St. Louis Cardinals @ Philadelphia Phillies GameThread, Jul 8, 2008 7:05 PM EDT

Game Thread, 7/8: Piniero vs. Hamels

by dajafi on Jul 8, 2008 7:00 PM EDT Comment 11 comments

St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies, Jul 8, 2008 7:05 PM EDT

Having failed every test over the last month to which the answer wasn't "the Braves," the Phillies start another with a three-game series against St. Louis. The Cardinals come in with a record of 50-40, two games better than the Phils and probably about 10 better than what most had predicted for them when the season began. Albert Pujols is doing it all, as usual: despite a series of minor injuries, the superstar is hitting .350.471/.624 with 18 homers this season, and he's always enjoyed OFJOAB. He's 3 for 7 with a double and a homer off Cole Hamels, who starts for the Phils.

Hamels would have a legitimate beef about being left off the 2008 all-star team, but he's been quiet about any hard feelings. Maybe that means he'll take it out on the NL over the next three-plus months. My one concern with him is the 128.2 innings he's already logged; Cole has gone at least 7 in each of his last six starts.

0 recs | Comment 11 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Bases loaded, 1 out…Ruiz grounds into a double play.

He really does not belong on a major league roster right now. That was utterly pitiful.

by FuquaManuel on Jul 8, 2008 7:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Frustrating

Why can’t they score any early runs, especially for Hamels? Seems like they’ve lost the ability to manufacture a run or two and are waiting for the home run to get on the board. Ruiz is a part of it, but the whole lineup seems to be struggling with men on third and less than two out.

by phillyinportland on Jul 8, 2008 7:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, Ankiel homers. Score is 1-0 Cardinals and I am fairly confident that this shitty offense will not be able to even come back from that.

by FuquaManuel on Jul 8, 2008 8:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

2-0…yet no signs of life in our lineup. I am seriously contemplating doing something else. This is really bad for my health.

by FuquaManuel on Jul 8, 2008 8:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I hear ya – this may be more than a three-week funk.

by phillyinportland on Jul 8, 2008 8:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cole is at 100 pitches after 7, so I am assuming (hoping) he is done for the night.

He was brilliant, as usual, only surrendering 3 hits—2 of which were homers unfortunately. Regardless, anytime you get a line like that out of your starting pitcher, if you don’t win the blame should fall squarely on the offense. I believe that this team has some serious issues that need to be sorted out.

by FuquaManuel on Jul 8, 2008 8:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

On the bright side ...

getting Burrell off the bases means he won’t be pinch-run for, keeping his bat in the game for now.

by phillyinportland on Jul 8, 2008 8:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Please don’t pinch-hit Taguchi for Dobbs.

by phillyinportland on Jul 8, 2008 8:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Okay, I think I am done until after the all star break. This is too much. These guys should be ashamed of themselves.

by FuquaManuel on Jul 8, 2008 8:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Is Dobbs that bad against lefties? If you’ve got the best pinch-hitter in the league you shouldn’t be wasting him there. If you want to force LaRussa’s hand, use Jenkins there against Pineiro – he’s better than Ruiz – and keep Dobbs to pinch hit for Hamels if needed. Some people might wonder about the value of the manager’s decisions, but Charley Manuel just got outmanaged by Tony LaRussa in my opinion.

by phillyinportland on Jul 8, 2008 9:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This is why baseball is so excruciating

The Phils are in a funk. When they were 13 over .500 I thought to myself to enjoy it b/c everything was going right. My biggest complaint right now is the lack of good ABs. But the offense has faced some good pitching in the past month. They’ll turn it around, but I don’t think their SP is going to come anywhere close to what it did in the first half in the second.

by phillynyc on Jul 8, 2008 9:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs