OK, that’s an exaggeration. Despite the Dodgers’ unbelievably dismal play over the last two or three weeks, Arizona doesn’t seem to want to run away with the division, so we’re hanging in there. But my boys have gotten hard to watch.
On the plus side, for the first time in my life, I’ll be going to see three consecutive games this week – Thursday, Friday and Saturday vs. the Cubs. I should be able to accumulate some hard statistics on how my presence affects the team.
Gah. Neither the Reds nor the Phils are generating the amount of runs I thought both of these potent offenses would in this series. Our bullpen has played really well…but so has yours. Our starting pitching was great last night…Harang only gave up three runs (which is his ERA), but once again, gets no run support.
Apparently the Reds save all their run support for Edinson Volquez, who is currently the MLB ERA leader, at something sick like 1.46. He’s also MLB’s strikeout leader as well, with 86 SO’s.
If the Reds don’t take this one tonight, I’ll be really disappointed. We’re so close to attaining that magical aura of mediocrity that is .500 baseball that I can taste it.
Fortunately for you Phils fans, you get unproven 2nd year pitcher on his first 2008 big leauge assignment out of AAA, Homer Bailey, tomorrow.
We really need to split this series. We’ll be off to Florida to visit the Marlins next, then back at home for the Cardinals, Red Sox, Yankees…we need to win!
C’mon Reds, this stretch of games is going to define your season!
Volquez? I think that’s who you meant. I don’t know, man. His stuff is pretty slick. 97mph heater, awesome dropoff on his changeup…his stats bear him out as the real deal. He’s only given up 15 runs in 12 games, only 11 of which were earned.
more importantly, the Reds offense seems to shine when he’s on the hill, and Volquez generally does a really good job of working himself out of jams with strikeouts.
He is young though, and the Phillies lineup is one of the best in baseball.
I suppose we shall see.
Looks like the Brewers might be trying to come alive. They’re going to have to if they don’t want the Cubs to run away with the divisions. Then again, I thought the D-backs were going to run away with the NL West.
That’s one problem with all those young players the D-backs have. Once teams get more scouting on them, they figure out how to pitch to them.
You’re right; I did mean Volquez (I knew “Vasquez” didn’t sound right, but I didn’t feel like double checking). Anyway, I have to tip my cap to the Reds tonight… in a great duel, I too learned that Volquez is truly sick and not a fluke. From all indications, however, we should be able to beat up on this Homer Bailey character tomorrow, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself (again) and say it’s a lock.
Anyway, were you also wondering why the hell Manuel let Myers bat in the bottom of the seventh? The no-hitter was gone. The shutout was gone. We had eight freaking outs left and he sent Myers to the plate. Then, in the top of the eighth, he pulled him after Myers proved that he truly was out of gas.
“Pop Pop” Manuel has grown on me a lot over the years, but decisions like that really annoy me as a Phils fan.
Nice game by both pitchers last night. Funny you mention that, because I was thinking the opposite for my team, wanting Volquez to take one more at bat and pitch all or a part of one more inning. Myers has turned himself into a pitcher, it seems. He used to be all blast and bad control, IIRC. Now his velocity is down but he’s hitting spots. At least he was last night.
And as for Homer Bailey…the kid has good stuff, we brought him up last year and he was quite up and down, and he ended up getting sent back to AAA. This is his first call up this year, so…I’m guardedly optimistic. I keep hearing reports on him that he’s arrogant and isn’t taking well to coaching, wanting to do things “his way”.
Either way, I hope he pitches well enough to keep us in it tonight. These games are more importanat for the Reds right now than the Phils…especially when you will become our biggest fan starting tomorrow, as we play the Marlins whom are nipping at your heels…
Nice sweep by the A’s. The Tigers just don’t seem to be able to turn it around. I’m not sure who wants to win the AL Central. I don’t see the White Sox staying there. The Indians have been inconsistent. I don’t see the Twins doing it. Maybe the Royals will get hot :rolleyes:
This has really started to bug me over the past few weeks. The Yankee’s (and many fans) were not unwilling to trade Melky and Hughes for Santana – the Twins were reluctant to accept that offer. The Twins wanted Cabrera **and **Hughes **and **Kennedy **and **minor leaguers. They wanted three of the Yankees top 4 young players in return for a pitcher the Yankees would then have to spend at least $20mil on per year.
I don’t think anyone who opposed the deal did so thinking the Yankees would win the World Series this year. At best I thought they might make the playoffs and then, cleared of humongous chunks of salary from Giambi and Pavano (and possibly Farnsworthless), be in a position to restructure their team.
Also, from what I’ve heard, Santana doesn’t have nearly the kind of stuff he’d had in the past few years. Better than Kennedy and Hughes to be sure, but he’s said to look fatigued and this was a pretty well voiced concern during trade talk.
And don’t get me started on the stupidity of wanting to leave Joba in the bullpen. He was never supposed to be there in the first place. While it’d be nice if they had a competent pen outside of Rivera, it’d be equally nice if the combination of their starters and offense regularly put the pen in a position to hold and save a game.
Yanks have won to exciting Roller Coasters this week. Damon’s walk-off ground-rule RBI Single in hi 6 for 6 day was even better than Jason G’s walk off Homer this week.
On the bad side, Andy has not looked good for most of this year and I am beginning to get seriously worried about him.
The only thing that has really kept the Yanks going this year is the improbably success of Mussina.
Well, the Dodgers went 2-1 during my attendance of their series against the Cubs Thursday through Saturday. I can proudly say I didn’t bring my team down. Even including Saito blowing the game late on Thursday, the Dodger pitching has really woken up this series, and to a smaller extent, so have the bats. Not all is lost.
Gotta say it was a lot of fun being in the stands for Kuroda’s complete game shut-out on Friday night. The last time I watched a Dodger pitcher go the distance, it was in a loss, oddly enough.
So in the worst-case scenario today, we wind up splitting a series with the best team in baseball. I can live with that. But the Blue Crew really needs to start winning series. A lot of them. I don’t think the D-Backs are going to wait for us forever.
I watched the Dodgers/Cubs game yesterday. Did the Dodgers redo Dodger Stadium? The seats behind home plate looked like they were padded almost like a sofa.
At this point, we know what they are - a .500 club. Some very good performers, yes, some serious holes too, yes, but that’s what .500 clubs are. There’s nobody else you can expect to get much better to fill in those roster holes, either.
Granted, I haven’t seen too many Cubs game this year, but I have some serious, serious doubts about calling them the “best team in baseball.”
ETA: Actually, you may have just meant record-wise they’re the best team in baseball, which is obviously an indisputable truth. I guess my point is, I don’t expect it to last.
Keep thinking that, the Yanks will be putting some offense together now that the full line-up is in place. Once Joba gets beyond these low pitch counts, they will be better than a .500 team. The problem is this year they might not be good enough to make the playoffs.
Remember how many wrote them off last year for their slow start?
