MLB 2016

blondie wrote:

I think we've only lost 2 series this season so far - the first one with the Reds and we went down 1-3 against the 4 games with the Cards.  

Madden cracks me up getting his guys to dress up for road trips.  Keeps them loose, not that they have anything to be uptight about these days.  

I know its stupid to watch the standings and I know we won't be in it all season but I WANT FIRST PLACE AGAIN DAMN IT!

it's much easier to look down at the standings than to look up.

How come it doesn't mean much when you are on top this time of year but it's the end of the world if you are in last place now???


I mean we are 2 weeks from memorial day if you are in last place then you are screwed, and better start making some moves according to everyone but if you are on top there's a lonnng way to go, and you shouldn't be too excited about it!!!!

For us Phillies fans it means a lot as we're supposed to be tanking. Not rebuilding, but tanking * I don't personally believe this - to me the Astros were tanking - they just kept being in last place year after year. The Phillies have spent millions buying better prospects - we're not in last place in order to draft #1 every year. They're trying to get back in it as soon as possible. *



Realistically they just don't have the offense to keep it going this season and my brain keeps telling my heart this. On the other hand, we're a 1/4 of the way in and we're in it - and not just a wild card spot. We have I think the 5th or 6th best record in the MLB. Any other team in baseball would be buyers with our record.

I know it's not worth it now with all the new guys working their way up. But still...... it's hard to not get excited. I don't even think the players know what's happening.

And I'm guessing that the Braves know its the end of the world, or at least the season.

blondie wrote:

For us Phillies fans it means a lot as we're supposed to be tanking.  Not rebuilding, but tanking  * I don't personally believe this - to me the Astros were tanking - they just kept being in last place year after year. The Phillies have spent millions buying better prospects - we're not in last place in order to draft #1 every year. They're trying to get back in it as soon as possible. *



Realistically they just don't have the offense to keep it going this season and my brain keeps telling my heart this.  On the other hand, we're a 1/4 of the way in and we're in it - and not just a wild card spot.  We have I think the 5th or 6th best record in the MLB.  Any other team in baseball would be buyers with our record.

I know it's not worth it now with all the new guys working their way up. But still...... it's hard to not get excited.  I don't even think the players know what's happening.  

the best part of both of our teams is the amount of young talent. we have five starters making less than a million a year, not including pitchers yeah we have a huge payroll, but the guys that are out there every day making a huge impact are young and controllable for years. betts, Bogarts, vasquez JBJ, Shaw are all gonna be here for awhile....well if they don't trade them to pick up a starter or overpriced veteran

I don't expect them to keep hitting like they have been, but they are not all going to have a prolonged slump at the same time so I am very happy with what i've been watching.

our bad offense is really bad - like under .200 bad

At least last year bad as about .220

Cody Asche will still have a shot once off the DL - he normally hits about .250 - it will feel like Christmas with him back in the lineup.

FIRST FUCKING PLACE (kind of - we have the most wins in the division but the Nats played 2 less games so their winning % is higher)

of course this may only last until tonight when the Nats play but if they LOSE then 1st is ours alone at least until tomorrow

QWright pitched well enough to win, and price had another quality start, split the doubkleheader. the next couple of weeks is gonna be tough, after a homestand with cleveland and colorado coming in, they have 10 games, 7 on the road against Toronto and Baltimore.

So the Nats won so we're 1/2 game behind again - lets all root for the Mets tonight. Then we'll go into the weekend tied for 1st.

We face the Braves so that should be a good series for us. I know we have the Nats again soon - I hope we continue to progress. That's the good news - we've been winning without an offense. But some of these guys are starting to figure it out. If the dominoes fall in the right direction, we may very well stay in it for a while.

It's been a much better season so far than anyone dreamed.

Well the weekend didn't go quite as planned, losing 2of 3 to a team they should have swept. They didn't lose any ground though.

The offense made an appearance so maybe that will continue as they head to Detroit.

The sox, other than the waste that Bucholz has become, had an awesome return of joe Kelley, taking a no hitter into the 6th inning, and a good performance from porcello and the bullpen to take 2 of 3. back home and hitting again. Hopefully they take 3 from the rockies before a difficult strech of 7 on the road against Baltimore and toronto, then baltimore back in fenway. 10 games aginst the strongest teams in the AL east will tell me alot about his team. if they split them 5-5 I'll be happy, hopefully they end up winning more than they lose. i gotta tell ya, they are no doubt a good team, this week will tell just how good


right now they have 7 players with an OPS of over .800 in the starting lineup. I think that means they can hit.

another day another well played game, i know it's still "early' but this is starting to look like a team that will be playing meaningful games all year. still have a tough stretch coming up that hopefully separates them from baltimore

Detroit isn't being nice to us. We're not getting blown out which is nice but our lack of offense is disturbing.

the only good news is that it's starting to look like they may delegate Howard to a bench role. His average is down to about .150

His would-be replacement, Tommy Joseph, is looking good though.

blondie wrote:

Detroit isn't being nice to us.  We're not getting blown out which is nice but our lack of offense is disturbing.

the only good news is that it's starting to look like they may delegate Howard to a bench role.  His average is down to about .150

His would-be replacement, Tommy Joseph, is looking good though.  

Shit I forgot he was still playing, and making what 25 million a year too??

iwantmycrayons wrote:

blondie wrote:

Detroit isn't being nice to us.  We're not getting blown out which is nice but our lack of offense is disturbing.

the only good news is that it's starting to look like they may delegate Howard to a bench role.  His average is down to about .150

His would-be replacement, Tommy Joseph, is looking good though.  

Shit I forgot he was still playing, and making what 25 million a year too??

and has a $10 million buyout for next season Amaro screwed us royally on this one.

They should have released him in the off season. Now they're faced with letting go a franchise icon in the middle of the season. By keeping him, it's just making people hate him and forget that he carried us to the World Series. It's a shame. And it's really tough to watch.

blondie wrote:

iwantmycrayons wrote:

blondie wrote:

Detroit isn't being nice to us.  We're not getting blown out which is nice but our lack of offense is disturbing.

the only good news is that it's starting to look like they may delegate Howard to a bench role.  His average is down to about .150

His would-be replacement, Tommy Joseph, is looking good though.  

Shit I forgot he was still playing, and making what 25 million a year too??

and has a $10 million buyout for next season   Amaro screwed us royally on this one.  

They should have released him in the off season.  Now they're faced with letting go a franchise icon in the middle of the season.   By keeping him, it's just making people hate him and forget that he carried us to the World Series.  It's a shame.  And it's really tough to watch.

how old is he anyway??

36

if he was a dh in the american league he would still have 4-5 viable years left

if he could hit about 150 that is

It was tough to watch last season when he hit .220

just mashin 10-3, JBJ 29 game hitting streak, Bogaerts 18 game hitting streak. wright pitched into the 8th, really clicking right now. Crapshoot game tonight with Bucholz on the mound they will need another 7-10 runs I suspect but they are as complete a team right now as the anyone in the majors, averaging more that 6 runs a game at home helps, but the pitching has been pretty good overall with a 2.78 ERA the last 20 or so games

We salvaged one from the Tigers. All in all it wasn't a bad series. With the sluggers Detroit has it could have been a blood bath. My young pitchers held up well. And we scored 8 runs to boot.

It will be interesting seeing how they respond with Joseph anchoring the lineup instead of Howard as we do have some guys capable of hitting. Franco should benefit greatly - he's been pressing trying to hit everything out of the yard. Maybe he can relax with another power guy hitting behind him. (Howard to the bench is technically still under debate but the general consensus is that they will move on with Joseph as the everyday 1st basemen starting with the next series).

iwantmycrayons wrote:

just mashin 10-3, JBJ 29 game hitting streak, Bogaerts 18 game hitting streak. wright pitched into the 8th, really clicking right now.  Crapshoot game tonight with Bucholz on the mound they will need another 7-10 runs I suspect but they are as complete a team right now as the anyone in the majors, averaging more that 6 runs a game at home helps, but the pitching has been pretty good overall with a 2.78 ERA the last 20 or so games

of course I've heard about JBJ but I'm afraid Bogaerts has been overshadowed - I haven't heard a peep about his streak. Both excellent accomplishments.

blondie wrote:

iwantmycrayons wrote:

just mashin 10-3, JBJ 29 game hitting streak, Bogaerts 18 game hitting streak. wright pitched into the 8th, really clicking right now.  Crapshoot game tonight with Bucholz on the mound they will need another 7-10 runs I suspect but they are as complete a team right now as the anyone in the majors, averaging more that 6 runs a game at home helps, but the pitching has been pretty good overall with a 2.78 ERA the last 20 or so games

of course I've heard about JBJ but I'm afraid Bogaerts has been overshadowed - I haven't heard a peep about his streak.  Both excellent accomplishments.

yeah they are both doing great, Bogaerts is leading the league in hits right now, JBJ is leading in avergae, hell the whole team is hitting.  our #9 hitter swihart, a guy who started the season as the starting catcher, was converted to a left fielder and had 2 triples last night.  that's the 2nd time this season the number 9 hitter has hit 2 triples this year


They could use 1 more solid starter, and hopefully EROD comes back and and fulfills that, or Joe kelley, and they could use 1 more reliable fireballer in the bullpen to take some stress off the guys there now, but really they should be able to win boatloads of games just with thier offense.  I can't see all 9 guys going into a slump for any length of time and even if they can score 6-7 runs instead of the 8-10 they have been, they will win alot of games.

I am starting to think they may be a really good team, they have young hungry talent and more in the wings waiting to come up.

I know they will be trading some of their prospects come June/July, but have a good core that is under control for the 5 years or more.

It's been as long a road for your team as mine. We're getting there.

blondie wrote:

It's been as long a road for your team as mine.  We're getting there.  

considering where both of our teams were last year, it has been a bit of surprise anda welcome one

To be honest, I am just as impressed with Philly as I am with the sox, they have turned things around a bit more than i thought they would. yes you could use a stronger lineup, but for where they were last year to now, it's been impressive.

It's been fun to watch baseball again, that's for sure. It was getting really depressing how everyone kept saying it'll be 5 or more years before we compete again and that they're tanking on purpose now. It's like they ignored the fact that they've pretty much purchased prospects when they made those trades. It's not like the Astros or even the Cubs who just kept gaining by the draft. (I still contend that Houston just was flat out tanking).

I have noticed that the whole tanking talk has gone away though I guess staying within 2 games of 1st contradicts that theory.

some teams can get away with "tanking" whether real or perceived. Bigger market teams like the Sox and Philly, the fan base will not tolerate it for more than a year or so without it showing in lost revenues. the fans may come to a place like cleveland or Houston to watch a sub par team, but Philly, NY, Boston, they just stop coming to the games no matter how many bobbleheads you want to give away.

the exception to that rule for years has been Chicago where the Cubbies had no problems with attendance even with some deplorable teams. I'd really like to see them in a world series, and win, unless of course they play the red sox, a feel good story is fine unless it's at the expense of a team i root for

Getting asses in the seats again was no doubt a priority. It's inching up. Nola draws fans at least.

The Sox with the best record in the AL!

I'm interested to see if Erod can be effective. It would be very helpful if he can be a solid adition to the rotation. I really thought Buchoz was goone puke it up when they brought him into the game on sunday, as soon as he let a guy get to 1st i said, well that's the end of this game. I know that through injuries or by some other reason he will be starting another game but I am happy his skinny ass is sitting on the bullpen bench for now

That brat Harper got doubled at first up on a fly ball to left field. One of the rooks threw him out


still hate that kid

he's easy to dislike. If he could just keep his mouth shut and play he would be fun to watch, but he insists on opening his piehole

great,now JBJ is out on Paternity leave, and they have brought up Rusney castillo to take his place. annnnd chris young is playing centerfield so we have weakened the defense and the offense considerably. hopefully he's back ina couple of days, and he should be able to be there for his wife, but I would have rather this taken place after the stretch of games they are in right now.

Awfully inconsiderate of her to go into labor right now

blondie wrote:

Awfully inconsiderate of her to go into labor right now

they should have planned it for the off season, or at the very least the allstar break. or scheduled a c-section during a rain out or somethin

mookie betts got the memo and hit 3 dingers last night to make up for losing him in the outfield, and also made a terrific catch

We seem to have hit a brick wall but it was to be expected. Hopefully they'll start bringing up different guys; let them use this year to get their feet wet.

welllll, mookie hit 2 more home runs yesterday, but the pitchers kelley, who has been sent back to the minors was terrible, and then they brought in bucholz, who, with the game tied, walked his first 2 batters on 8 pitches, and coughed up 5 runs to put the game out of reach. a loss 13-9.

anybody got a starting pitcher they don't want anymore.... I mean besides the red sox who now have 2 .

I think we're about to send Adam Morgan back to AAA. He had a great spring training but he's been giving up a lot of HR's. He's ok the first 2 trips through a line up but gets smoked after that.

I'm eyeing Zack Elfin - he's been unhittable in AAA and should be the next one up. He may be the one we got for JRoll.

I almost forgot the "big" news - Howard is officially on the bench. He's taking it like a man and even let Tommy Joseph know that he'd be playing everyday and wished him luck. He's a good guy. I'm glad they're not playing him everyday but I don't mind them keeping him until the end of the season. He used to be a decent hitter, he could maybe spot some things that could help.

iwantmycrayons wrote:

welllll, mookie hit 2 more home runs yesterday, but the pitchers kelley, who has been sent back to the minors was terrible, and then they brought in bucholz, who, with the game tied, walked his first 2 batters on 8 pitches, and coughed up 5 runs to put the game out of reach.  a loss 13-9.

anybody got a starting pitcher they don't want anymore.... I mean besides the red sox who now have 2 .  

Betts setting records, first MLBer to have multiple HR's in the first 2 innings of consecutive games, and ties a MLB record for mist HR's in 7 ab's, 5 out of 7 not bad. He is scorching hot, For the rest of the season Bucholz will be known as he he should not be named.

As soon as the nameless one walked the first batter last night i knew the game was over. He is just awful. Kelley can't throw the same pitch twice ina game. He will go back down to pawtucket and blow everyone away with his stuff, come back up and get shelled. They really need Erod to be consistent, and need to pick up at least one starter. if they get a decent starter, maybe kelley can be a reliever as he may be able to pitch for an inning or two. The unnamed one needs to go, he will be a burden in the bullpen and keep a spot from opening up for someone who can get the job done. Maybe he needs to go to the NL, he may have more success. I know dumbrowski isn't going to sit on his hands, and I'm fine with him getting rid of some prospects to get a pitcher or two, as long as they aren't named Moncada or benniteri(sp)

That being said, this team sure is fun to watch, they sure can hit.

I imagine we'll be selling Hellickson soon - he's been pretty good. A couple of bad innings here and there but has pitched better than he who shall not be named.

iwantmycrayons wrote:

As soon as the nameless one walked the first batter last night i knew the game was over. He is just awful. Kelley can't throw the same pitch twice ina game.  He will go back down to pawtucket and blow everyone away with his stuff, come back up and get shelled.  They really need Erod to be consistent, and need to pick up at least one starter.  if they get a decent starter, maybe kelley can be a reliever as he may be able to pitch for an inning or two.  The unnamed one needs to go, he will be a burden in the bullpen and keep a spot from opening up for someone who can get the job done.  Maybe he needs to go to the NL, he may have more success.  I know dumbrowski isn't going to sit on his hands, and I'm fine with him getting rid of some prospects to get a pitcher or two, as long as they aren't named Moncada or benniteri(sp)

That being said, this team sure is fun to watch, they sure can hit.

Yes,alot of fun to watch. Best offense in Baseball, I am pleasantly surprised with them this season.

Ez wrote:

iwantmycrayons wrote:

As soon as the nameless one walked the first batter last night i knew the game was over. He is just awful. Kelley can't throw the same pitch twice ina game.  He will go back down to pawtucket and blow everyone away with his stuff, come back up and get shelled.  They really need Erod to be consistent, and need to pick up at least one starter.  if they get a decent starter, maybe kelley can be a reliever as he may be able to pitch for an inning or two.  The unnamed one needs to go, he will be a burden in the bullpen and keep a spot from opening up for someone who can get the job done.  Maybe he needs to go to the NL, he may have more success.  I know dumbrowski isn't going to sit on his hands, and I'm fine with him getting rid of some prospects to get a pitcher or two, as long as they aren't named Moncada or benniteri(sp)

That being said, this team sure is fun to watch, they sure can hit.

Yes,alot of fun to watch. Best offense in Baseball, I am pleasantly surprised with them this season.

they remind me of the teams I used to watch when I was younger, they would score 10 runs a game and if you were lucky they would only give up 9. Believe it or not, their pitching this year is better than those teams

Hopefully the remaining starters can go without injury. They are one sore shoulder or elbow from being in trouble and having to use the nameless one as well as a guy like owens or some other schmoo from the minors to fill in.

They do have some off days coming so they can work a short rotation but they are in real need of a stabilizing force at the back end of the rotation.

or they just need mookie to hit 2-3 homers a game and papi to match them and they'll be fine

Ha, yeah, that would work.

yup, just like the teams of my youth. they went 3-4 on the road trip, they scored 48 runs....and gave up 49

I knew this was going to be a tough stretch of games, and the next few are also hard. 3 against toronto( I feel like they have played toronto 45 times already this season) and then off to san francisco to play the giants. Honestly if they end this stretch at 500 I'll be satisfied,

Yea, we do need to add another pitcher

Lester REALLY doesn't like throwing to first he actually stopped and stepped aside for the catcher after going after a bunt pop up.