April 23 - Phillies vs. Brewers
Follow tonight's game between the Phillies and Brewers at Miller Park.
April 23 - Phillies vs. Brewers
Todd Zolecki
Cole Hamels served up a two-run homer to Prince Fielder in the eighth to give the Brewers a 5-4 lead. Hamels started the inning with 110 pitches, but was absolutely cruising to that point. Hindsight is always perfect, but with Brad Lidge most likely unavailable because he had pitched four of the previous five days, I'm sure Charlie Manuel wanted Hamels to try to get through Fielder (at least) before bringing in J.C. Romero for the eighth and Tom Gordon for the ninth. I'll get an explanation afterward.
It's funny, anytime Manuel pulls a pitcher after he has thrown just over 100 pitches people complain that he babies them. "It's not like when Robin Roberts or Steve Carlton pitched!" But then he keeps them in and the pitchers blows it, those same people say, "Look at the pitch count! They should have taken him out!"
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I should have put money on it. The Polish sausage went wire-to-wire to win the infamous sausage race. The Polish has won four of 10 races this year. I'm taking him (it? she?) again tomorrow.
Cole Hamels has settled nicely since the first inning. He has allowed two hits and one walk and has struck out eight in the five innings since.
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Pat Burrell stays hot. He hit a solo homer to left in the sixth to hand the Phillies a 4-3 lead. It's quite obvious that Burrell and Chase Utley are in competition to win the Triple Crown, no?
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Greg Dobbs just crushed a 3-1 pitch for a two-run homer to right field in the fifth to make it 3-3.
In an unrelated note, I'm picking the Polish sausage to win the Sausage Race today. But as a Polack, I always take the Polish. Always.
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Cole Hamels hasn't had the best luck at Miller Park (5.40 ERA in two starts here), and that luck continued in the first inning. He allowed a two-run homer to Prince Fielder as the Brewers took an early 3-0 lead. But Chase Utley hit a solo homer to center in the third to make it 3-1. Utley has homered in six of his previous seven games, and leads the majors with 10 homers.
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Here's tonight's lineup against the Milwaukee Brewers: 1) Jayson Werth 2) Greg Dobbs 3) Chase Utley 4) Ryan Howard 5) Pat Burrell 6) Geoff Jenkins 7) Carlos Ruiz 8) Eric Bruntlett 9) Cole Hamels.
And Norma, even though Chase did hit that homerun 2nite, I think he would have had 7 more days to do it, or did he have to hit it 2nite??? lol— Clinton, NJ- Why leave Hamels in? Unbelievable. Gordon and Romero are fairly rested. It is too early to have a younger pitcher going that deep into a game. God knows all the Phils need is an injury. This loss is all on Charlie.— czawie
- Clinton, NJ......I'm pretty sure what I read said he had to hit the HR tonight. Maybe they meant he'd set a record of HR's in the first 3 weeks of April? I haven't had a chance to search for the link. Think it might have come from something on Google. Gary Papa, on 6ABC, said Chase is on pace to hit 74!!!!— Norma
- This from the Phillies site......."Milwaukee welcomed Jenkins back with a two-minute video presentation and a standing ovation when he batted in the second inning.".......NICE!— Norma
- I don't usually question managers leaving pitchers in, but Hamels had just done the same thing his last outing in the 8th where he didn't have anything left. I don't understand why Manuel wouldn't bring in Romero in that situation. It's not about babying them...110 pitches is an awful lot for anyone. 7 strong innings is a great outing.— Moridin417
- Great subjectivity Zo'. If hamels gets thru that inning nobody says a word. No one pats Cholly on the back and says great move. Its a 162 game season ppl. Look at where we were last year. the best part is Howard isn't even cranked up yet!— Truth
- good point... plus if you switch howard and burrell. the middle of the lineup will be less likely to be affected by a late game lefty reliever.— terryharmon
- Funny how Truth slips a "WE" in there; go back and read every one of your previous posts, dude. I thought it was "YOU" Phillies' fans. I love Charlie (oops, I forgot about Truth's issues), but he left Myers in too long the night before, and Hamels the last 2 times. Howard is terrible right now. Looks completely lost. I wonder if A-Rod and Cabrera and Pujols disappear for a month at a time. Again, wouldn't be such an issue if he weren't the face of MLB. Let's see: since the MVP season, looks like RH has hit around .220 in close to 5 out of 7 months (4 months last year, first month this year). I wonder at what point that becomes less of a slump and more the norm.— John in LA
- Just dit him...he's an embarassment to baseball players everywhere....being on the cover of that stupid video game nationwide and having to spend all that 10 mil must be wearing on him....let Dobbs have the bag for a week or so...— Mark1npt
- Just checked some stats - looks like RH only hit .220 for the first 2 months last year, but was even worse for the month stretch Utley was out. So it's 3, not 4. Still, be nice if Charlie sat him for a few days. Dobbs is a good call.— John in LA
The pitch count is one thing; I'm not a huge fan of going by the book every time. But pushing a guy to his personal pitch limit is a different story. I guess Charlie learned that lesson. I agree that Howard's situation has reached the embarassing stage. Something has to happen.— bobby- Well, I'm not gonna defend Charlie on this one. The system is set up man in 8th (Romero) and closer (Lidge, Gordon)in 9th. It's not about what Cole wants, it's about what works. Situation cried out for Romero. Ahh, nuts. I am old enough I saw Roberts and Carlton and a) that's an era long gone, b) Cole ain't either one of them, except maybe once or twice a year.— jimmymack
- My irration level with Manual's refusal to drop Howard in the lineup is off the charts. Drop him, if he feels "dissed", too bad. Or sit him and make him work in the cage with Thompson. He is killing us. But as Truth noted in his only post that has made sense all year, he is laughing all the way to the bank.— jimmymack
- A source has contacted OTR that Jimmy Rollins’ injury is more than just a sprained ankle. Jimmy Rollins actually has a broken bone in his ankle. On April 20th, Jimmy was placed on the 15 day DL for a sprained ankle, but he could stay on the DL longer than first anticipated. Any truth in this?— phairmount
- I think that story about Rollins' ankle is untrue. Rollins is taking BP today in Clearwater, which I wrote today. If he had a broken ankle, why would he be taking BP? And why would the Phillies hide a broken ankle after he has had x-rays and a MRI? And why would Rollins risk his career playing on a broken ankle? And why would Rollins keep quiet about it? None of the story makes any sense. Plus, I threw it out to Phillies sources and they laughed. They couldn't believe it's out there.
