L.A. Story
The Phillies showed up in Los Angeles and laid an egg. They hope for better results this weekend in San Diego.
L.A. Story
Todd Zolecki
The Phillies have fallen out of first place in the National League East with 41 games to play in the 2008 season.
Fortunately, just four of those remaining 41 games are against the Dodgers.
But the Phillies also have six more games against the Marlins, five more games against the Mets, four more games against the Cubs and four more games against the Brewers. That's 23 games against teams with legitimate postseason aspirations. That leaves 18 games against the Nationals (nine games), Braves (six games) and Padres (three games).
Charlie Manuel considers this a great test for the 25 men in the clubhouse.
"If you want to know the truth, I think it's a good test for our team," he said. "If you're down and you lay down, if you fall out of it or you get beat, that goes to show what kind of team you are. If you stay in the hunt and you battle it out and we win, I think that tells us what kind of team we are, too. There's two ways to look at it. You know what? If we get down and we don't come back, we're not champions and we're not men."
The Phillies lost last night to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, 3-1. It's the first time the Dodgers have swept the Phillies in a four-game series at Dodger Stadium since 1962. The Dodgers swept the Phillies that year in a pair of doubleheaders: 5-1 and 4-0 on July 2 and 16-1 and 7-3 on July 4.
"We're going to win some more," Manuel said. "We've got to keep our cool, though. As long as we do that and as long as we come to the ballpark with the idea of winning that game on that day and our pitchers give us performances like that, we're definitely going to win some games. We've got 41 left. You play them all the same. We need to win a game and get going and see if can't run off four or five or six in a row or something. We're alright. We're a game back. If you would have asked me, if I would take a game back with 41 to play I would have said yes. There's no sense in us getting all bent out of shape because we've been close all year. It's going to be close for the next six weeks."
Do the players see this drop out of first as a test like Manuel?
"He's the manager," Brett Myers said. "He knows us better than we know ourselves because he watches the game every day. It's tough. We're going out there and we're busting our rear ends. It's not like we're trying to lose. We just got outpitched, outplayed. Everything. You don't get swept in a series if the other team doesn't just outplay you."
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The Jimmy Rollins story that appeared in today's paper.
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Myers allowed five hits and three runs in seven innings. He struck out eight, but took the loss. He is 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA in five starts since his return to the rotation.
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In the Phillies Notebook: injuries to Greg Dobbs and Shane Victorino.
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Manny Ramirez is enjoying Boston's new blue uniforms.
Oh well. Start the implosion. The Phillies will quit because they have no heart. Then the braintrust will fire Uncle Charlie and the rest of the crew. But it doesn't matter. The next manager who comes in won't be able to win with this bunch of losers either.— bjlindy- could have all been fixed if gillick would have pulled the trigger on manny ramirez. jayson stark writes that there was fear of how his lack of hustle would be perceived by other phillies (rollins, specifically). shocking how that hasn't hampered the dodgers. all they do is win. manny acted like a petulant child in boston, but i don't care about boston. whatever team he was sent to, you knew he would be a choir boy and he has. disgusting what the phillies management does to us fans. absolutely awful.— goawayfavre
- 2 hits last night? Great job guys, don't worry about it guys you will do better next time, we know your still great and we stand behind you!!! Everybody stand up and give So Tagucci a standing ovation just like they do in St.Louis!!! Is that what Jimmy wants? Can someone please shut Jimmy Rollins up.— Theo1980
- This team doesn't have the offense to compete. They have no regulars hitting over .300 and too many undisciplined hitters. They're done.— Neal Obstat
- If the problem is the offense, Gillick needs to address it. 3B and RF are problems. Bruntlett cannot play everyday and Jenkins has been a complete bust in RF. Phillies need a hitter pronto!— Casey
- At least 5 of those 25 men in the clubhouse should be replaced. They have so much dead weight on this team. Jenkins,Ruiz,Condrey,etc. How can this organization continue to put this same group of players on the field? I thought Pat Gillick was supposed to be a waiver wire genius.— Matt
- Clean them all out! Start with the manager and dont stop until Geoff Jenkins is back in sausage land.— mondonj
- Swept out of LA, despite 3 of the 4 games being very winnable. Rollins grounds out meekly to second base on the second pitch of the game. Another half-hearted, uninspired, unintelligent effort, but make sure they get a standing ovation when they return home, or else they might lose! (At what point to Myers, Moyer and Hamels start punching the hitters for wasting their efforts, and arguing with the fans rather than working on getting on base like they are paid to?)— acerulli
- Now that Jimmy has clarified his comments, at least I know that being swept by the dodgers is the fans' fault, not the team's.— Frank Lloyd Wrong
- Geoff Jenkins = clutch— ematusko
- The offense for the past month is the worst I've ever seen. it's AAA quality.— doorspj24
- Front-runners? Over the last year I have gone to see the Phillies play in Chicago, Colorado, San Francisco, and Miami. Everytime I go there are huge amounts of Phillie fans at these games. In Florida there are probably 50% Phillies fans at the stadium. It's not like we are followinfg the team because of its long history of winning. We follow them because we love them. What JRoll is doing is sort of like being in love with your wife for about 8 years and you then you realize the person you fell in love with was never that person at all. Late for games, not hustling, last one to the park... Jimmy Rollins slowly but surely is becoming the T.O. of the Phils. Someone take those stupid commercials he does about how he thinks Philly fans are the most passionate fans in baseball off the air.— Theo1980
Comment removed.
The 7th inning says it all: - J. Werth doubled to deep left - C. Utley grounded out to pitcher, J. Werth to third - R. Howard hit sacrifice fly to deep left, J. Werth scored - P. Burrell struck out swinging A lead-off double and our 3 big guns can do nothing more than ground out, sac fly, and KO. We can moan all we want about the bottom of the lineup, but when it's clutch time, the top 4 have to come through.— bobby- I was encouraged to see the front office come to the fans defense...oh wait, they have no comment? I guess they are still counting the gate money from the 30 sellouts the front running fans have provided. Too bad we wasted a good effort by Myers, looks like he has his mojo back.— jimmymack
