- Pedro's dream season with Phillies falls short
- Bullpen not nearly as mighty as Phillies needed it to be
Photos: Phillies return from New York- More World Series coverage
Audio: Utley, Howard, Manuel reflect on loss- Sam Donnellon: Scrappy Phillies come up short
- Phil Sheridan: Phillies didn't play like champions
- Phils can't stop Yanks
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Great season phillies even though the outcome was not what we all expected. I love the way the Phillies play baseball and thier pure love for the game. Unlike the distastfull yankees who basically bought a championship instead of earning one imo. There are some yankees who deserve it (Jeter,Damon,Rivera,Matsui Pettitte) but most are playing for thier huge paychecks and steriod addicted ARod makes me sick. Anyway we have the offense to go to the Series every year (besides a third basemen) but we need pitching and a bench. The bench gave us nothing all year (stairs, Bruntlett, Dobbs) We need new Bench players. the bullpen also needs a complete makeover. We need guys with stikeout stuff Madson is the only one with great stuff. And some leftys. We definitely need someone with closing experince or a closer just in case Lidge implodes agian. i think we need to bring up M.Taylor next year and platoon with Ibanez. You could bring him off the bench and play him agianst lefty's. The yankees leftys destroyed us besides Utley. We need another right handed presence besides Werth agianst lefty's. I also think Drabak should be in the rotation. Lee,Hamles,Blanton,Happ,Drabak you cant put moyer in there because we cant have 4 lefty's. if not Drabak we need another righthander in FA. I just hope this offseason we improve our bench and our bullpen and Hamels learns a new pitch or 2. Bring up Taylor and Drabak we didnt trade them for a reason let them play I think they can improve our team not hurt it.
Wait 'till next year!! Hate that phrase. Lee will be their certified #1 and Hamels should be back as a solid #2 or #1.5. After that it gets muddy. You hope Happ can continue his early success but as Hamels showed this year, major league hitters are an ornery bunch who will find your weakness and pass it on to others. Blanton is a solid #3-4 but Moyer will be as old as air and Pedro demonstrated last night that over a season long grind, there are going to be some nights he shows up with an 85 mph fastball and that's all she wrote. JC Romero comes back next year and that's great news but the bullpen will be a concern. I see no reason for early season or offseason major moves. Let's see how this crew does in Apr-May-June of next year and take it from there.
Joey, considering the fact that the Phils went out and bought two pitchers in the last two months of the season that ended up starting in 4 of the 6 World Series games, your remarks of the Yankees "buying" anything are ridiculous.
We needed '08 Lidge and Hamels. But they were AWOL all year. If they stepped up - we probably would have been up 3-2 going to NY.. but ifs are pointless. We're still the favorites in the NL for next yr.
Calling Pedro the goat was a bit strong, after he pitched a miraculous game in LA, and a terrific game in Game 2. Yes, he brought very little but guile to the mound last night, but overall, he came up pretty big for us.
Moranmike - yeah same thing. $240M on the two top pitching free agents is the same as trading 4 prospects for a guy who may only be here for a year-and-a-half and a guy paid $1M as a risk to see if he has anything left. Yankee logic.
I don't think Pedro was the goat, I think Charlie was the goat for putting him in that position. Charlie seemed so enamoured with him I wonder how the series would have went if they would have stuck with what worked all year. Lee, Hammels, Blanton and Happ. I do think Charlie had a good year but his loyality cost the Phils some games. Lidge did not belong in the spot he was put in, and Pedro shouldn't have started any games at all. I really don't think the Phils put their best team on the field for the World Series.
Congratulations to the Phillies for a great season. They lost to a better team but gave it a first class TRY. It's to bad the fans can't react properly to their team and accept defeat. They still write classless comments about ""the best team money can buy", etc instead of simply admitting the obvious. The Phils simply didn't have the pitching to hang with the Yanks and if they don't resign Lee it will happen again next year. As far as Rollins' statement that the Phils will win it in 5 and so on,good for Jimmie. He is a competitor and that kind of talk is needed from players. You have a good group of guys and they can play. Utley,Werth,Howard,Victorino,etc.
Tough club to beat any time.
Chollie is manager of the year in my eyes. How does he get to game 6 of the WS against the Yankees with no closer, a hideous bullpen, 1 solid starter and a cleanup hitter that bats like he's blindfolded? Lidge need to see a psychiatrist and Hammels needs to see the Wizard of Oz for a heart and some courage. Hard to believe they had to roll out a 38 year old Pedro, who they got off the scrap heap, for 2 games of the WS while Hammels is on the bench.
Pedro..a goat? No freakin way! He gave it his all but just didn't have his best stuff last night. We still had opportunities elsewhere and just didn't capitalize. Hats off to the Yankees pitching for getting the job done. The better team won...this year. Next year will be different. The Phils will deliver us another world championship.
Sorry Paul. Pedro was not the goat. Lidge, Hamels, and Howard are. If the pivotal play in the Series was Damon's steal of 2nd and 3rd, then Lidge was the goat. Lidge had Damon at 1-2, and then walked him. I don't understand the Texiera shift, aand why the Phillies were so confused about their assignments, but it was Lidge's job to cover 3rd base, and he didn't do it. Happ should have started Game 3 instead of Hamels, but Manuel gave Hamels the courtesy nod. Howard, like last year in the WS, needs to learn how to hit a steady diet of breaking balls in the clutch, and then how to hit to the opposite field to avoid the shift. At any rate, these three are the goats, not Pedro.
Pedro surprised everyone with his work this year. He wanted a chance to prove that he could come back and do a very servicable job, and he did. This will probably be his last year in the league unless a team blows him away with an offer, which in today's desparate market, there mght be. Other than that, thank you Pedro for a wonderful year and welcome to the HoF!
You all complain that the Yankees "bought" a championship. Well, blame BASEBALL, not the Yankees! Think about it. The Yanks have done nothing that violates league rules. Until they do revenue sharing similar to what was implemented in the NFL, and endorsed by then NY Giants owner Wellington Mara, you can expect to see us dancing in the streets of Manhattan every few years. CONGRATS YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Charlie is a great manager, but he managed last night like it was a regular season game and not an elimination game. From the first pitch it was obvious Pedro didn't have it. They should have gotten Happ up right there and sent him in for the second inning, telling him you are our starter now. Get us to the 7th inning. Leaving Pedro in for four and then going to our middle relief was just guaranteeing a loss.
This was a fantastic year, just not as fantastic as last year. Despite that, this is not a time to sit back and wait. With young talent in the minors, we need to consider making moves to further strengthen an already strong team. Might we consider trading Victorino and Happ or Blanton, looking for a better starter? Need to think about replacing Feliz in a year or so too. Better to deal from a position of strength than when obvious needs weaken your position. Thanks for a great year, looking forward to many more.
