Paul Hagen

Paul Hagen covers baseball for the Daily News.

Email Paul at hagenp@phillynews.com

Pedro's dream season with Phillies falls short
Bullpen not nearly as mighty as Phillies needed it to be
Photos: Phillies return from New York

Phillies line up to celebrate their victory in Game 5 of the World Series.

Paul Hagen: 1993 Phillies veterans say this World Series looks familiar

Posted 11/03/2009

THE OUTLOOK was bleak. It always is when a team is down by three games to one in a best-of-seven series. Coming off two straight losses at home, including a heartbreaker in Game 4. Listening to all the statistics about how few teams have dug themselves out of such a hole.

Paul Hagen: Yankees believers in short rest - 11/02/2009: by Paul Hagen

Charlie Manuel was taking a big chance. Everybody agreed. By holding back ace Cliff Lee until Game 5, letting him pitch on his normal turn, giving the ball to Joe Blanton instead, the Phillies manager was putting the season at risk.
Paul Hagen: Umpires strike again in Game 2 of World Series - 10/30/2009: NEW YORK - Maybe it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. Still, first base umpire Brian Gorman conceded last night that he probably made a mistake when he called Chase Utley out at first on a bang-bang play in the top of the eighth inning in Game 2 of the World Series last night.
Paul Hagen: Rollins' clutch play in fifth inning two good - 10/29/2009: NEW YORK - Yankees designated hitter Hideki Matsui opened the bottom of the fifth with a single up the middle. It was the first time New York had gotten the first batter of the inning on base. The crowd began to stir.
Paul Hagen: Tipping or not, Phillies starter Hamels still struggles - 10/22/2009: THERE HAVE been plenty of theories about why Cole Hamels hasn't been as dominant this October as he was a year ago.
Paul Hagen: Former Phils reliever Williams convinced Utley is playing hurt - 10/20/2009: THEY ARE called red-light players, meaning that they are at their best when the television cameras come on. It's a shorthand version of saying a certain guy tends to rise to the occasion. It's a compliment.
Paul Hagen: At least Torre saved Dodgers bullpen - 10/19/2009: by Paul Hagen

When Jim Fregosi managed the Phillies, if the team faced a big deficit early, his tendency was to basically stop managing. He wouldn't empty out his bullpen or start mixing and matching with his bench in an attempt to stage an improbable rally, reasoning that could lessen his chances the following day.
Paul Hagen: Charlie sticks to his game plan for Pedro - 10/17/2009: LOS ANGELES - Former Red Sox manager Grady Little and Charlie Manuel are good friends. Little was fired by Boston, in large part, because of the frenzied backlash after he left in Pedro Martinez just long enough to allow the Yankees to tie, and eventually win, Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series.
Paul Hagen: Dodgers' Torre stuck with struggling Kershaw - 10/16/2009: LOS ANGELES - Two days earlier Joe Torre sat in a small room in the basement of Dodger Stadium and talked about an important lesson he had learned from Don Zimmer when Zim was one of his Yankees coaches.
Paul Hagen: Early finish gives Phils a breather - 10/13/2009: DENVER - Believe it or not, there just might have been an interest group more unhappy to see the Phillies eliminate Colorado last night than the Rockies and their fans.
Paul Hagen: It took a while, but Rollins gets the engine started - 10/12/2009: By PAUL HAGEN, hagenp@phillynews.com

DENVER — Jimmy Rollins hadn’t attracted a lot of attention for most of the first three games of the playoffs. Going into the ninth inning last night, he had two singles in 13 at-bats and hadn’t scored a run.

MORE STORIES

Paul Hagen: Phillies say they are resilient; now is time to show it - 10/10/2009
Paul Hagen: Rockies like their position heading home, tied 1-1 - 10/09/2009
Paul Hagen: Phillies' hitters get Rockies' Jimenez 'out of whack' - 10/08/2009
Paul Hagen: Greinke witty and royally talented - 10/02/2009: by Paul Hagen
Paul Hagen: Golden era continues for Phillies fans - 10/01/2009
Paul Hagen: Only bubbly passengers on Phillies' flight came in bottles - 09/28/2009
Paul Hagen: Phillies fans, no need to panic about Martinez - 09/26/2009
Paul Hagen: How about Walker as solution to Phillies' mess at closer? - 09/25/2009
Paul Hagen: Film offers insightful look into challenges facing Latin ballplayers - 09/25/2009: by Paul Hagen
Paul Hagen: With Ruiz injured, Phillies might be caught short behind the plate - 09/24/2009
Just say Joe - 09/23/2009
Paul Hagen: In hindsight, Phillies lucky they didn't get Soriano - 09/18/2009: By Paul Hagen
Paul Hagen: Did Phillies slump away homefield advantage? - 09/11/2009: by Paul Hagen
Paul Hagen: In Phillies' Lidge situation, just business as usual for Manuel - 09/10/2009
Paul Hagen: Curt Schilling's political ambitions - 09/04/2009: By Paul Hagen
Paul Hagen: For Phillies, Hamels, Lidge on path to redemption - 09/02/2009
Paul Hagen: It's not always home, sweet home - 08/28/2009: by Paul Hagen
Paul Hagen | This is Phils' chance to reclaim the city - 01/17/2007

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