Ready for Prime Time: Phillies 12, Cubs 5

by dajafi on Aug 13, 2009 12:15 AM EDT

Continuing its inexorable trend toward sports-as-celebrity-playground, ESPN touted its Wednesday Night Baseball matchup between the Phillies and Cubs as little more than The Return of Pedro Martinez. But while the future Hall of Famer was impressive in spots and easily good enough to secure his 215th career win, it was the return of the recently absent Phillies offense that lifted the team to a second straight victory at Wrigley Field.

The Phils jumped on Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija early, making the first big league start for the former Notre Dame football star one he'd probably like to forget. With one out in the first inning, Shane Victorino tripled, Chase Utley doubled, and Ryan Howard tripled as the Phillies matched their hit total from 12 innings a night earlier to grab a 2-0 lead. Two innings later, Jimmy Rollins doubled and Victorino followed with a home run to put the visitors ahead 4-1. They delivered the knockout blow to Samardzija in the fourth and roughed up reliever Sean Marshall as well, sending thirteen men to the plate and scoring eight runs. Rollins and Raul Ibanez each had three-run homers in the inning.

That was more than enough for Martinez in his 2009 debut. Showing more velocity than had been reported--his best fastball was 93 miles per hour, and he hit 92 perhaps a half-dozen times--the three time Cy Young winner went five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out five. Martinez didn't quite seem to have the command of his legendary change-up and threw only a handful of curveballs, and he ran out of gas in the fifth inning as the first four Cubs reached base, scoring two runs--but he came back to retire Derrek Lee, Jake Fox and Kosuke Fukudome without further damage to qualify for the win. It should be fun to watch as he re-acclimates to major league competition and gets sharper.

Cliff Lee, the other recent addition with a Cy Young Award on his mantel, faces Ryan Dempster Thursday afternoon as the Phillies go for the sweep.

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Pedro’s post game press conference was hands down the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. Just the whole scene was funny, the stuff he said, the way he dressed…

Best moment comes when he says “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I have 3 Cy Youngs at home”

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by JasonB on Aug 13, 2009 12:38 AM EDT reply actions

online anywhere?

maybe mlb or phillies.com?

by Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 on Aug 13, 2009 12:46 AM EDT up reply actions

I liked the 500 tape recorders sitting on the table.

by SJPhillyVT on Aug 13, 2009 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

I liked that too

It’s like they held the Press Conference at a Radio Shack behind a display counter.

by Cormican on Aug 13, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

They now prefer to be known as “The SHack” – which might be stupider than a starbucks in seattle changing its name and also serving wine and beer

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Aug 13, 2009 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Portable digital recorders look a lot like the old small tape recorder things

Me, i’d have just used my iphone :)

Don't frack with me or you'll get a punch in the kidneys...you've been warned

by jemagee on Aug 13, 2009 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Pedro's Coming Out Party!!

These Phillies remind me so much of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, a.k.a. The Lumber Company!! Those guys were just awesome, and they had enough pitching to win the pennant and World Series vs. Baltimore. They didn’t have flashy pitchers, but they were all workman, and they kept those Pirates in every game.

These Phillies are in the same mold. They don’t have flashy pitchers, with the exception of Lee, but they are all workman, and with Pedro pitching and feeling good again, the young pitchers can do nothing but get better. Our offense is to die for!! ANY Club would give EVERYTHING they had to get an offense like our Phillies have. We are never truly out of a game, and it’s NEVER OVER until the LAST OUT IS RECORDED, they will fight, scratch, and claw, or DIE TRYING!! I love this team, GO PHILLIES!!!

by Jazzinefx on Aug 13, 2009 1:00 AM EDT reply actions

I was at the game

That was fun. There was a group of Phillies fans right next to me, so I had some people to cheer with.

If they showed a fat girl holding up either a “Let’s Go Phillies” sign or “That Ball Is OUTTA HERE” sign, that was probably me.

That ball hit deep! Way back! You can put it on the boooaaaard...YES!

Long drive into deep right center field! This ball is OUTTA HEEERRRREE!
R.I.P. Harry Kalas 4-13-09

by HappyHuman on Aug 13, 2009 1:43 AM EDT reply actions

the article and the phils

not to be picky, but normally these articles have the facts straight so i just thought i would point out a few things, the first thing is a graphic that i saw saying pedro threw his changeup 27 times, and 22 of them were for a strike, implying, at least to me, that he had pretty good command of it, second, jake fox hit the flyout against the warning track to center that scored a sacrifice run for the cubs against pedro in the fifth inning for the 3rd cubs run, he was not retired without further damage by pedro, sorry to be picky, but i read this blog because it is the most fact accurate one out there, recaps are better than on espn and yahoo sports most times, good win for the phils, pedro looks promising, hopefully the phils bats can keep it going against a pretty good pitcher in ryan dempster, would love to see cliff lee actually get some run support for his 3rd start, sometimes when the phillies bust out for this many runs, the next day they have trouble scoring, they need to keep this momentum for this huge series against the braves this weekend

by PhilsForever on Aug 13, 2009 1:44 AM EDT reply actions

Dear god

Periods and paragraphs man.

by phatj on Aug 13, 2009 9:02 AM EDT up reply actions

accuracy and offspeed stuff

Eh, I actually kind of like it when people deconstruct or correct my recaps. I’m doing this for the most part based solely on my recollections and perceptions, and hopefully being corrected, particularly when it’s done in a non-harsh way, pushes me to get better at it.

He did throw the offspeed pitches for strikes more often than not, but location was in and out, at least to my untrained eye. He allowed seven hits and threw 99 pitches in five innings, so when I was watching Sportscenter this morning and they talked about his being “efficient,” I did a double-take. It was a decent-to-good performance against a pretty solid lineup, but nothing in and of itself to be thrilled about IMO. Hopefully he gets better, and I think he will.

by dajafi on Aug 13, 2009 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions

The fact is, Pedro is basically in mid-March form, and it’s mid-August. Will he be up-to-speed on September 1st or so? And what does that do for the Phillies, really? Are we just audition space for him to sign a deal with another team next year? Is there a place for him on this team going forward?

I love Pedro and I thought bringing him in was a cool, creative solution, but I really hope this isn’t “IT.” I guess there’s a touch of buyer’s remorse on my part.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Aug 13, 2009 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions

I see him as hired help, but worthwhile for the expense and opportunity cost. If he’s around in 2010, it’ll be at the expense of keeping Myers on a make-good deal, or giving a shot to someone like Carpenter or Worley, or even Drabek. Maybe that would be worth it, but I’m not feeling that way right now.

We saw Moyer pitch against the Cubs last month at home, and he got tuned up; Martinez wasn’t lights-out last night, but he was good enough, and I do think some of it was shaking off rust. (I loved how some cable bloviators were yelling that his ERA in the minors was as bad as Moyer’s in the bigs; I’d be surprised if minor-league rehab ERAs are any more predictive than spring training ERAs.)

by dajafi on Aug 13, 2009 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Drabek is, at best, a September call up next year. Pitchers learn to pitch in AAA, how to mix in off speed material, work both sides of the plate, set up hitters, etc. Even next fall, he’d likely come up as a long reliever to start off.

Martinez is likely doing the Clemens thing and he’ll probably come back midseason 2010 for whoever needs help. Next Spring will probably see Carrasco, Worley, Carpenter and some other free agent type battling for the 5th rotation spot.

The thought that 3 years from now the rotation could be Hamels, Lee, Happ, Drabek and Carrasco/Blanton. is a damned nice thought though.

by Cormican on Aug 13, 2009 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Carrasco?

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Aug 13, 2009 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Damned lack of sleep

At least I didn’t drool over the possibility of Marstons catching them all.

by Cormican on Aug 13, 2009 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

ha!

It’s okay, the other day I spent a few minutes thinking about whether Jason Donald should fill Bruntlett’s role next season…

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Aug 13, 2009 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Pedro

I hate to be a negative Nancy, but I fear this is reminiscent of the end of a horror movie, when they zoom in on the demon bearfish’s eyes and they suddenly SNAP OPEN.

What I’m saying is, with all those runs, we didn’t see Pedro under a whole lot of pressure. I think, like a horror movie, what we assume is over and ended well, may not be the end of the story.

http://thatballsouttahere.com
Stop yelling at me so that I can yell at you!

by JKlugh on Aug 13, 2009 12:44 PM EDT reply actions