Pitching change

Randy Wolf's start was moved up from tomorrow night to tonight. I guess the one inning of work on Tuesday wasn't enough to push him back another day. He will face Javier Vazquez (6-6), with Padilla (8-8) facing Livan Hernandez (9-6) tomorrow night.

Walk off

Quick question: If a man named "Byrd" hits a walk off, do we consider it a fly off?

A few pitching lines for you:

A: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 6 K
B: 8 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 5 K
C: 7 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 5 K
D: 6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 5 K

So what are they? A is Kevin Millwood's complete-game shutout of Montreal last Tuesday. B is Tomo Ohka's performance in the same game. The two hooked up for quite a performance that day...and then they went out and did it again last night.

Line C is Millwood's line for last night; D is Ohka's. A few more hits allowed for each one last night, but the same level of toe-to-toe performance as nine days earlier. Only this time, neither one was around for a decision.

Millwood went seven innings last night, scattering the nine hits. He allowed more than one hit in an inning only twice, and the Expos scored in each of those. In the fourth, Millwood allowed a one-out single to Wil Cordero, who then scored on a two-out double by Ron Calloway. In the sixth, Orlando Cabrera led off the inning with a double; he then swiped third, and scored on a throwing error by Bobby Abreu. Millwood allowed a pair of singles and a walk after that, but got out of the inning with no further damage. Otherwise, Millwood allowed no more than one baserunner in any of the other five innings.

Ohka's night was almost as good. He allowed a Marlon Byrd single to lead off the first, only to erase him on a double play. He got in trouble in the second, when Jimmy Rollins singled, Pat Burrell walked, and Tyler Houston doubled to left -- all with two outs. Ohka was spared more than one run of damage when Phillies third-base coach John Vukovich sent Pat Burrell home after Brad Wilkerson bobbled the ball in left. Wilkerson recovered, and nailed Burrell easily at the plate, ending the inning. In the third, Ohka allowed a one-out single to Byrd, who again was wiped out on a double play. He allowed two hits again in the fourth, and again it cost him: a one-out double by Abreu and a two-out double by Rollins put the Phillies second run on the board. But that was all the trouble Ohka would see -- he allowed two hits in the fifth and walked Burrell in the sixth, but neither instance did any damage.

So the starters left, and the 2-2 stayed until the ninth. So with the game tied in the top of the ninth, Rheal Cormier earned a save. I didn't see it myself, so I have to use someone else's words; from the Inquirer:

With two outs and Expos catcher Michael Barrett on third - Barrett had hit a leadoff double to start the ninth - Expos centerfielder Endy Chavez threw his bat at the ball. The bat actually left his hands before it made contact.

The ball found its way into no-man's land. Chavez sprinted toward first as Barrett took off for home.

It was going to be close.

...

But Cormier's toss made its way to catcher Mike Lieberthal, who blocked the plate and tagged out Barrett to end the inning.

That's how you earn a save without getting a save.

I finally turned the game on in the bottom of the ninth. The bases were loaded, two were out, and Placido Polanco was at the plate. On a 2-2 pitch, Polanco fouled off a dribbler down the third base line. Rollins, who was on third, took off for the plate. When it was called foul, Rollins returned to third and appeared -- to my untrained eye -- to be limping. It did not matter at the time, as Polanco ground the next pitch -- fair -- to third, to end the inning.

In extras, Jose Mesa pitched a scoreless tenth, and Dan Plesac got through the eleventh. Jimmy Rollins led off the bottom of the 11th with a really good at-bat. He fouled off three pitches -- two of them down the left-field line -- before finally taking a pitch that way and keeping it fair. He busted hard down the first base line, but seemed to coast into second. WIth no one out, Larry Bowa pulled Rollins for a pinch runner. I am not sure what the extent of Jimmy's injury is, but I can assure you that I never thought I'd see him lifted for a pinch runner.

Pat Burrell lifted an 0-1 pitch to right center where it got tracked down, but it was far enough to allow Nick Punto to move to third. WIth one out, pinch hitter Jason Michaels line the first pitch in the hole on the left side -- where it was snagged by Calloway at third, who went to first for the second out, holding Punto at third. With two outs now, Tomas Perez was intentionally walked to get to Byrd.

Byrd already had three singles on the night; one more would win the game. He took the first pitch for ball one, and then swung at the second. The ball jumped off his bat and just kept traveling. It bounced off the 1983 NL Championship banner in left-center while Byrd bounced around the bases. By the time he got to home plate, the entire Phillies team was there waiting for him, waiting to smack him around a bit. They pounded him so hard, I wasn't sure if they were congratulating him, or beating him into submission.

No matter...5-2 final. Win #53. I'll take it, with or without the bruises.

Who are you?

I'm struck by curiosity...who are my readers? Who are you? What kind of baseball/Phillies fan are you? Why do you keep coming back? What would you like to see here? I am just trying to get an idea of what type of person I have struck a chord with. Leave a comment (if it's working) or e-mail me and let me know about you.

Also, if there's something you want to know about me, ask away.

In a shocker...

In a news item that should surprise no one, ticket prices will go up next season with the opening of the new Citizens Bank Park. Yet, they will remain reasonable, all things considered.

There will be no personal seat licenses. No variable ticket pricing by who and when. And the increases are not out of line, considering it's a new park. Quoting the article in the Inquirer:

Prices for seats in the 200 level in the infield, which list for $28 now, will increase to $35 or $40, depending on their proximity to home plate.

Tickets in the outfield, where seats will be closer to the playing surface than at the Vet, will fall from $24 to $20 in the equivalent of the 200 level, from $22 to $18 in the 300 level, and from $16 to $15 in the 600 level.

Beyond that, it's apples and oranges, although the general direction of prices is up.

The cheap seats will go up from $10 to $15, but the seats will be closer to the field. There will be no general admission seats in the new park, but up to 5,000 seats will be discounted by as much as $5 on the day of the game, making the game a fairly affordable one.

Two other notes:

Season-ticket holders no longer will receive discounts, now usually $2 per date, off the list price of their tickets. And the current 16-game plans will become 17-game plans.

No more will seats be priced entirely by vertical level. On each level, seats in more desirable locations will cost more.

I have no complaints about this, as I have always thought that seats in one level behind home plate should cost more than seats in that same level tucked behind a foul pole. So, keeping it in perspective, the pricing doesn't seem too bad. That is, of course, until you get inside and head to the concessions.

Silva out

The relief pitcher had his suspension reduced from six games to five for his role in the June 13th fight against Adam Dunn in Cincinnati, and will serve it immediately. He will be eligible to pitch again on Tuesday, at home versus the Mets.

Burrell's struggles

The Inquirer has another article today on Pat Burrell's struggles in this morning's paper. However, instead of just focusing on his faults and struggles this year, they offer that he is not the first Phillie to have these struggles. The obvious comparison is to Mike Schmidt and his second year in Philly. But Frank Fitzpatrick draws other comparisons, including ones to Del Ennis, Chuck Klein, and Dick Allen.

Catch the article here.

Back to work

After a three-day vacation, the Phillies get back to work tonight against the Puerto Rico Expos at the Vet. Tonight's is the first in the four-game series, games 10-13 in the season series. The Phillies lost two of three to the Expos back in late May, and then swept a three-game set in early June. Philadelphia took two of three in Montreal last week, and lead the season series 6-3.

Tonight's 7:05 start will feature Phillies ace Kevin Millwood (10-6) against Tomo Ohka (7-9). These two matched up in Montreal last Wednesday, with Millwood getting the better of the matchup in the end. Ohka held the Phillies hitless into the seventh before Placido Polanco managed a questionable infield hit, and Bobby Abreu followed with a two-run homer. Millwood took the runs and ran with them, finishing off the Expos with a complete-game shutout.

Tomorrow's game matches Vicente Padilla (8-8) against Javier Vasquez (6-6). Padilla is 5-2 in his last eight starts, and has had his ERA fall from 4.55 to 3.81 in that time. Saturday's game features All-Star Randy Wolf (10-4) against Livan Hernandez (9-6), who has been the unexpected "ace" of the Expos staff this season.

Wolf will bring the Wolf Pack home from Chicago, where Wolf made his first All-Star appearance. Wolf replaced starter Jason Schmidt to start the third inning, and had a decent performance. Wolf struck out the Yankees' Jorge Posada before becoming cautious and walking Ichiro. Ichiro took second on a wild pitch, and scored on a two-out single by RBI machine Carlos Delgado. All told, Wolf pitched an inning, gave up one run on one hit, and struck out two Yankees (Posada and Soriano).

Sunday's finale features Brett Myers (9-6), going for the tenth win that eluded him on Sunday in New York, versus Claudio Vargas (6-5). These two matched up against one another last Tuesday, with the Phillies lineup touching up Vargas and his bullpen mates to the tune of 13 runs.

The Phillies hope to do well in this series, as the Braves -- with their 8 1/2 game lead -- head home to take on the New York Mess, who yesterday traded closer Armando Benitez cross-town to the Yankees as they continue their rebuilding process.

70 games to the finish line. Time to start sprinting...

All-Star worthy

From Jayson Stark's Useless Info column:

Lowest ERAs among qualified starters since last year's All-Star Game:

RHP: Pedro Martinez 2.02
LHP: Randy Wolf 2.73

I told you they were playing over their heads!

In a follow-up to yesterday's post, Diamond Mind has written on the comparisons from their preseason predictions to the reality at the Break. Here's what they have to say on the NL East battle:

Atlanta is 12 games ahead of the pace we projected for them, but I wonder if they can sustain that performance. They've won 7 more games than their run margin of +78 would normally produce and 9 more games than their TBW (total bases plus walks) margin of +220 would normally produce. In other words, the Braves are playing great clutch baseball right now. If they keep it up, nobody will catch them.

Statistically, Philadelphia is running stride for stride with the division leaders. In fact, their run margin (+89) is a little better than Atlanta's. Their TBW margin (+203) is a little worse but still the second-best in the NL by a good margin. (The Giants, at +154, are third.) But Philly is four games behind its pythagorean record.

See? The Braves are way over their heads. 7 games better than their pythagorian record, while the Phillies are 4 games worse. Correct those 11 games, and the Phillies have a 2 1/2 game lead. So the question remains whether or not the Braves can keep up this pace.

Also, based on their preseason predictions, the Phillies have the second most disappointing offense in the NL (behind LA), but the second most surprising pitching/defense (again, behind LA), thanks to the great work of the rotation and especially the bullpen. Atlanta, by the way, is the second most surprising offense.

Any sort of return to the "norm", and we could have a pretty good race on our hands.

I came in to work...

I made the long, 60-minute drive into the office today, fully intending to work. I was part of the staff, and I knew it was my job to do my part. But someone obviously had other ideas, as I found out I had been replaced for the day by someone else. Granted, that someone else is a master in this field: more than 300 programs written and 4000 help desk calls answered -- but I am still a little confused.

My boss and I had a discussion yesterday about how I didn't need to work today. He says that I put in a lot of work yesterday, and he wanted me to take today off; he wants me fresh for later in the week. He also said that our staff had other people available to work on a few projects today, so it would be better if I sat out and picked up the slack for them later in the week. I told him that. despite my workload yesterday, I was willing to field a help desk call or two, if needed. When I left our meeting, I didn't realize that a decision had been made. So I got up, came to the office, and was prepared to put in my time, only to find that my replacement had already been called. I don't necessarily have a problem with that; it was just awkward to find out from the other employees.

So here I am, at the office, ready to work, but with nothing to do but sit and watch. I guess it was just a failure in communications...