MLB Playoffs 2009

[Hammer]

Ian, that is exactly what I just said, and I think most will agree I am quite knowledgeable about baseball.

Momentum can change in one game, or just one inning. Blanton could give us a solid performance and our bats could get back in gear. That is the beauty of baseball.

[Ian]

My the Phillies will draw some inspiration from the Eagles who are currently beating the snot out of the Giants?

[Scar]

OK, so I don't know if anybody cares, but I'm back now from WDW and watching Illuminations was 1000X better than trying to pick between the Yankees and Phillies. To add to it my flight was 3 hours late yesterday and only caught the end of last nights game. So I have decided who I am not pulling for... The Yankees. I've hated the Yankees all my life and I've only hated the Phillies for a few years... so Go Phillies

[Pagan]

Thank you Johnny, A-Rod and Jorge.

[SurferStitch]

Mo....you are the man!

Loved Damon's two base steal, too! That was awesome! A-Rod and Posada really came through for them to take the win.

One more to go.... Go Yankees!!

[JerseyMouse]

While there are a million and one ways to break this series down, for me it comes down to the Yankees ace being willing to take the ball on 3 days rest, and the Phillies ace not willing to go to his manager and demand the ball. Isn't this what you play your entire career for??

I can see the Phils staving off elimination tonight, but even with that..the matchups still favor the Bombers going back to NY.

The Yanks were the better team coming into this series, they really didn't need Charlie Manual and Cliff Lee making their jobs a little easier.

The Yankees have guys willing to do whatever it takes to win it all, the Phils have some of those same guys, just not as many as I thought.

[Ian]

Uh ... what Jerry said ...

That game was a flat out joke last night. A litany of horrid at bats, poor fielding, people standing around looking confused, dismal managing ... just atrocious, atrocious baseball.

I mean that Damon steal was just ridiculous!! Feliz just stands there and watches him go by??? It never occurred to you that he might keep going since no one was covering third?? Plus, I absolutely refuse to believe that Damon's big, slow, lumbering, white rear-end is faster than Feliz but Feliz just gave up!!! Unbelieveable.

That was some of the worst baseball I've ever seen played by this team and the Yankees were waiting right there to pounce and capitalize on it.

There wasn't a single, solitary facet of the Phillies game that stepped up except maybe Blanton, who did about the best you could expected. The Yankees absolutely deserve to win this series since someone apparently forget to tell the Phillies there were three more games they needed to win after game 1!

[Pagan]

Plus, I absolutely refuse to believe that Damon's big, slow, lumbering, white rear-end is faster than Feliz but Feliz just gave up!!! Unbelieveable.

Um...hate to blow up your assessment of Damon, but he's one of the fastest guys on the team.

In no way is he "big, slow and lumbering".

And what, he can't be fast cause he's white???

[indytraveler]

I will say this, that you Phillies fans are truly die-hard fans. I applaud you for that. However, your team is not. It's been posted several times already and I appear to be piling on but why wasn't Cliff Lee on the mound?

Heading into this series the Phillies had the extra days off to rest, (Cliff Lee), able to set their rotation the way they wanted, etc. They go out and win game 1 and coulda, shoulda won game 2. That is where the series turned for the Yankees.

They are playing the Yankees and ask any Red Sox fan what they had to do to beat the Yankees? Leave it all on the field. Pitch on short rest, move runners play defense, etc. This years World Series isn't against the Rays who were just happy to make it. This is against the Yankees and they believe it is their birthright to win the World Series.

Looks tough for Phillies winning in 7, However they should win Game 5, and at least get the series back to NY.

[Ian]

I totally agree. This team did not do everything that needed to be done to beat the Yankees.

This isn't the Dodgers or the Rays we're playing here ... this is a legit ball club. A ball club who, quite frankly, is better than the Phillies. They had to be willing to go above and beyond to have a shot at beating this team and they just didn't.

I couldn't care less that Cliff Lee has never pitched on short rest before. WHO CARES??? It's the WORLD SERIES!! As JC Romero said last year ... you can be rest in November!

[diz_girl]

This is what happens when Philly fans get their hopes up. Last year, we didn't get our hopes up and won. This year, the opposite. Oy.

[Hammer]

I couldn't care less that Cliff Lee has never pitched on short rest before. WHO CARES??? It's the WORLD SERIES!! As JC Romero said last year ... you can be rest in November!

And if/when Cliff Lee stunk up the joint because his arm got tired in the 4th or 5th inning, what would you be saying then? It is not like the bullpen is going to come through. If Blanton had been the reason we lost yesterday, I would believe your argument. Blanton was not the issue; the rest of the team was and that would have happened regardless of who was on the mound.

[Scar]

I have no idea if this means anything and I don't know what conclusions to draw from it, but, last week in WDW there were a ton more people wearing Phillies stuff than Yankees stuff. And I mean many tons more. In fact I think I saw more Mets than Yankees, me and the other two guys.

[Ian]

And if/when Cliff Lee stunk up the joint because his arm got tired in the 4th or 5th inning, what would you be saying then? It is not like the bullpen is going to come through. If Blanton had been the reason we lost yesterday, I would believe your argument. Blanton was not the issue; the rest of the team was and that would have happened regardless of who was on the mound.

You can't say that for sure ... You don't know what Lee's presence on the mound would do to the hitters in terms of confidence and security.

Maybe they don't trust Blanton and they got nerves over the match-up like I did. Plus, it's not like Blanton pitched well. He gave up four earned runs!

I'm sorry, but all this whining about routines and rest and all this garbage ... I don't hear any of it coming from the Yankees. The Yankees are pitching not one, not two, but three guys on short rest in this series! They realize where they are and that you have to leave it all on the field if you want to win in the post-season.

I think the Phillies got soft by having five basically easy series before this one. They cruised past every team they've faced thus far. They just don't know that it's not always that easy and sometimes you have to make sacrifices. What would you rather have more? A pain free left arm or a World Series ring? That's the choice.

Hopefully they've learned their lesson and things will be different next year.

[Hammer]

You can't say that for sure ... You don't know what Lee's presence on the mound would do to the hitters in terms of confidence and security.

Maybe they don't trust Blanton and they got nerves over the match-up like I did. Plus, it's not like Blanton pitched well. He gave up four earned runs!

I have also seen Lee have the same sort of outing, Ian, as I watched every single one of his starts.

This team has never been about more confidence in one pitcher over the other. That is just something that the knuckle draggers on Philly (and NY too) sports talk radio like to say. Very nice to be an armchair quarterback. You think those bone headed throws wouldn't have happened if Lee was on the mound? Come on, fielding was bed no matter who was on the mound.

I think the Phillies got soft by having five basically easy series before this one. They cruised past every team they've faced thus far. They just don't know that it's not always that easy and sometimes you have to make sacrifices. What would you rather have more? A pain free left arm or a World Series ring? That's the choice.

Hopefully they've learned their lesson and things will be different next year.

Seriously, I don't think that you and I watched the same postseason last year. We had to come from behind in at least 2 games during last post season. Last year, we lead the league in come from behind victories. Not so this year and that has to do with our bats being a lot less productive this year in the post season.

While you seem fine to risk permanent injury for another World Series ring, I think that mentality is short sighted and more WIP talk. Of course Lee says he would have pitched. Every single starting pitcher not named Cole Hamels was ready to take the ball!

[Ian]

We're going to have to agree to disagree, Christine, because first off I think it's ridiculous to equate pitching once on two days less rest with risking a career ending injury.

[Hammer]

Yes, we aren't goinng to agree. Neither you or I know everything happening behind the scenes, either. I've seen Lee miss his spots and get rung up, too, when he has had full rest.

One thing I think we can both agree on is this is not the same team as last year. There is just something missing with this team this year. Last year, we did not crumble when someone hit a big home run, like Manny did last year in the NLCS. We fought back. There isn't a drive to this year's team, regardless of who is on the mound.

[Ian]

Sigh ... yeah, I do agree Christine and I think part of my issue with the whole Blanton vs. Lee thing is really just frustration that things have gone so poorly.

In reality, you're probably right ... I just can't figure out what went wrong. Is it that the Yankees are that much better than we are? Did that time off just get us off our game? Was it something else?

[JerseyMouse]

Ian,

I really do think the Yankees are just better than the Phils..their starting rotation is deeper, and they have guys who give you constant quality at bats, to say nothing about Rivera in the 9th.

As a Phils fan, I wanted to see how we stacked up against the best, we're seeing their best is better than our best, while I am disappointed that, barring a repeat 0f 2004 by NY, there won't be back to back parades, I have no problem tipping my hat to the better team, which, for this year, is/are the Yankees, and I look forward to seeing if the Phils can acquire the right pieces (another top-flight starter, competent bench player, a 3rd baseman who can hit at least 25 homeruns)

They only way to know that you're good enough is to go against the best...we did, we're not, what are we going to do about it..the core is still here...a rematch in '10 with Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee at the top of the rotation isn't too much to ask, right??

[Ian]

Mmm ... I'm going to disagree with you a little bit here ... this team hasn't played anything close to up to potential and yet they really were in all of the games for the most part.

Certainly games 3 and 4 were winnable games for us if someone can just step up and get a big hit or if the manager doesn't leave our fragile closer in there too long or our fragile closer doesn't forget to cover 3rd base, etc. etc. etc.

I honestly feel like the Phillies playing up to potential could have won this series. You saw what they were capable of in game one when they were firing on all cylinders. For whatever reason, though, it just hasn't happened since then. It's maddening.

And this isn't in any way to detract from the Yankees. I agree that they're the better team, but I don't really think it's that dramatic a difference.