Poor, Pathetic New York Mets

Here's a little bit from this blog post by Todd Zolecki, who covers the Phillies for MLB.com:

The Phillies were upset with the Mets for calling time when Brad Lidge was in the stretch, ready to deliver a 0-1 pitch to Jesus Feliciano with runners at the corners and two outs in the ninth inning. The Mets were upset with Utley for a late slide into second baseman Ruben Tejada in the fifth inning.

"I think that was terrible," Manuel said of the timeout in the ninth.

Seconds before Lidge threw a pitch to Feliciano, the Mets got third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt to call timeout because they wanted Luis Castillo to pinch-run for Josh Thole at first base. Why the Mets waited until Lidge had started his at-bat with Feliciano is unknown, but Manuel did not like it. He got into a heated conversation with first base umpire and crew chief Jerry Layne before returning to the dugout.

"Terrible it was allowed and when it was done," Manuel said. "He's in a stretch. He's in the process of throwing the ball. They're over there screaming time out."

Lidge eventually got Feliciano to strike out to end the game and pick up his 27th save.

"It's a little ridiculous, I think," Lidge said. "That's an interesting freeze-the-kicker type move, I guess. I actually haven't seen that done in baseball. Hopefully that won't be a trend. Hopefully that's a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of thing."

Utley slid late into second base trying to break up a double play in the fifth inning. He started his slide almost as he reached the bag.

Tejada was not upset afterward, but his teammates were angry.

"I think it's a little dirty because I think he slid right on top of the base," Jose Reyes said. "He doesn't need to do that there in that situation."

"If he wants guys sliding like that into him then it's perfectly fine," David Wright said. "He knows how to play the game and if doesn't mind guys coming in like that when he's trying to turn a double play, then we don't have any problem with it. ... He knows the difference between a good, clean slide and a slide that's late. That's a better question for him."

Here's some video of the Mets players' postgame interviews.

More Randomness: Phils, Birds, Softball...Yarn? Chicken?

Submitted for your approval...or not...

• The Phillies finally had a day off after 24 games in 23 days. In that stretch they went 15-9 and have regained the NL East lead for the first time since May. The lead is now a game over Atlanta. Still, with Brad Lidge having elbow issues and Jimmy Rollins leaving their last game with a hamstring problem (that Charlie Manuel says wasn't serious and was due to dehydration; of course, he also said Ryan Howard's ankle injury wouldn't cause him to miss any games just before Howard went on the disabled list for nearly three weeks), and Placido Polanco's saying his elbow is broken (though he continues to play), and the team's general inconsistent hitting all season, it won't be smooth sailing the rest of the season.

• Meanwhile, the NFL is back. The Eagles start on Sunday, and that day they're wearing 1960 throwback uniforms as part of the commemoration of their 1960 championship team. Yes, that was 50 years ago. And yes, that was the last time the Eagles won a championship. So if you wonder why Eagles fans get a little (a lot) crazy, wonder no more.
  
  
  
  

I Think I'm Right About Brad Lidge

Remember last week when I wrote about the Phillies' issues, one of them being the struggles of Brad Lidge? I pointed out that he hasn't gotten regular work: just 3 appearances in 13 days from June 20 through July 7, and 2 appearances in 13 days (including the All-Star break) from July 12-24. I wondered if that wasn't at least part of the problem.

Let's look at what's happened since then. In the 6 days from July 25-31 Lidge pitched 4 times, struggling to get two saves vs. Colorado, pitching a scoreless inning against Arizona in a tie game in extra innings (after Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero combined to blow a 9th-inning lead), and giving up the walkoff 3-run homer to Washington's Ryan Zimmerman to lose a game in the 9th. His totals: 3 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts.

However, after that walkoff homer, Lidge got to pitch again the very next day, and three more times in the next 5 days (including tonight's game). Look at the difference in the numbers: 3 1/3 innings, 1 hit, no runs, no walks, 4 strikeouts, 3 saves in 3 opportunities.

It seems pretty clear to me now: as long as Lidge is healthy, if he gets regular work he'll have the command of his pitches he needs to be successful. I hope Charlie Manuel realizes this, because no one else on the roster except Brad Lidge has the ability to be a consistent closer right now.

Just one note on the offense: they're doing a nice job manufacturing runs without Ryan Howard, especially during tonight's 8th-inning rally to beat the Mets (and move to within a game of Atlanta for the NL East lead): seven singles (one on a bunt), a walk and a sacrifice fly produced six runs. This bodes well, and anything they get from the just-acquired Mike Sweeney will be a bonus (Sweeney got the first and last singles in the 8th, scoring a run and driving in another).

Catching Up With Philly Sports

For some reason I've not written so much on sports lately. Let's fix that now.

Since the playoffs always have priority, we'll start with the Flyers. Since they fell behind Boston 3-0 in Game 7 of their historic Eastern Conference semifinal series, they've outscored their opposition 13-0 -- the four-goal comeback in that game has been followed by 6-0 and 3-0 wins over Montreal in the Eastern finals. In particular in the second game, the Flyers haven't played their best. It is similar to how the Flyers outplayed the Bruins for a sizable portion of the first three games, all won by Boston. Of course, we'll hope this series doesn't reverse itself the way that one did. The Flyers could be getting Ian Laperriere and Jeff Carter back before the end of this series, which would be a huge help.

If the Flyers get two more wins and move on to the Stanley Cup finals, they'd play the winner of the Chicago-San Jose series. The Blackhawks won the first two games at San Jose, putting the Sharks in a huge hole.

Meanwhile, a slight digression:

Ex-Phils Coach Steve Smith On Amazing Race

Have you been wondering what former Phillies third-base coach Steve Smith has been doing? Wonder no more. Smith and his daughter Allison will be contestants on the new season of the CBS show "The Amazing Race." Smith joined the Phils in 2007 and was let go by the team just six days after the Phils won the 2008 World Series. He was hired by the Cleveland Indians this past November to be part of new manager Manny Acta's staff.

Smith wasn't really a favorite with the fans. There were a number of times during his two years as third-base coach, particularly early on, where baserunners either were thrown out at home when they shouldn't have tried to score or were held at third when it seemed they could have scored easily. There were reports at the time of Smith's firing that manager Charlie Manuel wasn't happy with him, in part because of on-field incidents that caused Smith to be suspended twice by Major League Baseball in 2008.

In case you haven't seen the show, on "The Amazing Race" teams of two, usually related or best friends or otherwise connected, travel to exotic locales around the world and complete a series of tasks, with the winning team receiving a $1 million prize. The new season, it's 16th, debuts Sunday, February 14.

World Series: Good vs. Evil

It's the Big Apple against the Big Scrapple. ;-) The Phillies are hours away from beginning the 2009 World Series against the New York Yankees, also known as the Evil Empire. I've written a preview for Outsports.com's blog, which you can find here.

I'm looking at the outcome as I looked at the previous two playoff series. I can very easily see the Yankees winning the World Series, just as I wouldn't have been too surprised if the Rockies took the Division Series or the Dodgers had won the League Championship Series. However, the way the Phillies have bounced back from seemingly dire circumstances -- starting with the 7-game deficit with 17 left in 2007, up through the Rockies' and Dodgers' closers blowing saves this year while Brad Lidge (so brilliant in 2008, such a mess in 2009) hasn't allowed a postseason run yet -- this determination, focus, fearlessness, whatever you want to call it has astounded me. Seeing them fall short every year from 2001-2006, I didn't think they had it in them. Now they do. So, as in the NLDS and the NLCS, I'm going to give the defending world champions the benefit of the doubt. Phillies in 6.

GO PHILLIES!! SPANK THE YANKS!!!

Please, Phillies, no more Lidge in 2009!

This simply can't go on any longer. Brad Lidge can no longer close out games in 2009. If the Phillies continue to put him out there, this team is GUARANTEED to fail in the postseason. Charlie Manuel has to face the simple fact that this is a lost year for Lidge. Yes, he was perfect in save opportunities in 2008. But he also had some luck. Remember when he gave up what would have been the tying run in Atlanta, except Shane Victorino made a hellacious throw to cut down the runner at the plate? Whether it's due to injury or just dumb luck or whatever, clearly 2009 is a down year for Lidge and there's no reason to think things will magically turn around by the time the playoffs start.

Tonight Lidge was brought into the game at Florida in the 9th with the Phils hanging on to a 6-5 lead, and promptly gave up two runs to lose the game. Todd Zolecki (Phillies' beat writer for MLB.com) tweeted this stat: "Since Manuel pulled Lidge on Sept. 8 in Washington, he is 1-3 with an 11.57 ERA in five appearances. Opponents have hit .391 against him." Actually, he's not 1-3. In his first game after that Sept. 8 game he came in with the team down 8-2 and pitched a scoreless inning. He then picked up three saves -- but gave up runs in every game. So a more accurate stat is: including tonight, in his last 4 games Lidge has given up 6 runs in 3 2/3 innings. That makes his ERA 14.73 for that span.

The problem is, right now there are no good options. Ryan Madson hasn't been any better than Lidge at closing games. Brett Myers is now nursing a strained shoulder and isn't likely to pitch again until next week. The rest of the bullpen is either similarly injured or not experienced enough.

After winning 2 of 3 in Atlanta, the Phils lost 2 of 3 in Florida. They're still up by 6 1/2 games and the magic number to clinch the division is 5. They have 11 games left: 4 at Milwaukee, then 4 at home against Houston and 3 at home against Florida. It is still extremely unlikely the Phils won't be in the playoffs, but with Lidge as their closer, they won't be there for long.

Strange Days Part 1: Phils

The two Philly teams in action over the weekend had an unusual few days, so this is a two-part tale. We start with the Phillies, who had four games against the New York Mets, a team expected to contend with the Phils but instead find themselves trying to play the spoiler.

Friday's game found Mets' starter Nelson Figueroa giving up 9 hits and 5 walks in 5 1/3 innings, but only allowing 2 runs. The Phils wasted multiple opportunities, going 4-for-19 with runners in scoring position, and managed only a 4-1 lead going into the 9th. Phils' closer-for-the-moment Ryan Madson gave up a couple of hits, but the only run he gave up came on a double play, and the Phils held on for the 4-2 win.

On Saturday the first five Mets' at-bats against Jamie Moyer, starting again in place of J.A. Happ, went like this: double, single, 2-RBI single (David Wright), 2-run homer, single. Moyer settled down, lasting through the 7th and allowing just a 7th-inning run. The Phils' offense came to life, building up a 9-5 lead through 7. Brett Myers came on in the 8th, got an out, gave up a hit and then served up a 2-run homer (Wright again). The Mets got another run off Myers and Chan Ho Park to make it 9-8. Madson came on in the 9th, got two outs, gave up a hit, and got bashed for a 2-run homer (Wright yet again). The Mets went on to finish off the 10-9 win.

Sunday there was a day-night doubleheader. In the first game the Phils got an unexpected bonus: 7 1/3 fine innings from Kyle Kendrick, and took a 5-2 lead into the 9th. Deposed closer Brad Lidge was called upon, and gave up 3 hits and 2 runs, but managed to save the game.

In the nightcap, Charlie Manuel decided to let Pedro Martinez go as long as possible. Pedro ended up throwing an astonishing 130 pitches, the most he's thrown in a game since 2001, but gave the Phils 8 scoreless innings. He had 119 pitches in his last start. The two-game workload is somewhat insane considering his age, his inactivity for much of the year and his injury issues in recent years. Madson, trying again, got the save as the Phils made a first-inning run hold up. Depsite it all, the Phils took three out of four from the Mets.

With Florida losing two over the weekend to Washington and losing tonight at St. Louis, the Phillies' lead stands at 7 games with 20 games left, starting tomorrow against Washington. This is close to the Mets' 7-game-lead-with-17-left standing in 2007 prior to their epic collapse. The Phils of 2007, however, were playing much better than the Marlins of 2009, so a similar flop by the 2009 Phils remains very unlikely.

However, the continuing struggles of the bullpen -- much too similar to those of the Mets' pen in recent years -- do not bode well for the chances of another late October parade down Broad Street.

A couple days of Phils stuff

Interesting developments...

• Shane Victorino was the winner in the NL All-Star Final Vote. Apparently he came up with the idea for the Phillies to team up with the Detroit Tigers, whose Brandon Inge was the AL winner. The "Bran-Torino" campaign apparently worked...except since I voted hundreds of times, including non-stop in the 2 hours before voting closed, it really was me who put him over the top.
• Jayson Werth is also going to the All-Star game; he was named as a replacement for the Mets' Carlos Beltran, who is missing the game due to injury. This is surprising, because I would've expected that LA Dodger Matt Kemp, the only other outfielder on the Final Vote ballot. But clearly NL All-Star game Charlie Manuel is playing favorites and rewarding his players, between this choice and that of Ryan Howard at first base. Must be good to be the king. (With Victorino and Raul Ibanez, this is the first time since 1972 that one team has had three outfielders in an All-Star game.
  
• Ibanez has been activated from the disabled list; in a very surprising move, catcher and author Chris Coste was designated for assignment to make room for Ibanez, and Coste was claimed by Houston.
• The Phillies are interested in free-agent pitcher Pedro Martinez. He's struggled with age and injuries in recent years; this year he pitched in the World Baseball Classic and has sat waiting since then. I don't know that he'd be much of an upgrade over the starters they already have. I'd much rather they trade for Toronto's Roy Halladay now that the Blue Jays have intimated that they might try and trade him.
• Oh, and they've now won 7 of 8 on this homestand after tonight's 3-2 win over the Pirates, with me in attendance (and I'll be there tomorrow also), and now lead the NL East by 3 games.
  

The latest J-Roll experiment: FAIL

As the Phillies concluded the interleague portion of their schedule in Tampa Bay and Toronto, Jimmy Rollins sat on the bench for four consecutive games. He wasn't used at all, even as a pinch-hitter or defensive replacement. He's having an absolutely horrible season. Charlie Manuel has tried sitting him for a game. He's tried moving Rollins down in the batting order for a game or two. Nothing has worked for very long. After a bad decision on the field helped give Tampa Bay a win, Manuel finally decided to sit Rollins for an extended period.

Tonight in Atlanta Rollins returned to the lineup, and back to the leadoff spot, no less. Oops...0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts in the Phils' 5-4 loss to the Braves, ending their brief 2-game winning streak. Three of the Phils' 4 runs came on solo homers. Rollins' average is down to .207 and his on-base percentage is below .250. Keeping him leading off is no way to jump-start an offense. Manuel needs to move Rollins down in the order and keep him there for more than one or two games. If he hits well for a month, then move him back up.

The Phils continue to be fortunate that the injury-riddled Mets continue to suck, but now they have to be concerned about the Florida Marlins, who have jumped past the Mets into second place.

Meanwhile, it doesn't look like Raul Ibanez will be ready to come off the disabled list as soon as he's eligible. Going on the DL now, though, is Antonio Bastardo, which means another starting pitcher will be needed either Thursday or during the weekend.