Myers to be activated Friday
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Myers to be activated Friday
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
UPDATED: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel announced that Brett Myers will be activated before Friday night's game in Houston against the Astros.
Myers has been on the disabled list following hip surgery and has rehabbed quicker than anticipated. The final hurdle, seemingly, was throwing on back-to-back days, which Myers did in Triple A on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Earlier ...
There's been a lot of talk about a potential first round match-up between the Phillies and the Giants, so something that Charlie Manuel said in his press conference last night is worth filing away in your mental piggy bank. Somebody asked Skip about the long-term implications of tonight's rubber match between the two teams, and he immediately flashed back to 2007, when the Phillies split a four-game mid-September series with the Rockies at Citizens Bank Park. They had already lost two out of three to Colorado in Denver, and wound up losing the season series 3-4.
Less than a month later, the Rockies won two straight games at Citizens Bank Park and then finished off the Phillies in Colorado to advance to the NLCS.
"We caught them when they were hot," Manuel said. "I feel like that kind of inspired them."
Which brings us to tonight, when one of the oldest active Cy Young winners (Pedro Martinez) squares off against the youngest (Tim Lincecum). Lincecum has already beaten the Phillies once this season, holding them scoreless for eight innings. For a team that has scored just 11 runs in its last six games, that does not bode well.
The conventional wisdom holds that no team wants to face Lincecum and fellow young ace Matt Cain in a five-game series. But heading into tonight, three of the Phillies' four losses to the Giants this season have come against pitchers other than Lincecum and Cain.
The good news is that the Phillies would have their own pair of aces on the mound in Games 1 and 2. And those aces, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, have both pitched complete games against the Giants this season. But the Giants also roughed Hamels up earlier this season at ATT Park. Which makes tonight's match-up intriguing. The Phillies could fire an important salvo in what could be their first battle of the postseason by mustering some offense against Lincecum. Not only would it help them break out of this current slump, but it would give the Giants something to think about come October. Of course, Lincecum has allowed more than three runs exactly twice since June 1, and leads the league with six starts of at least eight scoreless innings.
In their last 34 games last season, the Phillies swept the Brewers in four games and the Dodgers in four games. Perhaps not coincidentally, they went on to beat both teams in the playoffs.
A loss tonight to the Giants could very well prove meaningless come October.
But you can bet that, in an ironic twist, there will be a lot of diamond-encrusted fingers crossed while rooting for the Rockies down the stretch.
From the 6 games the Phillies have played against the Giants so far this year, I have one thing to say: We do NOT want to go against these guys in the NLDS. Their rotation is dominate. The Phillies do not do well against dominate pitching staffs. In 17 innings so far this series, the Phils have scored 1 RUN. Just 1. We've handled the Rockies. Another thought to consider is that the Phillies are now the #3 seed for the playoffs as of 9/3. If it were to end today we'd be seeing the Dodgers in Round 1. I like the Phils chances against them in a short series compared to their chances vs SF. Tonight's game is very important.— chase2kspc- Another thought. Ibanez needs to wake up. It's crucial.— chase2kspc
Comment removed.- JRoll or Shane need to try to drop a bunt for a hit inning 1, then try to steal a base. Get this guy out of rhythm early or he gets locked in. Or have Pedro hit every one of their guys until a warning is issued, and hope Lincecum retaliates and gets ejected.— B in DC
- It's kind of amazing that people have a tough time with the standings...The Phils have 54 losses the other two teams (Cardinals and Dodgers) have 55 losses, so to say that the Phils are the #3 seed is wrong. "if it were to end today" would have to take into consideration that the phils still have more games to play than anyone else.— hockeyoscar
- Ibanez better wake up cause there is a pair of studs on his heels named D. Brown and Taylor. Dude is going to hit .250 after batting .350 the first half!? How does that happen!? 100 point drop???— gulls3012
- B in DC: I like the idea of Pedro hitting guys, can he hit Milt Thomson as well to get him off his a...and teach this team to hit besides HRs. A bit of small ball is always fun to see— fan_in_jerusalem
- Will Ibby top the Burrell numbers from last season: .250 batting average and 33 homers. Too bad we can't place prop bets in Delaware.— Dull
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- Lincecum looks like and older version of the kid from Dazed and Confused. Totally off topic, i know...— K,M
- Harry, you should do the research, buddy. Go to MLB.com and see how the Phils do against top notch pitchers. I counted 4 wins over quality pitchers ALL season. The Phils feast on the dreck of the NL. No one believed me when I said the Phils would lose to Penny last night, but you have to be realistic and look at what's really happened with this team all year.— scootch
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- that sound you heard last night was the Phils getting passed in the standings by the Cards. We could very well be looking at a round 1 matchup with the Dodgers and no home field in the playoffs. Pessimistic side of me keeps having images of Jim Thome with a pinch hit blast off of Lidge, much like Matt Stairs did for us last year... but i think the phils can win that series unless billingsley and kershaw regain their form— jim715
