Phillies look to silence the ‘Cowbells’ in Game 1
Down here in Tampa all the rage is about ‘Cowbell Time’, it’s something
a lot of fans bring to the games down here in Tampa Rays country. Every
news story on tv mentions it, and the ringing of the cowbell is loud
and under the dome stadium, it rings even louder. A lot of people don’t
like the constant ringing of these things, including sportscasters and
visitors to the ballpark from the opposing team.
The Tampa fans
have barely been able to celebrate their ALCS victory and suddenly find
themselves in Game 1 of the World Series tonight with their first ever
appearance in such a game. The Rays team has got to be wanting a rest,
and two days isn’t long enough. The team does have youth but I don’t
think youth carries the day in this World Series. I don’t understand
why the Rays are even the favorite in the World Series in the first
place other than the fact that nobody is giving the proper respect to
the Phillies who are stocked with All Star caliber talent.
Tonight
will tell if the Phillies did have too much rest from last week’s quick
win over the LA Dodgers, I am glad they did win it so fast though, we
could be playing Boston just as easily in the World Series Game 1 and I
am happy the team is the Rays instead. The Rays aren’t superhuman, they
do lose and I think they lose Game 1 tonight in front of their hometown
crowd.
Beating the Tampa Rays:
In
late September, the Rays lost 3 of 4 to the Detroit Tigers. Detroit was
terrible all year, but they handled the Rays just fine. Of course the
Rays rested a few regulars but this shows that the Rays can be hit and
scored on.
The Rays also have produced average home run stats or
below average for a team all year long. The Phillies have won a few
postseason games just based on the home run. So look for the Phillies
having the edge when they can go deep with home runs.
Game 1
starter James Shields is 1-2 in the postseason, he is young and the
postseason jitters will turn into the World Series jitters as he takes
the mound tonight. I think this is big for the Phillies. Your game 1
starter is 1-2 for the Rays and he is supposed to be the best on the
team.
The Phillies are stocked with All Star caliber
players, Rollins and Howard have yet to show that they are the players
that are trully ‘All Star’. Look for them to have super stats in the
World Series. Rollins did have a few key hits in the Dodgers series but
look for him to have more in the W.S. and maybe become “Mr. October”.
Oh yes, I am so glad I am down here in Tampa, I am reading all the talk
about Billy Penn’s curse back in the Philly media, and I think all that
is just a bunch of bull! Leave it to certain media to bring up the
negatives. I don’t believe in any of this, if anything the Phillies
have played better than they ever have in the last month, let’s
celebrate that not the myths carried on by certain media outlets.
Rich Baxter – Fightin Phillies Blog
The Tampa sun should bring Phillies pfun!
I wore my Phillies
jersey down here in Tampa today. I expected to talk baseball with
people and my expectations weren’t disappointed. The desk clerk was
first as when we started talking baseball he told me the Rays barely
attracted 20,000 people a night up to the All Star break and now
everyone is a Rays fan. That is so true, both Florida teams seem to be
that way. The whole season the hometown fans don’t seem to support
them, look at the Florida Marlins for instance, but if they make the
playoffs and World Series the fans come crawling out of the wood work.
Everywhere
I went down here, I encountered people who were finally happy to see a
guy with a Phillies shirt on! I heard that many times during the day,
and most people were very polite when they didn’t think much of my
Phillies shirt or choice of team. I even went down to St.Petersburg to
the stadium in a vain attempt to get tickets to Game 1 at the ticket
window at the stadium. I was told there will be a sale of seats, and
any remaining seats would go onsale at the Rays site if there were any
left. The actual sale of the tickets will be on Tuesday with the game
on Wednesday. I encountered some real die hard Rays fans waiting for
the players to arrive, they treated myself and my Mrs. like one of
their own, they knew we had come to get a glimpse of our heros from
Philadelphia, just as they were waiting for their local Tampa heros.
I
also went to the Clearwater Bright House Network Phillies stadium where
they have a gift shop that is open all year round, I looked at some
nice branded hats with the World Series logo on them, and some nice
shirts among other things. If you’re coming down to the games, go there
for your merchandise. It’s all in a nice gift shop right at the stadium.
Game 2 goes to the Phillies and the Fans!
The crowd at Game 2 for this NLCS game was one of the best crowds I’ve
ever been in to watch a baseball game. The festive mood, and atmosphere
around the Citizens Bank Park was electric to say the least. The fans
were behind every pitch that Brett Myers threw on Friday early evening
in Philadelphia. Not a moment went by practically when there wasn’t
action on the field. I was listening to the game on the radio as I was
sitting in my seat next to my beautiful wife, and listening to the guys
talk about how the Phillies have determined that they can pitch to
Manny and they know how to pitch him now in certain situations. Just
after they said this, Manny put one in the left field bleachers for a
three run shot, I remember thinking to myself the words that I spoke in
my Phillies podcast, “Don’t let Manny beat you”. He didn’t beat us this
day, but I suggest the Phillies be a little more in a hurry to walk him
and pitch to someone else instead.
This game was one of the
best I’ve ever been to, yes I know the people out there reading this
and saying “Your best seat is in your living room” yes, that may be
true… my father is always telling me this, but no on this occasion
you would never get the goosebumps and the feeling that these fans
envoked on this game. The tears for Charlie Manuel when they panned
over to someone in the crowd you made a sign up “This one’s for Mom”
with a heart next to it! You can’t get more emotion than this really.
There is nothing quite like this series against the Dodgers, it almost
seems like the Phillies are destined to be in the World Series in 2008!
They are playing like a giant steamroller, steamrolling everything in
their path, and they’ll stop at nothing to win it all. The team of 2008
may have a date with destiny – as a World Champion….
Rich Baxter – Fightin Phillies blog
October baseball starts today for the Phillies
The first day of the postseason is upon us and the Phillies are raring to go. A lot of talk of going deeper into the playoffs this year was the topic of several of the players after the Phils clinched the division for the second straight year.
Phillies fans aren’t the problem, it’s the atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park!
Quoted from philly.com and Todd Zolecki in bold from 9/12/08:
Charlie Manuel said he never meant the fans.
Manuel caused a stir yesterday with a comment he made after Wednesday’s 7-3 loss to the Florida Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.
Asked
about the team’s recent struggles, the Phillies’ manager said: “We won
a game here against the Mets in extra innings [on Aug. 26], and it
seemed like everyone in Philly got real high.
“The next night,
we lost and there was a big difference. People got flat. Now, the team
didn’t, but the whole environment was that way. And that has an effect
on the team and the players.”
Many took “people got flat” as Manuel’s blaming the fans, who have come in record numbers this year.
The problem is not with the fans, Charley and Phillies management. The
problem with motivating the crowd is the stuff that used to happen in
Veterans Stadium doesn’t happen at Citizens Bank Park.
There
is no organ music to get the crowd going in the ‘new’ ballpark, there
is nothing really going on sound wise that helps fans ‘get happy’ and
clap – like the old ‘clapping hands’ on the scoreboard you used to see
to pump up the crowd at the ballpark at Veterans Stadium. These types of things always
pumped up the crowd. I know because I was there and I remember all
those little things. You had a couple bigger scoreboards keeping fans
uptempo when the team needed a little extra help. It is no where to be
found at Citizens Bank Park! That is the problem.
There
isn’t any thing going on except for the Phillie Phanatic, and he
entertains some people but he can’t do it all. He gets people clapping,
but there’s no music to go along with that… this needs to be fixed.
You’ll see more activity from fans if Phillies management recognizes
that it is them that needs to do more to fix this.
Rich Baxter – Fightin Phillies blog
Phils and Brewers play 3 in two days now
The Phillies rainout forced another double header for the team, but it also afforded another day of rest for a starting pitching staff that has been pulling double duty lately. The Phillies are still in the hunt for the playoffs and I got my tickets for the playoffs ordered today!
We need that offense to keep roaring for Saturday’s game vs. the Brew Crew – The Phillies need to do something with the starting rotation. With the pitchers they have currently, that poses and interesting problem. You can demote Kendrick, who has flopped in the last three games terribly. Who do you bring into the rotation though? I think Adam Eaton is finished as a starting pitcher. He has had nothing but bad numbers this year and toward the end of last. He’s lost his winning ways and even his stint in the minors had him serving up softballs to them that they hit out of the park reguarly.
The answer to this problem is simple, JA Happ deserves the chance to give his best to the club for the last two weeks. He’s got some good skills and may be a pitcher the Phillies rely on in the future. Time will tell what happens with the situation but that is one option that looks good at this point.
Phillies show their ugly side last night vs. Nationals
The Phillies are the team with two heads. One head is a team that could
win it all, everything purrs like a kitten and when this happens it is
just great. Last night the Phillies turned in what looked like the
other head they have, it is ugly and when it shows itself, you just
want to turn away.
The Phillies had a situation where the
Nationals had the bases loaded, two ground balls and nobody threw home?
This is just unexplainable. These are major league players, and this
shouldn’t happen. Phillies announcer on the radio, Larry Anderson, was
livid on the radio broadcast of the game. You can always look to him to
tell the truth about something. He did tell the truth last night, he
was really mad at the Phillies and said, “There’s two errors you won’t
see in the box score.” His sidekick didn’t say a word, he generally
doesn’t berate the Phillies but this time it was true and the Fightins
looked like a high school team. Ryan Howard’s indecision left him to
throw to second base when he clearly had a play at the plate, the guy
would have been out by 15 feet.
The Phils fall 3 whole
games behind the Mets, this team could be out of it by next week at
this time if things don’t change for them. The bullpen implodes
regularly now, the offense is producing but not enough when the bullpen
implodes, and sometimes the offense doesn’t show up at all. They are
not out of it yet, but this weekend says it all for the team. If they
can’t beat the Mets, they won’t be going to the playoffs.
Rich Baxter - FightinPhillies.com
Cubs series will be crucial to Phillies playoff chance
So far in Chicago, the Phillies have been snake bitten in Chicago. They’ve lost two very important games to Chicago with the bullpen appearing to have a big problem holding games all of a sudden. The offense is doing their job, and now the pitching seems to have let the Phillies down a bit, though they are not out. Yet.
The Phillies fell to 2.0 games out of first now, and with the games dwindling down to the month of September now with the remaining schedule, they have to do all they can to get back to their winning ways.
The Fightins have lost three in a row now, and this late in the season they can’t afford to do that. On paper, they are almost statistically identical to the NY Mets, the Phils have just stumbled a bit lately. This type of play isn’t the mark of a World Series winner, but if the Phils just make the playoffs that in itself becomes a new season and nothing previous matters.
The Mets haven’t seen the last of the loss column, that is for sure. The one terrible stat the Phillies have this year is their record for day games, they are 16-22. This isn’t a good sign. Somehow, they have to find out why their record during the day isn’t too good. This day record the Phillies have is equal to the record of the Washington Nationals, so you can see this isn’t good.
Here’s some misc. stats of the Phils so far:
Ryan Howard… Strikeouts 2008… 175 as of 8/29
Chase Utley… Hit by pitch… 21 ” “
Jimmy Rollins… Triples… 9 “
Phillies need to pickup the pieces
A trip out to the West Coast for the Phillies has brought nothing but quiet bats, losses, and Jimmy being Jimmy. Or was that Manny being Manny? Oh well, when your making $8 million this year and millions before, I guess you can say whatever you want to when your Jimmy Rollins. I think a lot of these ballplayers lose sight of who actually comes out to see them. It isn’t millionaires for the most part, they’re too busy making money to actually go out and see the team, no it’s hard working people who have to put their season tickets on credit cards and pay on time just to keep their season seats. So, are you going to support that fan, Jimmy? No, I didn’t think so. I’ve always liked Jimmy and I continue to be a fan of his but get off this subject and get out there and start getting the job done on the field!
Well, moving on, we have a swept team looking for salvation in San Diego tonight. This team needs a win, as the Mets won against Pittsburgh and look like a team turned around. The Phillies need to win every time the Mets win just to stay up with them, the minute the Phils lose when the Mets win, they start digging that winter hole that they can crawl into in October and miss the playoffs.
What happened? J Roll seems to be off on a temper tantrum, Utley curses at the fans that boo right on national tv, the whole team isn’t hitting almost like Ryan Howard’s average every game and Myers looks like he’s going to kill someone out there on the mound when he’s pitching. This is certainly going from bad to worse, they need a bit of lightening up a bit, bring a clown into the clubhouse or something, a comedian perhaps. The team needs to take a load off their mind, and just relax and play baseball.
I predict the Phils knock the seams off the ball tonight and win big in game one in San Diego!
The team did lose 6 straight already this year in June, I don’t think they break that streak. They need a win though and start taking every game seriously but relax and have fun.
Rollins and Utley: two views, do they say the same thing?
In the games against the L.A. Dodgers, Jimmy Rollins went 3-17. He
found time to talk about the fans though, somethings are better left
unsaid and that subject is one of them. There is no easy explaination
of why Philly fans take delight in booing a player when they aren’t
doing too well. The obvious thing for the fans to do in the players
benefit would be to offer encouragement to a player that needs the
extra support. ‘Angry mob’ mentality dictates that this isn’t what
happens though, and it is easier to boo than reason with why a player
is doing badly.
Schmidt tried to tackle this subject, as did
Carlton, and many other great Phillies. It’s bothered all of them. Pat
Burrell has maintained a silence on the subject for the most part,
though I know something is simmering and one day he’ll tell us all how
he feels about the subject. It’s just not easy to put a handle on it,
I’ve been to many a game though in Philly and I find that the ignorant
ones that boo are just trying to make some noise because they actually
want attention more than the fact that they are booing a player for any
given reason. The problem is there seems to be a lot of those types in
a crowd at times.
When Utley said the infamous words that he
uttered about fans that booed, he just said, “Boo? – F$$k You!” and no
one said anything. The Utley comment flew over the radar by Philly fans
and instead of J Roll trying to be philosophical about it, he should
have just said the same thing and nothing would have been said. J Roll
should have just said that very comment on the “Best Damn Sports Show
Period” and he wouldn’t be in the trouble he is in with some fans today.
Utley’s comments weren’t just directed at NY Fans, it pertained to
every fan really. I like Utley as a player, but I didn’t like what he
said when he said it on national tv at the Home Run Derby in July.
Rollins is firmly entrenched into a different realm with these comments, he directed it at the wrong time, with the Phillies doing so badly in LA and now he’ll hear it real loud on Tuesday night. He has moved into an area that Schmidt, Carlton, and all the Phillies greats have been exposed to. What a difference a year makes, he’s MVP last year and this year the tables have turned.
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