Saturday chat: Phillies Gload up against King Felix

Ross Gload, who delivered a key pinch hit in Wednesday's twin bill nightcap, earns a rare start and will serve as DH tonight when recalled right-hander Vance Worley meets reigning Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez in the second set between the Phillies and Mariners. First pitch is 10:10. The Phillies go Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Polanco, Ibanez, Gload, Brown, Ruiz. Domonic Brown will look to break out of his recent funk. He's 4-for-his-last-37 (.108) and hitless in his last 12 at bats with runners in scoring position, according to the pre-game notes. [Jump to the newest comments]

Comments

[Scotch Man]

The MLB 2K11 version went alright. I knocked Felix out in the third and got 6 runs off him. Went the distance with Worley.

[Iceman]

This feels like a...well, you know.

Hunter Pence, our future RF, getting an MRI on his elbow. Uh oh!

[MG]

I bet they will get one or two chances vs. King Felix like they did last night to cash in.

The real question is whether Worley can give them say 6 and 2 tonight (or better). Less certain of that.

[the_berger]

Let's hope Gloadie sticks to HRs so he can take his time rounding the bases...

[NEPP]

Nice start...

[Hugh Mulcahy]

This will be Gload's 4th "start" of the season, with the caveat that DHing isn't really playing baseball. Half a start?

Anyway, last time he homered was about 6 or 7 starts ago, or 70 plate appearances, dating to 8/10/10. Must be tough to have his job. Seriously.

[NEPP]

Another meaningless RBI.

[NEPP]

So...what the hell is up with Polly? He's been terrible for nearly 2 months now.

[They Call Me The King Of The Bop]

Nice to get a run woo

[NEPP]

Worley not looking good.

[Iceman]

Why do you give Smoak anything to hit? He is the only guy in the lineup that can really hurt you. Don't challenge him. Come on.

[MS69]

Wasn't exactly a quick inning but I'll take no runs.

[NEPP]

Not exactly a gold glove move there.

[Chris in VT]

NEPP - Regression to the mean? There was no way Polly was going to maintain his April pace...

[Iceman]

Ichiro might be in the AL, but he has already made the Wheels All-Star Team with the way he's gushing over him. He joins Jose Rey-ass and Hunter Pence among others.

Gload might have a bum hip, but he's still faster than Ibanez.

[NEPP]

Regression is one thing but he's been giving us Valdez type numbers since the end of April...its a minor concern at this point.

[bay_area_phan]

Dom Brown is the world's most accomplished practitioner of the infield groundout

[Iceman]

Another meatball. I thought KK left the rotation.

[GBrettfan]

I thought this was a pitchers' ballpark.

[Get Rube A Beer]

I don't understand why we didnt get one of these top prospects from the m's for lee...

[Iceman]

Carlos Peguero. Adam Kennedy. Brendan Ryan. Mike Carp. A guy making his second major league start. These are the guys that will win or sweep this series from the Phils.

[Charlie Hayes]

Bullpen better be ready tonight.

[They Call Me The King Of The Bop]

Worley punching his ticket to Allentown. A mess

[NEPP]

Worley seems to be imploding...against a terrible Mariners lineup.

[Iceman]

Oh damn, I forgot Greg Halman. He was tearing it up in AAA with a .257 avg before Seattle had to call him up. With his numbers you just have to see what he can do at the ML level.

[NEPP]

This is painful to watch.

[Charlie Hayes]

Dubee just told Polanco to shut up and start hitting.

[Ron Jones]

Seems like they could've had the double play there - it was hit so hard.

[NEPP]

Are Worley's glasses all fogged up or something?

[Iceman]

That ball couldn't have been hit harder to Utley. That's a dead DP ball even with Usain Bolt running.

[They Call Me The King Of The Bop]

ron- Nix. We are talking doubling up Ichiro here. Smart play by Utley

[whitey]

Does Oswalt's $16 million option look more attractive today?

[Charlie Hayes]

Carlos Carrasco's streak of 21 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run was snapped today against the Pirates, but he did pitch well to earn his 7th win today.

[NEPP]

48 pitches through 2 IP

[3r0ck]

What's so bad? Not watching but at a tie game one to one it doesn't look so bad

[curt]

Carrasco has always had great stuff. He may be figuring out how to use it.

[3r0ck]

Disregard. Just saw worley's pitch count. Oh boy

[Charlie Hayes]

Ackley looks just like Utley in the field.

[NEPP]

Carrasco was pretty solid last year too in his late season callup. He's only 24 afterall.

[whitey]

So the new pitching rotation will be:
Hamels
Halladay
Lee
Oswalt
Other

Works for me.

[Iceman]

I can't believe Carrasco is only 24. It feels like I've been hearing about him for a decade. Good for him if he's finally putting it all together.

[Mike]

Watching the freebie on MKBTV... it's the Seattle broadcast..... most annoying broadcast... ever... they've got their idiot fans mic'd up

[Mike]

and their broadcasters make me want to jam a pencil in my eye...

this guy is like a white Magic Johnson....

[Ron Jones]

At this rate, Worley may not make it past 3 innings. Is KK available tonight?

[Iceman]

If Worley gives them 5 innings, you'd have to consider it a victory at this point.

[Charlie Hayes]

Yeah, I thought Carrasco was older too. I see Marson caught the game today - looks like he has a future as a backup.

[Mike]

Ah... well I'm really grateful to know about the exciting finish for the Seattle Sounders

[NEPP]

The Indians love Marson's defense behind the plate. His bat hasn't really transferred to the Majors but defensively he's been solid.

[curt]

Anyone questioning Roy's "heart" didn't see him last night leaping in sync with Raul on one of those deep flies to LF, basically trying to will the ball into Raul's glove.

[backinphl]

i hope worley did not get glavin-ized -- and ends up like floyd- getting f-uped in phl then makes a successful career somewhere els
e.

carrasco is an example how the phils had no patience with him - but became successful w/ a change in scenery.

[Ron Jones]

Polly's average continues to fall.

[Mike]

Damn Polanco,,,,,

Well... it IS Felix

[NEPP]

We used Carrasco as the centerpiece in a trade for Cliff Lee...we hardly "lost patience" with him. The other trade option at the time was Kyle Drabek who we obviously traded too.

It was a good trade and is looking a bit more even than we thought at the time.

[whitey]

Carrasco is successful?

[Mike]

Again, I find myself wondering why Mayberry is in LV with the present bench....

[NEPP]

Well, Carrasco had a good run last year and is doing okay lately but I'd give it a ways more until I call him "successful" as an MLB pitcher. He does have good stuff though...always has.

[Charlie Hayes]

Worley's line through 3 is about the same as Felix's through 4 innings well except for the pitch count.

[Ron Jones]

Worley pitching a lot like Oswalt last night.

[Cyclic]

What's wrong with Polanco? Is he hurt? Did he forget how to hit?

[GBrettfan]

A 1-2-3 inning - Yay!

[NEPP]

8 pitch inning.

Worley on pace for a 150 pitch CG tonight.

[Heather]

This is Worley's what...6th or 7th MLB start? Don't get so down on him. It's not like he's blowing up. Yet.

[Iceman]

NEPP- he's 'stretched out' now, so don't be surprised if Cholly pushes him to 190 or 200 pitches.

[Mike]

All things considered I think Worley has overperformed our expectations in the few starts he's had.. he only gotten bombed once if I recall...

[Charlie Hayes]

Brown's average free falling as well - it'd be nice if Rube can work out a deal for a proven outfielder.

[Cyclic]

Brown. Not ready.

[Cyclic]

Why can't Chooch pretend it's the 9th or later?

[Iceman]

Sarge talking about how he liked when the Cy Young winner had to have 20+ wins gives you an idea of the type of intelligence put on display nightly in the Phils broadcast booth.

[PhilsGal]

He also just referred to Venezuela as an island.

[Cyclic]

I wish Vic wouldn't swing at the worst pitches ever.

[Charlie Hayes]

Last inning for Worley. Baez pitch the 6th?

[Mike]

The Seattle guys make Sarge look like Socrates.....

[Cyclic]

I gave up on the Seattle guys after last night. They made it seem like the Mariners were a little league team playing against world champions. Every single thing the Mariners did right was "WOW!" "OH MY GOD!" "YES!"

So I've been putting up with Wheels/Sarge/TBag

[Iceman]

Mike- yeah, I'm not sure how necessarily dumb they are based on the Small Sample Size. But they are incredibly annoying. They rival Hawk Harrelson.

[Mike]

They're ahh.. Hammy as hell,... like an Old Vaudeville comedy routine...

[Iceman]

PITCH AROUND SMOAK.

[Mike]

I'd settle for a gutsy 6 from worley if he can hold them to one run

[Heather]

You guys talk about the Mariner's TV broadcasters being inappropriately excited? I was on a road trip last night and got stuck listening to the Mariners radio broadcast on Sirius. They got so excited on a routine single you would've thought a guy got a 5 run homer. It was excruciating.

[Iceman]

Nevermind.

[Mike]

Cyclic summed it up pretty well I think...

OH WOW YEAH!!!! WOW!!!!!

Then again only a month ago a single from the Phillies pretty much drew the same reaction from me......

[Cyclic]

Heather, yeah exactly. Excruciating is the perfect word for it. Unbelievable.

[EastFallowfield]

M's booth did have Jamie Moyer there for an inning or so tonight.

[Mike]

Unfortunately they brought Jamie down rather than him bringing them up... Jamie was kind of getting all "nyuk nyuk" himself...

Sounded like my Uncle after he polishes off 12 PACK....

[Heather]

The umpire is giving Hernandez a very wide strike zone which probably accounts for part of Hernandez's low pitch count.

[Mike]

he's definitely getting another couple of inches on the outside of the plate

[NEPP]

Not a terrible outing for Worley. He settled in and gave them 5 solid innings.

[Mike]

Mariners guys just compared Stutes to Huston Street..... not a bad observation actually

[MS69]

Nice catch on the broken bat in the stands.

[bay_area_phan]

NEPP: Agreed. If it were one of our Big 4 on the mound tonight, I wouldn't have a lot of good things to say about his performance. But if your 6th/7th starter can match Felix Hernandez for 5 innings, there isn't much cause for complaint.

[Ron Jones]

Interesting to see the starter (Harrison) in the Rangers game today came back out after a 2+ hour delay in the 5th inning.

[Iceman]

Raul didn't look like he went there, but if I were him I'd just hang my head and walk back to the dugout because he had no shot of getting a hit there. He looked completely lost.

[Mike]

Gawd... Felix's curve is absolutely filthy

[Heather]

LA going nuts on the strike zone. Love LA.

[Heather]

"Interesting to see the starter (Harrison) in the Rangers game today came back out after a 2+ hour delay in the 5th inning."

Well, it's the Rangers and correct me if you've heard differently, but I've heard the Rangers are trying to toughen up their pitchers...more pitches, deeper into games, etc. Maybe sending them out there after 2 hours is part of the non-pampering process.

[NEPP]

Not Ready.

A shame Gload was on 1B or it might be a 2-1 game.

[Mike]

one out this late... why didn't they pinch run for Gload????

[Iceman]

Gload busting it around 2nd there to take 3rd! Way to take two bases on the double dude!

[Charlie Hayes]

Gload's inability to run cost a run in that spot.

[bay_area_phan]

Nice to see Dom finally get a hit. Unfortunately, it looked to me like about 95% of the players in baseball would have scored from 1st on that hit.

[NEPP]

Guys who wouldn't have scored:

Molina (any of them)
Jorge Posada
Brian Schneider