Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Chase Utley, Still the Man

Here is the cover of the NY Daily News this morning. Classic.

Great game for the Fightins last night at CBP. Chase Utley continued to solidify his legacy among the Philly faithful, Cliff Lee was solid and the bullpen was scary as hell – that pretty much sums it up. The series now heads back to NY for Game 6 on Wednesday night. Pedro vs. Pettite - two old men with storied careers will take the mound for their respective teams in hopes of extending or ending the season. Here’s hoping Pedro has one more gem in him.

Did you hear about Brett Myers confronting Hamels about his comments the other day? I’m sure there were a few guys in that clubhouse that wanted to do the same.

10 comments:

  1. I am fine with someone confronting Hamels but where does Myers get off? Hypocrite. Myers was the king of letting emotions effect his game.

    Am I the only one that thinks that this is a completely overblown story? I think he SHOULD be doubting himself after these performances. He was venting after a collapse. Enough.

    His problem stems from listening to people telling him how good he was, after the '08 Series. (Remember the SI Cover - "The Fabulous New Life of Cole Hamels"?) Wow - that sounds like something Cole would say...

    He did the circuits last off season - admitted that he didn't prepare as he would have, and he's had a bad season. He wants "his" season to end so "he" can start over. It's a selfish thing to say while your team is in the World Series but not enough for people to run him out of town, like I am hearing from idiotic talk show callers. He is fragile upstairs and he has some of the best "stuff" in the game.

    Hopefully Chalie talks to him to make sure his head is there, if he is needed to throw again.

    Chalie manages with his gut, he'll make the right call.

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  2. I sure hope Hamels is okay, but I don't want to see him again on the mound until March. He doesn't deserve another start.

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  3. Regardless of his intent.... he just doesn't have it. As we have seen during this series we can not afford to give up 4+ runs in the first 4 innings. I'll take Clifford on short rest over a fully rested Hamels.

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  4. I don't want to start Cliff on short rest (see Burnett last night and Petitte tomorrow for reasoning), but I would like to have him available out of the pen for the 6th-7th inning if necessary. That would pump up the crowd and give the team a needed boost.

    We still need tog et through game 6. I want to get to Petitte early and make Joe Girardi look like the worst manager in history by trying to use three pitchers in an entire post-season run.

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  5. Then who do you start Rico ... Hamels or Happ?

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  6. I'd start Happ but have Ho, Durbin, Blanton, etc ready for situational spots. John Lackey started Game 7 of the 2002 World Series as a rookie and won. Why can't Happ?

    If we find a situation to throw Hamels in there for a few batters and we think he can handle it, why not, but I'm not putting him out there to start.

    However, we're getting ahead of outselves. Need to get through Game 6.

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  7. As much as I like the game 7 debate, its still win or go home in the Bronx Wednesday. The best move would be if Cole mans up and takes the ball and pitches 7. Then just hand it back to Cliff to finish it off, but we need Pedro to be great first.

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  8. Pedro is the first step. We need him to come out and pitch well tomorrow. If Howard can get back on track and start hitting again this will change the whole series around. If Pedro can pitch like he has been throughout the playoffs I think we have a good shot at beating that old juice monkey Pettite on short rest.

    If the Phils can pull off game 6 I think that game 7 the Phils have to be favored. They can go with a combination of Hamels, Lee, Happ, and Blanton. There will be no need to use Madsen and Lidge out of the pen which is a good thing.

    Hamels said what he said out of frustration. I think Hamels can get it done, regardless of what has happened in the postseason. He clearly demonstrated that he is a big game pitcher last year. Charlie wont stand for that and I am sure he will have a long talk with him. Maybe that will light a fire under his ass.

    The Phils need to take care of business tomorrow first before we start looking into pitching matchups in game 7. Lets Go Phils

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  9. Spider Rico said.... Why can't Happ?

    I love the idea of Happ in Game 7. Why can't Happ? Why can't us? Why can't us....another?!

    Go Phils!

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  10. I don't have any confidence in Hamels right now but not sure of any other options. Happ may be needed in Game 6 if Pedro can't go deep. Lee would be on 2 days rest and Blanton 3 days. I think both would be available out of the 'pen but not sure how much can be expected - innings wise. It would be great to get a gem out of Pedro so at least you can use a combo Cole/Happ.

    The bullpen catcher should be able to tell if you have the good Madson or the bad one. There's a difference of about 5-6 MPH on that fastball. He's probably cooked but needs to suck it up for 2 more games.

    Heard the Myers/Hamels thing was just a joke - that's good.

    Not a chance in hell the Phillies are favored in a potential game 7.

    I think we all understand the fact that they have to win tomrrow first...

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