Phillies-Rockies In-Serious Thread

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Game 1 starts in a few minutes, Jiminez vs. Lee.

Colorado is vulnerable to LH pitchers, this series is not a good match for them, but good luck all the same!

[metirish]

Rockies with two hits in the first , nothign to show for it but a promising start.....they get this game who knows.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Scoreless through 4 and a half, 3 hits apeice.

Just watching the boxscore, but the play of the day so far is Werth throwing out Torreabla at 3B for a DP after Torreabla doubled in the 2nd. Nothing doing since then.

[metirish]

5-0 tot he Phillies in the 6th.....

[TransMonk]

BOO!!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Game 2 at 2:30 today: Cook vs. Hamels.

I expressed admiration for the way the Phillies built their team in the preview thread but the Rockies are no slouches in player development themselves. Today's lineup:

Gonzalez, acquired in the Holliday-Houston Street trade
Fowler: 14th round Rockies draft pick, 2004
Helton: 1st round, 1995
Tulowitzski: 1st round, 2005
Atkins: 5th round, 2000
Torreabla: Trade from Seattle
Spillborghs: 7th round, 2002
Barmes, 10th round, 2000
Cook: 2nd round, 1997

When Ianetta catches and Seth Smith or Brad Hawpe subs for Gonzalez, the Rockies can go with an all-homegrown starting 9.

[Frayed Knot]

Early 1-0 lead for the Rox courtesy of some less-than-crisp defense from the normally reliable Phils infield gloves

Single - steal (on a botched pickoff) - sac bunt - then a dribbler where Hamels attempted to get the runner coming home but was too late
Tulowitski then GiDP'd so there was no further damage

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Yorvit Torrealba harnesses...



... launching a two-run shot off the popped-collar'd one. 4-0 Rox after 5 1/2.

EDIT: And 4-3 after three straight hits chase Aaron Cook. A nicely-turned double-play stanches the bleeding with two on and one out. 6 complete, bottom of the order coming up for the Mile-High Club.

[ashie62]

These teams both suck

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Well, I'll say this much for the Philly bullpen-- it gives Charlie Manuel something to do.

After burning through Joe Blanton (1 IP), JA Happ (LOOGY appearance?), and Scott Eyre (1 IP), he yanks Brett Myers after the old charmer loads the bases for PH Jason Giambi. Antonio Bastardo ends the threat with a strikeout.

5-3, Coloradans after 7 1/2.

[Guest attgig]

Yorvit Torrealba harnesses...



... launching a two-run shot off the popped-collar'd one. 4-0 Rox after 5 1/2.

EDIT: And 4-3 after three straight hits chase Aaron Cook. A nicely-turned double-play stanches the bleeding with two on and one out. 6 complete, bottom of the order coming up for the Mile-High Club.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Rocks hold on 5-4.

[Frayed Knot]

Well, I'll say this much for the Philly bullpen-- it gives Charlie Manuel something to do.

After burning through Joe Blanton (1 IP), JA Happ (LOOGY appearance?), and Scott Eyre (1 IP), he yanks Brett Myers after the old charmer loads the bases for PH Jason Giambi. Antonio Bastardo ends the threat with a strikeout.

5-3, Coloradans after 7 1/2.[/quote:2dph5hlw]


Happ took a liner off the shin and was pulled on account of that. He looked like he wanted to continue but Uncle Charlie wouldn't let him. So he was replaced with fellow lefty Eyre. Bastardo for Myers was a L/R switch specifically for Giambi.

Then in the 9th after Stairs got on via a 1-out walk, Manual tapped Cliff Lee to pinch-run. I guess stealing a base yesterday got him the part-time pr job.

[Guest Kong76]

Nothing wrong with going into the defending champion's building
and splittin' the first two! Go Rockies!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Happ took a liner off the shin and was pulled on account of that. He looked like he wanted to continue but Uncle Charlie wouldn't let him. So he was replaced with fellow lefty Eyre. Bastardo for Myers was a L/R switch specifically for Giambi.[/quote:3u8xit83]

Just saw that.

The Rox had a shot to break it open in the eighth when they put the first two on, until they decided to sac bunt with the guy who hit a 2-run homer earlier and the bottom of the order coming up.

That said, with a slightly achy Happ (x-rays negative) probably being held out (right?), it looks like a coinflip between Pedro and Fatty for Game 3. If Manuel's smart, he'll go with Blanton (who only threw 19 pitches). I'm hoping he goes the other way.

[metirish]

Manuel goes with Pedro for Game 3 .

[Frayed Knot]

The weather for Sat night in Colorado (I think it's 5:30 start - local time) is expected to be around 30-degrees and maybe snowing.
There's a good chance the game doesn't get played at which point a whole different set of pitching possibilities open up.
Sunday, in typical Denver - if you don't like the weather just wait a few hours - fashion, it's expected to be back in the 60s

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Manuel goes with Pedro for Game 3 .[/quote:2w02ls5g]

4.97 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, .820 opponent OPS, 14 ER in 25 innings. I'm okay with this.

[Frayed Knot]

Game 3 postponed in Denver long before they ever got near game-time.
That allows the Phils to NOT start Pedro when the game is played on Sunday night ([u:n7yp3m4p]10[/u:n7yp3m4p] PM EDT) and I suspect the unlikelihood of that game ever being played was half the reason they scheduled him in the first place. Happ will go instead.

And so after getting complaints about the starting times on account of trying to stuff three games in on Wednesday, they wind up with only one played on Saturday.

[ashie62]

boring

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Chutley does his best-player-in-baseball-not-named-Pujols thing with a bomb to center, and the Rockies chip back in the bottom of the inning as Happ starts off in exceedingly shaky fashion (40 pitches, 4 hits, 1 RBI groundout in the first).

Unfortunately, though, he seems to have settled. Still, 2-1 MileHighClub after 2.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Garrett Atkins wants your offseason dollars-- his second hit of the game's a double over Pricktorino's flat noggin, scoring the Old Man of the Mountains from first.

3-1, forces of relative Good, after 3. And Happ's got MAYBE 1-2 more innings in him.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I forgot: when he's not cruising and striking dudes out like you read about, Jason Hammel sucks.

To the tune of bases-loaded, nobody out walks to Raul Ibanez, and RBI singles to the bottom of the lineup.

Even a 1-2-3 DP can't keep the Phils from tying and pulling ahead. 4-3 after 3 1/2, and we're into the Rox pen.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Carlos Gonzalez hits a home run. That's cold. Because it's outdoors, and it's 30 degrees.

5 innings to go. All even. New pitchers for both squads. It's like this is a video game simulation, and someone hit "reset" and set the game on "crappier pitching."

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Jose Contreras is on this team? Christ, this team is like the Island of Misfit AL Starters/Relievers.

Anyway, league talent gap aside, he still stinks. So, like most stinky pitchers, he gives up hits, which lead to a run.

Meanwhile, bad news for the Rockies: all Rockies not named Carlos Gonzalez or Garrett Atkins have gone ice-cold.

The good news? Gonzalez is up this inning. He doubles. 5-4, "heart" of the order coming up with no out, bottom 7.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Terrific recap, but I came here to find out how it ended!

(looks it up)

Fuk.

[Fman99]

Terrific recap, but I came here to find out how it ended!

(looks it up)

Fuk.[/quote:3gyu5ex5]

I can't even watch to root against them, they make me sick. Between this and the A-Rod resurgence the 2009 postseason is setting up like a bucket of Nickolodeon-style grolph propped at the top of a door jam, waiting to drop on my head while I make a stupid face.

[metirish]

I recall G-Rod having a great ALDS against the Twins a few years back and then nothing.......I hope the same hold true now.

[Frayed Knot]

Huston Street piles on the evidence that it's 'Bad Closer Week'* in MLB.
Not that he got smacked all over the park, but he came into a tied game in top 9 and went:
Single (Rollins) - Bunt (Victorino) - Infield Single (Utley) - Sac Fly (Howard) for what turned out to be the winning run. He then walked Werth but got the 3rd out.
Manual went to Lidge for the save (had already used Blanton, Durbin, Eyre & Madson) in bottom 9. He gave up 2 walks and a stolen base but got Tulowitski on a fly out to end the game.



But of course nobody saw any of this because the game didn't end until past 2 o'clock in the freakin' morning (EDT).
A 10:07 first pitch and a 4 hour 6 minute game. As the saying goes, you do the math.
The NYY/Twins game, meanwhile, went 3:25 despite getting through the first 5 innings (of what was practically a double perfect game) in 1:20. So the last 4 innings took over 2 hours. 5 runs were scored total.
The Boston/Angels game went 3:49.
Bud, you've got a problem.









* Ryan Franklin, Jonathan Papelbon & Joe Nathan all blew save opps in the first week of post-season

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Sadly, I watched this to the bitter end. Stinking Phils. But thank goodness for 44 oz Diet Coke at Speedway for $1.37, since I don't drink coffee.