Rollins extends pop-up streak in bizarre, nut-kicking loss to Dodgers
Jimmy Rollins extended his historic pop-up streak to one too many games and in a completely unrelated story, the Phils suffered a tough 4-3 loss to the Dodgers, ending their 7-game win-streak.
Brad Lidge took the loss in a bizarre ninth inning where he recorded two quick outs then loaded the bases with the next three batters after getting ahead with 1-2 counts on each of them. Casey Blake singled, James Loney walked and then came the real bizarre play where Pedro Feliz booted a Russell Martin grounder. Andre Ethier then busted one to the right field fence, ending the game.
Lost in the fray was Jamie Moyer’s second straight quality start. Not lost in the fray was Rollins’ continued egg-laying atop the Phils order.
“If it would help the team to drop me in the batting order, you best believe I’d do it,” Rollins told reporters after the game. “As the vocal team leader and most recent MVP winner on the squad, I have to admit when I’m struggling. And when that day comes when I realize I’m struggling, you’ll be the first to know.”
Controversy bound to hover over Moyer's pursuit of all-time home run record
Jamie Moyer lost another bid for his 250th career win in Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Marlins, but inched closer to becoming baseball’s all-time home run [given up] leader.
The fourth-inning jack by Wes Helms gave Moyer 477 for his career, 28 behind Phillies great Robin Roberts’ 505 for the all-time record, which could fall later this season.
“If Moyer gets to 506, baseball purists may put an asterisk by his name in the record books,” said ESPN’s Buster Olney. “There’s no doubt that his totals were inflated by steroid use, even if Moyer wasn’t the one actually taking them.”
Moyer has surrendered a slew of home runs to outed and suspected steroid users over the years including Manny Ramirez (10), Alex Rodriguez (6), Barry Bonds (5), Rafael Palmeiro (5), Brady Anderson (5), Juan Gonzalez (4) and Lenny Dykstra (1).
Meanwhile, Roberts was lit up by a far more respectable bunch, including Duke Snider (19), Hank Aaron (9), Jackie Robinson (9) and the ever-dangerous Wally Moon (9).
“I can’t help that every record nowadays has steroids attached to it,” said Moyer. “Did a lot of my home runs come from the bats of known steroid users? Yes. Could I allow 500 home runs without them? Probably.”
Werth’s omen leads to four stolen bases; Phils take Game 1 of NLCS rematch
Jayson Werth tied a franchise record with four steals for the Phils, including a steal of home in the seventh inning to cap a 5-3 win over the Dodgers.
Werth would later credit his explosion on the basepaths to a visit from legendary ballplayer Michael ‘Squints’ Palledorous in a dream the night before.
“He gave me the ‘Everybody gets one chance to do something great’ speech, went on and on about how much of a nag Wendy Peffercorn turned out to be and that was pretty much it,” Werth said after the game. “I just took it as an omen to put my PF Flyers on.”
Jamie Moyer will get the call for the Phils and will face ex-Phillie Randy Wolf on Wednesday night in Game 2 of the three-game set.
Hamels lit up in debut; Suddenly Myers' opening night start doesn't look half bad
Cole Hamels made his season debut against the Rockies on Friday and was Eaton’d (v. – to have your face beaten in on the mound and get taken out of the game with zero dignity and your tail tucked neatly between your legs) to the tune of allowing 11 hits and seven earned runs in only 3.2 innings in the 10-3 loss.
Hamels was the latest Phillie to take the hill and get Eaton’d worse than the previous night’s starter. Brett Myers kicked the season off allowing a minuscule four runs in six innings followed by Jamie Moyer’s ho-hum four runs in five innings of work. Joe Blanton took it up a notch by allowing seven runs in only four innings of work, then Hamels was like “You think that was pathetic? Check this out” and proceeded to post the worst outing by a Phils starter to date.
“Getting Eaton’d out there night after night is tough,” said Rich Dubee. “At this point, we’ll settle for a Kendricking. What…too soon?”
Panic sets in as Phils winless drought barrels into day four; no end in sight
Jamie Moyer took the mound on Tuesday in hopes of erasing the memory of a painful opening night.
That hope lasted about of 3/5 of a second when Kelly Johnson sent Moyer’s batting practice fast-ishball well into the right field stands to begin Atlanta’s near deja vu 4-0 victory over the Phillies.
Moyer nearly cloned Brett Myer’s pitching performance from Sunday by giving up four runs, but in only five innings compared to Myers’ six. The lineup tried its damndest to clone the output from two days before, but left out the part where they were supposed to score at least one run.
Irate fans are already calling for everyone’s head from Brett Myers and Jamie Moyer to Jimmy Rollins and pretty much everyone that could draw a pulse, both on and off the field.
“Yeah, everybody’s completely freaking out and worried that we’re falling apart or something,” Rollins said after the game. “Keep in mind we lost our first two games last year to the Nationals…and they ended up losing 102 games while we won the World Series. If we lose this next game on Wednesday though…I’d say it’s definitely time to go bananas and completely freak the hell out.”
Joe ‘Babe’ Blanton will take the mound and face Javier Vazquez in the final game of the three-game series against the Braves on Wednesday.
Stairs, Moyer fighting urge to give wholesome 'back in my day' speech every inning
MLB elders Matt Stairs and Jamie Moyer are having a hard time holding back their opinions on the unsettling behavior of the “young punks” around the league.
“These guys today are spoiled rotten, plain and simple,” Moyer said on Saturday. “From the way they wear their baggy britches all the way down to their spikes to their fancy megatron scoreboards … baaaah, just spoiled, the whole lot of ‘em.”
Stairs, who is competing for the final roster spot, has noticed several unwelcome changes since the time he entered the league in 1992 with the Montreal Expos.
“Nowadays, guys come straight from the womb with $10 million signing bonuses and shoe deals,” said Stairs. “Back in my day, I knew guys that struggled to find two pennies to rub together to afford their PEDs. Guys today just have no respect for the game.”