Posted: Monday, July 26, 2010, 12:38 PM | 42 comments |
 

Game 99 open thread: Blanton and Broomsticks
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(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Get this: If the Phillies win today, they will have a five-game winning streak. The last time they had a five-game winning streak? The first week of the season when everything felt oh-so-cheery.

Hard to believe, right?

"No, not really," mused manager Charlie Manuel this morning.

Consistency has eluded this Phillies team. That can especially be said of righthander Joe Blanton, who makes his 16th start of the season. Among National League pitchers with at least 80 innings pitched, Blanton's 6.03 ERA ranks as the worst.

Yet the Phillies feel as if Blanton has pitched better and isn't far from turning the corner with quality results. The fact remains Blanton has yet to start a game this season and allow fewer than three runs. In the month of July, he has a 5.61 ERA. Progress?

Blanton has gone more than a month since winning his last game. His strikeout rate is well off last season's 7.51 per nine innings, a career-high. But his 5.94 K/9 in 2010 is above his career rate. His groundball-flyball ratios are similar between 2009 and 2010. His line drive percentage is actually down in 2010.

So a lot of it has been about location (and perhaps luck). Blanton's offspeed pitches -- slider and changeup -- have been decidedly less effective than in 2009. Watch for that today.

Chat about the game here. Follow me on Twitter (@magelb) for updates.
Posted by Matt Gelb @ 12:38 PM  Permalink | 42 comments
42
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:53 PM, 07/26/2010
    He just plain stinks the 3rd time through the line-up. Yet when he gets in trouble Uncle Chollie keeps running him out there...like last start when they didn't pinch hit for him with the bases loaded after 6 strong innings. Instead he keeps him in and he gets lit up in the 7th....just like always. Yeah, he could pitch better, but Chollie could do a better job of yanking him when needed.
    — Curse of Billy Penn
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:56 PM, 07/26/2010
    I feel a strong outing from Joe today. 7 IP, 2 runs, 3 hits, 1 walk.
    — krupps58
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:20 PM, 07/26/2010
    Werth is not in the lineup today, given the proximity to the trade deadline, the hundreds of articles sighting potential trades, potential targets and potential players and the need to do something to wake this team up, i would think someone at PHILLY.COM would have noticed this and put something up letting every know that they are looking into whether or not this means Weths gets moved today.
    — The Reddgie
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:25 PM, 07/26/2010
    krupps58 - he is going to need a pretty strong next 6 to manage that...
    — jfmaher
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:25 PM, 07/26/2010
    Its a wonder Blanton doesnt feed his fat face on the mound.
    — lowthrowmcblow
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:26 PM, 07/26/2010
    Maybe you didnt read your own headline. Blanton is pitching today. Other than that, they have a great chance of sweeping today.
    — Pat c
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:26 PM, 07/26/2010
    Blanton's lack of success is mostly on Charlie. The guy will give you 5 or 6 good innings and Charlie will keep running him out there until he's out of gas and gives up 3 more runs. Like the other day when it was 1-1 at St Louis in the 7th and he didn't hit for him , and he then gave up the HR that made it 2-1 , and more runs later to make it 5-1. I'm just glad Charlie never managed former Phil Terry Mulholland; ( classic 5 inning pitcher) that would have been ugly.
    — drbob1
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:29 PM, 07/26/2010
    Curse - he got lit up in the 8th - he gave up a solo shot in the 7th (I think on a 1-2 count). Charlie should have pulled him in the 8th with 2 men on and a LH batter. But Charlie always stays with his veteran pitchers too long!
    — themadhacker2000
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:29 PM, 07/26/2010
    Did I say 7 innings. I meant 1 inning, LOL.
    — krupps58
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:30 PM, 07/26/2010
    As a "professional athlete" does it occur to management to maybe tell Blanton to lay off the buffet table and maybe find the exercise room? The guy is a LOAD and for all that money the LEAST he could do is stay in shape and maybe drop 30 lbs. Look at what Ryan Howard did with the weight loss and gettign in shape and how it has helped him.
    — lowthrowmcblow
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:30 PM, 07/26/2010
    Joe Blanton sucks already done gave up 2 runs in the first inning it's time for him to start earning all of that money he's making. And stop eating all of them cheesesteaks
    — douglasrdd
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:35 PM, 07/26/2010
    I guess lowthrowmcblow is the fattie chaser of the forum today.
    — fcskills
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:55 PM, 07/26/2010
    lol fcskills, looks like i have competition for fattie chaser
    — lowthrowmcblow


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About Matt Gelb and Bob Brookover












Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.

This is Brookover’s second stint writing about the Phillies, having joined the coverage team after seven years as an Eagles beat writer. Brookover was hired by The Inquirer in 2000 as the Phillies beat writer after spending 13 years writing about the team for two suburban newspapers. While on the Eagles beat, Brookover, who had covered just two winning Phillies teams in 15 seasons, saw the Phillies move into a cash-cow new ballpark and begin playing a brand of the game he found unrecognizable. Follow him on Twitter here.

Gelb is in his third season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He has also covered baseball at The Star-Ledger and Cape Cod Times. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.
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