Myers to be activated Friday
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
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
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- 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
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- 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
- WAKE UP RAUL.....— Conshy04
- SF doesn't have the offense to make the playoffs. Yeah, the G'aints roughed up Cole in SF, but Cole would be facing the Giants in CBP. Hamels/Lee against Linecum/Cain would make for some low scoring games but I would give the edge to the Philles only because we have power and contact hitters while the G-men have contact hitters.— ESFjellin
- The odds makers don't seem to like Lincecum all that much tonight. The Giants are favored to win but I thought the moneyline would be much higher, possibly -180 or -190 based on the way the Phils have been hitting of late. Maybe they don't like the fact that he's pitching on an extra day of rest. Has anyone seen his numbers in that regard? Perhaps the odds makers also think Pedro will match Lincecum pitch for pitch for 5+ innings and the Phillies hitters will do their best to get Lincecum's pitch count up and get him out of the game early. I see this being something like a 3-2 score either way. Obviously the Phillies need to send a message tonight with the eventual possibilty of facing the Giants again in October, however I think the chance of that happening are remote at best. In their remaining games the Rockies have 9 games against winning teams and 20 against teams with losing records. The Giants on the other hand play 15 games against teams with losing records and 14 against winners including 9 straight against the Dodgers and Rockies. And lest we not forget the Bravos (ie, Choppers) who could sneak in under the radar and put all this to bed. I'm out....— rjernee
- One more comment: Look who the Phillies play in their next 14 games. The Stro's, the Nats, the Mutts and the Nats. If they can't come away with a winning record after those games we won't have to worry about going far in the playoffs.— rjernee
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- I hear ya Harry. They have plenty of time to get hot again. But my point has been all along that this year's playoffs are going to feature really, really good pitchers...4 that could win the Cy Young. They didn't really have that last year, outside of 1 game by C.C. I don't want it to sound like the season is over, but it's only going to get tougher and they just aren't good hitters. The Phils are 22/30 in team batting average. Yes, they hit HR's but they are not "hitters"— scootch
- Hey Scootch- What are you talking about??? In ten minutes I went through the Phillies schedule this year for wins and losses and here is a list of names that they beat and gave the pitcher a loss you moron: Santana, Beckett, Wolf, Peavy, Burnett, Wainwright, Vazquez, Dempster, Cook, Haren 2 times, and Lilly. And there are several other B range pitchers that we beat. So do your homework before you say we can't hit good pitching.— Joe WS
- Joe...seriously? Burnette..10-8 4.29 Cook .....10-6 4.47 Vasquez...11-9 3.18 Lilly....10-8 3.17 Wolf.....9-6 3.25 Dempster..8-7 4.15 Top pitchers? Hardly. Nice pitchers, but not top pitchers. They would all be comparable to Blanton on our staff. Good, solid 3's. My list is Haren (although lost b/c of 3 errors by infielders) Wainwright, Beckett, Peavy, maybe Cook/Vasquez. I appreciate your effort though.— scootch
- You know who are top ten in batting average in the league for batting average? The Mets, Orioles, and Indians. However they are all awful. Our pitching numbers are top 5 since the all-star break so stop complaining how bad the World Champs are.— Joe WS
- Don't get mad about it, Joe. I have always said the problem isn't starting pitching. And I am not saying the "World Champs" are bad. But I am keepin it real. They are not good "hitters".— scootch
- Kramer, Mitch (aka K,M): You are so right about that one— Timmy
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- "For a team that has scored just 11 runs in its last six games, that does not bode well." Thats what makes this game so great....Phils Score 9 tonight.— LongtimeFan3
- I like long hair, but it flat out just doesn't look on this kid.— larry and stan
- Comment removed.
- Scootch ... you're posting the same BS under every story. Here's the list of starters the Phils have beaten this year: Clayton Kershaw (twice), Dan Harren (twice), Johnny Cueto (twice), Josh Beckett, AJ Burnett, Johan Santana, Jake Peavy, Randy Wolf, Ted Lilly, Adam Wainwright, Jair Jurjens, Javier Vasquez and Zach Duke. If you can only come up with four quality pitchers in that bunch, then you don't know squat about baseball.— phillyl0
- Scootch ... The Phils are 6-2 against the pitchers who rank top 10 in ERA in the NL this year. Just because you've never heard of those guys, doesn't mean they're not good. Admit you never watch a baseball game that doesn't involve the home team, and then let's move on.— phillyl0
- Looks like scoring 9 was a bit optimistic.— P Even
"If SF doesn’t make the playoffs, all this is moot..." /fixed- Let's sit Raul for about a week like we did when JRoll was struggling earlier. Give the AB's to Francisco. This is gettin hard to watch.— Mr Mel
- The Phils seem to be playing their best ball when it counts......now. They are playing better now than at any time all year. The starting pitching seems to be coming around, Lidge is starting to establish himself. The pieces seem to be coming together at the right time. I like the Phils chances in the playoffs. Baseball is a game of streaks, both from a team standpoint and an individual one. I think they are playing well and looking strong.— JimSeitz
- Comment removed.
- Congrats to philly10.— mick314
- Comment removed.
- Werth won't be replaced by either Taylor or Brown. Werth provides us with a solid right-handed bat as well as speed, and good defensive range as well as a good string arm. Plus he's a back-up center fielder. He's not replaceable by anybody currently in our system. Anyhow... I think we sent the SF Giants exactly the message they we needed to... Lee, Hamels, and even PEDRO can shut them down. Lee and Hamels both threw complete games their last time against the Giants, and Pedro threw 6 scoreless innings after settling in... and pitched 7 effective innings in WELL under 100 pitches. We can match up against their aces... and when they get to the back of their rotation, we can beat them easily. Happ, Blanton, and Pedro (if he continues with this performance) make up probably the best back-of-the-rotation pitchers in all of baseball. Blanton fits this criteria only in the second half, it seems, though. Once we get our hitters out of their slumps, we'll be back to WS Champ form. I agree on sitting Ibanez for a bit.— RHCP182
