Brad Lidge is hurt: Phillies 2011

...

it's almost like they're experiencing some cosmic reversal of fortune where the entire team EXCEPT the 'big four' goes to shit

their time will come

The Luis Castillo era is over.

Long live Wilson Valdez

love the title

I'd prefer The Greatest Four crash n' burn

i h8 baseball players:

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/0331/mlb_a_phillies11_300.jpg

lol at this line up

wtg phils

1 strike away from the phillies first opening series sweep since like 95 i think

nope, since 1970. done!

i think it'll be 1970 all over again

i h8 baseball players:

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/0331/mlb_a_phillies11_300.jpg

― call all destroyer, Friday, April 1, 2011 12:17 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

i dont understand

It's the city of brother-lee love :)

Haven't finished it yet, but cool article about philly pitchers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/magazine/mag-03Phillies-t.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all

nb that unless you dislike the phillies i'd ignore the context/opening. it's a kinda silly argument about how pitchers today have less "stuff" than in the past. But I found the interviews and descriptions later in the piece really interesting to read.

ha! yeah...phil niekro's pure stuff.

cya cole

didn't think I'd hear Filly fans booing one of the Phantastic Four, even if it's Big Pussy!

i cannot figure out the philly's closer situation right now. is contreras really the closer or was that just a this night thing? i thought madson was gonna close until lidge came back...

apparently so! well, good for him.

Shame Victorino

what just happened w/ that weird grounder

lol at this line up

― J0rdan S., Friday, April 1, 2011 12:13 PM (1 week ago)

lol @ u
http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings/_/group/9/sort/pointsFor/order/true

Cole Hamels made up for last week's game with a shut out today.

yay

CHOOOOOOCH

lee w/ 10 strikeouts, 5 in a row, through 7

Werth V Lee for the final out of the series. Taut!

complete games back 2 back

anyone else watching the phillies this friday evening?

GREG DOBBS

g'night. Oswalt out with a sore back after 6.

*pisses in vat of melted cheese wiz*

too far

never

J.C. Romero is hurt

Francisco just hit 6 fouls in a row before striking out. I'm sure that's not a record but it is certainly fun to watch.

they just pulled hamels, but he pitched 8 innings shutdown before they did. (i wonder why they didn't let him finish. maybe his arm got tired?)

130 pitches, 14ks out of halladay 2day

more exciting tho - in the park hr for flyin hawaiian

Holy crap, just read this on my Rockies forum:

The Phillies have now scored four runs or less in 14 straight games but they are 9-5 in those games because their pitching has beeen that good.

SP ERA: 3.32
RP ERA: 2.20

magelb Matt Gelb
A Phillies official says Roy Oswalt has left the team for personal reasons. No expected return date.

where do Phils stand in runs scored?

middle of the pack

holy shit is that for real? wtf

;_; re oswalt news

Yes, it is for real.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6437252

A source who was in attendance at Chase Field on Tuesday told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that Oswalt was observed speaking on the phone in the dugout for a long time before the game, suggesting he received news before he pitched that may have precipitated his departure.

Players rarely bring phones onto the field at any point in the day, and many teams actually prohibit that practice.

DKnobler DKnobler
Phillies announce that Oswalt left team because of concern over family in Mississippi after tornadoes

It was a fucking joyride last night, I can tell you that. ;_;

Hope his people are okay.

Ibanez so terrible. They're just gonna leave him in indefinitely hoping he'll start streaking?

new philly hitting record for april for polanco and his own personal best for any month ever

18 wins in April sets a club record.

8-)

this is quite the reverse of the usual Charlie Manuel pattern, of underperforming first months and overperforming later months. i'd like to hope that this augurs well, but i've got enough old-school Phillie fan skepticism.

Vin Scully said Halliday threw 18 strikes in a row today. Dude knows what he's doing.

does "8-)" translate as "I'm a Phillies fan"?

clearly the 8 is his beer goggles

18 wins in April is also a dumb record, as the season used to start around the 8th twenty years ago and around the 15th in the old days.

oh man, so they're only the first team in the last 20 years to score 18 wins in the current # of games in April?

p.s. they have a 1.5 game lead in the division

The Indians are 18-8, Colorado is 17-8, I wonder if these are club records? No, I don't, really.

someone here really likes the taste of sour grapes

no, counting stats monthly records are just CHRIS BERMAN beyond the pale.

Ibanez finally hit the ball!

another hit (double) from ibanez! rbi!

i love these guys. ibanez hit a hr tnite, 6 solid innings from worley.

this team's schedule is about to go from REALLY fucking easy (4 vs sd, 3 vs az, 3 vs mets, 3 vs nats) to pretty fucking hard (braves, marlins, braves, cards, rockies, rangers)

marlins about to become easy

marlins have six of next 9 vs the nats, so i doubt it -- but clearly i should heed to your success as a prognosticator

oh so clearly

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225968_10150176811548398_628363397_6627155_4047224_n.jpg

lee has 13 SO thru 6 innings -- matching his career record SO in a game. the other guy is throwing a no-hitter (jinx) against (jinx) the phils (jinx) thru (jinx) five (jinx).

That was a really strange 5-pitch brain-fart from Lee -- 4 hits, 3 runs, otherwise dominating.

he's up to 15 btw

16!

weird, weird game -- but fun, from my POV

this florida/phillies series has been badass and exciting and this is a thrilling conclusion

Salisbury on TV says Carlos Ruiz took the Threshers logo sticker (sticker!) off his helmet and replaced it with a Phillies logo. Goodbye Clearwater then.

About time!

that nearsighted nitwit behind the plate tonight needs a QuesTec suspension for that strike 2 call on Giambi. Nice gift.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/617483/CarlosRuiz.gif.opt.gif

hahaha

Domonic Brown called up from AAA ya'll.
I wonder if Good Ol' Charlie will split games with Dominic/Grandpa Raul.
A little youth wouldn't hurt this woeful offense, I mean Mayberry has been surprisingly good atm.

lol this game

Top of the 18th inning, poor Danys Baez's arm is going to fall off.

he's pitching like a champ tnite tho

ok, i wanted to go this full game but i'm done. guess i'll find out the ending tmmrw.

Now pitching for the Phillies... Wilson Valdez

Bring on the position players to the mound...

Carlos Ruiz, having caught 18 innings, becomes the third baseman.

And he chases a foul popup down the line into the stands!

is wilson valdez a Pitcher Who is Doing Well?

Valdez 1 IP, 0.00 ERA

the most value that he's provided this year

1-0

Watched till the sweet end

http://i.imgur.com/eabI5.jpg

missing: 1 HBP

glad I went to bed before the Triumph of Evil

Rollins got Phillips GOOD last night. There must be a .gif.

It was tough to take for another reason: Brandon Phillips made a major base-running mistake in the 11th. With runners on first and second and one out, Phillips was picked off. The next two runners walked.

“I lost the game,” Phillips said. “I was talking to (Jimmy Rollins) and I put my head down. I fell for the banana in the tailpipe. It’s all my fault. I take the blame.”

lol

pretty sure Phillips saw no subtext in Beverly Hills Cop

J-Hole bringing back memories of Kevin Mitchell at SS this series

http://themoderatevoice.com/wordpress-engine/files//2010/10/chutzpah.jpg

http://themoderatevoice.com/wordpress-engine/files//2010/10/chutzpah.jpg

now look up 'non sequitur'

lulz @ u

suck it, Philly! when Wright & Davis return, a Mets sweep is in your future.

"when Beltran & Reyes return, a Mets sweep is in your future."

- Dr. Morbius, upon the return of Wright & Davis

I'm looking forward to sweeping the Mets next series too!

who else thinks chutzpah is more like Mordy F'book-friending me?

and J0rd, a playoff-free October is in Miami's future

that guy today pitched more like Jo Anne Worley, amirite?

who else thinks chutzpah is more like Mordy F'book-friending me?

uh, probably no one.

someone suggested we become friends on fb and i thought, "hey, why not reach out to the guy irl? i hear he's a sweet person off ilx so who knows." chutzpah is going onto ilx and using that as some kind of shitty way to win points on an ilbb thread.

suck it, Philly! when Wright & Davis return, a Mets sweep is in your future.

enough w/ trying to humor you or set you up for a cheap zing, Morbz. how does this even make even the slightest amount of sense, even in terms of bragging rights?

I dunno. Shoulda been a sweep this weekend.

Mordy, I wasn't trying to win points, sorry. I'm sure you're an OK guy, not trying to be a dick to you aside from baseball matters.

but really, J-Roll looks bad in the field and I can't comment bcz the Mets' bullpen blew the first two games?

I have to run out but J-Roll failed to turn a particularly tricky ground ball and got charged an error, despite playing decent (and better!) D throughout the season. The very next inning Reyes watched a ground ball basically go between his legs on a much more playable hit. The point isn't that one plays better D than the other (tho I think it's pretty obv which one does). It's that one error does not a bad player make (Rollins has I think 3 errors so far this year? Philly has second lowest errors in MLB (22). Mets have 30 and Reyes has 5. Obv stats don't tell the whole story but c'mon. At least diss the team on things that make sense.

it's kind of weak for you to resort to "if my aunt had a schlong she'd be my uncle"-type arguments, innit? even if we grant yer shaky premise that the phillies' victories are somehow tainted by the mets' shaky bullpen and injured offensive firepower, how does it follow that the philz should be overly worried if/when wright and/or davis return? if the real problem is the bullpen (which i think it is), then how is either wright or davis going to compensate for THAT problem all by themselves? the bullpen will either improve or it won't (and i don't think it will), and if it won't then the bullpen will still blow games (esp. when a team w/ the offense of the Phillies is firing on all its offensive cylinders).

not to mention that you keep living down to the stereotypical metz fan's tendency to talk up winning a battle while ignoring that you're on the brink of losing the war.

My identity as a Mets' fan, as are all of my fellows, is based on the team essentially being losers. That is how Casey came to call them "Amazin'." Of course, that is the historical identity of the Phillies as well, one to which they will be returned in a few short years, with God's help.

Also I'll remind you I did not pick the Mets to make the playoffs this year; I just maintain they have a 3-5% shot.

btw Mordy, people being better "irl" is a fallacy; the internet is part of real life. I'm an ass in all realms.

the philz should be overly worried if/when wright and/or davis return?

What did I say about "worry"?

if the real problem is the bullpen (which i think it is)

The Mets' bullpen performance surpassed expectations before this series.

which they will be returned in a few short years, with God's help.

<3<3<3<3

phillies forgetting that 98% of their history is a fucking joke
also philly is 89% a shithole

most mets fans would 100% concede that phillies are a good/great team and way better than wilponized mets, doesn't mean that you won't get shit for day-to-day business

otm

http://languages.oberlin.edu/courses/2011/spring/cine110/cbick/files/2011/03/Annex-Hepburn-Katharine-Philadelphia-Story-The_28.jpg

fuck jimmy stewart, sorry

btw Mordy, people being better "irl" is a fallacy; the internet is part of real life. I'm an ass in all realms.

fyi ppl speak in different registers in different locations, one of those primary distinctions being one register on the "internet" and one "in real life." there's no fallacy, it's a pretty obvious observation that many ppl shift idiom/tone/style when talking to human beings in person when there's something at stake (like not alienating them) and when they are posting on a forum like ilx where they might feel like there's nothing at stake. but if you claim that you act the same way everywhere, i believe you.

The way I act everywhere is part of who I am. But again, I apologize for crossing the Shasta Line.

But everyone knows Stewart is most indelibly linked with a different NL city.

http://images.artistdirect.com/Images/nad/video/tribune/41981/2244_an.jpg

i can attest to dr. morbius being a grebt guy in person (as can wizardishungry, whom morbs once threatened to mop the pavement with) although as a pirates fan my most dangerous threat has been to offer ollie perez in a trade.

(the two of us did go to a mets-pirates matinee at shea a few years ago in which the bucs ran wild -- he did not punch me)

i regret to see such matters coming between true ilx baseball fans. everyone has seen fit to shit upon the mets in their thread, so it is not unreasonable (apart from the fact that the mets can't back it up) to see morbs respond on other threads.

at any rate, i hope at some point we can all (f u sanskrit & max) unite behind the not-yankees.

ps jimmy stewart is from western pa and yet still fuck him

"skidding Phillies," such a sweet phrase

good job avoiding the sweep, tho!

love ya, Placido.

this thread is hilarious

phils only scored 9 runs tnite :( i guess this means mets are going to the world series

c'mon dude, crowin' about one game -- that's almost beneath a Philthy phan.

http://twitpic.com/5bz3de

30 consecutive scoreless innings for cliff lee

1 earned run in the month of june

uh - what happened to Hamels??

Adrian went HAM on his glove hand.

I know we're one month away from the trading deadline but the offense needs a RH bat behind Howard badly. I've had enough with washed up Ibanez; he needs to be DFA-ed.

this game is a blast

love it when the Metsies make Hamels their prison punk

ew

lol Dicktorino

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Awkward-Shane-Victorino-8217-s-homer-sails-fou?urn=mlb-wp13108

who the fuck is at this game in Philly??? Don't you people know it's 10000000000 degrees outside?

well, the padres only come into town once a year

welcome to the team, hunter.

http://media.philly.com/images/300*225/072811_pence-400.jpg

he runs like a giraffe. love this dude.

Are they really optioning Brown again?

indeed they are

this is like having a petition for a stay of execution granted and then hanging yourself in your cell

and yes, the only thing raul ibanez' play can be compared to is jail suicide

i've been brainstorming ways to get all of philadelphia to refer to kendrick as shmendrick from now on

cliff lee now batting .234 for the season

oh, maybe not for the season -- maybe just for the game. i'm not sure how to read the boxscore here. still!

yeah, .234 for the season

Neyer:

...the Phillies, for all their considerable resources, can go to this well only so many times. Two years ago, the Phillies traded Carlos Carrasco and Lou Marson to the Indians for Cliff Lee. A few months later, the Phillies traded Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis d'Arnaud to the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay. A year ago, the Phillies traded Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar to the Astros for Roy Oswalt. Now they've traded two more of their best prospects for Hunter Pence.

Each of those moves made the Phillies better, in that moment, and that paragraph should serve as a stirring tribute to the Phillies' scouts and their player-development personnel, as the organization couldn't have made all those deals without a wealth of minor-league talent. The wellspring is going to dry up eventually, though; it's hard enough to accumulate that much talent, but doing it again is nearly impossible.

And what happens when the well is dry? Ruben Amaro is going to have to figure out a new way to win. Or be willing to lose for a year or two. Because while he's obviously quite accomplished at spending gobs of money and trading oodles of prospects, it's not clear what will happen when he can do just one of those things, or neither of them.

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/7/30/2304866/hunter-pence-trade-phillies-analysis-news

4 SO's for Worley so far today (2 innings). I don't understand how to calculate SIERA but clearly this guy is good, right?

eh

he could conceivably he a good fourth starter, but that's about it

that neyer post is good

pirates seem to be taking a lot of strikes, then looking confused

Worley is 7-1 with 1.92 ERA, 1.07 WHIP ... he seems pretty good to me, what am I missing?

well if he were really any good, amaro would have traded him right

Xp his Siera is around 4

Worley is 7-1 with 1.92 ERA, 1.07 WHIP ... he seems pretty good to me, what am I missing?

― polyphonic, Sunday, July 31, 2011 2:41 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

typical stuff -- doesn't strike a ton of guys out, his KK to BB isn't great, his BABIP is pretty low, LOB% and HR/FB% are very low -- he might be good enough to be a #3 starter even, but he's not frontline

He's a pretty good #4 or 5 though, and that's all they need him to be this year.

yep

fuckin ibanez

Fuckin Ibanez!

Fuck yeah!

Loving this game

Brad Lidge isn't hurt! Got his first save of the season today.

Now the Phils are 32 for 33 in save opportunities.

his 100th save as a philly. (probably his last one too...)

Today ESPN ran a Sweetspot entry and had a segment on PTI where they compared the Phillies to all-time great NL teams like the '75 Reds and the '86 Mets. Where is this coming from?

I think it's worth debating if they have the greatest starting rotation since that Braves team that had Maddux/Smoltz/Glavine or maybe even the greatest rotation ever

The rotation has been amazing, but it's a bit early to be having this debate. It's not even like they've been running away with the division, the Braves were three back a couple of weeks ago. And FWIW, the Yankees and Red Sox have better run differentials.

Well, they're on pace for 97 wins, which is 11 behind the '75 Reds and '86 Mets. They are certainly the best team in the NL but I do think they're not really clearly better than the Yankees or Sox. In fact their offense seems a lot weaker than the team that just won the World Series even though it's mostly the same guys. So that debate may be typical PTI time-filler, but I do want to know if this is the GOAT rotation, or if it would be had Oswalt stayed healthy.

They're on pace for 105 wins, which would put them in the discussion. But there's still a month and a half to go.

Shit, you're right, I miscalculated that. Didn't think it looked right. Still, that offense...yeah

I mean, it's a good offense, but only good w/r/t other 2011 offenses. Certainly not an "all-time"

The Giants offense is one of the worst in the game over the past 2 seasons.

I think I mentioned something to Jordan (?) a few weeks ago: Run differential wins games. Not singularly offense, nor defense, nor pitching.

You can subtract out a Jayson Werth* and add back Lee which may have a net win differential (not looking at stats, just assuming, also Werth is awful this year).

Also what Pence has been doing since coming on is making Werth a distant, distant memory.

yeah and those Giants teams aren't going to be "all time" either despite a great rotation

I guess if Lee/Halladay/Hamels just crush in the playoffs maybe we could discuss it

The Phils 2008 offense + 2011 pitching would be legendary.

will enjoy pointing out Pence regression before long

This series with the Dodgers is really a tale of two franchises and doing it right and doing it wrong. Dodgers and Phillies both clashed in the 08 and 09 playoffs, both times the Dodgers get bounced. Couple years later, the Phillies are EVEN BETTER and the Dodgers are a pile of useless shit. =(

this game is unbelievable.

last time the phillies had this big of a comeback was against...

the dodgers. in philly. 8/12/2010. philly scored 8 runs in the last two innings.

https://worldwariitcms.pbworks.com/w/page/15461938/f/Atomic%20Bomb.gif

oof, Madson. I guess Bastardo is gonna be closer again.

"(noun) sinks Phillies" is such a glorious phrase

http://maddadzblogs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/slingshot.jpg

Jon Heyman
got to love the way victorino plays. a very apt name.
1 hour ago

This confused me and made me barf at the same time.

33 games in 31 days phillllllllllllies baseballlllllllllll

no way this is gonna work is it?

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lol yeah, no way. so... video here:
http://www.the700level.com/08/31/11/Cliff-Lee-82-IP-Shutout-Whatever/landing_phillies.html

or rather http://www.the700level.com/08/31/11/Cliff-Lee-82-IP-Shutout-Whatever/landing_phillies.html?blockID=557350&feedID=8510

jaysonst: RT @magelb: Opponents are hitting .112 against Antonio Bastardo in 2011. That would be the lowest ever in baseball history for a pitcher ...

I hate that whenever a game gets delayed it disappears from tv :/

wtf.

just got back from doing an interview at the phillies clubhouse. it took all my willpower not to fanboy out

anyone special?

i was interviewing a relief pitcher but pretty much the entire starting lineup minus pitchers were hanging out / wandering out / getting ready

can u offer any insight into chase utley's hair?

when i walked into the clubhouse howard + utley were shmoozing. that's about the amount of insight i can give into anything. carlos ruiz was talking on the phone in spanish and ibanez was discussing the hitting conditions + wind quality from the night before

i could tell you all about this relief pitcher tho! i'll link to the profile from here when it runs

i hope it's BASTARDO, obv the Aristotelian ideal of a surname for a Phillie.

alas no -- but looking over the roster should be pretty easy to figure out who it was

hoping for schwimer, who smote the international league this season

oh, of course! he is a big kid.

bing bing bing

next year, visitors' clubhouse and World Series MVP Ryan Braun

In an interview in the October issue of Philadelphia magazine, Rollins says it's time for rich people like him to start paying more. "Warren Buffet pays less taxes percentage-wise than his secretary, you catch that?" Rollins asks. "How can that be?"

"I'm blessed to pay a lot in taxes, " Rollins says. "I have friends and relatives that go day-to-day. Every American deserves to feel secure at the end of their life. So if it's going to lift two families up, go 'head, tax me more, I can handle it. Best I know, everyone's going to die. No one's taking money to the afterlife."

jimmy rollins, social democrat

holy shit - hero!

srsly, wtg JR

still, no one's idea of an MVP.

THANK YOU FOR KEEPING US GROUNDED IN REALITY, MORBS.

your loathing of all things Phillies related is a matter of record.

You guys are easy pickins!

I'm sure Bam will spring into action now that J-Roll's countering Geithner.

i doubt that any Mutt has enough brain power to have a coherent opinion about progressive taxation. i am also sure that the Wilpons are just fine with having their secretaries pay more taxes than they do (they were certainly fine with cavorting with people who'd rip off their secretaries' 401(k)s if they had a chance).

c'mon Eiz, ballplayers. You get a smart one now n' then, but, no matter the uniform, he's a freak. Enjoying the losing streak?

i'm enjoying the fact that losing streak or not, my team's going to the playoff and yours isn't.

that's been apparent for a little while, eh? If by your team you mean the one you never go to see play.

http://crashburnalley.com/2011/09/26/on-worrying/

http://twitter.com/#!/mschwimer/status/119072417128783873

Phillies bought out Lidge + Oswalt's contracts. Lidge still wants to come back to the team in some capacity.

The jokes write themselves.

need Hot Stove thread

i have stolen this from a post on a baseball board, it looks at the Phillies payroll with the added Papelbon contract.

PHILLIES 2012 Anticipated Team Payroll:

$111.7M in Committed Salaries for 2012 according to Baseball Reference – That’s for 10 players (Howard, Lee, Utley, Halladay, Blanton, Victorino, Polanco, Ruiz, Contreras and Thome plus the buyout clauses of 2 players Lidge and Oswalt).

$12.5M projected new contract for Papelbon per year. Brings the total to $124.2M.

$22.5M Estimated for just Hamels and Pence the main 2 arbitration cases. That makes it for just 13 players approximately $146.7M +/-.

$12M Estimated for resigning Rollins (or comparable player). That brings the total for just 14 players to about $158.7M +/-

$12M Estimated for possibly signing Cuddyer. That brings the total to $170.7M for just 15 players.

$8 to $10M Estimated because the Phillies still need to sign 10 players to fill out the 25 man active roster. Now most of those are 2nd time pre-arbitration and currently 2nd year arbitration cases on the Phillies roster. Using the lower total of $8M that brings the 25 man active roster for the Phillies for 2012 season. Brings the total to $178.7M to fill out the 25 man active roster.

$178.7M Grand Total Estimated Phillies 2012 TOTAL PAYROLL. That’s with no substantial changes in their roster over 2011 in players other than the anticipated signing of Cuddyer and the new signing of Papelbon. Now my math may be off a little but I think it’s relatively very close.