There’s nothing admirable about losing 11-1 to the Braves. I hate the Braves. I hate their smugness, I hate their legion of redneck homegrown players (scout outside the state of Georgia, folks!), I hate their stupid clean-cut uniforms and their bright colors. I hate the sweet-tea-and-grits homeliness that Bobby Cox shows off until he gets mad. Then he puts on his overalls and demands that Yunel Escobar go pick out a switch from the thicket. I think Chipper Jones is, save for one Barry Bonds at-bat in the summer of 2001, the greatest baseball player I’ve ever seen in person. But I hate his Hooters waitresses and his stupid name and that wad of chaw he keeps in his lower lip.
A face only a Braves fan (or a Hooters' waitress) could love.
Despite the recent (and naively vitriolic) banter between certain Mets and certain Phillies, I will never hate the Mets as much as I hate the Braves. Never.
But I have to say, for someone who spent the ages of 7 to 20 getting his heart ripped out every summer, I do find a sort of perverse comfort in losing to them.
I grew up on 90-loss seasons and Curt Schilling ripping off 18-win, 300-strikeout season after 18-win, 300-strikeout season while the team struggled to find the right mix of washed-up ‘93 veterans and youngsters with potential that never panned out. There’s something that I miss about wondering how Scott Rolen and Rico Brogna, hitting 3-4, each drove in 100 runs year after year–I didn’t think Doug Glanville and Desi Relaford even got on base 100 times between them in any given season.
There was something vindicating about watching the 2004 Red Sox win the World Series with our worthless manager and our malcontent ace. Something perverse that made me uncomfortable with winning.
During the 2006 season, I started following the Kansas City Royals. Not as a replacement for the Phillies, but as an insurance policy. I was worried that the Phillies would suddenly become a National League power, which, of course, they did, and that I would be unable to cope with cheering for a winning team. If that were to come to pass, I would have to have a backup plan in place.
When I started following European soccer in 2006, I needed a team to get excited about. Because I had no home team, per se, I picked the team that my favorite player at the time, Thierry Henry, captained, London’s Arsenal F.C. But Arsenal had been particularly successful, having won two domestic league titles, three domestic cup titles, and appearing in two European finals since 2000. The reason this was problematic for me was that the only people I knew who rooted for championship teams since my childhood were Cowboys, Devils and Yankees fans. In short, assholes. How would I conduct myself if the Gunners took home another FA Cup, particularly because I was a de facto bandwagon fan, being new to the sport and all?
Luckily for me, Arsenal have entered a torturous dry spell during which legions of Manchester United fans (including my girlfriend’s dad, whose two favorite teams are Man U and Barcelona–that’s like being a Red Sox fan and a Duke fan on the d-bag scale. But he’s a very nice guy. Just doesn’t know what his soccer allegiances are saying about him) have rubbed my nose in Arsenal’s slip out of Europe’s elite. And I revel in the misery. That’s what growing up a Phillies fan has done to me. Now that I think about it, I think that’s why I’ve sabotaged every remotely normal relationship I’ve ever been in until now…this may go deeper than I thought.
So now you understand where I’m coming from. Why these World Phuckin’ Champion Phillies don’t seem like my Phillies. Why I derive some sort of masochistic pleasure from losing to my least-favorite baseball team 11-1. Why I don’t feel upset when our best homegrown pitcher since Robin Roberts gets lit up in an important start.
Speaking of Phillies lefthanders, let’s break for a moment to talk about Steve Carlton. How did anyone score on the mid-to-late 1960s Cardinals? I know they won two World Series and should have won three in that time span. But you’ve got Bob Gibson, Carlton and some combination of Curt Simmons (who threw about 500 miles an hour) and solid major league starters like Ray Washburn and Mike Torrez. And that defense: McCarver was a good catcher, if an embarassing broadcaster. On the left side of the infield, you’ve got Boyer and Maxvill. Nothing’s getting through there.
Side side note: the Cardinals have had a disproportionate number of amazing fielders at shortstop throughout their history. Marty Marion, Dal Maxvill, Ozzie Smith. Has anyone else had that many world-beatingly-good defensive shortstops?
Outfield: Curt Flood, whose defensive reputation would have been even better if Tommie Agee and Willie Mays weren’t his NL contemporaries. Lou Brock, who was a brutal defender, but could cover enough ground to make up for it. Roger Maris, whose defensive brilliance as a right fielder was lost among all the hoopla in his first two Yankee seasons. And Bobby Tolan as a fourth outfielder.
And all of this was going on during the best era for pitchers since they banned the spitball.
So essentially, you’ve got to only hit home runs and grounders through the right side of the infield if you’re playing the mid-1960s Cards. Gibson had a 1.12 ERA in 1968. How didn’t he go sub-1?
But that’s a little off-topic.
Back to the Braves.
Losing to the Braves brings the Phillies back into a virtual dead heat with the Marlins for first place. Let’s face it: when everything’s going right, the National League discussion this season has two levels: Dodgers and Phillies, then everyone else. But now that everything’s not going right, it’s like I’ve died and gone to the late 1990s–our stars are always injured, we only have one good starting pitcher, we need to make a big trade, we’re one critical piece away, we should start bringing up our minor league starting pitchers…there’s something comforting about being transported back to when you were 12 years old. It’s like coming home and visiting your old elementary school teachers, then eating your mom’s spaghetti for dinner.
That’s why, even though I hate the Braves, I find losing to them strangely, well, comforting. It’s almost as if, after four years of breathing the rarified air of National League royalty, we’ve finally come home again.
10:29 p.m. Well, that was disappointing. But at least the game got interesting toward the end and, after all this, it’s over. Moylan your winner, Park the loser. And Martin Prado has to win Man of the Match honors with an outstanding performance, 4-for-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI. Hats off to him.
And with that, we end my first Live Blog for The Phrontiersman. Good night and good luck.
10:24 p.m. That does it. A walk-off single for the converted horse jockey. I’m going to be sick. Braves 5, Phillies 4.
10:23 p.m. If Martin Prado goes 4-for-5 with a double, a home run and the game-winning RBI, I might never watch horse racing again.
10:20 p.m. Diaz yanks one to left past a diving Rollins. Moves to third on a single by Gregor Blanco. Second and third with one out and…oh, my God, it’s Martin Prado.
10:17 p.m. Park remains in the game, but he gets to face Diory Hernandez, whose career OBP is below .200. The Phillies have walked him twice this game, I’ll remind you. Hernandez strikes out, praise be to Allah.
10:13 p.m. Moylan owes Chipper Jones a beer. Not to be out-done by Pedro Feliz, Chipper turns a certain go-ahead double by Werth into an inning-ending double play. Great stuff. Unless you want the game to end or the Phillies to win. To the bottom of the 10th we go.
10:11 p.m. In other NL news, the Brewers jumped all over Johan Santana and lead the Mets 5-2 in the 7th inning. Moylan goes 2-0 on Werth. He’s sort of got a Brad Clontz delivery, as I reinforce the belief that I haven’t watched a Braves game since 2000.
10:09 p.m. Ryan Howard hits a line drive over the shift. And Bobby Cox comes out to call on the Aussie Peter Moylan, replacing one ridiculous accent with another.
10:06 p.m. Hillbilly wins out as Utley flies out to center. In related news, my dad just came downstairs and asked, “How old is Bobby Cox? 112? 115?”
10:05 p.m. Boone Logan? Can you get more redneck of a name than that? There were three things he could have been when he grew up: a farmer, a high school football coach or a relief pitcher for the Braves. Utley leads off in a matchup of the preppiest name in baseball and the hillbilliest name in baseball.
10:03 p.m. No , it’s Chan Ho Park, who saws off the hated Fancoeur with a second-pitch slider. Extra innings. I’m going to kill myself.
9:59 p.m. That Jimmy Rollins sure can field his position. A very tough play to his left, slides, spins and throws out Kotchman by two steps. And now Cholly chooses to waste even more of our time by bringing in a new pitcher (I swear to God, if it’s Taschner…)
9:56 p.m. Yunel Escobar makes an appearance off the bench and grounds out for Soriano. I can’t believe that this game is going to go extra innings. South Park is on, for crying out loud.
9:53 p.m. Victorino pops out to left. Matt Diaz has a little bit of an adventure, but he puts it away. In other sporting news, Kaka is going to wear number 8 for Real Madrid. What, he couldn’t convince Miguel Torres to give up his beloved 22? Who the hell is Miguel Torres anyway.
9:51 p.m. J-Roll is having himself an at-bat, but he strikes out on the 8th pitch. Tough pitch, a slider that just disappeared at 3-2. Now 0-for-24. Four days off makes a difference.
9:50 p.m. So how ’bout a game-winning hit right here, Jimmy? And Tom McCarthy starts talking about how managers love Mark DeRosa. Here at The Phrontiersman, we set the agenda for national sports discourse.
9:47 p.m. Ah, Wheels brings up the Smoltz-Perez-Byrd fight. I remember that vividly. I was 12 years old and I watched that from a beach house in the Outer Banks. The only good game in a shitty second half of the 1999 season.
9:43 p.m. I was positive that little flare would fall. I guess this is one situation where I’m willing to put the Phillies ahead of my fantasy team. Inning over, but the damage is done.
9:41 p.m. Thank goodness. It’s Romero. Though if you’re going to double-switch, why not just bring in Lidge? And Prado’s hit was a double and an E9.
9:40 p.m. Lord Above! Cholly is going for the double-switch. I’ve never seen him do that before. Though it just occurred to me that this double-switch might bring in Paul Bako and Jack Taschner.
9:36 p.m. You have GOT to be kidding me. Okay, we’ll call him Martin. Either a triple or a double with a two-base error. A triple. Phillies 4, Braves 4.
9:35 p.m. Boy, has Prado’s night gone downhill in a hurry or what? At this rate, we’ll never stop calling him Edgar. Madson’s pickoff throw hits Blanco and the Braves’ center fielder moves up a base. I guess this is where the wheels come off.
9:34 p.m. An interesting side note about Turner Field–it’s the only current Major League Baseball stadium that was the main stadium for an Olympic Games. Blanco walks with two outs.
9:32 p.m. Madson gets Diaz out on a 96-mph fastball. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as climbing the ladder on a hitter. In bullpen news, the Braves are warming up Rafael Soriano, baseball’s equivalent to The Other Boleyn Girl.
9:31 p.m. Feliz sucks up another sharp grounder and OH MY GOD JACK TASCHNER IS WARMING UP IN A CLOSE GAME! HIDE THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN!
9:29 p.m. Mayberry remains in the game to play left. And Mike Gonzalez sits on the bench looking like he wants the ground to open up and swallow him.
9:27 p.m. Ruiz grounds out innocently to third, but as a CSN graphic reminds us, these Phillies come from behind more often than a gay porn star. That was quite exciting.
9:26 p.m. Well-hit home runs both. It’s good to see Mayberry doing well. I see him as a sort of skinny, right-handed Ryan Howard. Look out for a “We Should Trade Mayberry” post in the coming weeks, though.
9:24 p.m. Luckily, I got back in time to see the back-to-back home runs by Mayberry and Feliz. McKenzie Awards for both of them! Who’s the boom king? Phillies 4, Braves 3
9:20 p.m. A double-switch for the Braves, with Mike Gonzalez coming in for O’Flaherty and Diaz for Anderson. Or the other way around. Gonzalez retires Howard and Werth. Hang on a second. I just heard a sound like gunfire on my block and I’m going to check it out.
9:18 p.m. Lance Armstrong commercial: “The critics say I’m arrogant, a doper, a fraud, that I couldn’t let it go…” At the risk of sounding French, I’m sort of inclined to agree with them. I’m rooting for Christian Van De Velde or a Schleck brother at the upcoming Tour.
9:17 p.m. Another astonishing play at third base by Feliz to rob Jeff Francoeur of an unsophisticated double. Did I mention that I hate Jeff Francoeur?
9:13 p.m. Durbin out for his second inning of work. Garret Anderson works the count full before flying out to the warning track in left. In other news, my 13-year-old brother just peeked at the TV and asked, “Wait-Garret Anderson’s still around?”
9:11 p.m. It was Carlton. I told you that an hour and a half ago. It’s good to know that Wheeler shares my thought process though.
9:10 p.m. A little dancin’ music for your seventh-inning stretch:
9:09 p.m. Top o’ the marnin’ to ya! An Eric O’Flaherty sighting! And O’Flaherty gives a nice soccer-style assist to Edgar Prado, who retires Victorino. Peter Moylan up in the pen, but he is not needed as he retires the side on six pitches. Come on, kids, let’s keep it moving.
9:05 p.m. Cocaine is a helluva drug, and Feliz is a helluva third baseman. He saves a run with the stop and then incredibly gets the throw off to retire McCann. Great for the Phillies, bad for my fantasy team.
9:02 p.m. Chipper bounces the ball off the plate. Durbin retires Jones and Blanco to third. Joe Morgan wets himself with joy at the productive out.
9:01 p.m. Blanco singles and Prado bunts him to second. Assorted sabermetrics snobs shake their fists at the heavens in anger at the sacrifice bunt.
8:59 p.m. Coste strikes out to put the rally to death. Finally, a managerial move that I second-guessed and was right about. On my GameCast, a very funny SportsCenter commercial where Jose Reyes teaches Karl Ravech to salsa dance.
Blanton’s done and Lowe should be too. I know he’s not a high-stress pitcher, but he’s 36 and he’s thrown 103 pitches on a hot night, including some in very high-stress situations.
Gregor Blanco to lead off against Chad Durbin. in the bottom of the 6th.
8:55 p.m. Wild pitch by Lowe, both runners advance. That’s exciting.
8:54 p.m. Ruiz pops up and out comes Chris Coste–wait–Chris Coste? Sarge can’t think of a reason not to use Stairs, and neither can I. Blanton looks disappointed, but doesn’t throw anything. Very mature.
8:52 p.m. Assuming Ruiz doesn’t hit into a double play, do you hit for Blanton here? Rally in progress, down by 1, Blanton looks exhausted even though he’s only thrown 93 pitches through 5 innings. I would. And so would Cholly, as Durbin warms up in the pen.
8:48 p.m. Greg Dobbs draws a walk. It’s good to see him doing well at the plate again. And Pedro Feliz, like Edgar Prado (sorry, man, get another RBI next time up and I’ll remember your first name), continues to hit beyond his ability. He’s now 2-for-2 with a walk. Well done.
8:46 p.m. Werth retired on a nifty play by Kotchman. In other news, kudos to the camera dudes for Comcast. I could look at hot chicks from Georgia all night long.
8:45 p.m. So I have GameCast by ESPN open in another window. And inexplicably, Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World started speaking from my computer. I had no idea where it was coming to and I was about to piss my pants for about 10 seconds. I didn’t know they did commercials on those things.
8:43 p.m. Let’s talk about Diory Hernandez. He has 6 hits in his major league career. And Cholly has walked him intentionally to load the bases twice in the first five innings. But since Derek Lowe has popped out both times, I guess I can’t be too mad. Inning over.
8:42 p.m. Sweet Jesus, I hate Jeff Francoeur Braves 3, Phillies 2
8:41 p.m. Blanton looks like he’s tiring. I’ve been to Atlanta in the summer, and it can’t be fun to wear long pants in Atlanta when you’re 6-foot-3 and 244 pounds. Blanton walks Kotchman and earns a visit from Rich Dubee. Who is not one of the Doobie Brothers. I just found that 0ut about a week ago.
8:39 p.m. Does Elias Sports Bureau have an official stat for catches made on the dead run by outfielders? If so, Jayson Werth (the man who can’t spell his first OR last name) must be among the league leaders. Anderson follows up with a single. Runners on first and second, one out for Atlanta.
8:36 p.m. J-Roll boots a tough grounder to his right. Chipper gets on, and if they score this an error I’m going to be very unhappy. They don’t. I’m not. Carry on.
8:35 p.m. Someone should tell Prado that he’s not a major-league hitter. He hits the second pitch out to left. Phillies 2, Braves 2. Second RBI of the night–any more and I might stop calling him Edgar. A McKenzie award for the Braves second baseman.
8:34 p.m. On to the bottom of the 5th. I didn’t think Howard’s ground-out warranted mention. Which is why I’m mentioning it now. At any rate, we’re official now. Should Atlanta disappear in a nuclear haze right now, this game would count.
8:32 p.m. Utley hits a rocket out to right-center, No. 17 on the year, netting him the Bret McKenzie memorial “Who’s the Boom King” award. Phillies 2, Braves 1
8:29 p.m. This at-bat was AWESOME! Derek Lowe wins the Matt Stairs Memorial “Pounded in the Ass” award for taking a blistering Victorino line drive between the cheeks. The Flyin’ Hawaiian gives him a sympathetic pat on the back on his way back to the dugout. Lowe seems fine and will continue.
8:27 p.m. The next time Tom McCarthy mentions this stupid Movie Night, I’m going to murder someone. J-Roll grounds out and falls to 0-for-3. Victorino chucks his bat into the stands and almost kills a kid. Most interesting thing that’s happened all night.
8:25 p.m. Let’s talk about how absurd the Elias Sports Bureau is. So Gary Matthews Jr. stole home Sunday and they could find out, quickly, not only that Sarge had stolen home in the 1970s, but that Tony and Eduardo Perez were the last father-son combo to do it. Ridiculous. Blanco grounds out to second to end the inning.
8:21 p.m. Lowe strikes out on a fastball after working the count to 3-1. I can breathe again.
8:19 p.m. So a member of the Argentine FA’s executive committee doesn’t think that they’ll qualify for the next World Cup and he’s blaming Maradona. I don’t care how bad a coach he is, if Argentina doesn’t make it to the World Cup, I’ll eat my hat. But I digress.
8:16 p.m. So the Braves sacrifice with runners on first and second and the pitcher coming up. Am I missing something?
8:15 p.m. Adventures in fielding continue, with Chase Utley putting Casey Kotchman on base. And Jeff Francoeur swings at the second pitch and punches it into left. A very unsophisticated single to put runners on first and second, bringing up Diory Hernandez. Nice name. I think I’m going to name my firstborn child Diory.
8:12 p.m. Oh, I forgot who was coming up. Chooch hits the ball hard, but within the reach of Garret Anderson who, for several years was an honest-to-goodness Angel in the Outfield, and Blanton strikes out on three pitches to end the inning. Cheers.
8:09 p.m. A shot of Roger McDowell in the dugout. What an unlikely major league coach. It’s like John Bender from The Breakfast Club becoming a high school principal. This guy was the biggest bullpen clown of the 20th Century. I might be dating myself here, but he’s like Bass from Angels in the Outfield combined with Bowers from Little Big League. Unbelievable. And while I was referencing John Hughes movies, a ground-out by Dobbs and a single by Feliz. So the Phils are in business.
8:06 p.m. Garret Anderson grounds up the middle, which would have been great except J-Roll was covering for a steal attempt by Prado. J-Roll scoops, steps on the bag and sits on the jockey to end the inning. 55 minutes for the first three innings. This game is interminable. Imagine how bad it would be if Steve Trachsel and Randy Johnson were pitching.
8:02 p.m. Edgar Prado rode Funny Cide and Barbaro. Cool. Chipper hurts himself striking out. Bad for the Braves, bad for my fantasy team. Then McCann pops out behind first base. Worse for my fantasy team.
8:00 p.m. So of course I bring up Blanco’s lack of an extra-base hit, then he hits a triple. Prado drives him in with a single. Phillies 1, Braves 1
7:58 p.m. Since we’re talking about Otis Nixon, what would be the best all-time team made up of people who share names with presidents? Nixon might play center between Reggie and Shoeless Joe Jackson. Travis Jackson at shortstop…maybe they’d all be Jacksons…
7:55 p.m. Werth flies out to Gregor Blanco to end the inning. But still, I’ll take a run.
7:53 p.m. Boy was I wrong. Howard hits a ground-rule double on a low breaking ball. Howard really has a Griffey-like left-handed swing. Beautiful stuff. But he does strike out constantly. Phillies 1, Braves 0.
7:51 p.m. You know who doesn’t get nearly enough credit? Davey Lopes. Statistically, you have to steal successfully about 75 percent of the time in order to actually help your team. Under Lopes’ tutelage, the Phillies have been stealing a TON of bases at a mid-80s clip.Oh, the game. Great hit-and-run by Utley and Victorino. First and third, 2 out for Howard. He’ll strike out on a low breaking ball.
7:46 p.m. Yup, I was right. It had to be either Carlton or Phil Niekro, given that it’s a Phils-Braves game.
7:45 p.m. Hey, a hit. And the answer to the trivia question, I believe, is Steve Carlton.
7:44 p.m. While Milt is spouting gibberish, Joe Blanton’s actually having an excellent at-bat. Eight pitches, but he strikes out looking on an inside cutter. Shades of Myers-Sabathia last fall. And J-Roll then tops the first pitch he sees straight to second. COME ON, JIMMY! I can’t wear my “J-Roll for MVP” t-shirt out in public while you’re hitting under .220.
7:42 p.m. Milt Thompson: In order to hit well, don’t think, stop trying and have fun. I guess plate discipline, bat speed and hand-eye coordination are overrated.
7:40 p.m. Well, that worked out well. Pop out to end the inning.
7:39 p.m. Not to be outdone in bizarre intentional walks, Cholly walks a .130 hitter. To get to the pitcher, who is hitting .174. He must be a hell of a leader of men, because Uncle Cholly sure can suck as a strategist sometimes.
7:38 p.m. Jeff Francoeur must be the least sophisticated player in baseball. And, as such, he hits a very unsophisticated double to the wall to put runners on second and third.
7:36 p.m. So how about Joe Blanton suddenly turning into a strikeout pitcher. HUGE curveball on the outside corner gets Anderson. But Kotchman follows that up with a two-out single up the middle. So I guess I can say the words “perfect game” now.
7:31 p.m. Well, it pays off as Ruiz grounds into a 5-3 double play to end the inning. I guess that’s why Bobby Cox has 2,327 more wins as a manager than I do.
7:30 p.m. Side note, does seeing No. 1 in center for the Braves cause anyone else to have Otis Nixon flashbacks?
7:28 p.m. Poor Blanco. He misplays a Dobbs fly ball into a double. CSN cuts to Bobby Cox, who has a look of “Wherefore Art Thou, Nate McLouth?” He is so incensed that he walks Pedro Feliz intentionally. Who the hell walks Pedro Feliz intentionally in the second inning?
7:27 p.m. Jayson Werth walks, becoming the first baserunner of the game and extending his reaching-base streak to 11 at-bats. Looking up the record on that.
7:24 p.m. Excellent play by Martin Prado (the second-most-famous Prado), playing short field (that’s a softball position, folks) to throw out Ryan Howard.
7:23 p.m. The aptly named CB Bucknor is our first-base umpire, btw. I really wish that someone hits a double between his legs.
7:22 p.m. Prado grounds out and Jones’ sinking line drive gets snagged by Werth. Inning over.
7:20 p.m. Does anyone remember when the keys to the game actually were keys to the game? Now they should be called “most compelling storylines.”
7:19 p.m. So for Los Aborigines, it’s Blanco, Prado, Jones, McCann, Anderson, Kotchman, Francoeur, Hernandez, Lowe. Gregor Blanco has a .207 OBP and hasn’t hit an extra-base hit all season. J-Roll’s fine. Blanco flies out to Dobbs. Who could have predicted that?
7:16 p.m. Utley flies out innocently to end it. Fantasy baseball update: Paul and I have a combined three players going for us tonight, all Braves. He has Lowe and I have McCann and Chipper Jones. Interesting side note, I just found out that Paul’s got Mark DeRosa, the subject of yesterday’s 750-word diatribe, on his fantasy team. I’d trade him Ryan Zimmerman for a decent middle infielder.
7:12 p.m. Lowe records 7 pitches, 6 strikes and two outs in two minutes. We should be out of here by 9.
7:11 p.m. Welcome back, J-Roll. Strikes out on four pitches. Fooled by three straight forkballs.
7:10 p.m. Tonight’s starting lineup for the Phillies: Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Werth, Dobbs, Feliz, Ruiz, Blanton.
7:06 p.m. So I went to the University of South Carolina and am currently dating a girl from Atlanta. Freshman year of college, she took me to a game at Turner Field. Gavin Floyd started for the Phillies and Bobby Abreu homered. That was only three years ago–damn.
Anyhoo, let me tell you something about the Tomahawk Chop. It’s hypnotic. It’s unlike any other cheer in sports that I’ve ever seen, and I spent four years in an SEC Football student section. I almost caught myself doing it. When can we get ourselves a cheer like that?
7:01 p.m. Oh, yeah, J-Roll returns to the starting lineup tonight. According to Chris Wheeler, that means that he’ll be back in the starting lineup tonight. But he’s still second at his position in all-star voting.
6:59 p.m. Tonight’s starting pitchers, for the Braves, sinkerballer Derek Lowe, 36, and for the Phillies, Joe Blanton. I’m blogging this game because, let’s face it, I don’t want to be here very long and these are two very quick-working pitchers. This season, the two pitchers have combined to make 30 starts and weigh 474 pounds.
6:53 p.m. Hello and welcome, sportsfans. In best blogging tradition, we’re coming to you live from my parents’ basement. That’s not a joke. So, until the game comes on at 7 p.m. I’m watching Friends on TBS. Tonight’s special guest star, Dina Meyer of Starship Troopers and Star Trek: Nemesis.
Greetings. Thanks to Paul for hooking me up to write for/with/other prepositions The Phrontiersman. I hope to bring a little more reasoned approach to the site to balance Paul’s vitriolic prose and increasingly disappointed tone.
.254 is barely passable as a batting average, much less an OBP
Since Paul evidently has forgotten about the site for the past three weeks, let me fill you in. Since June 6, the Phillies have gone 7-12, forgotten how to pitch late in games, sent Lidge to the DL, brought him back up, sent Ibanez to the DL, failed to bring him back up, inexplicably started playing Paul Bako at all, benched Jimmy Rollins (my favorite player in spite of his tragically low OBP–hang in there, J-Roll!) and seen their lead in the NL East shrink to half a game by Friday night before taking the last two from Toronto.
And in that time, Paul has been insufferable. I haven’t heard anyone complain this much about anything since I stopped watching Keith Olbermann. But now that J.A. Happ pitched a complete-game shutout Saturday (don’t get too excited, even Mike Grace did it twice in his career) and the offense has gotten rolling again, maybe we can all calm down and start to concentrate on the fact that the Phillies are still in first place after a 5-12 stretch, without their second-best starting pitcher, two of their four best position players and with Brad Lidge sporting an ERA that, in inches, would be longer than my penis. For the second year in a row.
But the main reason I come to speak to you today is really only tangentially related to the Phillies. This is Mark DeRosa. Here are some interesting facts about him: He went to Penn. If there were two of him, he’d be a particularly interesting 19th-century Argentinean dictator. Last year, for the Cubs, he played every position except for catcher, pitcher and center field (in fact, in his career, he’s played more than 200 games at the corner outfield positions, plus significant time at every infield position–why can’t he play center field?). Oh, and he was traded to the Cardinals last week.
DeRosa has, inexplicably, developed quite a following of late for no other reason that I can think of other than he plays six positions. He got onto Team USA for the World Baseball Classic for that reason. This is a useful skill, being able to play multiple positions. DeRosa can turn a position where you’re getting nothing offensively (I’m looking at YOU, Joe Thurston!) and give you something. Which is a plus for the Cardinals.
Melky Cabrera’s OPS is .786 so far this season. Brendan Ryan’s is .757. This is significant because Cabrera has the 10th-highest OPS on the Yankees and Ryan has the second-highest OPS on the Cardinals. And no one outside of Yadier Molina is playing good enough defense to warrant hitting that little.
DeRosa, in 314 plate appearances with Cleveland, knocked out a respectable .799 OPS. Solid, major-league quality stuff. Good for the new second-place spot on the Cards. Comparable, according to Baseball-Reference.com, to Mike Lamb, Sean Berry and Mark Ellis. Not good enough to protect Albert Pujols.
By the way, no one is giving Pujols enough credit for the season he’s having. His OPS+ is 207. No one outside of Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds has hit that well, relative to the league, since Willie McCovey in 1969. And anyone who mentions the words “small sample size” can sod off, because we’re about halfway through the season. I think we can start drawing some conclusions about the offensive quality of a player whose numbers by the last week in June (28 HR, 59 runs, 74 RBI in the aforementioned lineup and twice as many walks as strikeouts) wouldn’t be half-bad for an entire year.
This brings me to my point. There’s been some talk about trading for a starting pitcher to fill the void for Brett Myers. I’m all for that. But the Phillies would be stupid to give up any of their young players (Bastardo, Happ, Mayberry, Marson or, God forbid, Drabek and Carrasco) for anything less than a Jake Peavy-type pitcher.
Trading for an average hitter is okay when he’s replacing a bad hitter. But selling the farm for a mediocre pitcher isn’t worth it for the Phillies. They have at least three (Happ, Moyer and Blanton) of those already. Particularly when that mediocre pitcher (mark my words, it will be Jason Marquis) costs what mediocre pitchers do nowadays: $10 million a year and two of your top three minor league prospects.
I’ve been advocating a switch to Ryan Madson in ninth inning situations since the very beginning of Brad Lidge’s struggles this season. Charlie Manuel seems to be viewing the situation differently.
“He’ll always be my guy,” Charlie Manuel said. “His stuff is good. There’s nothing wrong with his stuff. His stuff is good.”
He may be half right. If Pedro Feliz doesn’t boot that grounder on Friday night, Lidge escapes without another blown save, making Saturday only his fifth of the year. Already. He’s on pace to blow more than 10 regardless of Friday night. His ERA is still above seven.
But Manuel thinks there are more important things than preserving leads and winning games.
“My way of thinking is if you rest him or do something else with him or put him somewhere else, I think that can hurt his confidence. I’m speaking right from my heart. That’s how I look at it because I played 20 years. I think I do know a little bit about it. His stuff is still good.”
Yeah, that doesn’t come off as defensive or anything, Chuck.
Lidge isn't on a cold streak; he's busted
You’re honestly worried about hurting his confidence? Lidge is not an imbecile; he knows he’s had an awful first third of the season. I have a hard time believing his confidence in himself isn’t already shaken.
“The results are starting to frustrate me…It just seems to be one thing. Tonight it was the slider he hit. I don’t know. I feel good, but I know something needs to change in terms of results. You’ve just got to get it done, and right now for whatever reason it’s not happening.”
Well, how about looking at this another way: how confident are his teammates in Lidge?
Now, this is not a combustible clubhouse – yet – and no one will come to the media throwing Lidge under the bus – yet – and that’s for the best. But you have to wonder just how reliable Lidge is in the minds of his defense, fellow ‘pen members, and the starters whose leads he may be protecting.
This high-wire act was bound to come crashing down eventually. It just seems that every heart-in-throat save from 2008 has manifested its alternate reality into the beginning of 2009.
Lidge looks bad, and this isn’t just a cold streak. Something is wrong, and while mystery swirls in the air, the Phillies are losing games they should be winning.
You can’t be perfect every year. Hell, even to have it happen once is a blessing and something I certainly didn’t take for granted last year.
I can think of one guy better suited for finishing games right now
But just as every baseball person advocates having a “short memory” for pitchers after they give up runs, so, too, should managers have a short memory when it comes to the use of their pitchers. Lidge’s grace period for his 2008 performance is over. He shouldn’t keep getting votes of confidence from his manager.
There are at least two relievers on this current staff that are better suited for the “closer” role than Brad Lidge currently is, big contract or not. It’s just a shame that no one seems to realize it, and one can only wonder how many more games Lidge will cost the Phillies before the situation is remedied.
With news coming this afternoon that Mets reliever J.J. Putz will need surgery, costing him 8-10 weeks, the time has come for the Phillies to put a stranglehold on the National League East.
For two years, things have been in doubt until the final week. More than that, they’ve been in doubt until the final two games both times. It seems an opportunity has presented itself for the Phillies to prevent that drama from unfolding for a third year.
As it stands right now, this very second, the Phillies are four games up on the Mets and six up on the Braves. They are 31-20 and have won seven straight games – all on the road – while the Mets and Braves have stumbled recently.
The Mets have fallen victim to more than just Putz’s injury. Jose Reyes will be out until at least the all-star break. Carlos Delgado has been banged up all year. Carlos Beltran has had a stomach bug. Ryan Church hasn’t played a whole lot.
Beyond that, all the Mets have had for a pitching staff is one great starter and one very good reliever. Their lineup, which had been patched up by a bunch of bench players and minor leaguers, is finally coming back down to earth after keeping the Mets afloat for far too long.
Photoshop is a great tool
The Braves still have pretty good pitching, but even with their recent trade for Nate McLouth, their offense is lacking and will continue to lack unless the rest of the outfield can turn it around.
The Marlins and Nationals, at seven-and-a-half and 18 (!) games back, respectively, are already close to being dead in the water.
The Phillies have lost Brett Myers, but despite having an incredibly shaky starting staff for two months, a solid bullpen and timely offense have propelled the Phightins to the top of the division.
Now would be the time to strike. If the Phillies were to make a move for a starting pitcher, it should happen within the next month, not the end of July. Giving a month of leeway would allow J.A. Happ and Antonio Bastardo to continue auditioning, whether that audition be for a future in Philadelphia or elsewhere.
Jake Peavy might not be the best fit for the price
Roy Halladay is out. The Blue Jays insist that he will not be traded and, for the sake of their fanbase, holding on to Doc for at least another season is probably for the best. Jake Peavy’s waffling concerns me, and as that is so the Phillies should probably turn their attention away from him and his large contract. That sounds like flaky reasoning, so I’ll add that being such a flyball-prone pitcher, Peavy would likely suffer a setback in performance and production in CBP, and I think he knows it. He would have experienced something similar in U.S. Cellular while playing for the White Sox, and that may be why he declined to be traded there.
Or maybe it was because the Sox allowed 20 runs on the day of the trade proposal. Who knows?
Cliff Lee of the Indians, Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks, or even Chris Young of the Padres would seem to be palatable options off the top of my head. Brad Penny of the Red Sox would not be, especially if Jason Donald or Lou Marson would be the parting price.
The name doesn’t matter; the talent does. If the Phillies want to properly defend their 2008 title, it may be best to strike while the iron is hot. Perhaps a secondary trade for a reliable, right-handed bench bat would be in order as well. I’d rather not go after Mark DeRosa anymore, as his price would likely be inflated by multiple suitors.
The opportunity has arisen for the Phillies to take this division by storm. Will Ruben smell the blood?
I am shark, hear me roar
Post-script: Check out a post along similar lines over at We Should Be GMs.
The latter, as it applies to the Phillies, is disturbingly true. Philly pitching never seems happy with having a new lead, and will often relinquish it readily and quickly to opponents.
And thus, we have the Danger Zone Theory. The “Danger Zone” is a two-inning period after the Phillies score a run or multiple runs. That is, two opponent half-innings. It seemed, from my detached observance, that Phillies pitchers would often surrender a run within two at-bats after they themselves had put some on the board.
And so I crunched the numbers, and found out that I wasn’t too far off.
The Phillies have scored in 134 individual innings so far this season. That includes innings one through nine, as well as extra innings.
Better than half the time – 70 times, to be exact – Philly pitchers have surrendered runs within the Danger Zone. That’s a 52.24 percent likelihood that opposing hitters will score in some quantity within two at-bats of the Phillies scoring.
That number 134 is also a bit inflated. If you adjust for times the Phillies have scored without giving the Danger Zone a proper chance to develop, the percentage goes up. There have been 112 “true” scoring innings. “True” is defined as scoring in the bottom of the seventh or earlier as the home team, or the top of the eighth or earlier as the visitor. Adjusting this way allows for at least two opposing at-bats, and for the theory to be evaluated in its fullest sense.
Follow me? Good.
Adjusting for “true” scoring innings, Philly pitchers give up runs within two opponent at-bats a silly 58.04 percent of the time.
I currently have no outside basis for comparison, but I defy someone to find another team in the N.L. – or maybe even the entire Major Leagues – that has done this more often than the Phillies.
It’s even more difficult to cap off a comeback when your pitchers can’t sustain the deficit. This doesn’t excuse poor situational hitting, as could be found in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game against Florida, but it sure isn’t helping things.
Seeing Brad Lidge struggle to get a save is not news. Even in 2008, when his season was touted as “perfect,” Lidge managed just 25 “1-2-3″ innings in his 68 appearances of exactly one IP. That means that nearly two out of every three appearances resulted in at least one runner getting on base.
It’s true, we can’t expect a guy to be absolutely perfect. Heck, even that highly touted Francisco Rodriguez fellow had just 22 “1-2-3″ innings in 63 appearances of exactly one IP, for roughly the same ratio (he also accumulated eight of his saves in under one inning’s worth of work, but that’s neither here nor there, of course).
The wonderful analytical site Fangraphs has an excellent breakdown on Lidge’s batter outcomes. Go read it here. There’s some encouraging stuff to be gleaned, but just as much confusing and perplexing data. Go check it out. Maybe it’s the silver lining we’ve been looking for.
As it stands right now, this very second, the Phillies are four games up on the Mets and six up on the Braves. They are 31-20 and have won seven straight games – all on the road – while the Mets and Braves have stumbled recently.
