THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
The Phillies can expand their rosters tomorrow, and so far they have called up four player from their farm system:
Pitcher J.A. Happ.
Outfielder Greg Golson.
Catcher Lou Marson.
Pitcher Adam Eaton.
The Phillies have placed Tom Gordon and Francisco Rosario on the 60-day disabled list to make room for Golson and Marson on the 40-man roster.
You will hear plenty about how every game is important the rest of season, and you will hear that because it is true.
But if every game is important, yesterday's 5-2 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field was really, really, really important. Because had the Phillies lost yesterday, they would have arrived at Wrigley Field this morning with the chance of being swept. And you can't get swept this late in the season. You just can't. So now the Phillies come to Wrigley this morning with a chance to split, which I considered a success before the series started.
The Phillies received some good news today (maybe) when they learned that Carlos Zambrano won't pitch today because of dead arm (it's not really dead, it's just baseball talk for his arm being tired). Sean Marshall will pitch instead.
Marshall is 3-3 with a 3.52 ERA.
In five career appearances, including two starts, against the Phillies, Marshall is 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA (13 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings). He has pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief this season against the Phillies. But he allowed five hits and six runs in 3 1/3 innings in a start against the Phillies in 2006, and nine hits and seven runs in 2 2/3 innings in a start against the Phillies last season.
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In the Phillies Notebook: Brett Myers stays hot, a trade for Kyle Farnsworth (or anybody else) seems unlikely, Matt Stairs talks baseball and hockey and Pat Gillick and Gregg Clifton talk about the Phillies releasing Kris Benson.
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In The Inquirer's Sunday baseball column, Jim Salisbury takes a look at the wide open MVP race in the National League. Check out Extra Bases, too.
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The Phillies have released triple-A Lehigh Valley righthander Kris Benson.
The Phillies signed Benson to a minor-league contract in Februrary with the idea that he could plug into the rotation sometime before June 1. But because of injuries, Benson progressed much more slowly than they had hoped. So the Phillies moved forward and acquired Joe Blanton before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, which eliminated the possibility that Benson would pitch in the Phillies rotation this season.
Even if there were an injury to a starting pitcher at this point, J.A. Happ would be the likley replacement.
We're not sure the exact reason why the Phillies released Benson, who was 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA in 11 starts in Lehigh Valley, but I'll pass it along once I do.
OK, I'm late posting today because I had no power on the Dell. In fact, I had to run to Best Buy on Clark Street to find a new power supply.
Cost?
A bargain at $115.
But it's either fork over the cash or just sit in Chicago for the next couple days and not work ...
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Matt Stairs arrived today. The Phillies acquired him in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays for lefthander Fabio Castro, although Pat Gillick said this morning at Wrigley Field that the "player to be named" won't be announced until after the season. That might be because Castro didn't clear waivers, and can't be traded until after the season.
Regardless, the Phillies have the lefthanded bat off the bench they need after Geoff Jenkins went on the DL.
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The Phillies have interest in Detroit Tigers righthander Kyle Farnsworth, and could add him before tomorrow's waiver trade deadline. Gillick said today, however, that it is less likely than likely they can complete another trade (he wouldn't confirm their interest in Farnsworth) before tomorrow.
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Last night's 6-4 loss to the Cubs might have been the worst loss of the season:
1. It was the first game of a four-game series against a team that is terribly difficult to beat at home. The Cubs are 50-19 at Wrigley Field this season, the best home record in baseball. Getting a split at Wrigley would be considered a success this weekend, and the Phillies were six outs away from putting themselves in great position to do that.
2. The Phillies scored four runs in six innings against Cubs righthander Ryan Dempster, which is no small feat considering Dempster has been one of the best pitchers in the National League this season and one of the best pitchers in baseball since the all-star break.
3. Cole Hamels pitched beautifully through seven innings, allowing only a run and five hits in seven innings.
4. It only gets tougher from here. The Phillies have to try to beat Cubs righthander Rich Harden this afternoon. He also has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since the break.
Should Hamels have started the eighth? Last night Manuel said Hamels was "absolutely spent." Hamels left the clubhouse without comment, which led most to believe that he wanted to pitch the eighth. After all, he threw 108 pitches. He appeared to be in control.
So why pull him?
Hamels said he was done.
"Once you get to 105, 110 pitches, you're pushing the envelope, especially this late in the season," he said this morning at Wrigley Field. "Obviously, I'm leading the league in innings. My body definitely has taken a toll. If I was maybe around the 98 to 104 mark, I possibily could have gone out. But just after that last inning -- that was a 20-pitch inning, I believe -- it took a toll. I knew with my space coming up in the order, I'm 0 for 2, it's not like I'm really doing anything special. I trust the bullpen 100 percent. That's why we have the best bullpen in the National League with the best ERA. Unfortuantely, sometimes it doesn't happen. You can't put any blame on that. It's just kind of the circumstances."
So, again, physically he felt like he shouldn't have pitched the eighth?
"No," he said. "Physically, no. I don't think it would have benefited, just with that last tough inning in the seventh. I guess your energy the way it is, I know I have to put in quality inning after quality inning. If I know I'm not fresh enough to do that, why put myself in a (position) not to benefit the team and also have to look at it from the standpoint that I have another start in five days?"
Said Dubee: "He said he had enough, so what can you do? I'm not going to send a guy out there that says he's done. He said he was pretty spent. ... He was the third hitter (in the eighth). If there were two outs and nobody on, he would have gone out there. But again, he had seven quality innings and he had enough. He had enough."
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In the Phillies Notebook: J.C. Romero said he wanted to pitch in the eighth inning in Wednesday's 6-3 loss to the Mets.
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Got confirmation from a Phillies source: the Phillies have acquired Matt Stairs from the Blue Jays for a minor leaguer. That mystery man could be announced after the game, and Stairs could be in town this weekend.
Fox Sports reports that the Phillies have acquired Matt Stairs from the Toronto Blue Jays for a minor leaguer.
The Phillies got the lefthanded bat they needed after they couldn't land Mark Kotsay from the Braves and Geoff Jenkins went on the DL. Stairs was hitting .250 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs before the Jays designated him for assignment.
The Phillies have recalled lefthander Fabio Castro from triple-A Lehigh Valley and have optioned righthander Drew Carpenter, who made his big-league debut last night against the Mets, to double-A Reading.
Castro is 0-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 30 appearances with the Phillies and Rangers. He was 8-2 with a 4.40 ERA in 27 appearances (16 starts) for Reading this season and 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in three apperances (two starts) for Lehigh Valley.
Charlie Manuel is concerned about his bullpen.
That's why J.C. Romero, Chad Durbin, Ryan Madson and Clay Condrey were unavailable to pitch last night in a 6-3 loss to the Mets at Citizens Bank Park, which returned the Phillies to second place in the NL East. Romero had thrown 20 or more pitches in each of the previous three games. Durbin, who already has made a career-high 56 appearances, had pitched five times in the previous seven days. Madson, whose shoulder is an issue, had thrown two innings Tuesday. And Condrey had thrown three innings Tuesday.
That is why Rudy Seanez started the eighth inning.
Seanez surrendered a game-tying home run to Carlos Delgado after he easily retired the first two hitters he faced and after the Phillies visited Seanez on the mound to talk strategy.
The talk didn't work.
Seanez allowed an infield single and hell broke loose from there with Brad Lidge entering in the middle of an inning for just the second time this season.
Should Lidge have been used in that situation?
Couldn't Manuel have asked Romero to retire one batter in the eighth? Delgado is 4 for 7 (.571) with three homers in his career against Seanez. Delgado is 3 for 19 (.158) with just a double against Romero.
Good questions, but Manuel clearly felt he needed to rest his pen or risk their effectiveness later. I recall a similar situation in St. Louis late last year when Brett Myers, Tom Gordon and Romero were unvailable. The Phillies nearly blew an 11-0 lead after the sixth inning, but held on to beat the Cardinals, 13-11. Manuel felt at the time, even with just a few games to play in the season, that he absolutely had to rest his key relievers.
Loss or no loss.
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While it's fair to examine the bullpen's role in last night's loss, the offense had just three hits after the second inning. Give Seanez a cushion, maybe he stays in, gets out of the inning and Lidge is back starting the ninth, where he is more comfortable.
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Kyle Kendrick wasn't bothered by his late-night warm up session Tuesday, but he didn't pitch as deep into the game as he had hoped, either.
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Tough, tough series this weekend in Chicago. The Cubs are no joke and are nearly unbeatable at home.
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In the Phillies Notebook: Drew Carpenter made his big-league debut in the ninth inning last night. The Phillies were hoping not to see him.
Wow.
That felt familiar. Last night's 8-7 victory in 13 innings over the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park felt a lot like 2007. The Mets took a 7-0 lead in the fourth inning, but the Phillies chipped away at it before a few dramatic moments in the ninth and 13th innings won it and moved the Phillies into first place in the National League East.
"It had that feeling like we were going to win it every single inning," Chris Coste said. "We had a pretty good feeling ... an excitement because we put ourselves in position to win the game on many occassions. It was definitely exciting. It probably felt like the Little League World Series players. You forget that you get paid to play the game. It's almost like we felt like little kids with the excitement in kind of playoff-type atmosphere, which is pretty normal when we play the Mets."
Last year when the Phillies played the Mets at the Bank there were dramatic moments: Chase Utley's return from a broken hand Aug. 27, Ryan Howard's game-winning homer in the 10th inning Aug. 28, Marlon Anderson being ruled out for interference to preserve a one-run win Aug. 29 and that unbelievable 11-10 back-and-forth victory on Aug. 30.
Last night's game had similar moments.
Game time: five hours, 17 minutes.
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Kyle Kendrick was ready to pitch the 14th inning if the game had continued. He threw 40 warm-up pitches in the bullpen, but said he should be fine tonight when he faces Johan Santana.
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It was Coste's first walk-off hit. Ever.
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Jim Salisbury talks about the electricity in the park when the Mets come to town.
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In the Phillies Notebook: could Jamie Moyer be back in 2009, a trade for Mark Kotsay is unlikely and Rollins' practice tee work continues to pay off.
