Game 40 Preview: Phillies at Yankees

The Phillies make one final stop on their road trip to play the New York Yankees in the new Yankee Stadium. Both teams bring high octane-offenses to the table, and the way Yankee Stadium has been giving away free souvenir balls to fans in the outfield this season, there is no reason to expect a slow weekend in the Bronx.

Taking the mound for the Phillies will be Brett Myers. Myers has had two straight solid outings, allowing just three earned runs in 13 innings against the Nationals and the Braves. He has also recorded two wins in his last two decisions.

Myers will be the first pitcher to try and hold down the rejuvenated Yankees offense that features Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and Robinson Cano.

In the Yankees’ recent nine-game winning streak, New York has scored 59 runs. Both the Yankees and the Phillies lead their respective leagues in average runs scored per game.

Myers is 3-0 on the road this season while his counterpart, A.J. Burnett, has yet to record a win in the new stadium. Burnett, however is still pitching well and has only lost once in his last six games. He has received five no-decisions. Both pitchers have a 1.40 WHIP this season.

Phillies Record: 22-17
Yankees Record: 24-17

NL East Standings (Team, record, games behind)

1. PHILLIES 22-17, –
2. Mets 21-19, 1.5
3. Braves 20-20, 2.5
4. Marlins 19-23, 4.5
5. Nationals 12-28, 10.5

Pitching probables: Myers (3-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. Burnett (2-1, 5.02 ERA)

TV: MyPhl 17

First pitch: 7:10pm

Season Series: First meeting

Open thread for the game will be posted at 6:30pm. No game recap though due to weekend schedule.

World Series Phlashback: 1950 World Series – Game One

The 1950 Phillies, affectionately nicknamed the Whiz Kids due to their youthful age, clinched the National League pennant on the final day of the regular season. Lead by the likes of Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn the Phillies would make their second trip to the World Series.

Their opponents would be the defending world champion New York Yankees, who were looking to add their 13th title to their historic franchise history. The experienced Yankees would sweep the Whiz Kids, although all but one was a one run game.

This is part one of the four part series and focuses on game one of the 1950 World Series.

Right from the start of the World Series the Phillies appeared to be at a disadvantage. Robin Roberts, the ace of the team, had pitched three games in five days to help the Phillies clinch the National League pennant and was unavailable to pitch the World Series opener in front of the Phillies fans at Shibe Park.

To further put the Whiz Kids at a disadvantage because Curt Simmons, who had earned 17 wins that season, was called to duty in the Army late in the season. The Phillies also were dealing with injuries to rookie pitchers Bubba Church and Bob Miller.

Enter Jim Konstanty, the thirty-three year old right handed pitcher who would make his first start of the season. Konstanty was the top reliever on the team and picked up 16 wins in 1950 coming out of the bullpen. Manager Eddie Sawyer felt Konstanty was the best option for the first game.

Konstanty would face a vaunted Yankees lineup made up of players like Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Hank Bauer and of course Joe DiMaggio. Taking the mound for the Yankees was 21 game winner Vic Raschi.

As good as Konstanty was, Raschi was better. The Phillies’ top relief pitcher turned starter pitched eight very solid innings and scattered four hits over that time. Yankees third baseman Bobby Brown lead off the fourth inning with a double to left field.

Baur followed that up with a deep fly ball to center field for an out, but Brown was able to advance to third base on the play. Brown would score on a sacrifice fly from Yankees second baseman Jerry Coleman for the first, and ultimately only run of the game.

The Yankees’ Rashci pitched a complete game, allowing zero runs to score for the Phillies and just two hits. Andy Seminick and Willie Jones were the only Phillies to record a hit and both singles came in the fifth inning.

The Yankees would take game one of the 1950 World Series in front of a sold out Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Many thought that the Yankees would sweep the World Series against the youthful Phillies, and they accomplished the first part of that task.

Preview: Macho Row Phillies Phlashback

With the Phillies heading to (the new) Yankee Stadium for a weekend series against the history rich franchise in the AL East, and since I don’t usually blog too much on the weekends, I thought this would be a good opportunity take a look at the 1950 World Series.

The Phillies will play the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rays, and Orioles in inter league match-ups in the next month, so I am working on putting together a series of World Series retrospectives for each year the Phillies faced those teams respectively.

Tomorrow we will start with the 1950 Fall Classic and carry it out through the weekend. I hope you enjoy it, even though the Phillies lose the World Series.

Offense Comes Alive as Phillies Win

Jamie Moyer must have been wondering where this outburst of runs was last night. The Phillies crossed home plate 12 times this afternoon, giving Joe Blanton more than enough for the victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

The bats wasted no time, with Jimmy Rollins scoring a run in the first, and then the Phillies scored one more in the second, three more in the third, and once again in the fourth. Rollins had a four-hit game and picked up his 300th stolen base.

Chase Utley recorded four RBI, including a solo home run. Raul Ibanez had a couple clutch at bats, including a solo home run of his own. Not to be out done Ryan Howard also pegged a home run. As if that weren’t enough, Greg Dobbs picked up his first home run of the season.

Things were rolling for the Phillies on offense, and Blanton had smooth sailing through four innings. In the fifth innings, with a six run lead, Blanton got into trouble with some bloop hits and soft ground balls out of the infield. Brandon Phillips capped off the big five run inning for the Reds with a three run home run. Still, Blanton got out of the inning with the lead.

The Phillies responded quickly, putting six more runs on the scoreboard while the bullpen shut down the Reds. The win sends the Phillies into a weekend road series against the Yankees on a high note.

More on this weekend’s series tomorrow.

Phillies-Reds: Game 39 Preview

After the Reds tied the series up Wednesday night, the Phillies will take the field Thursday afternoon looking to earn a road series victory against a tough team from the NL Central division.

Joe Blanton will get a chance to lower his ERA and pick up his second victory of the season.

The Reds feel that they have their swagger back, as proclaimed by Brandon Phillips on the team’s website.

However, they will have to make Blanton sweat early. The last time Blanton faced the Reds was in 2007 with the Oakland A’s, when he allowed one run in eight innings.

Taking the mound for the Reds will be Micha Owings, who has a 2-0 record against the Phillies. In four games (three starts) against the Phillies, Owings has limited them to a .213 batting average. The Phillies offense will have to get him figured out quickly.

Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez will likely remain in the two and three spots in the lineup despite the team losing 5-1 last night. Charlie Manuel shouldn’t panic after one game. The shakeup has been successful for the most part since being made against Washington over the weekend.

Jimmy Rollins‘ hitting streak was snapped last night. Perhaps today he can get started on a new hitting streak. In seven at-bats against Owings, Rollins has one hit (a double).

Phillies Record: 20-17
Reds Record: 21-17

NL East Standings (Team, record, games behind):

1. PHILLIES 21-16
2. Mets 21-18, 1.0
3. Braves 20-19, 1.5
4. Marlins 19-22, 3.5
5. Nationals 11-28, 11.5

Probable starters: Blanton (1-3, 6.86 ERA) vs. Owings (3-4, 3.95 ERA)

TV: Comcast Sportsnet

First pitch: 12:35 pm

Season Series: Tied 1-1

5.19 @ Cincinnati W 4-3 Preview/Open Thread/Recap
5.20 @ Cincinnati L 1-5 Preview/Open Thread/Recap

Live blog kicks off at 12:30pm for this afternoon’s game. Time pending, the recap will be up shortly after the conclusion of the game.

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Philadelphia Phillies-Cincinnatti Reds: Moyer Better, Still Stuck on 249

Jamie Moyer entered Wednesday night’s game looking for that elusive win number 250 for his career. While he put together a respectable outing, Moyer still finds himself looking for the milestone victory as the Cincinnati Reds took game two of the three game set by a score of 5-1.

Moyer pitched six full innings and allowed nine base hits, leading to three runs (all earned). He allowed only one walk and struck out two. A Ryan Hannigan solo home run in the second inning put the Reds up 2-0 in the second inning, which would be all they needed.

Reds starting pitcher Aaron Harang shut down the Phillies bats for the night by limiting them to four hits, one coming in the form of a Raul Ibanez solo home run in the fourth inning. Harang struck out nine batters and walked just one in seven innings. The Reds tacked on a couple runs on a Brandon Phillips triple in the seventh inning.

While the Phillies’ winning streak was halted, the team should feel good about Moyer’s effort. He seemed to be his usual self in the game and gave the Phillies what should be expected out of Moyer. Untimely lack of offense is what prevented Moyer from picking up his 250th career win on this night though.

Moyer is next scheduled to pitch against the Florida Marlins, a team he has been dominant against in his career.

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Preview Game 38: Phillies @ Reds

The Phillies look to extend their winning streak to six games when they take the field tonight for game two of a three game series against the hosting Cincinnati Reds. Jamie Moyer once again will try to earn career victory number 250.

Moyer is saddled with an earned run average over eight and has had three straight starts in which he was hit hard by the Mets and Dodgers. The last time he faced the Reds was in 2007 when he allowed three runs and three hits in six innings and received a no-decision in a 9-6 loss.

Opposing him will be right handed pitcher Aaron Harang. Harang enters tonight’s game with a 3-4 record and a 3.44 ERA. This season, he has struck out 43 batters and walked twelve. Harang allowed five runs in 6.1 innings in his last outing and is 2-2 at home this season. Harang is 1-2 in eight games (seven starts) against the Phillies lifetime with a 6.15 ERA.

Jimmy Rollins has quietly put together an eight game hitting streak and raised his batting average to .223. A multi-hit game would be nice to see again tonight. Rollins is eight for 24 lifetime against Harang with three strike outs and caught stealing three times. The Phillies have accumulated a .314 batting average against Harang as well.

Phillies Record: 20-16
Reds Record: 20-17

NL East Standings (Team, record, games behind):

1. PHILLIES 21-16, –
2. Mets 21-18, 1.0
3. Braves 19-19, 2.5
4. Marlins 18-21, 4.0
5. Nationals 11-27, 10.5

Pitching probables: Moyer (3-3, 8.15 ERA) vs. Harang (3-4, 3.44ERA)

TV: Comcast Sportsnet

First pitch: 7:10 pm

Season Series: Phillies lead 1-0

5.19 @ Cincinnati W 4-3 Preview/Open Thread/Recap

Game open thread will be posted at 6:30pm. Game recap will be up tomorrow morning.

Blog Note: For tomorrow afternoon’s game (12:35pm start time) Macho Rowwill be hosting a live blog while watching the game on tv. All are invited to stop by and discuss the game as it progresses. Sign up for an e-mail reminder on the website using the box on the right side of the page.

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What’s Happ-ening? Phillies’ Pitching Rotation Thoughts

Yesterday, the Phillies announced that a change was made to the starting rotation. Chan Ho Park has been moved to the bullpen and JA Happ was promoted to the fifth spot in the pitching rotation.

During spring training, Park appeared to be the clear winner in the competition for the fifth spot, but he has done little to defend the selection once the team headed north.

Park’s 2.53 ERA was clearly better than Happ’s 3.97 in just about equal innings of work in the Spring. Park had the edge in strike outs (25 to Happ’s 15), walks (two to Happ’s eight), and home runs allowed (one to Happ’s five). Unfortunately for Park it has been quite the opposite in the regular season.

Park’s ERA is 7.08. He has allowed 27 runs (all earned) in 34.1 innings pitched (most as a starter—he has one relief appearance). Park has issued 17 walks and struck out only 21 batters. You can see the frustration from Park on the mound when he doesn’t get a call from the umpire behind the plate and you wonder if it is festering in him.

Happ on the other hand has been solid as a long relief type bullpen pitcher. In 12 appearances, Happ has a 2.49 ERA with 17 strike outs.

The young pitcher has done everything asked of him and now the team is giving him a chance to prove himself worthy of a starting job. His first start will come Saturday when the Phillies visit the New York Yankees.

Having Happ in the starter’s role seems like a good move for the time being. He had mild success as a starter while Brett Myers was figuring out his problems in the minors, and stuck with the team for the playoff chase. If nothing else, he should make Phillies fans at least a little bit more comfortable. But what about Park in the bullpen?

“I have to figure out how to prepare to be good with the new job in the bullpen,” Park said. “I have good memories of the bullpen last year [with the Dodgers]. I know it’s not easy. That’s why I don’t like being in the bullpen. But the team expects more from me out of the bullpen. I have to do my best.”
—Phillies.com via Todd Zolecki

Call me pessimistic but that quote does not instill confidence in me for Park’s attitude about the bullpen. I guess what he is trying to say is that he has been a starter, and as a starter it must feel awful being forced to go to the bullpen.

It is not an easy transition for many pitchers. Hopefully Park can focus on pitching well for an inning or two rather than worry about an entire game.

When the Phillies signed Park, the logic was that he would be a good fit for the bullpen, despite his desire to start. Starting didn’t work out so well for Park, so perhaps the bullpen will be the best fit after all.

Park is available out of the bullpen starting tonight.

The switch with Happ and Park should serve notice to Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton as well. Both starting pitchers have had struggles of their own. It just so happened that neither of them were suitable candidates to be replaced with Happ at this time. Neither figures to be moved to the bullpen at this stage and neither would be taken off of the roster at this point.

I believe Moyer could be a good fit in the bullpen, though, if the Phillies found a replacement for his spot in the rotation. But it would have to be a no-doubt-about-it replacement for me to even consider it. I am fine giving Moyer time to get things straight, but the concern is growing.

What about Blanton? Numbers wise he is safe. If the Phillies are to make another move to the rotation it appears that it would be most logical to do something with Moyer, who has a higher ERA, fewer innings pitched, more hits and home runs allowed, and seems to have a few more control issues than last season’s trade deadline acquisition.

Now is the time to keep a closer eye on the guys like Carlos Carrasco (0-5, 6.31 ERA) and Kyle Kendrick (2-3, 4.17 ERA) at Lehigh Valley. Neither seem ready to make the jump to save the rotation though, so continue to hope that Moyer and Blanton figure things out. Getting their ERA’s down to five should be the next step.

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Phillies-Reds: Philadelphia Trumps Reds, 4-3

Good starting pitching? Check.

Clutch hitting? Check.

Solid three innings from the bullpen? Check.

Last night’s terrific pitching matchup between Cole Hamels and the Reds‘ Johnny Cueto was all it was built up to be. Hamels was dominant, although he did allow three runs to score and yielded two home runs.

The Phillies ace went six full innings and threw a season high 117 pitches. On the night Hamels struck out seven batters, walked two and allowed five hits (two of which were solo home runs).

At the end of the night, Hamels had dropped his ERA down to below five, at 4.95. The lefty also got in the act offensively, helping out with a momentum shifting base hit in the fifth inning.

Ryan Howard hit a home run to lead off the second inning and the Reds’ Jay Bruce tied things up with a solo shot of his own in the fourth inning. Responding in the top of the fifth inning the Phillies worked a three run rally.

Pedro Feliz started with a double. Hamels would record his first hit of the season with one out. Jimmy Rollins then brought Feliz home on his only hit of the game. Chase Utley then brought Hamels home with a shot into right field. Rollins would cap the inning off by scoring on a Raul Ibanez sac fly to put the Phillies up 4-1.

The Reds were able to score a pair of runs off of Hamels before the night was done but the bullpen threw three scoreless innings to pick up the win for Hamels. Clay Condrey walked one batter but surrendered no hits.

Ryan Madson allowed one hit but struck out one to hand the game over to Brad Lidge, who recorded his third straight scoreless save. Although Lidge got in a jam with the potential game winning run on first base, he worked out of it to pick up his third straight save since blowing Friday night’s save opportunity in Washington.

With the win, accompanied by the Mets losing to the Dodgers, the Phillies took over sole possession of first place. The Phillies are one game in front of the Mets.

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Preview Game 37: Phillies at Reds

The Phillies head to Cincinnati to take on a young and impressive Reds team. If you like pitching matchups then be sure to settle down and watch tonight’s Phillies-Reds game as Cole Hamels will square off against Johnny Cueto.

For Hamels, tonight will be the first of what figures to be two high profile pitching matchups. Hamels is scheduled to oppose CC Sabathia this weekend when the Phillies face the Yankees. This is a great time for Hamels to prove himself worthy of making the All Star team. Hamels has turned in a pair of solid innings and picked up a win in the process. Hamels was given a no decision in his last outing against the Dodgers.

Cueto has won three straight games and has allowed just four runs in 22.0 innings of work in those games. Scoring runs against Cueto happens rarely, with his 1.93 ERA and 1.01 WHIP demonstrating why. The young pitcher has really improved over his performance in 2008, which wasn’t all that bad. Tonight will be Cueto’s first appearance against the Phillies.

The (tied for) first place Phillies will hope to continue swinging the hot bats they had in Washington. Raul Ibanez, coming off of NL Player of the Week honors (as well as Macho Row Phillie of the Week, of course) leads the way. Ibanez leads the team with a .357 batting average, 35 RBI, 50 hits, 33 runs scored, and a .714 slugging percentage.

For the Reds offensively, the spotlight still shines on right fielder Jay Bruce, one of the top prospects to come out of the Reds’ farm system. Bruce has 11 home runs in 2009.

Center fielder Willy Taveras leads the team in runs scored and stolen bases.

Phillies Record: 20-16
Reds Record: 20-17

NL East Standings (Team, record, games behind):

1. Phillies: 20-16, –
2. Mets: 21-27, –
3. Braves: 18-19, 2.5
4. Marlins: 18-20, 3.0
5. Nationals: 11-26, 9.5

Pitching probables: Hamels (1-2, 5.04 ERA) vs. Cueto (4-1, 1.93 ERA)

TV: Comcast and Sportsnet

First pitch: 7:10 pm

Season Series: First meeting

Game open thread will be posted at 6:30pm. Game recap will be up tomorrow morning.

 

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