I'm soooo high tech.
OK, not really. (My wireless hasn't worked in my house for months and I'm certain it's a simple fix.) But I am having an Internet chat at noon today about potential Phillies all-stars. (Read the transcript here.) I wrote about some candidates today in The Inquirer's Phillies Report. I'm not sure about you guys, but growing up I always anticipated who made the all-star game. It made for great debate, and I always liked watching the players line up on the first and third base lines.
I personally think the Phillies will have two all-stars: Chase Utley and Cole Hamels. Aaron Rowand and Jimmy Rollins each have a shot, but they need some luck on their side.
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Bob Ford gives us a Phillies quiz.
I think I passed.
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Hamels got lit up in the first two innings in last night's 10-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field.
It doesn't happen often, so whenever Hamels struggles it's a bit of a surprise isn't it?
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Joe Borowski criticized the Phillies yesterday. He thought the Phillies misdiagnosed him, leaked that he failed his physical and lowballed him after they pulled back their two-year offer. The Phillies said none of that is the case.
On leaking his failed physical, Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said, "We told them we weren’t going to make it public in order to protect the player. It became public knowledge that he was in Philadelphia and we had contract discussions with him."
On Borowski's claim they lowballed him: "We will acknowledge we did have further discussions with him after the diagnosis from Dr. (Michael) Ciccotti. I will take exception with how he’s describing it to you. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We still wanted the guy. We just wanted a little bit more protection."
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Baseball suspended third base coach Steve Smith for three games and Carlos Ruiz for one game for the actions in the eighth inning Sunday in a loss to the Detroit Tigers. Smith thinks three games is excessive. He began serving his suspension immediately, while Ruiz is appealing.
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Lost in the shuffle last night were the continued struggles of righthander Geoff Geary. He allowed two hits, two walks (one intentional) and three runs in the sixth inning to make it 9-1. Geary had a 1.50 ERA on May 11, but has a 9.64 ERA in 15 appearances since. In 14 innings, he has allowed 22 hits, 23 runs, 15 earned runs, six walks and four hit batsmen. He has struck out eight.
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Comments (4)
Rowand certainly deserves to go but not likely as you spelled out in article. I love Howard but I don't think he deserves to go and Rollins has a small chance. I was encouraged by Ruiz sticking up for his pitchers and give him credit...lots's of moxie for a virtual rookie. I like this kid alot. And is time for the club to take a hard look at Dr.Michael Ciccotti? Seems to me he is 0 for 2 (Garcia and Borowski) and perhaps not the right guy to pass judgement.
And you are so right, the All-Star game is cool, voting on line and at the park is serious business and watching the guys get introduced and lining up is one of the great traditions. Now if the NL guys would just take it serious like they used to in the 60's. And the answer to Bob Ford's question 12 was D. Funny stuff.
Posted by jimmy mack | June 19, 2007 10:44 AM
Posted on June 19, 2007 10:44
no surprise geary is stinking it up- he's probably hurt from overuse. when gordon and madson were on the dl, poor cholly was using myers and geary in just about every game. pitchers (in this day at least) can't handle that kind of workload, myers is hurt and geary probably is trying to pitch through his problems. but as said by everyone, what's manuel to do? we all know the bullpen has problems and as guys go down the injuries just roll downhill. they probably won't have a full bullpen this year as it was constructed in the off-season (and that one was already deficient)....
Posted by mike | June 19, 2007 10:56 AM
Posted on June 19, 2007 10:56
Smith suspended for 3 games?! Sweet. Now maybe our runners won't be either (a) sitting ducks for outfield assists or (b) tied up at third while the ball is bouncing around the outfield.
Posted by Civil Negligence | June 19, 2007 2:03 PM
Posted on June 19, 2007 14:03
If the Phillies want to make a big impact move before the All Star game that would push them ahead of the Mets & Braves; they would trade or drop their $3 million dollar catcher and bring back Chris Coste. Evan if they lose the money they paid to the free agent; they are getting Coste for almost nothing in comparison.
Chris is putting on a clinic nightly at Reading as to HOW TO HIT IN THE CLUTCH. If you look at last years numbers, he hit lefties and righties equally good and had a high average for RISP.Ryan Howard even named him "Chris Clutch" last season.
With Coste playing 60% of the games at catcher and Dobbs in the lineup everyday, it would give the Phillies their best lineup possible.
Posted by Carson Plyler | June 20, 2007 4:44 AM
Posted on June 20, 2007 04:44