reCAP: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Philadelphia Phillies

4/24/13

It was a freezing cold night in Philadelphia for the second game of this four game series between the Phillies and Pirates. I was at the game and boy was I shivering. In the first game of this series, the Phillies eeked out a 3-2 win when Jimmy Rollins popped the go-ahead single to lead his team to victory. Jonathan Pettibone pitched well in his debut. Cole Hamels was on the mound for the Phillies in this game and he has been pitching better as of late. Jeff Locke started for the Pirates and has not had a good start to the season. Brandon Inge was activated from the disabled list last night and started at third base for the Pirates. They sent Alex Presley to the minors to make room on the roster for Inge. The Pirates threw out an all right-handed hitting lineup against Hamels. Pedro Alvarez, Travis Snider, and Garrett Jones all sat out while Gaby Sanchez, Jose Tabata, and Inge replaced them. Chase Utley did not start for the Phillies. Freddy Galvis replaced him in the lineup batting second. Will the Phillies squeak out another win or will the Pirates steal a game?

This Phillies game was borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. Only two runs were put on the board. The first run was scored in the fourth inning. Neil Walker hit a sharp groundball to shortstop that took a funny bounce and Jimmy Rollins couldn’t handle the ball. Inge hit an RBI double into centerfield that scored Walker from first and it was a 1-0 game. The final run in this game came on a Gaby Sanchez solo homerun in the eighth inning. The final score was 2-0.

Hamels pitched well for the Phillies. He pitched eight innings, allowed seven hits, two runs, walked one, and struck out six batters. Phillippe Aumont relieved Hamels in the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning.

Locke pitched surprisingly well for the Pirates. He pitched six innings, allowed two hits, walked two, and struck out six batters. The Pirates bullpen of Tony Watson, Mark Melancon, and Jason Grilli combined to pitch three shutout innings, allowed two hits, and struck out five batters.

Overall, the Phillies sucked. They had four hits in this game. That’s pitiful. One of those hits was a triple by John Mayberry Jr. with no outs in the fourth inning and they STILL couldn’t score one run in this game. I like how Hamels has been pitching as of late. He’s putting those first two starts he had this season in the back of his mind and focusing on how he’s doing now. He’s being like the Hamels of 2012, but without any wins to show. Michael Young has been solid as he had another hit to extend his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games. This was a terrible game to be at, especially since it was cold out and the Phillies got shutout.

Can the Phillies offense wake up in their next game? Sound off and stay tuned as Roy Halladay takes the mound for the Phillies and Wandy Rodriguez starts for the Pirates.

reCAP: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Philadelphia Phillies

4/23/13

It may be early in the season, but the battle of Pennsylvania has begun. The Pirates have been looking good so far, but that’s just a small sample of the season. Their team is similar to the Phillies. Both teams rely on pitching for success since both offenses are inefficient. The Pirates offense hinges on the success of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, and Neil Walker. Those three players are young and will be the core for the Pirates. Their starting pitching staff is led by A.J. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez. Their bullpen is more of a strength than their starting rotation. The game plan for the Phillies should be to score runs early on the Pirates starters because they don’t want to see any of those good pitchers in the Pirates bullpen. The focus on this game will be the debut for Phillies starter Jonathan Pettibone. He is a rookie that was called up from Double-A Reading. He got the call up to the Phillies because John Lannan was placed on the 15-day disabled list with knee soreness. Lannan will be out for six-eight weeks. Pettibone has a pitching repertoire the same as Cole Hamels, but Pettibone is a groundball pitcher. Burnett gets the start for the Pirates. He has been solid in the early part of the season. Will Pettibone succeed or fail in his debut?

If you wanted to see an offensive game, you watched the wrong game. The Pirates scored their two runs on two solo homeruns in the second and fifth innings. Pedro Alvarez’s homerun in the second barely cleared the right field fence while Russell Martin’s homerun was a no-doubt-about-it homerun.

The Phillies answered in the third inning scoring on a wild pitch and took the lead at the time in the fourth when Jimmy Rollins got hit by a Burnett fastball in the shin.

Pettibone had a solid debut. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowed six hits, two runs, and struck out six batters. The six strikeouts were the most in a debut start for any Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels did that in 2006.

The boxscore may show that Burnett had a solid start. In reality, he was all over the place and didn’t look good. He had high pitch counts after the first inning and the Phillies kept swinging at bad pitches to get themselves out. Burnett pitched five innings, allowed five hits, two runs, three walks, and struck out seven batters.

Jimmy Rollins got the big hit in the sixth inning. When Erik Kratz walked and pinch hitter Ezequiel Carrera hit an infield single to second base, Rollins hit a line drive into right field that scored the hustling Kratz from second to make it a 3-2 game. Rollins was almost caught in a rundown, but both Rollins and Carrera escaped the rundown and slid safely into second and third base.

After that run the Phillies scored off Pirates reliever Jared Hughes, Vin Mazzaro shut down the Phillies for the final two innings. Mazzaro allowed one hit and struck out a batter.

The Phillies bullpen shut down the Pirates for the last 3 2/3 innings. Raul Valdes, Antonio Bastardo, Mike Adams, and Jonathan Papelbon combined to allow two hits, and struck out five batters.

Overall, a win is a win. It wasn’t a pretty win, but still a win for the Phillies. Pettibone deserves another start with the Phillies even though it was against a terrible hitting club like the Pirates. The fourth inning was a pivotal inning for the Phillies. They had the bases loaded with no outs and they only scored one run in the inning. A good offensive team would have blown this game wide open, but then I realized, this is the Phillies we’re talking about. They don’t hit well with runners in scoring position in any situation. Regardless, they got the big hit when it mattered most.

Is Jimmy Rollins’ clutch gene back? Sound off and stay tuned tonight as the Phillies play the second game of this series against the Pirates. Cole Hamels will start for the Phillies and Jeff Locke will start for the Pirates.

reCAP: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Phillies

4/22/13

It was a cold night in Philadelphia as the Phillies took on the Cardinals in the rubber match of this series. The Cardinals have not shown so far how potent their offense is. Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina have been the most consistent hitters for the Cardinals so far. David Freese, Matt Holliday (who was not in the lineup tonight), Allan Craig, and Jon Jay have been underperforming at this point in the season. Their starting pitching has been a constant, but the bullpen has not. Their bullpen has been a problem because their closer, Jason Motte, has been on the 15-day disabled list to start the season because he had surgery on his elbow. Meanwhile, the Phillies have been inconsistent on the offensive end. One night they score six runs, the next night they don’t score any runs. Their starting pitching has kept the team in games, but the offense has not supported their great pitching performances. The Phillies have had to change their lineup this series. Jimmy Rollins has regained his leadoff position while Ben Revere was pushed down in the batting order to hitting seventh. Kyle Kendrick took the mound for the Phillies while Jake Westbrook started for the Cardinals. Both of these pitchers are similar. They both like to induce groundballs and are not strikeout pitchers. Which Phillies team would show up in this game?

The first inning started off fast with both teams scoring. The Cardinals got on the board first on a Matt Carpenter solo homerun that barely cleared the fence.

As the Phillies were batting, Rollins led off the game with a triple into the deepest part of the ballpark in left centerfield. As John Mayberry Jr. drew a walk, Chase Utley hit a sharp groundball into right field that scored Rollins and the game was tied at one. Ryan Howard was next to bat and he launched the ball into centerfield which scored Mayberry Jr. and the Phillies took the lead 2-1. When Michael Young flew out to left field, Utley forgot how many outs there were, and he got doubled off at second base.

The Cardinals had their chances in the next few innings, but Kendrick made some solid pitches and made the Cardinals fail to execute with runners in scoring position.

In the sixth inning, the Cardinals tied the game up at two. Craig singled into centerfield to start the inning. As Molina struck out to record the first out, Matt Adams blooped a double into left field. Freese got an RBI groundout to third base which scored Craig and that made the game tied. The Cardinals had a chance to take the lead on a Pete Kozma single into right, but as much as Howard has a bad history with throwing the ball to second base, Adams couldn’t score from third. Westbrook tried to bunt his way on to first to get an infield single to score the go-ahead run, but that failed miserably as Westbrook was thrown out at first to end the inning.

The Phillies had the bases loaded in their half of the sixth inning, but Revere grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Antonio Bastardo replaced Kendrick in the seventh inning. He made Jay hit a groundball to second base, but Utley threw a wild throw to first base, and Jay took second on the overthrow. As Carpenter moved Jay over to third base on a sacrifice bunt, Beltran took a walk. Chad Durbin relieved Bastardo and faced Craig. Craig hit a hard groundball that just went over Rollins’ glove. Jon Jay scored and the Cardinals regained the lead at 3-2. 

Westbrook started the seventh inning and allowed a single to Erik Kratz. When Laynce Nix got announced as the pinch hitter for Durbin’s spot in the batting order, Westbrook was taken out of the game and Fernando Salas was called on to relieve him. Nix hit a game-tying double into left centerfield as Kratz hustled all the way from first to score. Randy Choate relieved Salas as he was called upon to record the final out of the inning.

Mike Adams relieved Durbin in the eighth inning and had an easy inning. However, the eighth inning was not so kind to the Cardinals. Mitchell Boggs replaced Choate and he allowed two singles to Michael Young and Domonic Brown. Revere, who has had bad luck at the plate, hit what seemed to be the game-winning single as he laced one up the middle. Young scored and the Phillies took the lead 4-3. The big blow in this game was when Kratz blasted a three run homerun into left field right after Revere’s RBI single. This made the game 7-3, which was the final too. Marc Rzepczynski relieved Boggs and recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning.

Jonathan Papelbon came out in the ninth inning even though it was not a save situation. He made this game over easily.

Overall, Kendrick has been a solid contributor. He’s been doing what the team needs him to do. He pitched six innings, allowed eight hits, two runs, walked one, and struck out six batters. Westbrook was good, but not great. He threw six-plus innings, allowed seven hits, three runs, four walks, and struck out four batters. Boggs woke up the Phillies bats as he pitched 1/3 of an innings, allowed four hits, and four runs. Even though Durbin allowed a run in the seventh inning, the bullpen as a whole pitched well for the Phillies. Even more surprising is the bench for the Phillies. Nix and Kevin Frandsen have seen their share of contributions early in the year.

Can the Phillies keep these kinds of games up? Sound off and stay tuned tonight as the Phillies host the Pittsburgh Pirates. A.J. Burnett will start for the Pirates as minor league call-up Jonathan Pettibone makes his major league debut for the Phillies filling in for John Lannan, who is currently on the 15-day disabled list.

reCAP: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Indiana Pacers

4/18/13

The season is finally over. This debacle of a season can finally be laid to rest. The 76ers were hyped to be one of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference when they traded for Andrew Bynum. When Bynum admitted that he still had pain in his knees, the 76ers season was doomed. In this game, the Pacers didn’t care if they won or lost. They had to play who was on their schedule. Roy Hibbert, David West, Paul George, and George Hill all sat out for the Pacers to rest up for the playoffs. Everybody for the 76ers was healthy, but some players had limited minutes. For example, Jrue Holiday played nine minutes. Spencer Hawes played four minutes, but he was limited due to a cranky back. Thaddeus Young played a limited 21 minutes. That seems like limited minutes because Thad Young averaged 34 minutes per game this season. The Pacers starting lineup was weird since it was mostly all bench players playing. They started Tyler Hansbrough, Gerald Green, Ian Mahinmi, Lance Stephenson, and D.J. Augustin. The way that lineup looks on paper, the 76ers should destroy the Pacers because the players I just mentioned are not as talented as the four players the Pacers were resting. This was the final game that Doug Collins coached for the 76ers. He said earlier this week that he was stepping down as head coach. Will the 76ers give him one last win or quit on him and lose this final game?

Since I really didn’t pay attention to what was going on in the game I’ll give you guys a final overall reCAP of the game.

Overall, the 76ers shot very well in the first half. In the second half, they played sixersy. The Pacers were close to coming back from a 26 point deficit. The closest the Pacers cut into that deficit was six. In the second half, the Pacers showed intensity on defense. That made them chomp into the huge deficit they had to overcome. When the Pacers defense becomes intense, that opens up their offense and they get into a rhythm. The same is stated for the 76ers. The one guy that surprised me in this game for the 76ers was Arnett Moultrie. Moultrie has had a tough year because he’s been inconsistent with playing time. He has shown that he can be good when he rebounds on both sides of the floor and can hit his shots. In this game he had a double-double. He scored a career high 14 points and grabbed a career high 12 rebounds. Gerald Green really surprised me for the Pacers. This was a guy who was a starter in the early part of the season, but fell into Coach Frank Vogel’s doghouse during the season with his inconsistent play. In this game he scored a career high 34 points. The 76ers won this game 105-95 and sent Doug Collins out with a win. I hope you guys enjoyed reading my entries of the 76ers season. I will see you all next year. I leave you guys with a few final questions for this season:

Who should be the 76ers new head coach? Out of all the players who will be free agents, who do you think the 76ers should re-sign? Who do you think the 76ers should target in free agency? Sound off and see ya next year. I will still be blogging about the Flyers and Phillies so keep on reading those entries.

reCAP: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Miami Marlins

4/13/13

The Phillies are back on the road as they travel to Miami to take on the Marlins. This Marlins team is quite a young team as they traded away who they acquired last year to form a supposed dominant offseason. Gone from last year are starting shortstop Jose Reyes, starting pitchers Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, and Carlos Zambrano, closer Heath Bell, and starting catcher John Buck. Reyes, Johnson, Buehrle, and Buck were all involved in the blockbuster trade as the Toronto Blue Jays acquired them. The Marlins received three prospects as well as starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez, shortstop Yunel Escobar (who later got traded to the Tampa Bay Rays), another shortstop in Adeiny Hechavarria, and catcher Jeff Mathis. As I wrote in one of my previous entries, Buck was later involved in the blockbuster trade in which the New York Mets received him and a few prospects and the Blue Jays acquired R.A. Dickey. Bell was involved in a three-team trade. He was traded by the Marlins to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Marlins received a prospect from the Oakland Athletics. Enigmatic manager Ozzie Guillen was fired by the Marlins last year, and was replaced by a former Marlins player in Mike Redmond. The Marlins have a few injuries. Mathis, Alvarez, first baseman Casey Kotchman, and outfielder Logan Morrison are all on the disabled list. One guy the Phillies have to watch out in the Marlins lineup is Giancarlo Stanton because he has the power to hit a homerun to where no man has ever hit homeruns before. The Phillies were lucky and did not have to see Stanton in the lineup due to a sore shoulder. The longest tenured player on the Marlins, Ricky Nolasco, took the mound for the Marlins and John Lannan started for the Phillies. Will Lannan make the Marlins look like a minor league team or will the good Nolasco show up and dominate the Phillies offense?

If you looked for an offensive onslaught by the Phillies in this game, you attended the wrong game. Both teams scored in the sixth inning. Domonic Brown hit an RBI double into left field that scored Ryan Howard from second base. In the Marlins half of the sixth, one former Phillie drove in another former Phillie to score their only run of the game. Placido Polanco hit an RBI single into left field which scored Juan Pierre from second and the game was tied at one apiece.

Lannan followed up his brilliant performance in his last start with another solid start this game. He kept the ball low in the strike zone and made the Marlins hitters hit the ball into the ground. He picked off Justin Ruggiano in the fourth inning when he tried to steal third base. Lannan pitched six innings, allowed three hits, one run, walked one, and struck out two batters.

Nolasco pitched just as well as Lannan. Since Nolasco has seen the Phillies a lot in his career, he has had abysmal games and he has had great games against them. You didn’t know which Nolasco would show up in this game. In this game, he pitched six innings, allowed seven hits, one run, walked one, and struck out one batter.

This came down to a battle of the bullpens. Which bullpen would lose this game? The Phillies had the last word on who was going to win the game. A.J. Ramos, Michael Dunn, and Steve Cishek all pitched scoreless seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Those three pitchers combined to strike out two batters in those innings.

There was some free baseball in Miami and Jon Rauch had the ball in the 10^th inning and he suffered the loss. As Ben Revere singled into right field, Chase Utley hit the ball that was letter high into right field and Revere raced his way to home and he gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead. After Rauch intentionally walked Howard, Michael Young hit a groundball up the middle that Hechavarria snagged, but his throw to second was short of the bag and Howard slid safely into second. Utley scored from third and it was a 3-1 game.

The Phillies bullpen has been getting better since their home opener series against the Kansas City Royals. Antonio Bastardo, Mike Adams, Phillippe Aumont, and Jonathan Papelbon all threw scoreless innings. The bullpen pitched a combined four innings, allowed one hit, walked two, and struck out three batters.

Overall, this game did not surprise me at all. I thought the Phillies would see the good Nolasco in this game. What would have been embarrassing is if the Phillies lost this game with the Marlins not having their only good hitter in the lineup. At the same time, it’s hard to play in a game when a stadium is as empty and quiet as a library. It’s sad that three out of the four hits by the Marlins were by the two players who use to play for the Phillies in Pierre and Polanco. That’s how terrible this Marlins team is.

Will Polanco and Pierre have a big series against their former team? Sound off and stay tuned until next time…