"Freddy, Freddy, Freddy!"
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
"Freddy, Freddy, Freddy!"
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Phillies Zone Live: Game 5, the Florida Marlins and Josh Johnson vs. the Phillies and Roy Halladay
Here we are at chilly Citizens Bank Park for another edition of in-game analysis with Phillies Zone Live, one of the two best in-game blogs in the entire Philadelphia region.
Big break leads to big inning
You could watch the replay of Juan Pierre's third-inning stolen base 18 different times from 18 different angles and come to the same conclusion.
He was out.
Sometimes that's exactly the kind of break a team needs to get its offense going and the Phillies took full advantage with three straight RBI singles from Placido Polanco, Jimmy Rollins and Hunter Pence before Freddy Galvis delivered his second two-run double with two outs and the bases loaded.
Rollins and Pence also capitalized on a fielding error and poor throw home from left fielder Logan Morrison to take second base.
Galvis' hit, however, was the energizing moment of the inning and the season so far for the Phillies' offense.
After Johnson was ordered to intentionally walk Carlos Ruiz, Galvis stepped up with the bases loaded to chants of "Freddy, Freddy, Freddy."
Somewhere, Queen's Freddy Mercury smiled and then broke into song when Galvis fought off a couple two-strike pitches from Johnson before driving a 92-m.p.h. fastball down the right-field line for a two-run double.
The hit gave the Phillies a 5-1 lead and Galvis four of the team's 13 RBIs. He also had two of their five extra-base hits at that point.
Fat-bottomed Freddy, he makes the Phillies' offense go 'round.
How far can Doc go?
Halladay, who pitched eight shutout innings on opening day, is not in the sort of groove that allowed him to throw a perfect game against Johnson and the Marlins on May 29, 2010, but he still looks good and appears to be getting better as the game grows older.
Most concerning is his pitch count. It took him 23 pitches to get through the first inning and 59 to get through the first three innings. Halladay threw 92 pitches opening day and manager Charlie Manuel said before the game that he should be able to go deeper in this game.
At this rate, however, Halladay has little chance of going the distance, although he might be able to get through seven after a seven-pitch fourth inning left his pitch count at 66.
It will be interesting to see how Manuel uses his bullpen tonight. After a long hesitation, he said he thought everyone in the bullpen was available tonight.
Well stated, 24sDad - I am in total agreement. We all need to duplicate what JRoll did with Freddy before he stepped to the plate last night. All +'s!!— dwp66- The encouraging thing about Freddy Galvis is that he is not striking out and does not seem clueless. He has good at-bats and sees a lot of pitches— tommazza
- GO PHILLIES— phillynupe4
- Freddie is a good kid, he will be all-right. He is the least of our worries.— Dragon13
- Freddy is in line for a lot of RBI since he is in the real clean up spot behind Victorino, Mayberry, Chooch. That's a better deal than hitting behind Pierre, Polanco, and Rollins.— jtj06
- I was at the game tonight. The "Freddy!" chants seemed to start out of nowhere with what felt like the whole stadium joining in. Fantastic feeling. After two foul balls, music came on which removed the chance for the chants, and there seemed to be a feeling that maybe we were putting too much pressure on him. And then that double! Awesome, was happy to have a chance to be part of that, and feel so happy for Freddy to have come through. He must have been on top of the world after that hit, coming from basically AA.— raboo
- Read an article on MLB by Zo that mentioned Halladay had never heard chants like that for him, with a comment that he's still waiting for them. Never thought Roy needed that, but it would be cool if the fans gave him some "Roy" chants when he was doing about to complete a game or some other intense moment. It's easier to cheer for batters, as you can't (or probably shouldn't) cheer on every pitch. — raboo
Comment removed.- It has been a long time since a rookie position player has tried to make this team and this is what we have to have if we want to keep the winning going, young talent. It does energize the fans and the team because you can tell they all love him and want him to do well. Next one up I am looking forward to is Gillies late next year. Talk about energy and excitement. I hope he is our future lead off hitter— pattymac3
Just want to add some perspective. Only 36 full time players from 16 teams in the national league batted above .270 last year. For all you guys that think Reuben should have 6 .300 hitters on this team in order to contend. .270 is really, really good these days. And only 31 players had 20 or more HRs. That's less than two per team. This won't be 2008. But with our pitching and defense, this team has plenty of offense. Just hope Charlie doesn't get in the way.— zubzub- People always complain about Philly fans, but then they are totally silent when 45,000 people start cheering on a young rookie who has had some brutal at-bats. It was a great genuine moment. It was beautiful to see the kid come up with a big hit. Also, Freddy is now tied with Pence for the team lead in RBI.— AreaMan
- I would suggest that many of the 45K that were in attendance are not those negative flaming naysayers that continually post here about the ills of the team, let alone the lack of 5 tools of Freddy Galvis. They may grumble privately, or around their home- or work-stead, but aren't the folks that continually, relentlessly post personal nonsense about this team.
The game, the last I looked, was 162 challenges long. Doc has come up strong twice. The team is 2-4. The offense woke up last night with a bat-around rally. All good. Enjoy the ups as much as the downs. I will take any tickets fans wish to dump.— 24sDad - Comment removed.
- I was so happy to see the fans support and maybe inspire Galvis. The Phillies are going to need to turn the reins over to the young guys if we are going to have something to cheer about the next couple years. It's a good plan to keep Nix, Wiggington, & Thome out of the line up, keep it up Charlie.— jtj06
- let him hit .200 but let him hit big when it counts. and did you check wilson's game vs the cards today? btw, how many here understand the meaning of 'fat-bottomed freddy'? did that rock you?— bubba church & granny hamner
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- everyone has their opinion, but wonder if any of the doomsayers and negative posters online would have been in the stands chanting Freddy Freddy with the rest of the stadium. great to hear.— righty
- I was in section 128 and the chants started in 129 before the rest of the crowd really got in on it. I thought this must be so much pressure for Freddie and then boom! The double!
