lower in the lineup. Problem is, this team has no top of the order hitter....unless Cholly got smart and put Werth there.

[Hope SE]

Was Zito a junkballer in 2002 when he won the Cy Young? I never thought of him as such, but don't follow the AL closely.

[Pizzda]

A couple of weak ABs there.

[NEPP]

Zito was never a power guy...but he used to hit the low 90s IIRC.

[bay_area_phan]

This feels like it's going to be a bad series.

[Jack]

For years, people have asked the Phillies to become a more "smallball", singles-hitting lineup, which is less reliant on the HR. Well, that's what we've become.

In a totally unrelated note, we're going to score a lot fewer runs this year.

[Dukes]

How many times to the Phillies have a chance early and then have terrible AB's the rest of the way? Probably happens with other teams, too, but it just feels like the way it works so often with these guys.

[NEPP]

Or maybe not...per his velocity readings on Fangraphs, he averaged about 87 that year.

[Dukes]

There we go, that's the PtB we all know and love.

[Fatalotti]

Oswalt seems to have settled in. Knowing his year so far, he'll go 7 innings of 2-3 ER, and lose.

[NEPP]

Oswalt probably misses the great run support he got in Houston.

[MG]

Zito never threw hard in Oakland but he was a guy who did reach 87-88 while in an A's uniform. He also had a more devastating curveball.

Biggest adjustment with his was the mechanics adjustment he made and getting in better offseason shape this past year.

[Bruce Ruffin]

Come on bap... I realize I don't bring as much to the table in Phillies minutia, but when I'm more optimistic than ya'll... help!

[wejssw]

PtB -

Predicted: 2 for 4, 1 2b, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K

So far: 1 for 2, 0 2b, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K

[denny b.]

Jack,

Everybody in baseball is scoring fewer runs.

Its the year of the pitcher. And guys have "shrunk".

[MG]

No surprise that Oswalt is looking alot better after he basically abandoned his changeup since the 1st.

Threw 5 that inning including the meatball to Burrell and has thrown 2 since then.

[Pizzda]

Dukes, yea, Pat normally strikes out every AB. I can't figure out how he's batting over .000

[The Truth Injection]

If JW really wants to up the merchandise on here maybe we can make a talking BAP key chain or something that has all your favorite sayings like:

"Season = over"

"This feels like a loss"

Then you'd be able to sit somewhere and be the ultimate dash of cold water at the most opportune times.

[Pizzda]

Phillies are down 2-0 in the 4th.
Series = Over

[HammRadio]

@bap -- "They are the best chasers in all of baseball, but they are absolutely horrible leaders"

I guess you are conveniently forgetting 2009.

[Jack]

denny b: Are you implying guys on the Phillies took steroids? No, that can't be. As most posters have told us, players who took steroids are the devil and have ruined the sport. There couldn't possibly be any Phillies who have participated in such despicable actions.

[MG]

Oswalt has settled in. Just a little high on the pitch count (67 through 4 IP).

[NEPP]

Oswalt's pitch count shot up that inning, eh?

Some long ABs there.

[TK]

Old Phan, those backwards Ks were a Pat the Bat stalwart.

BTW is it me or does Oswalt have a nasty moving fastball? I feel like he misses so many bats with it. Or is it because he sets it up so much with offspeed stuff?

Clearly I don't feel like doing my own research.

[Fatalotti]

Ahh, it's nice to see a hitter take what the pitcher is giving them and not trying to send it 10 seats deep. Come on Jayson, he's not in scoring positino....this is where you shine!

[Jack]

The Nats just had Kevin Mench hitting with 2 guys on base. Needless to say, they didn't score.

This is what we're relying on to beat the Braves. Someone tell me again why it's going to be easy to catch them? Have you looked at their schedule? They're probably going to sweep the Nats here, if they win tonight with Minor pitching.

[limoguy]

Werth has this guy measured now.

[HammRadio]

@TTI-- actually beerleaguer themed snuggies soaked in water would be a best seller...

[Fatalotti]

And yet another hard hit ball right at a fielder. This is getting old.

[NEPP]

Great job as always Jayson.

[MG]

TK - He has tonight. Has 5 swing/misses on 22 FF so far.

[clout]

This game reminds me that you could make up a pretty good team from players that Beerleaguers over the years have declared washed up or not good enough to play in the major leagues: Zito, Burrell, Moyer, Kendrick, Garland, Huff just for starters.

[NEPP]

Just brutal.

[Fatalotti]

So, the only reason we've gotten anyone to 2nd base so far tonight was because of a Pablo Sandoval error. Like I said, frustrating...

[Spitz]

Jesus Clout, how many games would a team led by those 6 players win? 50?

[MG]

Phils aren't scoring tonight against Zito and he is only at 52 tonight.

Could see him going 8 IP tonight and then bringing out Wilson for the 9th.

[clout]

Oh, and Ibanez of course.

[bay_area_phan]

clout: I get what you're saying but, if that's your core, that does not sound like a pretty good team. It sounds like a pretty bad team.

[Jack]

MG: Yeah, Wilson is too good to be down after 8. We need to get to Zito, and soon.

[Pizzda]

I think Beerleaguer Prozac would be a big hit.