The momentum the Phillies reached last week has been halted.
And then put in reverse.
It's like The Sweep never happened.
The Phillies lost yesterday to the Braves at Turner Field, 5-1, to fall five behind the Mets in the NL East. If the Mets play just 13-12 (.520) the rest of the way, the Phillies would need to finish 18-7 (.720) just to tie them.
"It's not going to be easy," Chase Utley said. "But nobody said it was going to be easy."
In reality, the wild card is the Phillies' best bet. After the Mets host the Phillies at Shea Stadium from Sept. 14-16, the Mets play 13 of their remaining 14 games against the Marlins and Nationals. (They play a make up game against the Cardinals on Sept. 27.) It's hard to imagine the Mets struggling for two weeks against two teams they are 15-8 against this season.
Either way, the Phillies better start winning some games because they're three behind the wild card-leading Diamondbacks and tied with the Dodgers, with the Rockies one game behind them. They could fall out of wild card contention quickly if they don't pull themselves together.
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The latest Philliescast is up.
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Jim Salisbury writes about how every pitch, every at-bat and every play is magnified in September. And how yesterday some defensive lapses stood out.
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We look at Jimmy Rollins' historical season in this week's Phillies Report.
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As actually reported in The Inquirer, Ruben Amaro Jr. is interviewing for Houston's GM vacancy Thursday.
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Ryan Howard quickly is approaching the single-season strikeout record. He has 168 strikeouts. Adam Dunn had 195 in 2004. Charlie Manuel said Howard could do better, but he also thinks the strikeouts are overblown.
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There are a lot of terrible managers out there:
Terry Francona.
Willie Randolph.
Ned Yost.
Grady Little.
Joe Torre.
Comments (9)
I agree Todd, I've often thought every fan thinks his team's manager is the worst one. I do think Philly takes that to an extreme, more than other towns, but all do it.
Posted by Anonymous | September 4, 2007 11:18 AM
Posted on September 4, 2007 11:18
It's been a great ride, I'm still on the wagon to the very end.
The one thing that infuriates me (besides Adam freaking Eaton) is the constant "we still have time, we have more to play, we can be right back into it" mentality that keeps getting quoted. I know that can't say "the pitching sucks" but I think they beleive the have time left. It's like they haven't learned anything from the past 3 years. Is it possible, sure....is it probable, less and less.
I also don't want to listen to Gillick and Monty, again, tell us "we had a great year, but (fill in the blank) kept us out of the playoffs". Not beating the inferior teams is what kills us. Lousy pitching kills us. RISP kills us. Strikeouts kill us.
Finally, how Charlie keeps his sanity with the choices he has to call with this pitching staff is beyond me.
Sorry, I needed to vent. Go Phils!
Posted by jimmymac | September 4, 2007 12:55 PM
Posted on September 4, 2007 12:55
Couldn't agree more jimmymac. Saturday and yesterday's loss didn't bother me too much though. Sunday was the killer.
Looks like we only have to scoreboard watch the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Rockies now. I think San Diego will pull away in the West soon.
You hate to say must win, but tonight is the night, especially with Hudson pitching tomorrow.
Can someone explain the Wickman situation with Atlanta? I know he is on waivers but we have to be close to 10 days now. If he is released, would you take a chance on him?
Posted by Brian | September 4, 2007 1:16 PM
Posted on September 4, 2007 13:16
LETS GO MARLINS, LETS GO MARLINS- 5 HOMERS AND YOU THINK YOU CAN MESS WITH US...GET SERIOUS, YOU HAD A RUN, IT'S OVER , NOW LETS JUST FINISH THE SEASON QUIETLY...NO MORE PREDICTIONS FROM "FOOT IN THE MOUTH" J. ROLLINS, HE'S THE ONE WHO JINXED YA'LL TO BEGIN WITH AND NOW WE WILL ROLL-INS TO THE PLAYOFFS. THANK YOU BYE-BYE, IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTED...LET'S GO BRAVES, LET'S GO BRAVES
Posted by REALMETFAN | September 4, 2007 1:51 PM
Posted on September 4, 2007 13:51
my ears are ringing...
anyway, i hope if ryan approaches the strikeout mark he just plays the season out. nothing lamer than not playing just because you don't want to set a bad record. we've seen alot of that around baseball with regard to losing 20 games and setting that strikeout mark over the last few years. if you set it, you set it- something to improve upon for next year.
Posted by mike | September 4, 2007 2:21 PM
Posted on September 4, 2007 14:21
REALMETFAN: if your team "roll-ins" into the playoffs with the same lack of stones they showed here, it will be a short playoff run.
But I'll give them props for going down and beating the heck out of the Braves. Nice recovery.
I'll still take my shortstop over yours any day of the week.
The Caps Lock key is on your left, you can go back to typing in lower case to access the porn sites you usually visit. Probably why the key got stuck in the first place.
Posted by jimmymac | September 4, 2007 3:22 PM
Posted on September 4, 2007 15:22
Well, I think the obvious problem with this team is that they are setting an all time record for the number of pitchers who are just flat-out terrible. The Phillies have used 19 pitchers this year with ERAs over 5. Also the guys they picked up who had a 5+ ERA, also had a 5+ ERA with their old teams.
Posted by Brian | September 5, 2007 8:44 AM
Posted on September 5, 2007 08:44
jimmymac:1ST-U'LL HAVE PLENTY OF TIME FOR THE PORN SITES AFTER U FINISH UR GOLFING. 2ND-REYES IS THE FUTURE OF THE SHORTSTOP POSITION AND MAYBE ROLLINS WILL BE WATCHING HIS TAPES SOON (ROLLINS IS NOT BAD,DONT GET ME WRONG, BUT REYES WILL OUTSHINE HIM ANYDAY-LOOK AT WHERE REYES IS ALREADY COMPARED TO ROLLINS JUST COMING INTO HIS OWN.) DONT BE THROWN BY THAT SWEEP, I CANT CALL IT LUCK BECAUSE IT WAS FOUR GAMES, BUT WE JUST GAVE YA'LL A TASTE OF WHAT ITS LIKE TO BEAT A WORLD SERIES CHAMP. AFTER THE SMOKE CLEARS AND REALITY SETS IN, WE WILL BE RECEIVING THOSE RINGS AT THE BEGINNING OF NEXT SEASON. IT'S ALL LOVE jimmymac, FROM THE ROTTEN APPLE. - WHO'S UR DADDY, WHO'S UR DADDY- HE'S BACK BY THE WAY
Posted by REALMETFAN | September 5, 2007 12:49 PM
Posted on September 5, 2007 12:49
Met Fan , all the payroll in the world, for the last 10yrs or so. What do they have to show for it. Met fans, second class citizens in their hometown. Inferiority complex, Im sure. The Cardinal won 83 regular season games ,yet they went on to send Mets fans packing. Its a big dissapointment for us, coming so close the last few years . Steam boat, is picking up steam . Look out baby cause here we come...Fe..FI..fo..FO..fum...Oh ya baby.!How sweet it is...Who's yo Daddy ? ? ? ? ? ?... Keep in touch...you'll need someone to console, you guys..Oh ya, I allmost forgot to remind you girls,I hope you enjoyed your stay in the "CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE" XOXO
Posted by Pat H | September 5, 2007 1:31 PM
Posted on September 5, 2007 13:31