damn hard stat to find, I know the kid has some speed though, but I'm looking it up.

:D

ahh its too much work to find, but hes had at least a few

6 infield hits, 1 via bunt in 99 PAs

Wow, one of the more improbable Phillies victories in awhile. Down four runs in the bottom of the ninth, Stairs hits a homer to bring it to 7-4, then Rollins and Utley get on base for Howard to hit a game-tying bomb to center-field. Ibanez hits a double on the very next pitch, intentional walk to Werth, and base-hits by Feliz and the game winning hit by Bako. Great win (glad I didn't stop watching).

Florida down 5-1 too. If we can win tomorrow, and Arizona can hang on tonight and win tomorrow, the Phils will have a five-game lead heading into the All-Star break.

Not bad considering a little over a week ago we had lost 13-of-18 and had three teams less than two games behind us.

Wow.

Matt Craps is pretty good about throwing BP fastballs on non save situations.

I had put the game on mute, as I was disgusted mainly with the terrible pitching by the Phillies tonight.

I stepped outside for the bottom of the ninth, and saw that Stairs hit a solo homer to make it 7-4. Then saw that Howard had a chance, and low and behold, Howard crushed one.

I came inside all giddy(in disbelief mostly), then estatic when the unlikely hero, Paul Bako?!? wins it with a single.

I always watch the Phillies 'til the end whenever they are losing, cause I never know when they'll pull out an amazing rally in the ninth inning.

dola,

Hamels was awful early, but settled down some later.
3 homers early didn't help though.

Just saw the Phils-Pirates highlights on MLB Tonight on MLBN. Very nice

SI

Dear Pirates,

Fuck You.

Sincerely,
Larry

Nice win for the O's tonight, too

(do we have any O's fans here?)

SI

Dear Georgia.

Fuck you for producing Matt Capps.

He's like Todd Jones without a pron stache.

I follow the O's and the Nats...not as closely as I do my Red Sox, but I do try to support and know what's going on for my hometown teams (and as long as they're not playing Boston, they're who I cheer for).

:)

/tk

They are the team I pull for in the American League.

Awesome. Can't say enough about this Angels team. They have had injury and death attack them through out this year. They missed three-fifths of their rotation through two months, and now they're missing perhaps their three best hitters. Their bullpen has been a shadow of what it was in the past.

Despite all that, they sweep the Yankees and are certain to finish the first half in first place in the AL West.

Another choke job by the Braves.

thanks Angels!!

Heh...obviously, helping you guys isn't high on the Angels' to-do list. That said, you're welcome! :D

heheeh

Just got back from the Phillies game. Had an absolute blast.

Anyone watching the futures game?

Exciting finish to the Futures Game. Too bad it was shortened to 7 innings though.

Sean Marshall just played Left Field for a batter in the cubs game. it was awesome.

So Jim Riggleman gets to play the Dick Motta role this year, huh? Find the guy who has tons of experience managing crappy teams and give him the crappy team who just fired their manager. Enjoy!

Well, that was a banner weekend

1) The GM made a really stupid ass trade that makes everyone question if he even knows what he's doing. You don't take on someone else's payroll problem *and* give them prospects for doing it. As has increasingly become the cliche this weekend, we needed a SS before the trade and we still have a need for a SS after the trade.

2) Meche is now officially hurt, tho he's actually been hurt ever since being thrown 115 and 132 back to back.

3) Greinke's great season gets bypassed for Halladay to start the All Star Game. Yes, Halladay would be deserving in any other season but Greinke has been better this season. By no measure is Halladay better except less losses and a couple more BB in over 100 IP.

Halladay: 10-3 2.85ERA 123.0IP 106K 17BB 1.10WHIP 2.86FIP 4.2 WAR 39.0VORP
Greinke: 10-5 2.12ERA 127.1IP 129K 21BB 1.08WHIP 1.97FIP 5.8 WAR 45.5VORP


4) Our GM was on the radio this morning, repeatedly talking about his payroll constraints for the first time. It's a problem- we get it and we've heard it. But you can't come to us, as a fanbase, and expect that to wash as an excuse right now when you just added payroll.

SI

I can't believe the Royals traded prospects and took on Betancourt's salary. He's terrible but I didn't realize how terrible until I read Poshanski column about him.

FWIW Joe Maddon said he gave Holladay the AL starting nod because of his "body of work," which I guess is Maddon's way of saying Halladay's been a top flight starter longer than Greinke. I wished Greinke would get the start, especially because Halladay is likely to switch leagues very soon after the game.

Between Posnanski referencing Neifi and Rany referencing Berroa, it's just been a traumatizing trade and weekend for Royals fans.

SI

My friend calls me and says, "I have HR derby tickets".. I say.. nice! ..expecting a free ticket.

He tells me you can go, the cost is $205. Damn you!

Think I'll stay home and watch it on TV.. :)

Well, I don't think firing Acta really makes a difference at this point in the season, particularly if you're pulling in someone already in the clubhouse. But, we'll see. With the record the Nats have, what does it really matter?

I think it's pretty stupid to fire Acta now. What does it accomplish?

Appeasing the critics is it. But it does nothing, IMO. Even if they have a 50% better record, does that really mean it's because Acta is gone? I doubt it. I think the manager DOES play a role, but to fire a manager who was out at the end of the year (his contract was up) and replace him with his bench coach, that just seems silly.

I guess it gives the impression that something is being done to turn the franchise around when, in my opinion, nothing is actually being done. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports pointed out in a column today that until Rizzo and Kasten are given more power the franchise will continue to drift aimlessly. Washington has many long term deep rooted problems that stem from the front office, problems which could never be corrected by firing the on-field manager.

Curtis Granderson is probably my favorite MLB player, but why in the heck is he in the All-Star game? Inge should have been in before him.

You're gonna be real excited when you watch the HR derby tonight.

Yeah, Inge is more out of his element in the derby than Damien Easly was in it back in the early 2000's. I mean he has power, but not like Prince and Puljos, etc.

Rosenthal kinda bugs me. But, anyway...

Having said that, is that all the Lerners fault? I'm not saying they're not a problem, but can those deep rooted problems be cured in 2.5 years?

LOL..........As much as Zack has struggled personally with media and fan attention, he can be a quote machine at times..........

I would have crushed it, LOL!!

He's only had 18 plate appearances in the major leagues, but he does have two doubles and a homerun in those appearances. He's by far our best hitting pitcher during intraleague games. He's got a pretty good swing.

But yeah, the dripping sarcasm is a regular feature of Zack interviews. I've never missed a post-game show after a Greinke start for that reason. I watched one post-game interview where Olivo was standing next to Greinke after a win and the interviewer ask Zack how important Olivo was to keeping the opposition to 3 hits. Zack proceeded to say that Olivo was personally responsible for two of the three hits based on the pitches that Olivo called. He said he was only personally responsible for one of the hits.

That SI article about Greinke talked about when he started having his issues a few years back, he seriously considered (not that the team agreed) dropping pitching and becoming a hitter, to the point where he was sometimes preoccupied by it. Sounds like he's still pretty enthusiastic about it.

He still takes batting practice quite a bit even outside of intraleague play. He was a helluva hitter in high school. Honestly, he'd be a great NL pitcher for that reason. He'd fill the 9 hole very well.

You definitely know when Greinke steps into the batting cage. The early arrivers love it.

Ok, is this intentional? You did it twice now. :)

Born and raised baby. I'm displaced out here in Giants land, and I've been following them for a few years. I've become attached, but I'm still an Oriole fan to the bone.

Pedro Martinez is a Philly. Or is it Phillie?

Phillies sign 3-time Cy Young winner Martinez - Boston.com

I think one of the articles posted here earlier in the year had the story about Zack showing Alex Gordon a video of his home run and saying "do that" or something to that effect.

SI

Seems like a pretty cool fan base from what I've seen. Camden has become my new favorite place to see a game (at least in the non-Wrigley/Fenway category) after going a couple of months ago. I still haven't seen one at Fenway but Wrigley is its own beast and I imagine Fenway is the same.

I'll be visiting Baltimore again here in about a week and a half

SI

I really like Greinke as a player but he can be a little strange.

So does the NL suck or what? This is a long All Star Game dry spell.

Some comments by Kevin Goldstein about Bryce Harper that caught my eye.


If he's limited to 1B then his value goes waaaaaaaaaaay down.

Saw this on Red Reporter and wanted to make sure the Cincy contingent knew:

At least Olli hasn't walked anyone yet