Game chat: Phillies, Mets settle up in prime time

Kyle Kendrick (7-5, 4.60) and Mike Pelfrey (11-6, 3.95) occupy ESPN's prime time slot tonight when the Phillies and Mets play the rubber game of their three-game tilt. First pitch is 8:05. Lineups are posted: Rollins SS, Victorino CF, Polanco 3B, Ibanez LF, Werth RF Dobbs IB, Ruiz C, Valdez 2B. The Phils are hoping for a better outing from Kendrick than his last start, a 3 1-3 inning terd Tuesday against the Dodgers. The Phils and Mets have done nothing but exchange shutouts this season at Citi Field. [Jump to the newest comments]

Comments

[steve]

there was a bad slider haha

[Sophist]

Medlen was the Braves second best starter, not their "fifth starter."

Fatalotti, how many pitchers threw over 1000 IP in the time span I cited?

[Hope SE]

Don't want to talk to soon but . . . could 2008 Lidge be back?

[Fatalotti]

A win here would a monumental accomplishment for the Phillies. The Mets have conistently had 9 left handed batters facing Kendrick/Lidge for 7.2 innings, and somehow, unable to score more than 1 run. This is why they play the game.

[Mr. Mack]

Boy, these guys are really trying to put the jinx on the Phillies, yapping on and on about the Mets lack of offense tonight.

C'mon Brad. One more.

[NEPP]

That's 2.

[MG]

This 'only throwing sliders' thing is going to blow up against Lidge sooner than later. Looks like it won't happen tonight though.

[steve]

Victo should be leading off, I am a firm believer in that

[Old Phan]

Game = Over

[Malcolm]

QS% for Phillies ...

Roy Halladay: 76% (25)
Roy Oswalt: 67% (3)
Cole Hamels: 63% (24)
Kyle Kendrick: 50% (22)
Jamie Moyer: 47% (19)
Joe Blanton: 47% (19)
JA Happ: 0% (3)
Nelson Figueroa: 0% (1)

Phillies: 56% (117)

[Sophist]

Mets hit the ball hard there in the 9th

[Replacement Player]

Nine pitches. Whaddya know?

[Thump Bump]

Wow, a quick save by Lidge - trying to remember the last time this team had a quick 9th like that (in a win).

[Bruce Ruffin]

Wow... we don' need no steenkin' wil' card!!!!!

[Dukes]

Not trying to be smart, but was that out to deep right from Carter out at CBP?

[NEPP]

Great 1-2-3 inning by Lidge.

He's somehow more effective at 89 than 95 this year...probably due to his location on the fastball and command of his out pitch (slider)

[MG]

Nice series by the Phils. Took 2 of 3 and kept pace with the Braves and picked up ground on the Giants.

This Mets team though didn't show much all series though. Wonder what they will be like come Sept.

[CJ]

Some day, that Kyle Kendrick will learn how to pitch... particularly against left handers. Then he might actually have a future.

Great win, another series win... and the wild card leaders!

[Mick in Houston]

Bullpen looked outstanding tonight. Extra points to Mad dog and Lidge.

[Andy]

Three guys with a total of under 600 career ABs. An 89 mph fastball is okay coupled by this slider.

Incidently, his placement of said slider was superb tonight.

[seattlephan]

1-2-3 inning -- that lidge-tastic!

great game by KK and a well deserved series win. can't wait to see Uts and Ryno back in the lineup next week!

[Mr. Mack]

Nice comfortable win on a miserable, wet night in NY. Can't wait to see the line up intact on Tuesday night.

[Old Phan]

J Roll and Vic playing top notch J Roll and Vic games.

[NEPP]

Should we be concerned that he didn't break 90 mph?

I mean:http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfxo.aspx?playerid=563&position=P&pitch=FA

That's a hell of a drop from even earlier this year.

[Dukes]

Great game all the way around. It starts with KK but the offense showed an ability to play small ball with some steals and good baserunning. I wonder if there was a conversation about having a different approach in that park.

[Sophist]

Sometimes Ruiz tells Lidge just to challenge them. That lineup in that park , may not be a bad idea.

Vic and Rollins with big nights.

[NEPP]

Tied for the WC now...with 2 games in hand.

[Fatalotti]

Sophist, he may have been a mean, green innings eater prior to his time with the Phillies. My point from the very beginning was that he has not been an innings eater since he got here. He had a fairly decent year last year, but 195.1 IP last year is nothing to write home about. In 2008 during his time here, in 13 starts, he had 70.2 IP, or 5.44 IP per start. This season, he is definitley not an innings eater, unless an innings eater is someone who simply makes all his starts (once he gets back from the DL). Blanton might have been an innings eater before he was here. Since he's been here, he has not been an innings eater. And if has been an innings eater, what would you call someone like Halladay. A game eater? Nice outing by Lidge.

[PhillyBlunt]

Big series for both SFG and the Phils up next. But maybe more important for the Giants, who go on the road to Philadelphia, then to StL and then to Cinci. If they come up small, they could be staring oblivion in the face come September.

[MG]

Phils only 3.5 GB from the best record in the NL besides 2 GB from Braves and dead even with the Giants.

Huge series coming up vs. Giants. Should be fun to watch.

[Dukes]

Wow, NEPP, that chart is aweful to look at. At this rate, he'll be lucky to have Jamie Moyer's fastball next year.

[AFish]

I think there's a decent chance the radar gun was off tonight. Every pitcher's velocity was down.

[NEPP]

Getting Howard and Utley back this week would make for some interesting games.

We've been playing pretty well despite missing our 2 best position players.

[NEPP]

Good call on the gun, Afish. That would make a bit more sense.

[MG]

Tip of the cap from KK. Thought the Phils need a really good outing from him (6-7 IP, 2 ER) in the previous thread for the Phils to win and he delievered.

[EastFallowfield]

Lidge is perfect in save opps against the Mets, thank in LARGE part to Eric Bruntlett.

You talking about the game where Bruntlett misplays put runners on, then Bruntlett had an unassisted triple play?

[Fatalotti]

I'd rather have Lidge spotting a 90 MPH fastball on the corners than missing a 94 MPH a foot off the plate.

[Fatalotti]

Eastfallowfield...yeah.

[Dukes]

I never thought I'd say this, but it's ashame we get Zito, Cain, and Sanchez as opposed to Lincicum in this series coming up. Those are two tough lefty's if they are on and Cain is quite formitable.

[p. Red]

Nice job by KK. Although I have to say I'm not surprised, once again the BL Reverse Jinx works its magic. Phils got great pitching all series. Only 2 runs against in 3 games. Almost makes up for the shut-out series.

With all that great pitching, it's a shame we couldn't get the sweep. I know he would never say it, but do you think Hamels is a little annoyed that Kendrick now has more wins than him?

[Sophist]

Fatalotti - throwing 195 IP and right around or over 200 for his 5tg year in a row is eating innings. And the comparison to Doc falls in line with the point I made earlier. You don't call Randy Johnson an innings eater either. They're aces. It would be like calling the good versions of Harden or Sheets aces because of their K numbers or ERA. Innings eater usually implies some degree of mediocrity but there's lots of value there. I can't look it up at the moment but very few pitchers threw as many innings as Blanton in that time (and he was around 29 in 2008).

[denny b.]

NEPP,

LA made it sound like on the radio broadcast that Lidge's drop in velocity is "by design".

Not sure I completely buy that, but who knows.

His biggest problem over the years has been command, so maybe he is trying to adjust.

[HammRadio]

@nepp - the answer to your Blanton question?

from 2005 to 2010, Blanton is #15 in innings pitched.

Sabathia, Haren, Halladay, Santana, Arroyo, Buehrle, Oswalt, Lowe, L. Hernandez, Garland, Vazquez, Zito, Pettite, Lackey
are the names in front of him.

[Mick 0]

The term "innings-eater" never EVER carried a connotation of a complete game machine. That line odf reasoning to condemn Blanton is preposterous. The term is not -- and never has been - used for top-flight 8-9 IP pitchers. The term "innings-eater" is used for guys who battle through and very, very rarely blow up and need to be yanked in the first three innings. The may get knocked around a bit but they settle down, don't get rattled and grind it out.

For the majority of his time in a Phils uniform, Blanton has been a fine 4-5 starter and has at times far, far exceeded that.

Blame his agent for getting him his contract. It's not like Blanton held out. But, yeah that would be typical BL to blame a guy for doing his job.

[denny b.]

Anybody think Raul's recent ice cold streak, coincides with him playing every day again for a prolonged period of time?

I don't.

Raul should be treated more like a platoon guy now. Granted when the injuries hit to others and he started swinging better, he almost had to stay in the lineup. But now that Vic is back and Utley and Howard are coming back, I think Raul should hit the pine more often again.

[MG]

Baserunning though was the difference in this game though tonight. Both JRoll and Vic helped to manufacture a run tonight by stealing 2B and Werth had a heads up play by getting a triple on a ball that Pagan misplayed in RF.

When you are missing your 2 best hitters and don't have much power in your lineup, great baserunning is essential and that is something the Phils have been very good at the past few years.

[MG]

You got the impression from the broadcast tonight too that Pelfrey was easy to run on. Coming into tonight, he has only given up 8 SB/4 CS in 24 GS.

[Fatalotti]

Sophist, there are easily 50 pitchers this season who are on pace for 200 IP, and they aren't all aces. Blanton had a season with 230 IP, and one with 201. Other than that, he's been aroudn 196. So if his big claim to fame is that he can give you around 200 IP a year of 98 ERA+ pitching (his career rate), then that's not much of a claim to fame. If what he's done is enough to qualify you as an innings eater, than the term is essentially meaningless. By the way, last year, several people referred to Cliff Lee as an innings eater as well as an ace. and with him, the term has meaning.

[CJ]

Yo, new thread.

[denny b.]

I think Ole Jerry Manual helped KK a lot tonight.

Sure, KK struggles to get lefty's out. That is no secret.

But what Jerry did, stacking his lineup almost exclusively with LH hitters, I think, helped KK get into a groove. He was seeing lefty after lefty and eventually, he found his groove and started moving the ball where he wanted.

Plus, the Mets offense stinks and they look like they are counting the days down to the end of the season. That didn't hurt either.

In the next 33 games, the Phils play 23 teams at or under .500 The Giants are about to hit a brutul stretch in their schedule.

Time to get control of the wild card race and give yourself a 2 way go, in late September for the playoffs.