***The Official Philadelphia Phillies 2012 Thread***

good article...read it when you're ready to look at the big picture:




David Beats Goliath, Phillies Out of Playoffs
by Bill Baer on October 24th, 2010
Posted in 2010 Playoffs, MLB, Philadelphia Phillies | Print | 39 Comments »

The called strike three to Ryan Howard that clinched the National League Championship Series for the Giants was, among other things, emblematic of the Phillies’ offensive ineptitude throughout the NLCS. Despite banging out eight hits and drawing five walks, the Phillies were only able to push across two runs against Jonathan Sanchez and the Giants’ bullpen. Once again, they were disappointing when runners were in scoring position, notching hits in two of a whopping eleven opportunities. Overall, they were 8-for-45 in the series — a measly .178 average with RISP.

The Phillies also played poorly defensively, continuing a surprising trend in the 2010 playoffs. Shane Victorino misplayed a fly ball in center field, Chase Utley misplayed another grounder, and Placido Polanco made a throwing error. Defensive failures helped the Giants score two runs in the third inning, marring what was an otherwise impressive outing by Roy Oswalt. Chase Utley, baseball’s best defensive second baseman, was the biggest goat of the goat defenders in the NLCS — a shocking revelation to say the least.

In the end, the Phillies came two playoff wins away from becoming immortalized in baseball history, perhaps as a dynasty. They would have been the first National League team since the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals to reach three consecutive World Series. Though that was not realized, what the Phillies have accomplished is impressive nonetheless.

Consider that, when the Phillies clinched the division on the last day of the regular season in 2007, we Phillies fans were simply thrilled that a 13-year playoff drought had ended. The Colorado Rockies promptly swept the Phillies out of the NLDS. And that was all right.

Now, on the heels of a championship in 2008 and a near-repeat in ’09, the Phillies’ exit from the NLCS in Game Six is considered premature. The disappointment from Phillies fans in the restaurant I was in at the time of Howard’s called strike three was palpable. Sports talk radio callers — and the hosts — blasted Howard and his sizable contract awarded to him earlier in the season, wondering how someone with zero NLCS RBI could be worth such a large sum of money. Utley was denigrated for, apparently, typically shoddy defense. Charlie Manuel’s decision-making, for the first time since the Phillies have enjoyed playoff berths, was second-guessed.

Amid the disappointment, it is important to step back and appreciate what we have witnessed out of the Phillies. Yes, the dismissal from the 2010 playoff stings, but the team gave us a lot to be proud of in this season alone. For instance, coming back from a plethora of injuries and seven games out of first place in the division, was an incredible feat. There was also:

Roy Halladay‘s perfect game against the Florida Marlins, and his no-hitter in the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds.

Roy Oswalt playing left field — and recording a put out — in the 14th inning was great theater.

Jayson Werth put up one of the best offensive seasons by any Phillies outfielder ever.

Carlos Ruiz‘s emergence as a legit offensive threat.

Cole Hamels‘ bounce-back season after a disappointing 2009. Brad Lidge, too.

Ryan Madson‘s continued dominance as the set-up guy for Lidge.

Ruben Amaro’s ability to fill in around the edges, with Wilson Valdez, Mike Sweeney, and Ross Gload playing big roles outside of being reliable bench players.

Remember, three years ago, that Kyle Kendrick started Game Two of the NLDS and Jamie Moyer started Game Three. The Phillies have come a long way. They should not be ashamed of what they didn’t accomplish this season.

While the Phillies will likely part ways with Jayson Werth, the core group is still intact and primed for another deep post-season run with a trio of ace starting pitchers and a solid but aging offense.

In closing, if I can ask one thing of the Phillies fan base in the aftermath of the NLCS — don’t harp on players for what they didn’t do in the post-season. There aren’t enough innings and plate appearances from which to draw conclusions confidently. That Ryan Howard didn’t have an RBI isn’t indicative of decline, or mental shortcomings, or what have you. If you replay Howard’s 22 at-bats again in the same situations, he will likely come away with at least one RBI. Likewise, Utley’s defensive miscues are not representative of his true ability as a second baseman; they were just a few ugly plays in a very small sample of opportunities.

Rolls of the die can be cruel. The Phillies happened to roll snake eyes several times in the NLCS. Them’s the breaks. The Phillies have been on the other end as well. Just ask the Los Angeles Dodgers about Matt Stairs, or the Tampa Bay Rays about Joe Blanton and Geoff Jenkins.

http://www.csnphilly.com/10/24/10/bSali ... feedID=704

"Cliff Lee?
Because of a rising payroll and a roster teeming with players on long-term contracts, it has been widely speculated that the Phils won’t be players for big-ticket free agents. While that might turn out to be true, don’t rule out the club trying to get into the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.

The Yankees are the favorites to land Lee, but the Phils owe it to themselves and their fans to get into the mix because Lee and his family loved Philadelphia – people in the know say he’d come back -- and, in the end, pitching rules the day.

Amaro is a pitching-first guy and he likes to think big. You can bet he will speak with Lee’s representative after the World Series, even if landing the lefty is a long shot. Lee will be expensive -- figure $20 million per season in a multiyear deal -- and the Phils already have two $20 million players in Howard and Roy Halladay. Amaro would have to clear payroll space by moving a Joe Blanton (two years remaining at $17 million) and/or Raul Ibanez (one year, $11.5 million) to afford Lee. Yes, a lot of hurdles would have to be cleared to land Lee, but don’t be surprised if the Phils at least try to bring him back."

Ha. Know it's not happening, but it'd be pretty funny if it did...

Jearlpam0925 wrote:

http://www.csnphilly.com/10/24/10/bSalisbury-b-A-Look-at-the-Phillies-Offs/landing_insider_salisbury.html?blockID=338056&feedID=704

"Cliff Lee?
Because of a rising payroll and a roster teeming with players on long-term contracts, it has been widely speculated that the Phils won’t be players for big-ticket free agents. While that might turn out to be true, don’t rule out the club trying to get into the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.

The Yankees are the favorites to land Lee, but the Phils owe it to themselves and their fans to get into the mix because Lee and his family loved Philadelphia – people in the know say he’d come back -- and, in the end, pitching rules the day.

Amaro is a pitching-first guy and he likes to think big. You can bet he will speak with Lee’s representative after the World Series, even if landing the lefty is a long shot. Lee will be expensive -- figure $20 million per season in a multiyear deal -- and the Phils already have two $20 million players in Howard and Roy Halladay. Amaro would have to clear payroll space by moving a Joe Blanton (two years remaining at $17 million) and/or Raul Ibanez (one year, $11.5 million) to afford Lee. Yes, a lot of hurdles would have to be cleared to land Lee, but don’t be surprised if the Phils at least try to bring him back."

Ha. Know it's not happening, but it'd be pretty funny if it did...

read this earlier today too...it was a salisbury article and he gets good phils info. I don't think it is likely, but it would be awesome. I kinda think amaro has to say he's open to bringing lee and werth back. I don't think either one happens though.

Worst part about the loss to the giants is that this team won't be as good next year. The Oswalt upgrade in the rotation helps, but losing werth is really gonna hurt. This was the best shot they have had to win the WS (yes, better than 08)

I love baseball, but I dont' think I'm gonna be able to watch the World Series. So disappointing.

I hope amaro realizes his mistake of paying howard 2 years before he had to. what a fucking waste

The Fixer wrote:

The Jeagler wrote:

show some class people. i knew i'd come on here to see the same childish back and forth/"i told you so" nonsense we've become accustomed to this season. :roll: . we're better than that guys.

congrats to the giants. they outplayed us and out-managed us this series. excruciating way for it to end without even swinging. but you just cannot expect to continue to win games this way--striking out too much, leaving 12 men on base, playing piss poor defense, questionable stop signs by perlozzo, questionable moves by the manager. the list goes on and on. we just did not play to our capabilities and giants played well beyond theirs. you have to give them credit.

it's nice to know that we've come so far when anything less than a world series is considered a disappointment though. fun season--yet excruciatingly frustrating at the same time. we'll be back next year.

all i know is the detox begins today. . october baseball is just absolutely brutal on my body in multiple ways. looking forward to not drinking for a while, getting back to the gym, eating better, and going to bed at more reasonable hours. i feel like an enormous pile of dog poop right now.

go. birds.

your last sentence is kinda annoying. I had to run out of the stadium on saturday night so I didn't punch all of the morons that started doing eagles chants.

the fans in this city annoy the shit out of me.

Dude, the line for the escalator was out of control, so then I thought to take the stairs, and that was just as bad. I could feel the claustrophobia coming down on me so I just had to step away and breath. Some douche started a let's go flyers chant and I almost lost it. Pretty close to a fight, but I knew that wouldn't help anything. I wasn't opposed to one, I just tried my damndest to shut up after calling the dude an idiot.

The Fixer wrote:

The Jeagler wrote:

The Fixer wrote:

your last sentence is kinda annoying. I had to run out of the stadium on saturday night so I didn't punch all of the morons that started doing eagles chants.

the fans in this city annoy the shit out of me.

officially football season dude...chants should be reserved for the linc though.

it is football season, you're right. all of the idiots that started chanting lets go flyers and eagles chants at CBP on saturday night deserved to be tazed. that shit is stupid.

saturday was awful. just plain awful. the crowd was lame too.

nothing will ever compare to 2008. nothing

Maybe where you were. Crowd seemed fired up to me. Maybe it was because I was fired up. It was '08 loud. Well, until Uribe's homer. And I fully take credit for the Sanchez chants. Yes, that's right, me.

Jearlpam0925 wrote:

The Fixer wrote:

saturday was awful. just plain awful. the crowd was lame too.

nothing will ever compare to 2008. nothing

Maybe where you were. Crowd seemed fired up to me. Maybe it was because I was fired up. It was '08 loud. Well, until Uribe's homer. And I fully take credit for the Sanchez chants. Yes, that's right, me.

I was in 204. In an elimination game people should be up off their asses every time there's 2 strikes on a hitter. In 08 it was like a party every time the phils got an out...didn't matter what inning it was.

I'm still extremely bitter. About pretty much everything that happened on saturday night. Especially the performance of the $125 million man

i think it was jp who feared this series would be like the tampa game. game 6 was eerily similar:

scoring 2 in the first was the b mitch return and staley run up the middle for 6...

the following 6 innings--bats go to sleep just like the birds offense did...

uribe's homer = joe jurviscious running untouched all through our defense.

howard striking out looking: f@cking ronde barber.

then: dead silence.


doesn't hurt as much b/c of '08....but kinda creepy how alike the two games were.

The Fixer wrote:

Jearlpam0925 wrote:

The Fixer wrote:

saturday was awful. just plain awful. the crowd was lame too.

nothing will ever compare to 2008. nothing

Maybe where you were. Crowd seemed fired up to me. Maybe it was because I was fired up. It was '08 loud. Well, until Uribe's homer. And I fully take credit for the Sanchez chants. Yes, that's right, me.

I was in 204. In an elimination game people should be up off their asses every time there's 2 strikes on a hitter. In 08 it was like a party every time the phils got an out...didn't matter what inning it was.

I'm still extremely bitter. About pretty much everything that happened on saturday night. Especially the performance of the $125 million man

Today, I started to feel a little better. Just a little. Like I said earlier to the Howard slurper - my problem with him was leaving the bat on his shoulder for the last pitch of the game. That's unacceptable. Also that was unacceptable was not sending Jimmy on Ryan's double, Francisco not manufacturing a run, not putting up more runs in that 1st inning, Shane getting doubled up, and the whole team in general not taking advantage of a San Fran manager playing scared and getting into their pen in the 3rd. A LOT went wrong. This series was all about mistakes and whether the Giants were capable of taking advantage of them. And of course they did. And that's what they deserve credit for - and nothing to take away from their squad, but we lost this series more than they won it. Hence the mistakes.

All I know is all professional athletes are selfish rich pricks. And because of that - Rollins = contract year. Think it's going to be a good one.

And, yes, I was calling this the '02 Tampa NFC Champ game. And boom. Just way too much overconfidence both locally and nationally. Too much expectancy and not enough wanting.

Jearlpam0925 wrote:

Today, I started to feel a little better. Just a little. Like I said earlier to the Howard slurper - my problem with him was leaving the bat on his shoulder for the last pitch of the game. That's unacceptable. Also that was unacceptable was not sending Jimmy on Ryan's double, Francisco not manufacturing a run, not putting up more runs in that 1st inning, Shane getting doubled up, and the whole team in general not taking advantage of a San Fran manager playing scared and getting into their pen in the 3rd. A LOT went wrong. This series was all about mistakes and whether the Giants were capable of taking advantage of them. And of course they did. And that's what they deserve credit for - and nothing to take away from their squad, but we lost this series more than they won it. Hence the mistakes.

All I know is all professional athletes are selfish rich pricks. And because of that - Rollins = contract year. Think it's going to be a good one.

And, yes, I was calling this the '02 Tampa NFC Champ game. And boom. Just way too much overconfidence both locally and nationally. Too much expectancy and not enough wanting.

SF played and managed better. the phils didn't hit or catch the ball...other than that they were great.

I agreed that fans were too overconfident about this team.

I won't feel better until spring training starts. I didn't even care about watching the eagles game yesterday. I watched it, but I wasn't fully vested in caring about what happened.

Just a horrendous weekend

The Fixer wrote:

Jearlpam0925 wrote:

Today, I started to feel a little better. Just a little. Like I said earlier to the Howard slurper - my problem with him was leaving the bat on his shoulder for the last pitch of the game. That's unacceptable. Also that was unacceptable was not sending Jimmy on Ryan's double, Francisco not manufacturing a run, not putting up more runs in that 1st inning, Shane getting doubled up, and the whole team in general not taking advantage of a San Fran manager playing scared and getting into their pen in the 3rd. A LOT went wrong. This series was all about mistakes and whether the Giants were capable of taking advantage of them. And of course they did. And that's what they deserve credit for - and nothing to take away from their squad, but we lost this series more than they won it. Hence the mistakes.

All I know is all professional athletes are selfish rich pricks. And because of that - Rollins = contract year. Think it's going to be a good one.

And, yes, I was calling this the '02 Tampa NFC Champ game. And boom. Just way too much overconfidence both locally and nationally. Too much expectancy and not enough wanting.

SF played and managed better. the phils didn't hit or catch the ball...other than that they were great.

I agreed that fans were too overconfident about this team.

I won't feel better until spring training starts. I didn't even care about watching the eagles game yesterday. I watched it, but I wasn't fully vested in caring about what happened.

Just a horrendous weekend

honestly they had every right to be super confident going in. if the phils played like they were capable of, we'd be getting fired up for the series right now. best record in baseball, odds on favorites to win the whole thing, and all the rest--that kind of stuff should breed confidence. only thing i was concerned about is our inane ability to go into a slump at the drop of a hat and it happened. that's baseball. point is this is post 2008. in '08 i shed my inferiority complex and really don't intend on getting it back.