Sunday, September 26, 2010

Going Pigeon: Mets at Phillies - 9/25/10: djpigeon@comcast.net





Pre-game:
The magic number stays at 2 as the Braves snap their 4-game losing streak in Washington this afternoon.

As for the Phils, plently of bad omens for tonight: playing Mets on Saturday . . . with Kyle Kendrick on the mound . . .against a rookie pitcher (Dillon Gee).

But the Phils bested R.A. Dickey last night, so 12 straight wins can happen!

Top 1st:
You know the Phils are on fire when Kyle Kendrick walks off the mound after just 10 pitches!  Strikes out Reyes and his dreadlocks, and gets Chris Carter and Carlos Beltran on soft groundouts.

Bottom 1st: 0-0
GOING PIGEON PRESENTS: JUST SAYIN'
On the WPHT radio broadcast Scott Franske quotes Gerry Manual as saying that Gee's best attribute is 'his ability to throw strikes'.
When a pitcher reaches the Major Leagues; I would assume that 'ability to throw strikes' is implied.


CONSPIRACY THEORY
Chase Utley has a way of pissing off the New York baseball community (Boo? . . F--- you!).
The Phils second baseman did it again last night when he attempted to break up a double play with a textbook take-out slide in the fifth inning.


David Wright got has panties in a bunch, accusing Utley of crossing the line by trying to injure 2nd baseman Ruben Tejada.  I suppose Wright figures the long history of bad blood between Tejada and the Phillies, plus Tejada's potential to beat Philly in the upcoming postseason, are lthe motives for Utley's terroristic behavior.

Dillon Gee is downright polite in his approach to pitching Utley in the first inning.  The rookie falls behind Utley 3-1 before Chase lines a single to left.

Gee starts Ryan Howard with changeups, and nearly strikes him out with a 1-2 changeup in the dirt - if Scott Barry had worked tonight's game, Howard's check swing would have been strike three.

Gee then moves from his best pitch (changeup) to his second best pitch.  Howard uses his best swing to send the ball 430-feet and send the Phils to a 2-0 lead.  The CBP crowd is the loudest it's been all week.

Top 2nd: PHI 2 - NYM 0
MyPhilly17 shows highlights of the Philadelphia Baseball Writers Association awards presented to Phillie players before the game.
In a display of creative thinking, the PBWA named Ryan Howard the 2010 Phillies Most Valuable Player.
If I were a member of the PBWA, my ballot would have looked like this:
1. Carlos Ruiz (brilliant job handling staff and frequent clutch hitting)
2. Wilson Valdez (bench signee anchored the defense and even won a handful of games with his bat)
3. Placido Polanco (best pure hitter and played stellar defense at 3rd)
4. Ryan Howard (best run producer on team but essentially lost a month with ankle sprain on 7/31)
Way to think outside the box guys!

Kyle Kendrick erases the Mets on 15 pitches, working around Angel Pagan's two-out single.

Bottom 2nd: PHI 2 - NYM 0
As Geoff Jenkins kibitzes with Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler, the Phllies offense starts to slip into auto-pilot.  Raul Ibanez jams himself on a high change-up.  Carlos Ruiz then strikes out by flinging his bat into the Mets dugout; fooled badly by a Gee change-up . . .OR WAS HE??

Carlos Ruiz can barely speak English, but he can understand what he hears and reads.  Gerry Manual wanted to send the Phils a message after the Utley-Tejada incident.  We all know that terroristic threats don't play well in Panama . . .the bat just misses Gerry Manual
Well played Carlos . . .well played . . .
Wilson Valdez ends the inning with a soft liner to Reyes

Top 3rd: PHI 2 - NYM 0
Kendrick continues his mastery of the Mets, setting the visitor down on just six pitches.  Reyes blasts the final pitch to the CF fence, but Victorino snags it alongside the Turkey Hill sign.

Bottom 3rd: PHI 2 - NYM 0
Kyle Kendrick senses the moment tonight, but apart from Ryan Howard, his teammates aren't joining him.  Kendrick strokes a single between Wright and Bob Marley, er, Jose Reyes.
But instead of letting rookie Dillon Gee baste in the pressure of 45.000 bloodthirsty fans, Shane Victorino chases an outside change-up and grounds into a double-play.

GOING PIGEON PRESENTS: EDITORIAL CONFESSION
I have two teenagers and 50-plus hour per week job - so sometimes I write these things in the present tense off DVR.  But even if I didn't know the future of this blog; I'd be troubled that the Phils aren't battling harder against Gee with a 2-0 lead.

Bottom 4th: PHI 2 - NYM 0
The Phils hit the ball hard, but Chase Utley's line drive and Ryan Howard's fly ball find leather.  Jayson Werth singles with two outs, but Ibanez lunges after an outside fastball for an inning-ending groundout.

Top 7th: PHI 2 - NYM 0
The Phils offense continues to play like it has Ruth Crist's dinner reservations. so Kyle Kendrick only has a two-run margin to begin the seventh.

Carlos Beltran leads off with a single to right, and J.C. Romero begins to warm up alongside Chad Durbin in the bullpen.
David Wright grounds softly to Kendrick, who wheels and fires to Chase Utley - make that Wilson Valdez, who cuts off Utley and records the force-out.
The mix-up at second base may have costs the Phils a double-play, since Valdez's momentum carried him away from any throw to first.

Ike Davis continues his hemorrhoid-like habits against the Phils with a looping single to left, moving Wright to second.
Angel Pagan slaps a routine grounder to Ryan Howard, but the ball takes a sudden bounce and glances off Howard's glove for an error that loads the bases.

The Mets have paid for swinging early all night against Kendrick, but Josh Thole is rewarded for his first-pitch hack with an RBI single just past Utley's glove.  The single brings Charlie Manual out of the dugout to pull Kendrick after a great performance.

Chad Durbin has been one of the Phils more dependable relievers in 2010, but the recent string of deep starts has left him idle since a 1-inning stint against the Nationals on Sept 18.
Durbin's rust shows when he fires a batting-cage fastball to Lucas Duda, who clears the bases with a double to right-center.

Durbin strikes out Gee for the second out, but his 3-1 hanger to Jose Reyes is lined to the gap in right-center for the fifth and final Mets run.

The Phils go down meekly against Met relievers Elmer Dessens, Pedro Feliciano and Hisnori Takahasi.
The winning streak ends at 11 and the magic number remains at 2.

Final score: Mets 5 - Phillies 2
Magic number to clinch NL East: 2

I am Don Pigeon and I am OUT!!!


Custom Search

No comments:

Post a Comment