2008 06 29 Phillies @ Rangers

Phils lose sixth series in a row giving them a 5-13 record over the last 18 games. 5-13 is how the team has started the last couple of seasons. They have absorbed those bad stretches and had relatively decent years. Now we will have to find out how they recover from having a crummy stretch in the middle of the season.

There has been talk of skipping Brett Myers start this week. I don't think you can really skip his turn- Phils play 13 days in a row starting Tuesday (7/1) and running through the AS break. You could flip Hamels and Myers. This would mean that Hamels would get 3 starts between now and the break, and Myers would only get two. That is a change worth making. Also it would break up the starts by back to back lefthanders in the rotation, which is potentially beneficial.

Plus - Phils done with Interleague play.

Minus - Phils still struggle to score runs.

Shenanigans - How comes a pitcher gets credit for a complete game if he is on the losing side of a game and pitches 8 innings, but he cannot get a no-hitter if he doesn't give up any hits in that loss. Seems like a contradiction to me.

Meh - Am I having having hallucinations or was UEFA cup Soccer being covered by ABC??

Around the League - The Rosters for the Futures Game have been announced. Several Phillies made the Roster including Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, and Greg Golson. Carrasco will play for the World team, The rest of the players will be featured on the US team.

Off the Diamond - Locally was at the improved Victory Brew Pub this weekend. Much Bigger, Good Grub, Great Beer.

On Deck - Los Bravos in Atlanta again. Time to get back on the right track against some NL East Foes.

Phils Report 2008 06 28

Phils out on the coast this week, and since I have to go to stupid work for a living I don't get to see much of these games. In the interim, I have consented to spend some time watching chick-flicks, oh the Horror.

Plus - Kendrick come up with a brilliant outing. Although during the Phils recent slump, pitching really hasn't been a big part of the problem.

Minus – Since the Phils dropped 20 on the Cardinals 2 Fridays ago, They have scored 31 runs in 11 games, and eight of those were in a single game v Boston. In 7 of the 11 games they have scored 2 runs or less. The Phils are designed to hit, if they can’t hit they lose.

Shenanigans - MLB has discontinued the annual Hall of Fame game. The last game was scheduled to be played June 16^th but was rained out. I never got the chance to go to the HOF game, but I am sad to see it go. It would be nice to see it come back as a minor league all-star game of some sort. The Baseball HOF is a great museum and Cooperstown is a beautiful town - It would be nice if some sort of HOF game tradition could be continued. For more save the HOF game info: http://www.savethefamegame.com/

BlahBlahBlah - Hearing names like Kendrick, Victorino, and Werth on the trading block. be tough to lose those guys but if you want to get something back, that is the type of talent the Phils will need to part with.

Around the League - NCAA league that is - Congratulations to the Fresno St Bulldogs on winning the 2008 edition of the College World Series. As with most years I didn't get to see as much of this as I would have liked, but what little I saw, I enjoyed. The Phils drafted one of the FSU OFs, Steve Susdorf who was 5 for 11 scoring 6 runs and knocking in 5 during the 3 game championship series.

Turns out Shawn Chacon is a Phillies fan - or at least he got to live out the dream of many a Phils Fan.

Anybody noticed there are Stubhub has gobs of reasonably priced tix available for this weekends Subway Series in New York.

Off the Diamond – NBA Draft this week – check this out in the NBA the teams can actually trade their draft picks. Hint Hint MLB.

Also Good to See Don Imus defending PacAdam Jones, Somebody has to.

Useless Info - Oakland's McAfee stadium or whatever it is called is on the Phungo been there list but not for baseball. I went there for a meaningless Titans-Raiders game whch ended up being pretty entertaining. The Raiders won the scorefest 40-35. Bobby Volek and Kerry Collins combined for 800 yards in the air. .

On Deck - Tejas, They are like Phils AL. They can hit, and I know they can't pitch because they got a couple of former Phils in their rotation.