Battle of Attrition: Astros 4, Phillies 2 (16)

Now, THIS loss was a tough one. I am spitting nails right now—angry at the Phillies’ offense, angry at the crappy umpires who think people pay to see them make calls, angry at Ryan Howard for putting Roy Oswalt in the OF (and yet—at the same time—kind of awed that he charged that pig-effer with his hands on his hips, daring Howard to come after him), but most of all…angry at the fact that the Astros, for whatever reason, always seem to give the Phillies fits. They can all EABOD.

Especially Hunter Pence. F him.

Does the platinum sombrero come diamond encrusted for getting ejected?

I still don’t know what to say about the Howard ejection. I mean, he definitely needs to keep his cool under the circumstances, but this is a guy that rarely if ever argues with umpires. More than anything, I’m just surprised we haven’t gotten a good luck at the actual checked swing yet. It does seem like that Scott Barry has a ’tude.

Should also mention that I was highly impressed with Bud Norris. He’s still got some command issues to figure out, but his raw stuff is impressive, and he threw enough strikes tonight to keep the Phillies hitters off balance.

Wow, the Astros are the bane of this team. It is just ridiculous. Halladay hopefully has his nine inning complete game shutoff stuff tomorrow night because this team really needs it.

If they need to be patient with anybody it is Happ, he can be wild sometimes. Need to take walks tomorrow.

wow PF, you type fast…

I guess this is the type of game that happens when the first thought through my mind after J-Roll’s home run was: at least Cole won’t get the loss.

Just got back from the ballpark. Tremendous atmosphere. It was extremely fun, despite the result.

I think this loss will not be discouraging to the team so much as galvanizing, since they will feel like they were victimized by an Enemy. I feel much the same way, or at least the fan analogue of that feeling. Obviously, the team itself missed opportunities as well, but it won’t be as tough to handle as it would have been had the umps not played such a large role in the game as well.

The sequence leading to Howard’s ejection happened so quickly that I missed it entirely. Those of you who watched on TV probably have a much better idea of what happened than I do. In some ways, being ejected might be the best thing that happened to him, because he was (rather unfairly, in my view, considering he is just back from extended time off due to an injury) getting booed a bit toward the end. That will not happen when he gets back on the field, whenever that might be.

of note:

- if anything positive comes of it, it’s a wake-up call for the team. I wouldn’t want to be J.A. Happ tomorrow. I think them boys will be angry.
- I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Howard is suspended a few games for his antics, so so much for the Vaunted Starting Eight. I’ve never seen him that angry, but he had a right to be. In context, that call on the second checked swing should have been in his favor based on the first one – almost every ump evens that out. But you could tell Barry made the second call out of vindictiveness.
- OTOH, if I were Manuel I might have played the game under protest just for the mere sport of it.
- This crew really needs a thorough review by MLB.
- The remaining fans were in full-throated support of Roy Oswalt, who was welcomed in grand style to Philadelphia tonight. Fans on feet for his entire last futile at bat.

I also think the team hit into some tough luck tonight. Howard, Werth, Ibanez, and Ruiz (twice) all hit fairly deep fly balls that were caught. Rollins had a hard liner right at Pence. Those are just off the top of my head. I didn’t really sense that the approaches taken at the plate were so terrible, although you-all’s MMV. I was totally convinced that the Ibanez fly in the 15th was going to end the ballgame, at the moment it left the bat.

So that’s where TP and WL were. It felt a little bit less special around here tonight

Although they are Yankee fans, my grandfather and my mother taught me to never leave a baseball game early. Tonight was the perfect example of why. Even if you have no rooting interest, you never know what’s going to happen during a game.

Where did the Giants offense come from all of a sudden? It’s that damn Cody Ross, isn’t it? I hate that guy! F him, too!

How many games do you think Howard is going to get for this one?

-Does this game ignite the Phillies, causing them to get their acts together and deal out a whuppin’ of their own, or does it leave them flat and likely to get beaten?

On the list of longest current scoreless inning streaks, Halladay was in third (now 2nd considering Rollins homered off of the guy in first) does he make it to the top of that list tomorrow night?

-Do the umpires straighten up in the second half of this series?

- Will the Phillies make it through tomorrow night without an ejection or ejections marring the game?

I am not sure about the first one, think that Halladay will probably keep his streak alive for at least a little while tomorrow, but think that there is not a prayer of the third one, and that tomorrow might be ejection city for the Phillies (1 ejection game one, 2 ejections game two, maybe three tomorrow for game three?)— so buckle your seat belts tomorrow is going to be a bumpy ride!

So like most everyone else I suffered through a marathon game all the while seeing somethings that never in a million years could anyone have predicted.

I wanted to post last night but figured it was just easier to go to bed, sleep it off so to speak and then try it in the morning.

First thing is first. The ump did not cost the Phillies the game last night. He could have, he might have, but to blame it on him ignores the 15 or is it 17 runners the Phillies left on base? It would also ignore the fact that the Phillies were 0 for the game with RISP…all the while managing two runs…two runs against the Astros. A glorified AAAA team. The Phillies lost last night themselves, the umpire however did not help.

Ryan Howard…I don’t know whether to be mad, frustrated or glad to see how things played out for him. Clearly the guy is frustrated, he has been the definition of suck since he came back from the DL, culminating in last nights 0-7 with a staggering 5 K’s. I certainly can’t blame the guy for being frustrated. I don’t blame him for going off on Barry after getting tossed. In fact, I like seeing the fire that Howard displayed last night. I can only hope that last night was an awakening of the monster so to speak. Clearly Howard was frustrated after the first check swing call, which, was in fact a swing. Whether he was frustrated at Barry or himself I can not begin to know. Somehow Barry did. Or so his actions would indicate. Regardless of that, and regardless of the crap call that resulted in Howard striking out and ultimately his ejection from the game, he needs to be mindful of the situation, that there was no one else on the bench and keep his cool. He didn’t do that. Did Barry have a reason to eject Howard? Probably. Did he have a need to do so? Absolutely not. And that is my problem with all of this.

A player can be ejected, he can be fined, and he can be suspended for his actions on the field when they are deemed as unprofessional or inflammatory towards an umpire. A player can be held accountable. But what about the umpire? What recourse is there for the umpire? Once in a great while(see West, Joe) an ump will be fined or suspended for his comments. But on a day to day basis an umpire, someone who is supposed to be fair and unbiased, can be anything but and nothing is done about it. An umpire can hold a grudge and they can act on it if they so decide to do so. A player? Sure they can dislike an umpire but acting as such will result in a less than positive result.

Last night Scott Barry made himself a part of the game. Last night Scott Barry made a decision that was unjust, in my opinion vindictive, and premeditated. Seemed to me that after the first check swing call that Barry was just itching for a reason to toss Howard. In the split second between when Howard K’d and when he was ejected I just knew it was going to happen. Last night Barry made a strike out call, right or wrong he made a call and instead of turning his back and waiting for the next inning to start he stared Howard down, almost bating him to give him a reason. And sure enough, whether it was worthy or not, Howard gave him a reason. Now I personally don’t think tossing a bat is merit enough to throw someone out of the game, hell guys do it all the time, especially when they strike out for the 5th time in a game. At the end of the day it is about accountability, the players are held accountable, umpires? Not so much. Like I said earlier, the ump did not cost the team the game, but they might have. Either way, they played a part in the outcome, the outcome of a team fighting for a playoff spot and that, is more than an umpire should ever do. Thank God Oswalt didn’t get hurt trying to track down a ball in the outfield.

And that is my rant.