Charlie Manuel Watch Thread - 2010 Edition

[bluehenbillk]

OK, over/under on the number of wins Doc Halladay will have this year, setting the bar at 24.5, what do you think?

[93henfan]

OK, over/under on the number of wins Doc Halladay will have this year, setting the bar at 24.5, what do you think?

Assuming he stays healthy, he should get 32 starts. As deep as he goes and with the Phils offense, he shouldn't have many no decisions. So let's say he gets 30 decisions. Out of that, let's say he wins 80% of his starts. There's 24 wins.

I personally think he'll top 80%, so I'll go with the over and 25 wins.

[BlueHen86]

OK, over/under on the number of wins Doc Halladay will have this year, setting the bar at 24.5, what do you think?

I go with the under, mainly because I think the bullpen will cost him a few wins this year. I think he'll win 21 or 22 games.

[93henfan]

Just watched DNL. Happ is going on the 15 day DL. He threw 20 pitches in the pen and they had to shut him down. They said the problem is not his forearm, but rather his elbow. Nelson Figueroa will be taking his spot.

Blanton pitched 30 balls in a rehab game and felt fine. He has two more starts in the minors at 50 and 70 pitches before they decide if he's ready to come back.

Polanco will miss tonight's game, after being plunked last night, but he's expected back tomorrow.

J-Roll had some kind of setback, but I only caught the tail end of it when I turned on CSN-P.

[93henfan]

So, I trash Kendrick and Moyer and...




I'm far less concerned about the Braves after watching that series. Other than the two boneheaded throws from Madson, the Braves didn't do much of anything in the series.

[GannonFan]

So, I trash Kendrick and Moyer and...




I'm far less concerned about the Braves after watching that series. Other than the two boneheaded throws from Madson, the Braves didn't do much of anything in the series.

I agree on the Braves. While the Braves are division contenders, the Phils are World Series contenders and it showed. The Braves aren't a bad team, but they're at least a year away if not more considering the age in the lineup. The Phils go out and throw 2 of their worst pitchers and went up against the best the Braves had, and the Braves were a crazy bullpen meltdown away from being swept at home. The Phils get timely hits and can scratch out runs, and the Phils pitching is able to rise to the occassion - all things that have to happen to win in the playoffs, and obviously the Phils are pretty good at that.

And even with these injuries (no Rollins, no Blanton, no Happ, no Lidge, no Romero, Werth misses some games, now Polanco misses some games) the Phils just keep on rolling. Hopefully Hamels continues his return to form tonight in Arizona.

On another note - I like the juxtaposition of having Moyer follow Halladay in the rotation. That has to be a pretty significant difference seeing Halladay throw heat and nasty stuff for 8-9 innings only to see someone throw almost 20 mph slower and with a lot more junk the following night. It could be a way to nurse Moyer through the year.

[BlueHen86]

Cole Hamels sucks.

He couldn't even hit Santa Claus with a snowball.

[93henfan]

Kendrick returns to form, only going five innings and giving up five runs. Stellar.

So we have a Cy Young gonnabe (Doc), a dead-armed former phenom turned whiny bitch (Hamels), a Social Security recipient with a 78 mph fastball(Moyer), a Met castoff (Figueroa), and a great AAA pitcher (Kendrick) as our starting five, followed by a stable of mediocre middle relievers, and a closer (Madson) that flips a coin to decide if he's going to melt down before he goes to the mound.

Yankees, here we come.

[SunCoastBlueHen]

Kendrick returns to form, only going five innings and giving up five runs. Stellar.

So we have a Cy Young gonnabe (Doc), a dead-armed former phenom turned whiny bitch (Hamels), a Social Security recipient with a 78 mph fastball(Moyer), a Met castoff (Figueroa), and a great AAA pitcher (Kendrick) as our starting five, followed by a stable of mediocre middle relievers, and a closer (Madson) that flips a coin to decide if he's going to melt down before he goes to the mound.

Yankees, here we come.

The $9 million it would have cost to keep Cliff Lee for another year is looking more and more like a bargain that should not have been passed up.

[GannonFan]

Kendrick returns to form, only going five innings and giving up five runs. Stellar.

So we have a Cy Young gonnabe (Doc), a dead-armed former phenom turned whiny bitch (Hamels), a Social Security recipient with a 78 mph fastball(Moyer), a Met castoff (Figueroa), and a great AAA pitcher (Kendrick) as our starting five, followed by a stable of mediocre middle relievers, and a closer (Madson) that flips a coin to decide if he's going to melt down before he goes to the mound.

Yankees, here we come.

Well, it does get better when Blanton and Happ return. And by definition, all middle relievers are mediocre - there's a reason why they are middle relief. Oh, and Figueroa was a Phillies cast-off before he was a Mets castoff.

No worries, though, Halladay's on the hill tonight.

[93henfan]

WTF? Halladay is getting rocked (by his standards). Three runs so far through 1.1 innings.

[GannonFan]

WTF? Halladay is getting rocked (by his standards). Three runs so far through 1.1 innings.

Eh, Phillies still need to hit more. No reason not to score more last night - with that ump behind the plate both pitchers struggled - difference was, San Fran got the outs when the Phils had scoring opportunities galore in the early innings - Werth has to put the ball in play rather than K twice like he did early.

[93henfan]

WTF? Halladay is getting rocked (by his standards). Three runs so far through 1.1 innings.

Eh, Phillies still need to hit more. No reason not to score more last night - with that ump behind the plate both pitchers struggled - difference was, San Fran got the outs when the Phils had scoring opportunities galore in the early innings - Werth has to put the ball in play rather than K twice like he did early.

How many LOB did the Phils end up with? It was up to 11 when I drifted off.

[GannonFan]

Eh, Phillies still need to hit more. No reason not to score more last night - with that ump behind the plate both pitchers struggled - difference was, San Fran got the outs when the Phils had scoring opportunities galore in the early innings - Werth has to put the ball in play rather than K twice like he did early.

How many LOB did the Phils end up with? It was up to 11 when I drifted off.

No, it stayed at 11. Of course, that's just because the Phils stopped hitting altogether as the game went on. Only had 3 baserunners total after the 5th inning.

[93henfan]

The hitting slump continues. Even with Moyer's ineptitude, two runs from the offense isn't going to get it done. I only watched a few innings last night and it looked like they were hitting the ball hard, but often right at an outfielder. Howard made a bonehead baserunning mistake that sucked some life out early and then Moyer just got smacked around. He needs to retire, with extreme prejudice.

No worries about the O though. They'll obviously break out of this.

Lidge supposedly had a great rehab appearance in Reading and could be active at CBP on Friday. They said his fastball was 93 mph. It'll be nice to get him back if for no other reason that not having to see Madson in the 9th. Hopefully Blanton isn't far behind. I have less confidence in Happ getting back soon, because elbows can equal seasons.

I'm thinking the team simply got spoiled getting the Natinals and Astros for the first three series of the year and are now getting a reality check that they do in fact play above AAA.

[SunCoastBlueHen]

The second place Philadelphia Phillies...

It's been a while since we had to say that.

[GannonFan]

5 hits, with 4 of them coming from the middle 3 guys in the lineup. Victorino and Polanco need to get on base occassionally if the Phils are to score anything.

Eh, on the bright side, the Phils get to come home after this afternoon's game - only have had 6 home games all year so far, so getting back to the Bank should help matters a bit.

Moyer wasn't terrible last night - he's a 5th starter and he pitched like it. Good to see Romero get some work, and like you said, Lidge and Blanton are close to coming back so that's a good thing.

Luckily as always for the Phils, the NL East is pretty much them and then a bunch of muck - it's great when the Phils can go in the tank for a stretch and not worry about losing control of the division.

[bluehenbillk]

Lidge should be back Friday. Victorino really struggling up top, Ibanez still struggling too. Moyer, grrrrr.

[93henfan]

I don't think I posted this for Moyer until July last year, but he gets it in April this year:




It's not 1987 anymore:

[GannonFan]

Cole just not getting it done again - hangs in there against Lincecum for awhile, but then walks in a run after loading the bases with an intentional walk and being unable to punch the guy out after getting ahead 1-2 on him. And then, in typical Hamels fashion, he can't recover from that and gives up a two run single to boot. Giving up 4 ER in 6 innings to the Giants, with over 110 pitches to boot, just isn't getting it done for a #2 guy in the rotation.

[BlueHen86]

Cole just not getting it done again - hangs in there against Lincecum for awhile, but then walks in a run after loading the bases with an intentional walk and being unable to punch the guy out after getting ahead 1-2 on him. And then, in typical Hamels fashion, he can't recover from that and gives up a two run single to boot. Giving up 4 ER in 6 innings to the Giants, with over 110 pitches to boot, just isn't getting it done for a #2 guy in the rotation.

He sucks. I can't watch when he pitches anymore. I'm tired of him struggling, and throwing close to 20 pitches, in every inning. Very disappointing.

[93henfan]

Cole just not getting it done again - hangs in there against Lincecum for awhile, but then walks in a run after loading the bases with an intentional walk and being unable to punch the guy out after getting ahead 1-2 on him. And then, in typical Hamels fashion, he can't recover from that and gives up a two run single to boot. Giving up 4 ER in 6 innings to the Giants, with over 110 pitches to boot, just isn't getting it done for a #2 guy in the rotation.

Tough to watch, isn't it? All that after Ryan Howard goes yard to the opposite field, only the second HR given up this year by Lincecum.

In Hamel's defense, the first Giants run could have easily been avoided if Howard had thrown to second on the fielders choice. The runner wasn't even halfway there yet when Ryan turned and threw to first. He has no confidence in his throwing, after all those E's last year. I think that started to nibble away at Hamels' fragile little ego and then he just let it all go to shit after that.

The schedule doesn't get any easier in the next six weeks either.

[GannonFan]

Cole just not getting it done again - hangs in there against Lincecum for awhile, but then walks in a run after loading the bases with an intentional walk and being unable to punch the guy out after getting ahead 1-2 on him. And then, in typical Hamels fashion, he can't recover from that and gives up a two run single to boot. Giving up 4 ER in 6 innings to the Giants, with over 110 pitches to boot, just isn't getting it done for a #2 guy in the rotation.

Tough to watch, isn't it? All that after Ryan Howard goes yard to the opposite field, only the second HR given up this year by Lincecum.

In Hamel's defense, the first Giants run could have easily been avoided if Howard had thrown to second on the fielders choice. The runner wasn't even halfway there yet when Ryan turned and threw to first. He has no confidence in his throwing, after all those E's last year. I think that started to nibble away at Hamels' fragile little ego and then he just let it all go to **** after that.

The schedule doesn't get any easier in the next six weeks either.

Sure, that's for the first run, but that happened the inning before Cole got into trouble and walked in a run. If he can't overcome something from the inning before then he really is mental.

As for the schedule, eh, outside of the trip to Colorado, it's not that bad - the Phils finally get to play some home games after only have 6 so far all year. And it's not until the last week in May that they even go on another extended road trip. They get the Mets, the Cards, and the Braves at home and they can hit against all of those teams, the aforementioned tough 3 game trip to Colorado, but then 3 on the road in Milwaukee (not too tough) followed by the Pirates and Cubs at home before Boston comes to town. May's not really that hard at all.

[93henfan]

I had read Murph's column in the the Daily News today. Here are the next eleven pitchers:

# Tim Lincecum
# Jonathon Niese
# Mike Pelfrey
# Johan Santana
# Adam Wainwright
# Brad Penny
# Kyle Lohse
# Chris Carpenter
# Tim Hudson
# Derek Lowe
# Jair Jurrjens

That's not easy. Then you get the Yanks, BoSox, and Twins at the end of the six weeks. Yikes.

[93henfan]

WOO HOO WERTH!!!

Tie ballgame fellas.