Phillies Move Closer to Mets, Yankees Turn Around Season
| 4
|
by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Phillies Comeback To Win: Mets Lose To Marlins
The Philadelphia Phillies moved to within a game and a half behind the New York Mets with a crucial 7-6 comeback win over the Washington Nationals after spotting the Nationals a 6-2 lead after two innings. Jayson Werth hit a three run homer that made the score 6-5, then Chase Utley's fielder's choice grounder drove in the speedy Jimmy Rollins with the tying run. Rollins drove in the winning run in the eighth inning with a run scoring double.
Kyle Lohse was hammered for six runs six hits and walked two in two innings of pitching, but the much maligned Phillies bullpen received sterling relief work from six relievers who held the Nationals scoreless over the last seven innings. Six of the last nine games left on the Phillies' schedule are with the Nationals, with a three game series with Braves sandwiched in between. I really don't expect the Braves to be atop the NL East at end of the season since they would have to pass Phillies and Mets to win it. With Tim Hudson pitching today and John Smoltz pitching tomorrow, the Phillies may face Hudson in the third game of the series when they play the Phillies next week.
For the sake of Phillies fans everywhere, I hope the Phillies can put the onus of 1964 behind them this season by coming from behind in the last few days of the 2007 season to erase the painful memories of 1964, at least partially if not completely. It would be ironic to see them make the playoffs in the same year they lost their 10,000th game in the history of the franchise.
In a sidenote, the Chicago Cubs need only 20 wins to be the second team in majors to post 10,000 wins. The San Francisco Giants have 10,180 wins to lead all major league teams in wins.
Mets Bullpen Blows Lead
Shoddy bullpen work lost another game for the Mets last night in their 8-7 loss to the Florida Marlins. In five of their last six losses, a relief pitcher has taken the loss. Jorge Sosa, who has lost two of those games, took the loss last night, giving up three runs and five hits to turn a 7-5 Mets win into a 8-7 defeat.
Brewers Get Quality Start From Suppan But Still Lose 3-0 to Atlanta Braves
Jeff Suppan (10-12) pitched his seventh consecutive quality start but quality starts don't mean anything if your team gets shutout 3-0 like the Milwaukee Brewers did last night. Worst of all, the Brewers were beaten by former Brewer, Jeff Bennett, who pitched for the first time since he pitched for Brewers in 2004. The start was his first major league start. With the Cubs having the day off, the Brewers slipped back to a game and a half behind the Cubs.
J.R. Towles Drives In Eight For Astros
First reaction to the above headline is "Who in the world is J.R. Towles?". He is a rookie catcher who advanced to majors after playing for three minor league teams in Astros organization in 2007. He had two RBI's in 43 at bats with the Round Rock team in Triple A and then drives in eight in four at bats yesterday. The Houston Astros defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 18-1 behind a 23 hit attack. Infielder Aaron Miles pitched the ninth inning and despite allowing a two run homer to Towles he gave up less runs than any other Cardinals pitcher.
The Cardinals had a glimmer of hope of winning the NL Central earlier this month, but those hopes have vanished after they fell to 8 1/2 games back of first place Cubs with ten games left to play. Now, it is almost a sure thing Albert Pujols will not play again this season because of an injury and may keep him from driving in 100 runs for a seventh consecutive season. If he doesn't play again this season, he will finish with 18 less homers than last season and 42 less RBI's.
Yankees Turned Season Around
On May 29th, the New York Yankees were 14 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox and tied for last place in the AL East and eight games under .500. Going into today's game they are a game and a half behind the Red Sox and 24 games over .500. They suffered through several injuries to the starting rotation and had to start thirteen different pitchers, including Kei Igawa, who was a miserable failure allowing 15 homers in 62 innings and posted a 6.79 ERA. In comparison, Chien-Ming Wang has allowed only eight homers in 186 innings.
Chase Wright was just as bad as Igawa, allowing five homers in eight innings. Jeff Karstens also was a flop as a starter posting an 0-3 record with a 11.20 ERA and allowed 20 runs and 24 hits in 13 2/3 innings. Carl Pavano pitched eleven innings before being shut down for the season unless he makes a miracle recovery in the last few days of the season. Other starters called up from minors this season included Matt DeSalvo 1-3 and a 6.18 ERA and Tyler Clippard 3-1 and 6.33 ERA.
In my book, the season turned around for the pitching staff with the additon of Roger Clemens (6-6) and 4.18 ERA. He may have only have six wins to show for 17 starts, but he gave the Yankees many quality starts, keeping them close in games and gave them a chance to win. He may be overpaid for his contribution to the team, but he will be the main reason they are in the playoffs from the pitching standpoint.
It is amazing that Luis Vizcaino is fourth on the pitching staff in wins with eight. Joba Chamberlain was a late season addition to the bullpen and is 2-0 with a 0.49 ERA allowing only one run in 18 innings with 24 strikeouts.
So, in retrospect, this team has endured several injuries to starting pitchers, a terrible slump by Bobby Abreu earlier in the season, injury to Jason Giambi, and seemingly no chance to even think about being in playoffs. But instead of collapsing and dying, the Yankees have played better as the season went on culminating with a 13-4 record in September and winning 12 of their last 14 games. It goes without mentioning that Alex Rodriguez is the straw that has stirred the drink for the Yankees this season.
Even though I am not a Yankee fan, I have the utmost respect for them, and they deserve to be saluted for turning what looked like a lost season to an almost sure berth in the 2007 playoffs. Once again, they have proved you can never count the Yankees out and just like former Yankee Yogi Berra said: "It isn't over till the fat lady sings."
Suzuki, Ordonez Tied For AL Batting Lead
Just a few days ago, it looked like Magglio Ordonez had locked up the AL batting title, but now Ichiro Suzuki has hit safely in thirteen consecutive games and has tied Ordonez with both have a .353 average. Chipper Jones is leading NL with a .342 average with a three point lead over Matt Holliday with a .339 average.
Jake Peavy and Chien-Ming Wang both need to win their starts to post their 19th win and give them a chance to win 20 games this season. Josh Beckett needs a win today to win his 20th game this season but should have one more start if he doesn't make it today.
Jimmy Rollins needs one hit today to reach the 200 hit mark for first time in his career. He has reached 190 hit mark in his last three seasons and had 196 hits in 2005. Michael Young needs eight hits to reach 200 hits for his fifth straight season. Twenty-two players have posted their 100th RBI this season. Next in line are Hideki Matsui with 99, Bobby Abreu and Chase Utley with 98, and Carlos Guillen and Chipper Jones with 96.
Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins need two homers to join 30-30 club this season. Brandon Phillips needs one homer to join the elite group. Chris Young needs four stolen bases to accomplish the feat. The only player who has done it already this year is David Wright with 30 homers and 31 stolen bases.
