Tag Archive: roy halladay

The Head Rush Jinxes Everything

May 6, 2013 Randy Neil

Wow, yesterday’s game against the Marlins was absolutely brutal. Even with those pathetic losses, we still evened that series and put up some pretty decent numbers in the first two games.

On the downside, one of our “aces” is plummeting to the level of worst E.R.A. in the majors, given the amount of innings he has pitched. Yea, it’s fair to say that Halladay may have had his worst outing yet, and he followed that up with the notion that he may be injured and possibly out for the remainder of the season.

This comes right after yours truly said this:

I think it’s pretty safe to say that Halladay won’t be winning any more Cy Young awards, BUT, I think I feel pretty confident in saying that he’s going to be alright this year. He’s getting old, and he definitely doesn’t have the same stuff, but he’s wising up to that fact and pitching accordingly.

Well said, Randy. You’re a friggin’ idiot.

The Head Rush jinx holds true once again.

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It’s About To Be Hittin’ Season Boys

May 4, 2013 Randy Neil

Last night we saw a little resurgence in the Phillies’ lineup. After a dismal 2-run production against the Indians this weekend (in the entire series), the Phillies bounced back and scored 11 runs in the past 2 days which included 2 home runs by the young Domonic Brown.

Can I just throw out the nickname, “Little Piece?” Domonic Brown is starting to hit like his spring-training numbers, and I think it’s about time that fans embraced him.

We’re getting an inconsistent offense right now, but it shows enormous potential. Certainly more than last year. It’s hard to say how the Phillies can go from sweeping our division rival the Mets, to being swept by the Cleveland Indians, only to win the next two against the Marlins. Charlie has been switching around the lineup since the additions of Delmon Young and Carlos Ruiz, and I think that as time goes on, the hitters are only going to get more comfortable.

It’s not as though we ran into stellar pitching over the weekend. If anything, the Mets probably boasted the best rotation of the 3 teams, and yet we were still able to muster wins out of all of them.

Speaking of pitching, do you know who has the best win percentage out of all of our pitchers right now? It’s freakin’ Pettibone! He picked up his second win last night to make his record 2-0. Even stranger, the next guy on that list is Kyle Kendrick with a 3-1 record. Those are our only 2 pitchers above the .500 mark.

I’m not going to jump on the crazy wagon, because it’s insane to think that we can ride those two guys out to a wild card spot, but after 5+ years of watching Kendrick get destroooyyyyyed, it’s nice to finally see some consistency out of him. There’s actually some surprising stats in this great article by Todd Zolecki that will blow your mind, but the most notable was that he is 10-5 with a 2.75 ERA in his last 19 starts. Wow.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that Halladay won’t be winning any more Cy Young awards, BUT, I think I feel pretty confident in saying that he’s going to be alright this year. He’s getting old, and he definitely doesn’t have the same stuff, but he’s wising up to that fact and pitching accordingly. I say this after Halladay’s implosion against the Indians, but didn’t you already see that coming? He just had 3 incredibly solid starts. I think that’s the sort of roller coaster we can expect from him this season. It will be, strangely, consistent.

The point is, GET BACK ON THE WAGON PHILLIES FANS. This season has just begun.

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The Defense Is Killing Me Inside

May 11, 2011 Randy Neil

So the huge pitchers duel from Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay lived up the hype last night (sarcasm.) Yeah, they pitched great, but the Phillies lost, so it’s still a let-down in my eyes. Having Josh Johnson in a fantasy league didn’t help either. You want him to do great, but so great that he still loses. I’m like Tupac with all my inner conflict.

How many innings does Roy Halladay plan on pitching this year?? Seriously. I get that he is a work-horse, the man wants to pitch all the time, but he’s pitched for 61.1 innings so far this year, which leads the league. The next highest is Jered Weaver at 57.7, who is about 5 years younger. It’s awesome that Halladay has the stuff to go 9 innings every start, but it doesn’t mean he should. Not in mid-May.

Charlie needs to start digging into the bullpen and take the reigns a little. Halladay’s emotions were clearly running a little wild when Polanco was too slow throwing out Ramirez in the 8th. Roy looked like he wanted to smash his face in. Just pitch 7-8 innings and save that arm for the fall.

I watched the Grizzlies/OKC game from about 5 minutes of the 4th quarter to the end of the 2nd OT. Yes. That’s right. I stopped watching. Overtime after overtime, it was just getting a little out of control. The identity crisis that Oklahoma City is having right now makes me wonder if they are going to make it past the Mavs IF they make it past the Grizzlies.

Westbrook is taking a lot of heat for not dishing the ball to Durant in this series. They have a lot of weird defensive match-ups with the Grizzlies and it’s hurting the OKC’s offensive scheme, and even causing some drama in the locker room. Westbrook can basically drive at any point he chooses, so I don’t mind that he’s being a little more aggressive. He just needs to understand that the last shot of every quarter shouldn’t be him, and that it shouldn’t be Durant with 2 seconds left with a defender all over him because Westbrook gave a poor pass. It’s a learning experience.

It’s funny how relaxed a lot of these veterans are in the NBA playoffs… as they are losing. Kobe Bryant was ‘convinced’ he could still win the series after being down 3-0 to the Mavericks. And then he lost. The big 3 from Boston are trying to keep the same casual, care-free confidence as they travel to Miami to play the Heat tonight. I wonder what’s going to happen to them…

Once the Conference Finals are set up, I’m sure that we’ll probably have a revamp of our play-off picks. I know I need to. I still think the OKC have a pretty good chance of winning the whole she-bang, but with Miami playing at the level they are, I don’t know who’s gonna stop them. The Bulls and Hawks are taxing themselves in their series, so I pretty much have the Heat winning the East. This sucks of course, because the Miami Heat are everything wrong with the NBA, and they have (in my eyes) the easiest schedule and best chance to win the NBA Finals now.

Step 1 : Abandon teams, assemble new team of stars .
Step 2 : Play entire season casually, as to not strain yourself, draw media attention.
Step 3 : Win NBA Championship.

Perhaps I’m only bringing this up to double-jinx myself on my OKC pick. I mean, to be fair, I haven’t definitively changed my pick yet. There has been no official announcement of my new selection. So… in efforts to be respectable… my pick for the NBA Champion this year is…

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Bring the King. It’s a Great Day in Philly.

April 24, 2011 Randy Neil

Man it feels good to be writing this post. The Philadelphia Phillies swept the San Diego Padres in 4 games. The Flyers somehow brought the Sabres to OT and won, forcing a game 7. Aaaaaand….

After 7 very long, very strenuous games with the Miami Heat this season, the Philadelphia 76ers have finally walked away with a victory. Every game was within reach and followed the exact same pattern, except this one.

Typically, the 76ers start the game off well and outscore the Heat. Then, through fouls and amazing shots, the Heat climb back in and make a final push in the 4th quarter. Every game it seemed like the “Big 3” were demoralizing the efforts of our younger players and it was keeping the game out of reach. It would happen on cue with about 5 minutes left in the game. You could set your watch to it.

Here’s some of the differences I saw in this game :

1) Altercations. For 6 games you could see the Sixers deflate after Lebron James and Dwayne Wade put on a spectacle. For game 4 of this playoff series, you finally saw the 76ers show some teeth. Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner both got in the face of Jones in the 2nd quarter, and it had to be broken up. Spencer Hawes wrapped up Lebron James during a drive and he was livid. And Spencer Hawes got right back at him. You could finally see some anger when we used to just see despair. It showed resilience.

2) Fouls and points in the paint. We all know the insane amount of calls the Heat were getting nearly every time they drove in the paint. The Sixers weren’t getting those calls, but that’s mostly due to the fact that they weren’t even driving to the basket. Lou Williams, Evan Turner, and Jrue Holiday all drove in the paint consistently in the 4th and kept pushing to keep the intensity up. Yes, most of those got blocked, but it’s more the principle at that point. For the previous 3 games in this series when the lead would get out of hand, the Sixers fell back on making poor jumpers from outside, and a miss would result in an immediate rebound and score for the Heat. Driving helped keep the rebounds alive for us and established some presence where it hadn’t been before.

3) Miracles. Two back to back 3-pointers in the final 40 seconds of the game really made the difference. We finished the game 10-0 which is an absurd stat. The end-of-game stats were also much more favorable for the 76ers (which means they were actually even.) Team fouls were practically tied at 17 (MIA) and 18 (PHI.) Offensive rebounds, the stat that destroyed the Sixers, were dead even at 9 a piece. We actually out-rebounded them as a whole 18-16.

Even if we lost this game, I still would walk away with a great sense of accomplishment. We had 14 more wins than last year. We have a solid young core of great basketball players led by an amazing coach. The upcoming years in Philadelphia are going to be great.

It’s a great day to be in Philly. Happy Easter everybody.

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The 2011 Philadelphia Phillies Opening Day Lineup

April 1, 2011 Randy Neil

Yea, yea, Opening Day was yesterday. But we’re in Philadelphia. Opening Day starts today. First pitch starts (hopefully) at 1PM ET at Citizens Bank Park. I’ve seen flurries and rain all morning, but talk is that the game will be played as scheduled. Yippie.

The Lineup

1. Shane Victorino CF
2. Placido Polanco 3B
3. Jimmy Rollins SS
4. Ryan Howard 1B
5. Rauuuuul Ibanez LF
6. Ben Francisco RF
7. Carlos Ruiz C
8. Wilson Valdez
9. Roy Halladay

LETS GO PHILLIES!!

(God that’s an awful Photoshop job I know. Wasn’t me!)

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Domonic Brown, Doc Halladay, and Roy Oswalt walk into a bar…

July 29, 2010 Randy Neil

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A few weeks ago, the Phillies seemed hopeless.  The team has lost 11 of 18 since July 1st.  They dropped 7 games back in the division, and their offensive rank in the NL had dropped from 2nd to 12th. 

Although the Phillies line-up was often reduced due to injuries, on July 22nd, Charlie Manuel said goodbye to hitting coach Milt Thompson in an attempt to shake up the ball club.  Greg Gross, the former hitting coach, replaced him, and it was met with immediate success.

In fact, as of now, success is a poor word.  It’s been perfection.  The Phillies have gone 7-0 since the replacement, and have had 4 games with 6 runs or more. 

Last night was one of those games, and I managed to make it down to Citizens Bank Park to catch what is now once again a beautiful team to watch.  

Due to Shane Victorino’s abdominal strain (on a routine pop up mind you,) the highly anticipated Domonic Brown was called up from Triple-A to make his debut for the Phillies last night, starting in right field.  Werth was moved to center, and they both batted in the 5th and 6th positions in the line-up.  

Before Brown’s named was even announced for the at-bat, the 45,000+ in attendance were standing in ovation for the debut.  There was a feeling in the air something special was happening and I was glad to witness from 20 rows back behind home plate. 

The prospect flourished in the minor leagues, and all the hype building up to last night made what happened even more special.  Domonic went 2-3, scoring an RBI double in his first at bat.  Overall, he had 2 runs, 2 RBIs and a sacrifice fly for the night.  Not too bad for your first game in the major leagues.  

It was also nice to see Roy Halladay finally pitch, and he was outstanding.  6 hits, 9 strike-outs, 1 earned run.  Doctor’s doing some surgery.

The Phillies finally have momentum carrying into the stretch, and with news of Roy Oswalt coming to town, things should only get better from here on out.

altEarlier this morning, news was released that the Astros and Phillies have come to an agreement for Roy Oswalt to come to Philadelphia.  The sad news is most likely J.A. Happ is going to Houston.  I’m not a big fan of this, but something of this magnitude was going to require a little sacrifice.  Another prospect being speculated in the trade is Triple-A 1st basemen Jonathan Singleton.  We’re pretty OK on the first basemen front, so I think I’ll be able to sleep at night.

None of the official names or figures are being released, and there are still possibilities of Joe Blanton being the pitcher to go (hopefully,) but according to the Phillies official website, a deal is “in-place” and it’s awaiting Oswalt’s OK.  This is going to happen, and it will probably happen by the end of the day.

The Phillies are getting back to their form, and a Halladay-Oswalt-Hamels starting rotation sounds pretty damn good to me.  The Phillies projected starting line-up has only been on the field 8 times this year.  With that number set to increase in the upcoming weeks, and a stronger starting pitching rotation, I’d expect to see the Braves’ 3.5 game lead in the division diminish.  

Do work, fellas.

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