Division Foes 2012: The Phillies

[Frayed Knot]

Vic Sage wrote: Phils Runs Scored: 2009 - 820 2010 - 772 2011 - 713 I'm not sure i get your point, FK. Yes, they're scoring less and preventing more. that's called "winning". In the early part of the last decade, they were scoring more and giving up more. that was called "not winning".

Wasn't really responding to the ongoing pitching discussion specifically, just throwing in some info to the thread in general which points out that their offense has been slipping for several years now and with it injured and aging they're going to need to rely on that pitching all the more.

[Vic Sage]

Wasn't really responding to the ongoing pitching discussion specifically, just throwing in some info to the thread in general which points out that their offense has been slipping for several years now and with it injured and aging they're going to need to rely on that pitching all the more

.

Yes, i'd agree they are more pitching reliant. With Utley out indefinitely and Howard out till June, they'd need a pitching staff the likes of Halladay, Lee and Hamels to make up the differ... oh, wait. They HAVE those guys. never mind.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Cliff Lee to the DL with an oblique strain.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Cole Hamels the cowardly **** gets banned for 5 games for being a cowardly ****, the cowardly ****, but he won't miss a turn in the rotation because Lee returns. Keep up the good work, Bud.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Guest

[Ceetar]

does 5 games even disrupt...anything? they have a day off Thursday. they could start Halladay on normal rest Saturday and have Hamels go Sunday and not miss a beat.

[bmfc1]

The Second Spitter wrote: Cole Hamels the cowardly **** gets banned for 5 games for being a cowardly ****, the cowardly ****, but he won't miss a turn in the rotation because Lee returns. Keep up the good work, Bud.

A 5 day suspension of a starting pitcher is worthless. If it's a position player or a reliever, the next opponent that the suspended player's team is playing benefits. Hamels suspension should have begun the next time the MFPs play the Nationals.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

How difficult is it to multiple a starting pitchers suspension by 5?

[Edgy MD]

Suspensions also have more teeth when teams aren't permitted to fill the suspended player's roster spot.

[Edgy MD]

Phillies phans who supported Josh Thole in Philadephia, honoring him with silence while he was down, and applauding when he sat up, stood, and was helped to the dugout, are in contrast with their fellow tribesmen who travel to Washington for a weekend series, according to Jayson Werth.

[Ceetar]

That Philly-Washington rivalry is really heating up isn't it?

[Gwreck]

Edgy DC wrote: Suspensions also have more teeth when teams aren't permitted to fill the suspended player's roster spot.

Isn't that how suspensions work now?

Hamels' suspension doesn't have teeth because the Phillies are essentially giving him an extra game off so that he doesn't miss a start.

[Ceetar]

Phillies OBP leaderboard, in order: Juan Pierre, Laynce Nix, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Joe Blanton.

[Edgy MD]

Ka-pow.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Without seeking them out, I've run across 2-3 sets of rumors over the last 24 hours regarding the Phils potentially being in "sell mode."

Short of a playoff run, leaving a trail of broken franchises-- staring at "Is this it?" headlines in their local newspapers, wondering about their swings/pitching mechanics/the trustworthiness of their relievers-- in our wake is something to which this team can aspire, can't it?

[Ceetar]

that was prompted by a Ruben Amaro Jr quote which I think was basically "if we're playing like this we'd be sellers"

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Also, there's scuttlebutt about team-specific inquiries (probably, if true, spurred by that quote) regarding Hamels and Victorino.

[Edgy MD]

One wonders if they have a chance of signing those guys after all they've invested in Howard, Utley, Rollins, Lee, and Halladay. Pence too, for that matter.

Oh, one mustn't think of such things!

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: One wonders if they have a chance of signing those guys after all they've invested in Howard, Utley, Rollins, Lee, and Halladay. Pence too, for that matter. Oh, one mustn't think of such things!

their payroll has skyrocked and their income, if not stagnating, has come close since they already sell out every game.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Just for the sake of argument, what meat, if any, would we want to pick off their corpse?

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Just for the sake of argument, what meat, if any, would we want to pick off their corpse?

Whatever we want, we can feed the fish in the aquarium in Miami with it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Just for the sake of argument, what meat, if any, would we want to pick off their corpse?

For real? I'd take Halladay if they're selling, though the Mets would probably be shopping for Blanton.

Polanco would be a nice guy to have. Pence?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Nothing. It's irrevocably tainted. (And, as far as we're concerned, either prohibitively expensive or redundant, position-wise.)

[G-Fafif]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Without seeking them out, I've run across 2-3 sets of rumors over the last 24 hours regarding the Phils potentially being in "sell mode."

A few days ago, I ran across evidence that the Phils are in "suck mode".

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Without seeking them out, I've run across 2-3 sets of rumors over the last 24 hours regarding the Phils potentially being in "sell mode." A few days ago, I ran across evidence that the Phils are in "suck mode".

I think that was the ladies from the KTE Marlins thread..

[Chad ochoseis]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Just for the sake of argument, what meat, if any, would we want to pick off their corpse?

Ruiz would be nice if the Mets were contending mid-year. He'd be a great platoon-mate for Thole, and nothing would say "cockpunch" to a Phillies fan like Chooch in a Met uniform. His current salary is $3.7M, and he has a 2013 $5M club option.

I was in Lakewood, NJ last night watching the Phillie-affiliated Class A Blue Claws lose 6-1 to the Marlin-affiliated Greensboro Grasshoppers. Five errors by the appropriately-named Claws, not counting a botched infield popup that was scored a hit. I have seen the phuture, and it ain't pretty.

[Edgy MD]

Phillies trying to dig their way out of last with a shovel-full of paranoia.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Phillies trying to dig their way out of last with a shovel-full of paranoia.

lol. I can just imagine the next course of action is to have him wear a jersey with no name on the back and sneak him from minor league field to minor league field to get his work in.

[Ceetar]

another one on Howard and how the cortisone shot he got in September last year may have ultimately caused the final rupture.

Ample medical evidence suggests cortisone can damage surrounding tissue, fray the Achilles, even trigger a rupture. Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20120520_Easing_the_pain__or_worsening_it.html?viewAll=y#ixzz1vSI9nMAc

[Frayed Knot]

Phils now losers of nine of their last ten, have fallen to five games below .500, and currently sit 9-1/2 games out of 1st in the East (losing 7.0 off the pace to Washington just over the last 10 days).

On the bright side for them, Chase Utley played in a Class A rehab game last night.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

another one on Howard and how the cortisone shot he got in September last year may have ultimately caused the final rupture. Ample medical evidence suggests cortisone can damage surrounding tissue, fray the Achilles, even trigger a rupture. Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20120520_Easing_the_pain__or_worsening_it.html?viewAll=y#ixzz1vSI9nMAc

From the article:

Within seconds, the syringe's milky mixture of cortisone and painkiller rushed warmly into the tiny, inflamed bursa sac at the base of the slugger's Achilles tendon.

"Mr. Howard," the nurse whispered, "your sac looks inflamed. Is there anything I can do to make it feel better?"