Game chat: Phillies vs. Marlins, Irene eyes Northeast

The Phillies and Marlins have decided to scrap Saturday night's game in anticipation of Hurricane Irene. In the meantime, they'll play the first game tonight and hope for the best for Saturday's 1:05 portion of the proposed double-header. Roy Oswalt and Clay Hensley have the honors tonight beginning at 7:05. [Jump to the newest comments]

Comments

[Bigot-to]

Let's see if they make it through tonight with no rain.

[Cyclic]

Mayberry is our LF now I guess.

[Little Ollie]

I doubt they get in tomorrow's game even at 1 p.m.

[Scotch Man]

Hope they guys rest up. No days off for the rest of the season with the Braves making serious noise. We're screwed.

Season=Over

[Rauls grandpa]

This just in, Wheels drove his 1987 LeBaron Convertible to his insurance agent's office and payed $76.50 to insure his "broadcast quality toupee" in case of disaster this weekend.

[denny b.]

Looking at the hour-by-hour forecasts, it doesn't look good for baseball after 3:00 tomorrow.

Just start the game at 11:00 AM. Is there a rule that says, you can't start a game before Noon?

If the afternoon game gets rained out (which I think ends up happening), then what is the plan? Play one of the two games next weekend in Florida? Play the other on September 15th in Philly?

MLB screwed this one up royally. The Phils/Marlins, Orioles/Yankees, Red Sox/A's and Mets/Braves should all be playing DH's today. And that should have been decided on Wednesday (to give teams and fans a chance to get prepared for that).

Its not like you have much wiggle-room when you are in Late August.

The Phils could have a brutally long September stretch coming (with at least one DH already planned), so getting as many wins as possible in the next week to 10 days is paramount. Put the division race officially to bed so those last 2 weeks mean very little and you can pull the reigns back on the starting pitchers and wounded every-day players.

One question I would have, is who was the moron who only scheduled 1 off-day in the month of September for the Phils? Talk about lame scheduling.

[Fatalotti]

denny b, if they can make it to 3pm tomorrow, they may have 5 innings in the books, so the game could be official.

[Little Ollie]

71% chance of rain by 1 p.m. tomorrow:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.91079&lon=-75.24673&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

[Little Ollie]

Not to mention the wind which will be at 14 mph by 1 p.m. tomorrow.

[SLO Phan]

Who's this Hensley guy? Wait, let me guess...a soft tossing righty?

[M E]

Longtime lurker just breaking in here to ask if anyone knows who's got tomorrow afternoon's game on TV.

[Scott]

M E: PHL 17.

[whitey]

Marlins declined the double header today because they had a doubleheader on Wednesday.

[phanatic's brother]

I remember going to a game in '03 when a hurricane was blowing in . the game got moved to 1 from 7. Phils beat Dontrelle Willis and were making a nice run toward the playoffs. But it eventually didnt happen.

[Fatalotti]

Oh come on, Valdez!

[bay_area_phan]

Well, this game is off to a lovely start.

[Willard Preacher]

Come back soon, Jimmy.

[bay_area_phan]

That was a sub-optimal outcome for Florida. I'll take it.

[Fatalotti]

That could have been a lot worse. I can deal with this.

[SLO Phan]

Today would be a nice day for one of Howard's 4 RBI games.

[psd]

With Howard barely in the box its amazing that any pitcher would ever even consider throwing a pitch that wasn't away.

[bay_area_phan]

I noticed how the Phillies' tv announcers, during Wednesday's game, alluded to Howard's tendency for hot Septembers. Funny how it has been whittled down from "hot second halves" to "hot Septembers."

[Willard Preacher]

BAP, they went so far as to say "he usually has a hot September, with Pence he's getting an early start" when he was the player of the week. You know, that one week when he was actually hot after Pence arrived...

[whitey]

Mike Schmidt used to stand further away from the plate.

[GTown_Dave]

The next 2-3 weeks feel like a Loss.

[bay_area_phan]

WP: Yeah, those were the glory days when Pence's arrival was supposed to mean that Howard would see more fastballs. So much for that theory.

[UBIK]

I'm listening on the radio here. On gameday, Oswalt's fastball @ 90 or 91 doesn't sound terribly zippy. What say ye in TV land? how's he look?

[GTown_Dave]

Also, it's only prudent for Howard to take his game ABs from the relative safety of the indoor batting cages. Can't be too careful.

[Fatalotti]

Oswalt's kind of meh today.

[Iceman]

Whatever the opposite of the appeal to authority fallacy is (if there is such a thing), dennyb and others use almost daily on BL, and it's starting to get ridiculous.

The idea is whenever something goes wrong, just go up the chain of command to the highest possible authority in that particular situation and place all the blame on him/her. When the players fail, blame it all on Cholly or RAJ. When the weather washes out a game, the MLB 'screwed up royally' by not being able to predict the exact time and exact place the hurricane will hit several days ahead of time. It's the same principle people use to blame their lots in life on whoever the president is at the time.

In this case, dennyb lays the blame immediately on the MLB before all the information is available. It would have been helpful to know that Florida had rejected the idea of a Friday DH before spouting off like a know-it-all, but why wait fifteen minutes to make a fair judgment on something when you can blame someone right away and later pretend you never said it?

[clout]

Note to Andy: The '64 Phillies didn't collapse because of their pitching. They lost because of their hitting. When Frank Thomas was injured for the season in late August, it left thenm with only 3 legitimate hitters in the lineup.

[Willard Preacher]

Evidently "Pence as Protection" only works for a short period of time. Now we can go back to saying that there is no such thing as "protection."

[Iceman]

Not sure if anyone else caught this, but on pre-game live Ricky Bo said he 'likes' Michael Martinez which completely rules out that he is MG. It's a shame, because I really thought it was a possibility.

[Rauls grandpa]

(Toby borland looks up from sweeping the floor in a warehouse to see CSN celebrate Ricky Bo's birthday on Tv)
Borland: They never gave me a cake. Shucks (shakes head).

[GTown_Dave]

Preacher: You can hardly blame these guys for failing to hit noted fireballer ...

*checks Gameday*

Clay Hensley? What the hell?

[whitey]

FWIW Howard hit the ball so hard he almost knocked Bonifacio over.

[Willard Preacher]

GTown, imagine watching the Marlins without names on the back of their jerseys. Think you could name more than about 2 of them?

[GTown_Dave]

Preacher: Depending on who's pitching that day, maybe 3. Maybe.

[bay_area_phan]

I guess that makes up for the error.

[Willard Preacher]

Valdez with a bomb. He used Jimmy's uppercut, too!

[Meyer]

Debt paid.

[GTown_Dave]

Say what you will about Exxon's Defense, but it's simply not wise to remove that kind of power from your lineup.

[Willard Preacher]

Valdez now has 1/2 as many HR's on the season as Cliff Lee.

But he's got a lower ERA.

[psd]

I guess my feed was a bit delayed, so I just saw the Valdez homer. He crushed that thing, but I have to wonder does anyone consistently have worse home run calls than Tbag?

[Willard Preacher]

psd, not really. But I'll offer up that Jim Jackson's enthusiasm on every single ball hit in the air, no matter how deep or shallow, as if it was the hardest hit ball ever, is more annoying.

[bay_area_phan]

Oswalt's giving up a lot of hard contact.

[psd]

WP: very true but come on don't sell Tbag too short. No one can make you look up at the TV quicker for a routine flyball than him.

[Matt]

Greg Dobbs, folks.

Greg Dobbs.

[Dickie Thong]

Why couldn't you hit like this last year Dobbs?

[donc]

TBag is a DBag. Sarge is just dreadful and Wheels is...well Wheels. You almost have to get drunk to listen to these guys.

[bay_area_phan]

That catch was certainly not spectacular, but there's no chance Ibanez would have made it.

[psd]

bap: Exactly what I was thinking. Mayberry made it look like the most routine play.

[Dickie Thong]

Why do they show the speed of the pitches for an IBB?

[Rauls grandpa]

Will P,
I think that is a remnant of his hockey announcing.

[bay_area_phan]

The Phillies look like they've been lobotomized.

[Cyclic]

Should we be worried about Oswalt's fastball speed and all these hits?

Why can't we hit their guy? Did we put the bats away to prepare for the hurricane?

[Cyclic]

If Wilson Valdez can homer off this guy... come on.

[Cyclic]

DOM would have caught that and gotten a face full of dirt

[Dickie Thong]

Hunter Pence doing a Dom Brown impersonation.

[bay_area_phan]

Some of these outs have been smoked, including the DP ball this inning. Oswalt has absolutely nothing tonight & is quite lucky to have only allowed 2 runs.

[donc]

Did they actually call that a double? That's a single and an error in my book.

[Cyclic]

Still.... How do we only have 1 hit? Who is this guy?

Come on bats... what the hell.

[gjs]

One hit thru five against a starter who hasn't won a game since June.

There are many teams I fear more, but none more consistently annoying than the Marlins.

[bay_area_phan]

Speaking purely hypothetically, if the Phillies WERE in the early stages of a massive choke job, I would expect them to look pretty much exactly like they've looked in the last 2 games.

[bay_area_phan]

And get Oswalt out of there already. He is getting pasted.

[Fatalotti]

Feels like a triple play.

[bay_area_phan]

You can't take a starting pitcher out when his line score is still good. Cholly just has to wait until he has put us completely out of this game.

[GTown_Dave]

b_a_p: Nah. Charlie's gonna wait until he gives up 3-4 more Runs first. That's just his way, & who are we to question it?

[bay_area_phan]

Who could have possibly seen that coming?

[Fatalotti]

Yeah, Oswalt kind of sucked tonight.

Get 'em tomorrow, if they even play.

[gjs]

annoying

[Cyclic]

Back must be acting up cause of the hurricane a comin.

[UBIK]

gosh darn it anyways.

[Cyclic]

Game = over

[psd]

geeze did the hurricane blow that out? that wasn't hit nearly as hard as some other balls tonight

[GTown_Dave]

It doesn't take a "professional" to know when a pitcher is cooked, just someone w/ eyes & a f*cking brain. Unfortunately, the Phillies have Charlie Manuel instead.

[whitey]

inning=over

[gjs]

btw, who's your #4 starter in a 7 game post season series? Despite the last game, I think Roy O has September to prove it's him.

[Cyclic]

Can't believe they took Valdez' bat out of the lineup.

[Iceman]

No more than an hour after I talked about the idiocy of always blaming the highest point of authority for things going wrong, GTown and BAP seemingly go out of their way to give examples of that idiocy. BAP even throw in a 'hypothetical' jab about how he thinks the Phils are about to start a massive choke job.

[GTown_Dave]

It's hardly going out of one's way to call Charlie on making a mistake he makes constantly.

[Kilbillrain]

At least the braves are losing (looks over shoulder)

[Iceman]

gjs brings up a good point, although the money being paid to Oswalt is going to answer that question by itself.

I'm not sure what threshold Oswalt would have to cross to be considered the better choice for a Game 4 start than Worley, but he's nowhere near it now, and he's only got a handful of starts left to get there.

[whitey]

I would imagine the road team has it easier when a hurricane is on its way. The home team has to worry about their homes/apartments and family. the road team just needs to wait it out at the hotel or get on a plane before it hits. Disclaimer: This has nothing to do with this game because the Phils should be able to beat the Marlins with their AAA team.

[Cyclic]

HOW MANY FIRST PITCH 85 MILE PER HOUR FASTBALLS DO WE HAVE TO WATCH GO RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE????

Seriously!?

[Phlipper]

I'm heading down to the Ben Franklin Bridge - anyone need a lift?

[whitey]

I blame Bochy.

[Dickie Thong]

If it's any consolation, Capuano has held the Bravos to one hit through six.

[Iceman]

GTown, let me guess: in a parallel universe where you manage the Phillies, you pulled Oswalt just before the grand slam and Herndon came in to induce a ground ball triple play to end the inning? Amazing! It's remarkable how your hindsight reflects the vision of an intelligent human being despite all other overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

[Scotch Man]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dddAi8FF3F4

[bay_area_phan]

Iceman: Since you liked my last hypothetical so much, I'll give you another one.

If Oswalt & Worley each keep pitching as they have, if Cholly nonetheless starts Oswalt in a playoff game because of salary/seniority, and if Oswalt proceeds to get hammered in that playoff game, the error would be so egregious as to be a firing offense.

[Dickie Thong]

Manuel would have left Hensley in there.

[GTown_Dave]

The Phils might have had the lead right now. Thanks, Chuck.

[clout]

More empty meaningless RBI from the worthless Albatross. Jack is pissed.

[UBIK]

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT!

[Old Phan]

Ho hum.

[cjp]

RYNO!!!!

[bay_area_phan]

Figures that would happen as soon as I shut off the game in disgust & started watching on Gameday.

[UBIK]

OK. I'm now putting the radio feed through a delay pedal.

it's like a rally cap.

[Cyclic]

Great time for a HR here, Mayberry