Baseball saves its sharpest rebukes for those with the hubris to believe they have solved its mysteries and finally cornered the most elusive game of all.
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Comments (96)
Do any of you people tape the games? Go back and watch Lees pitches in Game 2. Yeah, I know it’s tough to re-live the game but do it to be fair to Cliff. He actually pitched a pretty good game, considering the ever-changing strike zone. I think once the TLR started yelling Cliff felt he didn’t have as much leeway on the corners. Still he struck out 9 and didn’t make many bad pitches. I just think it’s a bit unfair to lay the blame soley on Lee when maybe only four or at the most five of the hits on him were actually well hit. Schumaker’s ground ball hit to second was totally influenced by leaving the middle open and Utley didn’t make the greatest of throws. Lee made a good pitch on Furcal’s so called line drive. If you watch the reply it was actually hit pretty weakly and happened to fall in. Molina, another weakly hit ball that should have been an out if Rollins had played it cleanly. The list goes on. More than Lee’s pitching, which while not his best was far from bad, I have more of a problem with the horrible lack of strike calls and the Phils atrocious offense, going down one-two-three in four consecutive innings.
— rayrandomuzer- Did you see that Brewers comeback in game 1. The Phils give up 5 runs early and its all over, the Brewers kept hammering away. Cards to meet their match against the Brewers, 5 or even 6 runs will not do against them. The Phils need to get young in all positions, and maybe in 2 years with this pitching staff they can start competing with a hitters lineup.— jeff007
- Agree lineup/position players need some changes; but bottom line is no more free passes on Charley Manuel. He needs to go and a new hitting coach also must be hired. It's time for fresh faces in the dugout. Give Davey Lopes a call; he would do wonders with this team!— thejerz
- Agreed Lee is the goat but dont forget Oswalt 4runs in 5 innings. Trade Oswalt and Polonco for a 3rd baseman and left handed catcher. Release Martinez (.187) and Schnieder (.169)— AlwaysRight
- Ha ha ha ha, stupid Phillies thought they could buy a world championship!— razorback715
- Suppose the Phils had given Halliday 2 or 3 runs in game 5. They still would have lost to a Brewers team that is better than the Cardinals. The Phils need to trade for players with a high OBP.— orange rhino
- While it's true Cliff Lee did not hold a 4 run lead in game 2 how many runs did the Phils score after the second inning?— Duke77
- I hate to say it but I agree that the blame for this series goes to Cliff. I am a huge supporter of Lee and was thrilled we got him back last December, but I can't excuse giving up a 4 run lead, it gave the Cards a huge momentum burst and it cost us the series. That being said I am gals he is still on our team and I gotta say that Reuben did everything he could to win a World Championship. Please keep trying Reuben.— el nino
- i guess Bud selig told all the teams to let the team win 102 games. what a bunch of morons on here. yeah-sure the nats will let zimmerman go. yeah lets trade ozwalt and howard for prospects.yeah a player with a 125million dollar contract and a pitcher with a 16 million contract will fetch a lot of big time players. maybe we can get babe ruth,lou gehrig and jimmy foxx. you people have got to be the stupidest, unknowing baseball fans ever. the other guys came to win too. the umpires did not make tons of bad calls. get it. through all the years only 83 teams have won more than 100 games in a season. lots of them didn't win the WS. the team was not out of gas. they just didn't hit. the yankees didn't hit either. fransisco had a bad season and came up with a 3 run homer.doesn't make him willie mays.lots of mediocre players have had great success in the world series and then dissappeared. a team that wins 102 games is not a loser. they just fell victim to the vagaries of baseball. that's what makes it such a great game.— benny1
- Regardless of lee having the lead blown, the phils did not hit. Look at game 4, the jackson retired 12 straight batters, that is almost half of the game's outs just gone. Along with that, the phils knew that the cards were the team they did not want to face in a due or die series, but they played horrible for over a week and then swept the braves to get 102 wins to face the team that they knew would give them the hardest time in october. I would have been fine with 100 wins, or 101 or 95 as long as the phils would win were it mattered most.— flavious27
- uh...it's pretty simple..THEY DIDN'T HIT!! Three years in a row now. You can have all the pitching in the world but if you can't score one run...you loose! Don't blame Charlie, and don't blame Cliff. They didn't hit. plain and simple.— kchaz
- I'm glad you guys are noticing now, like a few of us with enough cojones have said for a while, that Charlie Manuel is not a very good manager. I have been following Charlie closely since his Cleveland years because Robbie Alomar is one of my favorites players and also because I have family in Cleveland and Charlie is absolutely one of the dumbest managers I have ever witnessed.— EL Zorro
- Deep baseball numerology stuff Bob. Thanks for all you do here.— brucemines
- big contracts to over-30 guys who don't deserve it...big contract to a gm who is sooo far out of his depth...big contract to a manager who has the league's best material (on paper) and is 1-for-5 in post-season. and, oh yeah, a mob of tuches-kissing writers who wear rose-colored specs. (why? really: why??) please don't blame lee, folks. one bad game. the biggest hurt for me? chooch. always dependable, my personal mvp for 2011, and the guy goes choke. go figure.— bubba church & granny hamner
- I'm with you on Chooch. I really expected more from him. He came up very small this year offensively. I wonder if he was also worn down from playing so many games. I say bring up Kratz as a back-up catcher, let Schneider walk and let Kratz catch more than once in a while. — s
- The starting pitching failed. Lee couldn't hold a four-run lead and Oswalt couldn't get out Dave "the-second-coming-of-Cody-Ross" Freese.— CousinEddie
- Yo, clowns: Do you know why Free Agents want to play in Philly? One reason is that Manuels players love playing for him.This guy is the winningist Manager is Phillies history. 5 straight divisin titles are nothing to sneeze at. Stop blaming Charlie!!!— BG in So.Cal
- Instead of lamenting winning the final series against Atlanta,how about losing 3 out of 4 to The Cards one week before? And if the Phils had tanked that final Braves series and still lost in The LDS you fools would be all over Manuel for not having his team ready.— BG in So.Cal
- HEY ATLEAST THE STADIUM WAS ROKING FOR JIMMY ROLLINS 0-4— Apollo Creed
- Phillies looked fundamentally just the way they did last year in the playoffs - NOT SHARP. I really believe they were badly out-coached. Not so much in the strategic sense but just being ready and being sharp. Get Francona back!— Baggio
- retzlaff-thats a lot of ifs, don't ya think? quit making excuses. they lost because they are not good enough. they failed. miserably— Old German
- Most WS winners do not repeat. The last NL team to repeat did it twice, in 1975 and 76. The window for this team opened in 2006. 2008 might have been their last chance -- fortunately they got it done. The "window" was closed by 2009 at the latest and they almost got it done. Adding pitching to an over-the-hill team destined to be out of gas by end won't work. IT NEVER HAS. Get some young players already. They might lose at first, but they'll give you a chance to win again someday. With this pitching staff, that day might not be so far off.— mrnmkr
- HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
The Fighting Phils, the Boys in Blue, Hunt for Red October, The Four Aces, the greatest line-up in history -- Ha! This is why games are played! Maybe Philly fans need to learn humility and honesty. These comments are posted by two kinds of people, either those who blame the losses on umpires, squirrels, the war in Afghanistand, or those who now tell everyone else that the Phillies had faults, but yet, all season long, were regularly posting how great the Phillies are as they beat up on the Astros, Nats and Mets.
Hey, J Rol, you are the team to beat, AND YOU GOT BEAT. And you, Ryan Howard, stop pointing your bat out at center field at every at-bat. You ain't Babe Ruth.
And you, Doc Halliday, say hello to my little friend, Jason Verlander, the best pitcher in baseball. He faces the DH. You face a sub .100 hitter at least three times a gamer.— TenThousandLosses - The team needs a new third baseman. How about Ryan Zimmerman from the Nationals. He is young, energetic and arguably the best third baseman in baseball. It would take some big money, but we would get offense and defense in a critical position.
Food for thought.— PENNANT1950 - Zimmerman is under contract through 2013. The Nats would have no reason to trade him, especially to a division rival. And who would we have to give in return? — s
- Lee coughing up a 4 run lead is the reason they lost. The 2nd Ace does his part they are partying. The other surprise was their best offensive player the last 2 months Mayberry Jr didn't get into the games more. he needs to start next year. Phil's need new blood in the lineup the productivity of the core starters has steadily declined. Howards has big numbers but he get's rbi's in bunches always in key spots he looks like he's playing golf instead of bb....swings at so many low pitches....oh well Go Flyers.— mbutley
- All the coments are true but the real problem is you can't win if you don't score runs.Howard swinging at balls outside the strike zone.Utley not hitting,Polanco not hitting.Can't wait to see who they blame next.— Jumper
- Anyone that has eyes knows there were flaws, and the same flaws have been there before this year...anyone remember Milt Thompson? They got rid of him because the team didn't hit. Charlie isn't a very good NL manager he should be in the AL. They should all be out there swinging from their heels looking for the long ball! If they are unwilling to accept coaching then sit them no matter who it is.— crseloc
- I have no problems with the team as it was built. We just had tough opponent in a 5-game series. The biggest blow was Cliff Lee not being able to hold a 4-run lead in game 2. He was brought in to ensure that we win a game like that.— bigphilphan
- They're the losingest team in the history of organized sports, managed by a buffoon who could't tell the truth if his sorry life depended on it. Why is anyone surprised???????— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- We all know the Phils have an offense that can go into a funk. So in a short series when you get to a 5th game and it's a pitchers duel.
How in the world do you not use all your bullers in the game? We lost because the offense went south and also because of sleepy managing. You don't have time to wait for the bats to come back in a short series. Hope is not a strategy. Charlie would often say I know we can hit. You have to bring Mayberry and Francisco up in game 5. You can't keep sending Polanco, Ruiz and Ibanez up when they're struggling. We had 5 starters in a funk - Howard, Pence, Ibanez, Ruiz and Polanco. Rollins who was your best hitter, had nothing going in game 5. How do you sit there and stay the course and not try another bat other than Gload is beyond me. The Players lost the series but we were seriously outmanaged. We only needed 1 run. 3 hits in a home game 5 is pathetic. 3 straight years of offensive funk is more than enough. Get Sandberg on the coaching staff for the postseason. Find more players who make contact. We've been beat by Cody Ross, Schumaker, Freese and Furcal...none of whom are big money players but can come thru in the clutch. We have had absolutely no clutch hitting in the last 3 postseason appearances other than Utley's performance against the yanks and Urley and Rollins against the cards.— Fan74 - All season it was thought to be inevitable that this team would be in the World Series. There are no sure things in baseball. The Phillies crashing in the NLDS has to be one of the greatest failures in the history of professional sports in Philadelphia.— Edward L Norton
- Why is it that when a pitcher can't throw strikes, his mechanics are off. However, when a hitter can't hit, he's just in a slump. Baseball needs more methodology and attention to detail, especially when it comes to hitting.— CT Phil Fan
- Phillies knew they had flaws.....ah yea, they don't know which end of the bat to hold!
— STEPHEN1988 - That's right Cliff Lee, YOU screwed up. Now you can give back some of your outrageous salary to RAJ to get some hungry talent in here. Lee is way too carefree for me. He never knocks anyone down or hits anyone. Same with Halladay. This team is way too nice to be champs. Get rid of Manuel, he's nothing more than Danny Ozark.— Shibe1970
- Tired, and injured is no excuse (Echo's of last year's dismal end). Teams that want it more will win. e.g. Cardinals. They have the same problems. And, "position players" who weren't producing at bat could have been platooned, or taken out, e.g. Mayberry, et al. Charlie's dedication to his regular players killed us in the home stretch.— dogman5
- Braun takes Garcia way- way out.........now there is a legitimate superstar.— Northcountry
- Ditto Northcountry. Ryan Braun is a favorite of mine. The guy always plays the game with intensity.
— dogman5 - Braun is a great player. He's also 27 years old, almost 28. Late twenties is when a lot of guys really peak. Look at JRoll, Utley and Howard 4-5 years ago and you're looking at different players than the ones we saw this year. If nothing else, a consistently older team is going to risk having injuries and we've seen that over the past 2 years. I love what these guys have done for us so it's not personal. We just need some younger players in the mix. We'll have a redone, younger outfield if (when) Ibanez walks. I think you take SS and 3B (somehow with Polanco still here) and target younger, up and coming players. — s
- You people blaming Cliff Lee are ridiculous. It's likely that the Phils never would have made the post season at all without Lee. And you conveniently forget all the games he lost this season because of zero run support. He could easily had 20 W's to his credit and maybe even another CY to boot, but for the pathetic Phils offense. Who knows what happened in game 2? Personally I think Meal's missing a ton of strike calls for Lee played a big part in setting the tone for the game...it's got to be demoralizing, I don't care how good you are, That's just incompetence. Being swayed by LaRussa yelling from the dugout...an ump should know his own mind...just not professional at all.— rayrandomuzer
- The brass will have to decide on Cholly first- and then deal w/the FA's. This team can still challenge and maybe with a new manager and lower expectations along w/some moves in the infield they can surprise in '12. The core starting staff and assuming Madson is resigned are still the best in the NL. Job one is Manuel- I say make the change.......as a first step- he has lost the team and has mis-used Lee specifically who has never been a workhorse. All those wondrous streaks he has mean zero. His complete game totals were a sign of a post season meltdown.— Northcountry
- The stupidity of this article is that it suggests that the Phils somehow thought they had figured out some deeper truth about baseball. Pitching is 75% of the game and that was true last year with San Fran and this year with the Phils. The problem was the other 25%. Trying to make it seem like cosmology is ridiculous -- it's cosmetology.— Claudio Vernight
- Howard's injury may be a blessing in disguise. This team has to get away from the HR mentality. Utley is not going to hit 30 a year like he used to. You don't want Victorino hitting 15-20 - you want him hitting .300, stealing bases, slapping the ball around. You need to work counts, play small ball, stretch out innings with high pitch counts - let their pitchers work and ours sit on the bench and rest. How many 5, 6, 8 pitch innings did we see against us by pitchers like Kyle Lohse and Edwin Jackson.
My ideas -
[1] Mayberry at 1st until Ryan is back.
[2] Sign an outfielder - Nick Swisher of the Yankees was mentioned in an article. He is a pesky, smart hitter who also brings some attitude.
[3] Bring Polanco back if healthy. He is a perfect #2 hitter who would fit in this system.
[4] Say bye-bye to J-Roll - he is going to want too many years and we need to get younger. I would love to get Reyes - another PITA attitude guy but I don't think that is going to happen. So I play SS on the cheap this year - Valdez/Martinez/Galvis and save the money to resign Madson and Hamels.
[5] Upgrade the bench - we need a RH and LH bat that can strike some fear in the opponent.
[6] Oswalt - if he says yes to a lesser amount for his option year - keep him. If not, say goodbye and plug in Worley at #4.
[7] In 2012, David Wright is a Free Agent. I target him!— betharu -
Utley is already not hitting like he used to. His decline is even more frightening than Howard's in many ways. He seems to have really lost his power. His numbers have been dropping since 2009. Maybe it was the knee and he'll have a rebound year next year but he also wears down. He's consistently worse in the second half over his entire career. I thought that might change this year with him missing so much of the first half but again his numbers show a drop in the second half.
Polanco is under contract through 2012 so he's here unless someone really wants a 36 year old infielder who's been hurt most of the past 2 years. I like Polly and I like his defense but he epitomizes what's wrong with the current team: He's just too old. He DOES hit well ... in April. He was painful to watch in the NLDS.
I'm not convinced on Mayberry every day at first for a good part of the season. I like him better in the outfield and I'm still not convinced he's an every day player. I'm a big JMJ fan so I'd like to see him succeed ... just trying to keep it real with him.
The team has an option on Oswalt. They can buy him out for 2M, otherwise he's getting 16M. He may be happy to take the 2M and retire. I think with Worley and Blanton on the roster and Oswalt's decline this year, the Phillies buy him out and use that 14M elsewhere.
I really don't get the love affair with Swisher. He's a .254 hitter and has hit considerably worse in the post-season (.169 overall).— s - Just think, Howard's five year extension is only beginning!— dasher
- The thing that will remain with me the longest is walking the #3 hitter to get to Howard, in the playoffs. That one move sums up how far Howard has fallen from the ranks of elite and has now joined the ranks of average. He actually is getting worse instead of better against left handed pitchers; he didn't hit his first HR off of a leftie until September and had a total of about 3 all season long. Having Pence intentionally walked to pitch to Howard says it all regarding his big play ability in big games. It is not totally all of his fault that we lost the series, there is plenty of blame to go around, but he is supposed to be our big gun and come through in the clutch, when it means the most and is needed the most.— billro33
- Would like to see Mayberry in LF and Rizzoti given some time at 1B. How much worse of a fielder can he be than a surgically repaired Howard? I also think Rizzoti would make more contact and drive in as many runs. Say bye bye to Rollins. Let Oswalt go unless there is a big trade involving Lee. The latter should not be surprised by same given his pronounced failure in game 2.— pedge
- It's interesting that you mention Rizzotti, but the brass took a very arrogant position after having him briefly in camp this spring....Cholly doesn't think he'll ever amount to anything...and they left him off the 40 man roster...actually surprised he did not get picked up by an AL team....At worst, he easily should be able to compete with the Gloads and the Bowkers out there that try to be LH pinch hitters...To add insult, they didn't even promote him to AAA to compete against that level in 2011. Local media stays off this guy as well, daring not to go against the opinion of Cholly. — bearsfriend
- Two things here... 1) they never truly addressed the absense of Jason Werth and his power bat behind Howard, they replied on no-bodies like Francisco and Brown to fill the gap.. THAT DIDNT WORK.. they had the chance to replace with Texas's Young, or Chicago's Quinten but they didnt.. 2) Pitching wins low scoring games, our problem was we didnt score consistently from day 1.. we waited till almost season's end to acquire Pence and unfortunately even though he's a good ballplayer, he's no Jason Werth.. They knew since the end of 2010 season, that Werth was gonna test the waters, and even after he signed with the Nats, they kept putting off going after a bat, when they were available..and Now !!!!!!! they tell us they knew it all along, Well what a shame.. the old saying.. Shame me once, shame on you, Shame me twice, shame on me.. lf they raised tickets again this year, l truly hope the faithful fans dont bother showing up, until they start putting a real team on the field.— Pa Bryon
- Montgomery needs to start with Ruben as he's responsible for this very expensive very poorly constructed over the hill team that can't hit --don't know how you even begin to solve all the offensive woes given that many of these players are still under contract for one or more years and are just getting worse (of course Howard -but in addition, Phils are stuck with less-than-adequate catcher, 2nd baseman and third baseman --all of whom are signed for one or more years)...place to start is the positions that are now free --left field and Shortstop -- as much as I like Rollins and can't stomach Reyes I agree that Reyes would be a huge upgrade and might finally solve the Phils lead-off issues they've had for years...if Amaro (or hopefully next gm) really wanted to make a splash he would not re-sign any Phils who are free agents and pool all the available money to sign a real slugging first baseman (Pujols or Fielder) and simply trade Howard for whatever they can get and eat much of his salary --the Howard problem will not get better ... it will just get worse as Howard continues to decline -- unfortunately the Howard contract will just look even worse in a year or 2 so might as well eat it now if Phils intend to compete for next 5 years— warbiscuit
- We cannot really count on Howard for next year. I think Polanco (who is under contract), Ibanez, Lidge are gone. Oswalt comes back at a discount and Madson stays. Rollins signs, moves to 3B and we get Jose Reyes. Utley goes to 1B while we sign/trade for a solid 2B while Mayberry Jr./Brown replace Ibanez. We also now need bullpen help too.— kwasi2323
Comment removed.- The fans also knew the Phillies had flaws, but believed the pitching would take them to the series. Afterall, they won 102 games. But you can tell the fans are now really bitter about this team, from the amount of comments posted after each article. As compared, the Eagles articles have hardly any comments. Speaking of the Eagles, the way they performed this year, they are lucky to be away this week. Because if they were home today, and they played like last week, it would be really ugly at the Linc the way Philly Sports fans feel now.— watsonmr
- So, now it's 2 years in a row the Phil's go down to an apparent overachieving team. Yeah, the Phil's had weaknesses etc... but sorry, Manual was out coached badly against the Cards. When LaRussa found a way to beat Lee in game 2, I was shocked. But, he constantly kept his team fresh by interjecting a different line up and was not afraid to make changes and be aggressive. The fact that Polanco was useless was obvious. I didn't think Howard would be pinch hit for, but what about, Polanco, Pence and possibly Ruiz. Charlie NEVER tried anything in game 5 that resembled trying anything to win the game. So, 2 years in a row he's outcoached, I wonder how far the Cards go now?— itpSD
- What might be needed his someone on the '93 team to come in as a hitting instructor. The greatest problem this lineup has, from top to bottom, it the complete lack of patience they demonstrate. Hunter Pence is a very good player, but that was my objection before he came here--the lineup didn't have any real patience at the plate.
Actually, in his first several at bats in the NLDS, Ryan Howard DID have some patience, and he was rewarded for it.
I really don't like seeing people swinging so much when they've got these 2-0, 3-0, and 3-1 counts. Mostly they swing into routine ground balls and pops to the infield.
The '93 team was good because they knew about working the pitcher's to death. The took bases on balls--well over a hundred more than this year's team. They had a higher on base percentage than this year's team despite a significantly lower team batting average.
Seems to me it should be easy to figure that you can't hit three run home runs if there aren't all ready two people on base.— BEMiller - To the dopes that keep blaming Lee and Oswalt. Learn the game. Yeah they weren't at their best but the Phillies defense was terrible compared to the Cardinals. The Cards made some good and great defensive plays for their pitchers while Victorino could make one good play all series, there is a Grand Canyon in left field and an eight lane highway near first base.— dval
- Yes, you're right! Cliff Lee was BRILLIANT!
Actually, the Cardinalitos made a FEW nice plays. Most of it was Dork Stockboy's raving about brilliance on the routine, however.
What the Cardinalitos did do better than the Phillies was adjust to the horrific umpiring on balls and strikes.— BEMiller - You could have thrown a beach ball up there and the Phillies wouldn't have hit it. All I remember from that last game was 16 ground outs by the Phillies 16!!!!— slade1955
- if..if..if... forget it. it's over... it was a fun season and plenty of changes on the horizon.— Grazman
- 'WE CAME UP SHORT', third season in a row Ryan! Guess whenever the team lets the fans down we're supposed to accept that analogy for the reason...right?— larryv
- Gen. Robert E Lee, when asked after the Civil War what went wrong with Pickett's charge, supposedly said, "Well, I think the Union army had something to do with it." Take a look at Yadier Molina's throw to second to get Utley.— JayW
- Beware of the Braves, young and very talented team, motivated from embarassment provided by the Phillies (Not so smart) and will have new owner next year, Mark Cuban. Didn't Mark Cuban just win an NBA Championship last year?— frackers
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- I am confused. is an injured Polanco better than anyone else we could have put at third? I do not think so. Orr, Martinez or Valdes are good fielders and certainly could not have done any worse than Polanco. I would love to hear Charlie's logic on this one.— avogel36
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It's never as good as it looks or as bad as it seems.....but THREE hits at home in the deciding game of a series is PATHETIC.— JCinDC- I just do not understand why the Phillies would humiliate the Atlanta Braves in game 160, 161, & 162 so they could face the hottest team in a 5 game series. What was Charlie Manuel thinking?— frackers
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- Yes, I agree. It's time to start rebuilding the lineup. I am glad some of you were so impressed with Rollins playoff performance, but I would let him go. He wants a long term deal and big time money, but he does not play like a big time player any more, if he ever did other than his MVP year. Look at his batting avg. the past several years, .277, .250, .243, .268. That awful for a leadoff hitter. Polanco is useless any more, Utley is on the rapid decline, and Victorino and Ruiz seem to be not too far behind. Howard we are stuck with. Most of those guys will be back of course but start the rebuilding process by letting Rollins get overpaid somewhere else.— BigRy2179
- I believe the window for another World Series victory has closed for this edition of the Phillies . What this team needs in a Leader in the clubhouse and on the field . Utley is not the Utley of three years ago nor is Rollins . I would package Oswalt and Howard in a trade for a cleanup hitter (Pujols ?), trade Utley for a top-of-the-line reliever, allow Ibanez to retire and move Mayberry and Galvis into the lineup and Worley into the rotation . You have to start the "out with the old, in with the new" now .— Joe R.
- The Philadelphia Phillies... the dynasty that never was.— torre
- This team reminded me of many Braves taems that failed in the post season. The 1993 Phillies beat a Braves team very similar to the 2011 Phillies. Give the Cardinals credit. They can hit and they're doing all this without Adam Wainwright. They've also won a WS not too long ago, so some of those guys also knew what the pressure felt like. I think they just wanted the series more than the Phillies wanted it.— Lockyer
- No one is left from the 2006 Cardinals except Pujols, Schumaker and Molina (still 29). Unlike the Phillies, the Cards turned over and got younger after they won. Younger players like Freese, Craig and ay did most of the damage in the NLDS. Geezerbert Pujols had all of one rbi. — mrnmkr
- The problem was "global warming". The "hitten weather" left too soon and the self-proclaimed hitting guru could only peel the wrapper off another piece of Bazooka bubble gum and make up stories about hitting 7 balls over the roof at Briggs Stadium. I love how the sportwriters bring these flaws up now while 5% of the posters on here had been pointing them out all season. We were called idiots and told "they'll be fine".— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- Agree with Nitty---the Phils didn't battle the pitcher like the Cards did. They had poor plate discipline: swinging at balls out of the zone, not fouling pitches off, swinging for the fence, swinging at high strikes, etc. As a result they got few hittable pitches, and few runners on base. They played more like that team from Florida that Jaime Moyer would toy with than a team in the post-season. I believe the reason for this was they expected their dream team of starters would do it all. Indeed, those starters did try to improve their hitting, and Lee stood out in that regard. They knew what was going on with regard to the hitting. The games must be played and the Cards played as a team that knew what they had to do to win. The Phils batters went up there and flailed. Even the squirrel knew that!— Eagle_1960
- We all knew the Phillies couldn't hit, but with good starting pitching, it should have been enough. Lee and Oswalt failed us.— 4thand10
- Phillies need to get younger. A total house-cleaning might feel good to the casual fan, but would be foolish. A clean-up hitter is the most glaring need now. Rollins is gone because someone will give him a better deal and he will take it. Likely, the same will happen with Madson. Ibanez and Lidge are no-brainers. That only leaves Oswalt. My guess is they try and sign him for less, and if not, buy him out.— Fritz and Alice
- At the end of the day, in baseball a 3-out-of-5 series between a good team (.550) and an excellent team (.630), the excellent team will probably lose about 1 out of 3 series. We are ascribing too much meaning into the Phils' loss, though they definitely need a higher team on-base average.— Bobby G
- I guess Lee was an epic failure because he was supposed to win that game from the day he signed on. Malarky. He's a human being. He was being squeezed by an umpire on a night when his command was a little off. A lot of "factors" play into a playoff loss. If Ibanez' blast to right center goes one more yard we'd be talking about the Brewers coming to town. Funny if Halladay shut out the Cards, we'd be singing his praises. Carpenter shuts out the Phillies and all we do is account it to bad, injured players and their flaws. Strategically,the Phillies needed to play more small ball. The days of dial up homers has long since been over. And why was Carpenter laughing when Howard lined out on a 3-0 pitch?— retzlaff
- Agree with klew that Cliff Lee absolutely FAILED. Hopefully he won't get standing ovations going forward when he doesn't deserve it. The batting averages in the last 5 postseason series are incredibly lame and tell it all.— shawnmac
- as much as the hitters failed, Cliff Lee, who was brought here for one reason, was an epic failure in his 1 start.....He was the biggest disappointment of anyone on the team— klew
- Spot on mainlinephan. They have been incorrectly coached to go long ball which you can only do that by pulling the ball. Guess what low and away pitches become impossible to hit instead of potential opposite field hits by putting the bat to where the ball is thrown.— NittyGritty
- if Lee hangs onto the lead he got and the bottom of the order hits just a little bit we are getting ready for a game today. With Jimmy and Chase hitting well it would have been nice to someone on base once in awhile.— delcodanno
- @MidGreen - I hear your theory, but Rollins hit .450 for the series, and Utley .438 After that, Pence was .211 and Howard .115 and down at the bottom, Polanco was .105 and Ruiz .056. I suppose Rollins could have "set the table" a little better with a timely 2 run homer here or there, but oops, there was no one on base in front of him...— HokieMon
- This article details how the jitters struggled mightily and this dope talks about adding a bullpen piece at the deadline! How freaking stupid and dumb and idiotic a comment can you make!— tremo12
- And then another comment says krill didn't come up when he was the only phillies player who hit.....smh! This town is full of morons!
— tremo12 - Comment removed.
- That's right -- they don't lose their ability. What they lose is stamina. By the end of the marathon (reg season) they are too tired to run the sprint (post season) — mrnmkr
- This is not on Ruben, Freedom. They were given the chance and didn't do it. The same names keep not coming up big, Rollins et all. Gotta have the place setter performing, he makes the whole thing go.— MidGreen
- Read the article. Team is too old. That's right: no team this old has ever won a WS. Not once. Not in over 100 years. Because they run out of gas.
Who put together the team?
Was it you?— mrnmkr - Were you able to catch any of the series? Rollins batted .450. — TBD@Gburg
- Don't quite know what your stating here..Rollins was great in the series against the Cards...Ruben tried to upgrade the pen but it didn't come about at the deadline, and in combination with LH power off the bench, and an upgrade to an aging fossil in Polanco....the Phils were far from the ever unattainable "perfect team".....The Phillies' brass banked on aging,aching, and injured players to be able to step up in the primetime, but it's purely NOT THERE...The lineup can be pitched to...and it was. — bearsfriend
- The Phillies could have improved their bullpen at the trade deadline, like the Texas Rangers did, but the Phillies chose not to add another reliever. If the Phillies had improved their bullpen at the trade deadline, maybe Charlie Manuel would have taken Cliff Lee out of Game 2 when Lee was getting hammered.— Freedom Fries
- Bullpen was hardly the problem. At trade deadline they added their only .300 hitter to a lineup that wasn't hitting. I'd say that was pretty good. — TBD@Gburg
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