Phillies vs Yankees

[Admin]

Oh come on now the plate ump was calling strikes on both sides of the plate that were balls. He was calling more strikes on balls that were on the right side of the plate but the Yankees pitchers too more advantage of it.

If the Yankees didn't get screwed in the 7th they would have had bases loaded with 1 out already up 3-1. The ump made the best call he could, but it was a bad call. At least karma evened it out the next inning.

Yes it was Howard that I was referring to that sucked worse than A-Rod (who also sucked big time).

[NJHAWK]

Burnett pitched great, Rivera is the closer of all closers all time, he doesnt need to get those calls but the umps seem the need to give the Yankees calls. I really dont think it was the same for both teams. I highly doubt those calls get called on Jeter or AROD. I missed the bottom of the 7th at work so Im trying to piece together what your talking about. I saw the highlight of the play where Howard caught the ball and threw it to second for what looked like a double play. Did they call it a double play and Howard really didnt catch it?

[NJHAWK]

Nevermind, I just saw the highlight again. I do think Howard would have tug 1st if the ump didnt say catch though so they would have had one out. The Yankees got hosed there which pretty much equals the missed call on Utleys double play. They need instant replay in baseball. These umps are horrible.

[NJHAWK]

That Howard play is worth talking about on the subject of instant replay in baseball. I saw a couple quick replays of it and cant really tell for sure the ball hit the grond. Im sure somebody can come up with a blow up picture of it hitting the ground . Anyway my point is Howard clearly runs toward 1st to tag the base when the ump calls out so my guess is he throws to second to get the lead runner, not Posada but the guy who was on second at the start of the play on a line out double play. You have to think the players heard the ump call out because as soon as Rollins gets the ball from Howard he runs to tag Posada and heads toward the dugout. So if it was a trap the Yanks would have had 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs because I firmly believe Howard is going to tag 1st. The game is over now so its all specualtion but MY POINT here is even with instant replay how do you change a call like that. Howard would have tug 1st if the ump had not called out so how can you reverse that play, how can you fault a player for acting upon an umpires call? Could they rule that Howard would have tug 1st and give the Yanks 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs in that situation?

[Admin]

That Howard play is worth talking about on the subject of instant replay in baseball. I saw a couple quick replays of it and cant really tell for sure the ball hit the grond. Im sure somebody can come up with a blow up picture of it hitting the ground . Anyway my point is Howard clearly runs toward 1st to tag the base when the ump calls out so my guess is he throws to second to get the lead runner, not Posada but the guy who was on second at the start of the play on a line out double play. You have to think the players heard the ump call out because as soon as Rollins gets the ball from Howard he runs to tag Posada and heads toward the dugout. So if it was a trap the Yanks would have had 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs because I firmly believe Howard is going to tag 1st. The game is over now so its all specualtion but MY POINT here is even with instant replay how do you change a call like that. Howard would have tug 1st if the ump had not called out so how can you reverse that play, how can you fault a player for acting upon an umpires call? Could they rule that Howard would have tug 1st and give the Yanks 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs in that situation?

That right there should be all the evidence that anyone needs to know that the ball hit the ground. If he caught it in the air there's no way he would have started running toward 1st base.

Still though it's a human error and nearly impossible to call correctly in real-time so I don't have a problem with it even though it might have cost the Yankees a run or more.

I'm not in favor of more instant replay with baseball and the human error is a big part of why I love baseball.

[AHF]

Strike zone inconsistency is one of my big complaints about baseball. I just find it frustrating, not endearing.

[Admin]

Strike zone inconsistency is one of my big complaints about baseball. I just find it frustrating, not endearing.

As long as it's consistent throughout the game that's all that I care about, just call it the same for both teams.

I'm not sure what can be done about that as there are so many variables involved. I remember back in the ALCS that the ump was calling a lot of balls on pitches in a certain spot against the Angels pitchers because the catcher was too high in his stance and blocked part of the ump's view. Between innings the Angels manager came out and talked to the ump and determined that he needed to have his catcher get more into the crouch and sure enough they started getting those calls after that.

[AHF]

As long as it's consistent throughout the game that's all that I care about, just call it the same for both teams.

That is the most important guideline but even inconsistency between games annoys me, and I will never forgive or come up with any rationale to justify Eric Gregg's strike zone.

[NJHAWK]

Im not 100% sure what the umps have against Scott Kasmir but he got shafted not only in his start vs the Yankees in this post season but in the W.S. last year vs the Phillies. He was throwing pitches right down the middle of the plate and the ump just casually said ball time after time.

[DjGrizz]

Phillies in 6

Edited October 31, 2009 by DjGrizz

[Admin]

Phillies in 6

I suppose it's possible that the Phillies win the next 3 in a row .... but I wouldn't count on it.

[NJHAWK]

Hamels could not overcome the disappointment of the umps 2 gift runs on the walk by Textera on a clear and obvious strike 3 and then the home run that should have been a double. As soon as they went to review it I knew it was over for the Phils on that call. Whether its a camera or a 12 year old kid reaching over the railing that call is always going to go to the Yankees. Cole just could not realize that he was still ahead and not behind and I'll never understand why he threw a curve ball at all when he had Swisher baffled with the fast ball and change up. Then he throws a curve to the pitcher? Tomorrows game should be intersting to see whether it even gets played or not. Earlier they were saying it looked like a wash out. If that happens the Phils prolly go to Lee. If not the Yanks have taged Blanton in the past but the Phils have tagged Sabathia in Philly so it could be another 8-5 type game. Ryan Howard better be one of the several Phillies with the flu otherwise he is choking big time.

[Admin]

After the game Charlie Manuel said that the umps told him BEFORE THE GAME that if a ball hit the camera it was a home run. They didn't get that because "they're the Yankees" give me a break. That ball wasn't going to clear the wall without the camera being there by much but it was obvious that it would have cleared the wall after looking at the replay. The umps made the right call. You can say that the walk to Texiera was an obvious strike 3 but that's only borderline obvious on the Fox pitch tracker (which isn't official anyway). It was a borderline pitch and sometimes pitchers get those, sometimes they don't.

The big mistake that Hamels made tonight was throwing a curve ball to Pettitte. You HAVE to throw him something difficult to hit, don't help him out by speeding his bat up.

Hopefully the game won't get canceled tomorrow as I'd much rather face Blanton in game 4 than Lee but I'm confident that even if Lee pitches he won't be as dominant the 2nd time around and CC will be better.

Still sticking with my prediction of Yankees in 6.

[NJHAWK]

This was a real tough loss tonight. The Phils did what they had to do in keeping it close enough with Blanton and Sabathia to get to the middle relief and tie it up and hopefully the series up. Then Lidge gets two outs and two strikes on Damon and yet another Yankee flair kind of like all their seeing eye singles or infield hopper and a complete choke with the Phils not covering 3rd and boom all hell breaks loose. Of all guys he hits Texteria who has one hit the whole series and then just throws fastballs to Arod because Damon is on 3rd. I dont agree with that at all, throw your slider. Ruiz is great at blocking it and he hadnt thrown a bad one yet. You are not getting a bum like Cabrea or Swisher out with just throwing a fastball much less that Android Aroid. I cannot belive the Phils are in this whole but I figured they were just like last year the way they cruised through the playoffs again. Unfortunetly our problems in the regualr season with Lidge, no Romero for Lefties, and Cole Hamels a shell of himself have all poped up again in this series. The bats were there tonight for the Phils but alot of their hard hits were right at people. The Yankees hit one or two balls hard all night by Damon in the 1st and Aroid in the 9th but score 7 runs, lol but thats baseball. Man when Feliz hit that homer off goofy hat who looked to be in tears on the bench and then Jeter who I thought was going to kill us in that at bat strikes out I though for sure this series will be tied. Especially when it looked like the Yanks were going to use Coke or Hughes in the 9th. Two strikes on Damon and maybe 3 because I would love to see the replay on that called foul ball again...... Now the Phils have to come alive and win 3 straight. I like the Pitching matchups for game 5 and 6 if we win game 5. Man the home plate ump was horrible again. Not only did he have both teams baffled with what was a ball or a strike Ryan Howard never even had to touch home plate but the ump gave a safe signal and like I said I would love to see a replay if Damon fouled that 2 srtike pitch. Does it matter now, no but you gotta shout when your team gets hosed.

[NJHAWK]

After the game Charlie Manuel said that the umps told him BEFORE THE GAME that if a ball hit the camera it was a home run. They didn't get that because "they're the Yankees" give me a break. That ball wasn't going to clear the wall without the camera being there by much but it was obvious that it would have cleared the wall after looking at the replay. The umps made the right call. You can say that the walk to Texiera was an obvious strike 3 but that's only borderline obvious on the Fox pitch tracker (which isn't official anyway). It was a borderline pitch and sometimes pitchers get those, sometimes they don't.

The big mistake that Hamels made tonight was throwing a curve ball to Pettitte. You HAVE to throw him something difficult to hit, don't help him out by speeding his bat up.

Hopefully the game won't get canceled tomorrow as I'd much rather face Blanton in game 4 than Lee but I'm confident that even if Lee pitches he won't be as dominant the 2nd time around and CC will be better.

Still sticking with my prediction of Yankees in 6.

Yeah I didnt listen to the post game comments but I heard that it was a field rule which was why it didnt take the umps long to reverse their call. I should have known Buck and McCarver had no clue what they were talking about when they said the umps made a judgement of whether it could have gone over the fence or not . How the hell can you look at that and judge for sure whether it would go out or not? My only question is why The F is there a camera in the field of play?

[Admin]

Yeah I didnt listen to the post game comments but I heard that it was a field rule which was why it didnt take the umps long to reverse their call. I should have known Buck and McCarver had no clue what they were talking about when they said the umps made a judgement of whether it could have gone over the fence or not . How the hell can you look at that and judge for sure whether it would go out or not? My only question is why The F is there a camera in the field of play?

It's very simple to track the trajectory of the ball when they give you one of those side view replays of it. It wasn't going to clear by much but it was definitely going over.

[Admin]

This was a real tough loss tonight. The Phils did what they had to do in keeping it close enough with Blanton and Sabathia to get to the middle relief and tie it up and hopefully the series up. Then Lidge gets two outs and two strikes on Damon and yet another Yankee flair kind of like all their seeing eye singles or infield hopper and a complete choke with the Phils not covering 3rd and boom all hell breaks loose. Of all guys he hits Texteria who has one hit the whole series and then just throws fastballs to Arod because Damon is on 3rd. I dont agree with that at all, throw your slider. Ruiz is great at blocking it and he hadnt thrown a bad one yet. You are not getting a bum like Cabrea or Swisher out with just throwing a fastball much less that Android Aroid. I cannot belive the Phils are in this whole but I figured they were just like last year the way they cruised through the playoffs again. Unfortunetly our problems in the regualr season with Lidge, no Romero for Lefties, and Cole Hamels a shell of himself have all poped up again in this series. The bats were there tonight for the Phils but alot of their hard hits were right at people. The Yankees hit one or two balls hard all night by Damon in the 1st and Aroid in the 9th but score 7 runs, lol but thats baseball. Man when Feliz hit that homer off goofy hat who looked to be in tears on the bench and then Jeter who I thought was going to kill us in that at bat strikes out I though for sure this series will be tied. Especially when it looked like the Yanks were going to use Coke or Hughes in the 9th. Two strikes on Damon and maybe 3 because I would love to see the replay on that called foul ball again...... Now the Phils have to come alive and win 3 straight. I like the Pitching matchups for game 5 and 6 if we win game 5. Man the home plate ump was horrible again. Not only did he have both teams baffled with what was a ball or a strike Ryan Howard never even had to touch home plate but the ump gave a safe signal and like I said I would love to see a replay if Damon fouled that 2 srtike pitch. Does it matter now, no but you gotta shout when your team gets hosed.

I was surprised that CC was so shaky again and leaves me extremely nervous if the series has to go to 7 (although I'm not worried since I've known that it will end in 6 for a while now LOL) and Blanton was a little better than I thought he'd be. I knew that Lidge was going to blow it, that guy is the most unreliable closer of all time. They definitely missed the Howard call but what's confusing is why he waited so long to call him safe. The strike joke was very liberal last night but again I'd rather see than than a small one where you're walking a ton of guys and the game takes 5 hours. I suspect that the Phillies will win tonight by a couple of runs but it's over as soon as it gets back to NY.

Here's where Philly lost it though, by being afraid to throw Lee on 3 days rest at home even though I know he's never thrown on 3 days rest before. But what makes that call not make sense is that they say they'll throw him on 2 days rest if the series goes 7. Why in the hell would you do that?

[NJHAWK]

I was surprised that CC was so shaky again and leaves me extremely nervous if the series has to go to 7 (although I'm not worried since I've known that it will end in 6 for a while now LOL) and Blanton was a little better than I thought he'd be. I knew that Lidge was going to blow it, that guy is the most unreliable closer of all time. They definitely missed the Howard call but what's confusing is why he waited so long to call him safe. The strike joke was very liberal last night but again I'd rather see than than a small one where you're walking a ton of guys and the game takes 5 hours. I suspect that the Phillies will win tonight by a couple of runs but it's over as soon as it gets back to NY.

Here's where Philly lost it though, by being afraid to throw Lee on 3 days rest at home even though I know he's never thrown on 3 days rest before. But what makes that call not make sense is that they say they'll throw him on 2 days rest if the series goes 7. Why in the hell would you do that?

I dont agree because then you send Blanton vs the Yanks best starting pitcher in this series by far Burnett because there is no way at this point Pedro is going on 3 days rest. I believe what Charlie was trying to do worked, we got the game where we wanted it or one strike away from where we wanted it. lol I still dont understand the safe call by the ump on Howard. So I guess if the Yankees appealed he would have been safe? I would think if the ump who had to see he didnt touch the plate because he took forever to make a call, would have given no call.

[Admin]

I dont agree because then you send Blanton vs the Yanks best starting pitcher in this series by far Burnett because there is no way at this point Pedro is going on 3 days rest. I believe what Charlie was trying to do worked, we got the game where we wanted it or one strike away from where we wanted it. lol I still dont understand the safe call by the ump on Howard. So I guess if the Yankees appealed he would have been safe? I would think if the ump who had to see he didnt touch the plate because he took forever to make a call, would have given no call.

It doesn't make sense to say "we can't throw Lee on 3 days rest because he's never done it" and then pitch him in the biggest game of the season (if it goes to 7 games) on 2 days rest. If they pitched Lee last night this series would probably be 2-2 and the Phillies would have the momentum. Now even if they win tonight the Yankees will still have the momentum and 2 home games to only win 1 game.

This just in, A-Rod is plunked AGAIN by the Phillies pitchers.

[NJHAWK]

It doesn't make sense to say "we can't throw Lee on 3 days rest because he's never done it" and then pitch him in the biggest game of the season (if it goes to 7 games) on 2 days rest. If they pitched Lee last night this series would probably be 2-2 and the Phillies would have the momentum. Now even if they win tonight the Yankees will still have the momentum and 2 home games to only win 1 game.

This just in, A-Rod is plunked AGAIN by the Phillies pitchers.

I think its becaise it would be Lee's bullpen day. I think the plan will be if it gets to 7 to start Hamels or Happ and have which ever one of them doesnt start in the pen with Lee and Blanton and maybe even Pedro for a hitter or two. This all rides on Pedro now in game 6 and Im pretty confident he will pitch well but the PHILS have to give him alot of run support because as we have seen the Yankees can score 5 or 6 runs as quick as the Phils can. Lee was off tonight but battled and I think he would not have had enough in the tank to battle last night like he did tonight on 3 days rest. I saw a stat which could be meaningless since most such stats are, that pitchers in the post season going on 3 days rest are 12 - 35 which after tonight I gues is 12 - 36. As far as game 4 the plan came so close to working, maybe a centimeter on a foul ball away from working.