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[Jay]

LET'S DO THIS!!!!

[johnnysanz3]

Blanton vs Juurjens..
so obviously this means phillies blow them out.

[Jay]

I would like the phillies to get to juurjens one time this season.....

[BW]

did anyone see the video of the fan in Houston that ran on the field and jumped and climbed 3 walls in center field and left the park? it is on youtube and called the great fan escape

[Jay]

Mayberry, Howard, Heyward, Rollins and Francisco model Negro League uniforms worn today. http://yfrog.com/h3s9aqkaj

[Fatalotti]

Is Comcast Sportsnet down for anyone else?

[Phil Lee]

Yup CSN just went blank after the pregame show...

[Cadillac Time]

Yes mine is down too. (Far NE)WTF?

[Phantom Limb]

Fat, yessir...

[Brett]

Bucks county here, blacked out.

[fooman]

Sooooo.........

[Phantom Limb]

WTF.... take to the streets!

[Jay]

i'm watching online......

[Hoosier Pop]

Burlington county blacked out. (Has the game been shifted to a national network broadcast?)

[Fatalotti]

Just came back on.

[Phantom Limb]

Your apologies are worthless, THack

[Jay]

espnamerica for me.....with dam braves announcers...UGH!

[Hugh Mulcahy]

What exactly is the derivation of a Black Cracker? And, does anyone feel odd attaching that label to Larry Jones?

[Phantom Limb]

Awesome... Valdez and Francisco... why not?

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Extra Innings has carried solely the Fox Sports South telecast.

[Fatalotti]

The Phillies didn't get anything off Jair Jurjjens in that inning?

I'm shocked. Utterly shocked...

[curt]

Not a whole lot to be optimistic about today...Jurggens, Blanton, Dane, Valdez, Francisco...

[Fatalotti]

There's your game...

[curt]

Oh, and Prado...

[Phantom Limb]

Wish the game was still blacked out.

[Cadillac Time]

OK Fat Joe. Enough!

[Phantom Limb]

Blanton. He makes 8 million a year?

[Fatalotti]

Blanton is throwing batting practice out there. 85 mph flat fastballs right over the heart of the plate.

This could be a long day.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Prado is smoking hot.

Blanton is getting his bad inning out of the way early, hopefully.

[mm]

So Worley or Kendrick?

[Old Phan]

game=over

[David $$$]

Best fifth starter in the league, guys.

[bay_area_phan]

I think maybe it's time to put Blanton back on the DL, whether he's injured or not.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Kendrick

[The Perils of Thinking]

Implode.

[GBrettfan]

Lovely start!

[awh]

Yep, same old homer-friendly Joe Blanton.

Should saves Worley for today and used Blanton in the8th last night...oh, wait...

[Charlie]

Even with a sore arm,

Blanton's my guy!

[awh]

"Should have saved Worley for today..."

[GBrettfan]

"Try to stay out of the middle of the plate with the fastball.". Usually good advice.

[Jay]

HE IS THROWING BATTING PRACTICE!

[Fatalotti]

Nice pitch, but Uggla simply stinks this year.

[curt]

Of course, in a pure meritocracy Worley is making his 4th straight start today. Worley keeps getting the ball until he falters, and Blanton waits his turn. The era of big contracts means that your best team is rarely on the field at any given time.

[GBrettfan]

What if the Phillies stood at the plate for Blanton's warm-up, told him it was already the 1st inning, and told him it's actually the 2nd when he begins facing opposing batters? Think we could trick him into pitching well at game's beginning, that way?

[Jay]

Lets be honest,not many of us thought we would win with joe pitching with a bum elbow!

[kuvasz]

Game's on MLB? I thought MLB blocked out day games on Saturdays.

[Fatalotti]

Joe didn't give up homeruns in the first because he wasn't ready for the game or something.

He gave them up because he threw two 85 mph meatballs right down the heart of the plate.

Nothing really mysterious about it. If he doesn't have his fastball going forward, he'll continue to struggle.

[bay_area_phan]

I have no doubt the Phils would absolutely love to trade Blanton. Problem is, after a bad 2010 & a stint on the 15-day DL in 2011, the only plausible way he could ever recover his trade value is by pitching & pitching well. If he pitches, and doesn't pitch well, then we're not only stuck with him for one more year but he's also costing us games.

Not that it much matters today because, even with Roy Halladay on the mound, we wouldn't beat Jair Jurrjens. He's not only in the starting rotation of the all Phillies killer team. He's the staff ace.

[awh]

What I'd like to know is WTF is the justification for running Blanton out there if he's not healthy - especially against a division rival.

I'd love to hear Charlie and Rube's explanation for that.

[Fatalotti]

With all the slop the Phillies swing at all the time, it's actually surprising to me when they get called out strikes.

So, you swung at that pitch 4 feet out of the zone, but decided to take that one that borderline?

[bay_area_phan]

Looks like a I picked a good day to take my 6-year old to a birthday party. Enjoy the game, everyone. Or perhaps a better piece of advice would be: don't drink too much & don't jump off any ledges.

[cut_fastball]

And the reason former starting pitcher Kyle Kendrick, who owned the Braves last time out is not starting today would be... And the reason KK and his 500 innings (38-26; 4.57 ERA), largely as a starter, was demoted to mop up man was...?

Blanton has pictures of RAJ and Charlie?

It makes me sick how Manual refuses, most of the time, to go with the hot hand. Result? Poor-perfoming higher-paid veterans stay as every day players, or get smacked around. See: Ibanez, Raul; and Lidge, Brad; inter alia.

[Spitz]

Blanton is still hurt but the phils can't replace him in the rotation because the pen is so banged up. Yet there are folks here who don't want lidge to come back. Smart.

[Old Phan]

Raul has actually been good lately, it's just that no one has noticed.

[curt]

I dunno, the 150 posts daily calling for Raul's head vanished a while back.

[Fatalotti]

The bottom of the Braves order is killing the Phillies this year.

Uncanny...

[Cadillac Time]

What are opposing teams Pitchers hitting against us?

[Jay]

is blanton's fastball really only 87?

[awh]

Who is pitching tomorrow?

[Old Phan]

Good job, Polly

[Fatalotti]

Great play by Polly, but I REALLY don't want to see Blanton go through the order a second time. He has absolutely no fastball.

[Andy]

To say "This feels like a loss" doesn't even begin to capture it.

How about: "This feels like a boring, unwatchable loss."

[Jay]

blanton SHOULD not be pitching.....

[Andy]

This half inning especially. Against Jurrjens we have three guys hitting .235, .231 and .222. Really. Ya can't make this stuff up: the pitcher is almost as good a hitter as the two guys ahead of him.

[Jay]

Blanton's got nothing on his pitches. In earlier AB this inning vs. Freeman, only one of his five pitches was faster than 80 MPH.

[curt]

Chances of scoring this inning: .01%

[Old Phan]

Phils should just forfeit this game now.

[Fatalotti]

Maybe Wilson Valdez should try hitting from the other side of the plate. Perhaps he wouldn't hit 70 cot damn percent of his balls on the ground.

Andy, I'm with you, this has the makings of a throw away game.

[David $$$$]

RE: starting Blanton because the bullpen is undermanned.

They needed Worley to come in and pitch that 8th inning yesterday. After all, those were RH batters coming up that inning and we had Bastardo in, who's lefthanded. He can't get righties out! Who do you think he is, J.C. Romero?

[EastFallowfield]

Feels like a perfect game.

[Andy]

Now they're batting .233, .214 and .200.

[curt]

Well, our 7-8-9 occupied Jurrjens for all of 3.5 minutes.

[NEPP]

Yeah, we're gonna get no-hit.

[Andy]

EFF - Won't be a perfect game. One of these Braves hacks will make an error.

[Old Phan]

I don't know the why the Phils bothered to even show up today. There is no way they could possibly win.

[Jay]

that was sad!

[David $$$$]

Why the heck was Blanton activated again? It's not like they don't have acceptable fill-ins. Let him get healthy!

[Andy]

OP - I know you're being sarcastic there. I understand you have to play them all. And they have a chance of winning even in a Blanton vs. Jurrjens game. My main critique isn't that they have a reduced chance of winning but that they seem to know it and that they're boring today.

[whitey]

What's with the nigra league uniforms?

[Iceman]

BAP- Jurrjens is not the ace on the Phillie Killer team. There's no way he's the ace with a 2.45 career ERA against them when you've got Hiroki Kuroda and his 0.68 ERA (if you exclude the playoff start where he pitched hurt). In 26 IP he's given up 7 hits.

Also, Jurrjens is only 4-3 against the Phils in 10 starts. If you want to look at a team he REALLY kills, look at the Mets (11 starts, 8-2 with a 2.54 ERA).

[bullit]

i'm enjoying watching the cool uniforms, even if they are unoccupied. the red pocket flaps are a nice touch. howard looks good in knickers.

[Fatalotti]

Unless Polly hits him, I don't see any Phillie hitting Jurjjens today.

[Lincoln Hawkes]

This seems like a game that should be nationally televised. Annoyed I'm missing the cool unis.

[NEPP]

That was one hell of a pitch to get Polly...it was ball 4 but damn, look at that movement.

[Jay]

there is nothing cool about this game so far.....lol

[rauls grandpà]

My kid is hogging the big screen.
Did anybody else see the NY Times story on Colon's revolutionary elbow surgery (stem cells (actually marrow and fat cells, which Colon corners the market on))?
I am thinking they give this to Young Jamie and have him come back next year throwing heat.

[bullit]

lincoln: the inis are old school visitors grey with PHILA. STARS in red block letters arching across the chest. the hat looks black with a simple block red P.

[Rich D]

The last time the Phillies wore these uniforms in Atlanta was in 1997. We got clobbered 9-1. Deja vu? Naaa, we won't get a hit today.

[Fatalotti]

Well, Blanton has settled in nicely today. Good job by him to at least give us a glimmer of hope that maybe we can win this game if we get Jurjjens out of there.

[Jay]

if there is a plus so far......blanton's off-speed stuff is ok!

[Iceman]

These last two games have told me pretty much what we've known all along about the Braves offense- they are not very good. Tons of chances yesterday, no one could get the big hit. Now they've got Blanton who has absolutely nothing and haven't been able to drive him out of the game.

Basically, the Braves offense = our offense.

[EastFallowfield]

Here are the uniforms in a soso picture.

[Andy]

OK! Our .273, .228, .238 middle of the line-up! Here's where we make hay...

[Lincoln Hawkes]

Thanks Bullit. I was able to get a quick view from the in game video highlights on mlb.com but being that the highlights are Atl's two homers, you don't get to see the Phils much.

[rauls grandpa]

If the Braves are going to rep the Black Crackers they need to have Otis Nixon come out to throw the first pitch. He looks like he played back then and he puts the Crack in crackers.

[Marv]

Well, unless Ben lets go of his bat after a strikeout, I don't know how else we'll get him out of there

[Marv]

Man, this feels like a no-no

[Andy]

Ben Fran is due, baby.

[nonamePHame]

Ben Francisco needs to be benched he has pop-up power

[Rich D]

I have a feeling the Phillies will flirt with being no-hit several times this season.