Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Proud Mary

Games 4,5,6 & 7

Phils 8, Redlegs 4
Redlegs 4 Phils 3
Redlegs 8, Phils 2
Phils 5, Redlegs 3

Record: 3-4


Weekends roll by pretty quickly. We are now going through the rotation for the second turn and so far the results are the same. This time however, the Phils wisely took advantage of Cole Hamels’ fine effort in the Great American Smallpark by knocking four balls out of the park and thereby splitting the weekend series with the Redlegs. (I think they should go with the official name, don’t you?) I began to give you an account of the game before realizing the worthlessness of that endeavor. You come here for analysis. It may be uninformed, malformed, shoddy or incongruous but it is analysis nonetheless. I began the season opining that the Phils need their starters to eat innings. So far, the results are:

Myers: 2 starts, 10 IP
Hamels: 2 starts, 15 IP
Moyer: 1 start, 3 2/3rds IP
Kendrick: 1 start, 5 IP
Eaton: 1 start, 7 2/3rds IP

Obviously, Myers is a disappointment thus far. He has to come up big this Friday against the Cubs. It all starts with him. He is supposed to be the #1, the "go to" guy. Hamels is the real #1 starter on this club and the only reason he wasn’t tagged as such was in deference to Myers’ return to the rotation. I think management felt they owed Myers that respect for having been so dutiful the past two seasons bounding from starter to closer to starter. Regardless, Hamels is the best pitcher on the staff and if he stays healthy, he should turn in a great season.
Jamie Moyer is done. Cooked. Finito. Gonzo. Thanks for the memories Jamie but I am afraid your hometown team waited much too long before bringing you home. You have not pitched well since the break in ’07. Your days are numbered unless you develop a knuckler. Aren't you and Wakefield buds? He's the only other player who was born when you threw your first major league pitch. Ask him to show you how its done.
Kyle Kendrick did not turn in a great effort but he didn’t implode either so we still have hope there.
Adam Eaton surprised everybody. He is pitching for his job right now and one has to figure he bought some time with his effort Saturday. Curiously, I read in today’s Inquirer that Eaton has had success against the Metropolitans recently so perhaps he can keep that going on Thursday.

This is a big week. Whitney will weigh in on that shortly I suspect. I would guess the pressure is on the Mets more so than the Phillies if only because they are at home and they probably want to bury last year’s nightmare right at the get-go. If they drop game 1, can you imagine tomorrow’s Daily News? It should be fun. Games one and two are Met broadcasts with the middle game on the Deuce HD. Queue Michael Buffer.

6 comments:

Whitney said...

Both the Phillies and Mets feeds are airing today. Needless to say, I am ignoring Harry & Co. and going with Gary, Ron, & Keith.

Whitney said...

And we just saw the first run-saving catch of the year by Shane Victorino that the gritty, gutty Aaron Rowand would have no shot of making. That dude is some kind of fast, and an early inning collision with Jayson Werth didn't slow him down at all.

rob said...

meantime, i'm a little concerned that the matsuzaka happy fun wildball inning just started.

rob said...

the rumors of matsuzaka's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated. carry on.

Whitney said...

Not going so swinningly at Shea all of a sudden. Thank you, Scott Schoeneweis, Carlos Delgado, Aaron Heilman, for putting the "homo" in "home opener."

rob said...

didn't naughty by nature already do that?