8/3 Phillies Vs. Rockies Live Blog

Another day game, another day game where I feel like doing a live blog just for the heck of it. Actually, that is not wholly true. I want to do a live blog to redeem the last time I did a live blog. The Phillies lost that game to the Padres. This time, the 2nd best pitcher in the NL this year (Roy Halladay) takes the mound for the Phillies while the worst pitcher in the NL this year (Jason Hammel) takes the mound for the Rockies. What could possibly go wrong?

There Is A Reason Gus Johnson Is Not A Baseball Announcer

I am not sure why there is such a crazy about over-lapping Gus Johnson screaming into every dramatic sports video ever, but nonetheless it is somewhat entertaining. If you have ever thought about why Gus Johnson never does baseball, hearing him screaming dubbed over T-Mac and Wheels on John Mayberry, Jr.'s top of the 9th game-tying 2-run blast off Huston Street may carry some of the answers.



On the plus side, that was better than T-Mac's orgasm.

The Phillies went onto win 4-3 in the 10th inning thanks to a Victorino solo shot.

Phillies Blogger's T-Shirt Gets Taken Everywhere By Jim Tracy; Showcased On Fox

One year ago, ZWR did not have a blog bolg. Now, the shirts he sells on said bolg are being seen on Fox. The last time the Phillies played the Rockies, the whole Phillies sign stealing controversy erupted. ZWR made a shirt about it reading:

"We Have:
84 Home Games
Tasers
Roy Halladay
Your Signs"

The shirt had been spotted in Ryan Spilborgh's locker once before, but never did anyone realize the extent of the impact the shirt had on Jim Tracy and the Rockies until this came up on Fox during this afternoon's Rockies-Phillies game. (As a blogger who loves his readers dearly, it is quite necessary that I warn you that the following clip is from a game announced by Dick Stockton and Tim McCarver).



Too funny. For all the crying that Jim Tracy does, it is nice to see he has the ability to take a joke and even embrace it.

Holy Butt! (The Time ZWR's Shirt Was Featured On Fox) (I Want To Go To The Zoo With Roy Halladay)

(Thanks to cease and desist letters from MLBPA's attorneys, the Roy Halladay part has now been replaced with "You Know Who," so the shirt is not exactly the same now as it was when it was purchased by the fan and sent to the Rockies. But you can still buy the edited version along with all of ZWR's other cool shirts here.).

Happy Rocktober, Everybody!!!

WOW! What a roller coaster ride of a baseball game! After leading 2-1 for a good part of the game, the Colorado Rockies rallied in the bottom of the 8th inning to take a 2-run lead and at that point, my heart just sunk. For if a Game 5 is forced, we lose Hamels for the start of the potential NLCS series, thus making our Game 1 starter of that series either Happ or Blanton or Pedro and Hamels would not be able to go until much later in the series. Oh, and yeah, if Colorado hangs on, they have all of the momentum coming back to Philly. And with a sinker ball pitcher in Aaron Cook on the mound, a style of pitching that the Phillies have struggled with this year, there is no way we win that game.

But then, the Phillies staged a rally that will be remembered for a long time in Philadelphia and perhaps an even longer time in Denver. With 2 outs and 2 strikes on him, Chase Utley did a masterful job of working the walk to join Shane Victorino on base. Then Howard came up, and faced with a 1-2 count, this happened.



That double evened things up! But wait, the Phillies were not done yet. Jayson Werth was at the plate and then the even more improable happened. Jayson Werth singled to score Ryan Howard from 2nd to give the Phillies a 5-4 lead

Into the bottom of the 9th, instead of relying on their closer, Manual got smart and did what the Rockies did not do and play the match-ups (if the Rockies were playing match-ups, they would have never let Huston Street pitch against Howard)), instead they brought in Scott Eyre to face the lefty-laden line-up of the Rockies that was due up. Only once they got to Tulo, did Brad Lidge come in and despite the fact that there were runners on base, Brad Lidge struck out Troy Tulowitzki to end the inning, game, and NLDS series.



Simply an amazing comeback. It may just be the NLDS and the Phillies may have much higher expectations than surviving a series with the Rockies, but anytime you get a playoff win like that, it is going to excite the city and excite the town and give the Phillies all of the momentum they could ask for heading into the a re-match of the 2008 NLCS in the 2009 NLCS.

The series starts on this Thursday. I will have the full and complete LCS schedule up for you all tomorrow.

For all videos at MLB.com where they are in high quality, including the Werth single that I can't find at the moment, click here.

MLB Playoffs Day 6 Live Blog

Game 4: Phillies @ Rockies 6:07 (Lee, 14-13 vs. Jimenez, 15-12) (TBS - Brian Anderson and Jim Simpson, SR: David Aldridge)

MLB Playoffs Day 5 Open Thread/Live Blog

I'll have a Phillies live blog up later today.

Game 3: Angels @ Red Sox 12:07 (Kazmir, vs. 10-9 vs. Buchholz, 7-4) (TBS - Don Orsillo and Buck Martinez, SR: Tom Verducci)

Game 3: Yankees @ Twins 7:07 (Pettitte, 14-8 vs. Pavano, 14-12) (TBS - Chip Caray and Ron Darling, SR: Craig Sager)

Game 3: Phillies @ Rockies 10:07 (Happ, 12-4 vs. Hammel, 10-8) (TBS - Brian Anderson and Joe Simpson, SR: David Aldridge)

Phillies-Rockies Postponed Tonight

An inch of snow fell on Coors Field last night. There are supposed to be intermittent snow showers throughout the afternoon. The coldest temperature for a postseason baseball game on record is higher than the forecasted afternoon high today in Denver. Therefore, it really should come as no surprise that tonight's Phillies-Rockies game has been postponed tonight. From MLB.com

With the series between the Rockies and Phillies tied at a game apiece, Game 3 has been rescheduled for Sunday at 8:07 p.m. MT. Game 4 has been moved to Monday, with game time to be announced prior to the start of Sunday's contest.

Snow began falling Friday night in the Denver metro area as the temperature dropped to 17 degrees in the Mile High City overnight, breaking the record low of 25 for the date, set in 1905. Coors Field was blanketed in snow by Saturday morning, and the white stuff was expected to keep coming down into the day, predicted to dissipate by the 7:37 p.m. game time. Since Coors Field is the only field in the Majors with an underground heating system, the snow might have been cleared away.

The cold is another matter, though.

Denver awoke to icy roads, multitudes of accidents on the highways and snow all around, with the updated forecast for the scheduled 7:37 p.m. game time calling for a temperature of 26 degrees -- which would have been by far the lowest for a postseason game in history. That distinction belongs to Game 4 of the 1997 World Series at Cleveland between the Indians and Marlins, with a game-time temperature of 35. The predicted high temperature for Denver on Saturday is 33.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy, whose team evened the series with a 5-4 victory in Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon, said at Friday's workout that he was well aware that the weather could cause Major League Baseball to step in and postpone Game 3.

"If it's a day where ... it's not conducive for either team to be playing baseball, it's going to jeopardize our fans from the standpoint of being treated to the type of baseball that has been played thus far in the first two games of the series in Philadelphia," Tracy said.

"If moving it back because there's going to be much better weather ... that would be the most sensible thing to do ... because, you know, Game 3 in a series that's 1-1, it's a fairly pivotal game.

"You'd hate to see a game be determined one way or the other due to the fact that the conditions were not good. Somebody slips that otherwise wouldn't have, if the conditions would have been much drier and much more conducive for baseball."

Fans with tickets for Game 3 will now be able to use them only for Sunday's game at 8:07 p.m. MT. Those fans with tickets for Game 4 will be able to use them for Monday's game. Game 5, if necessary, will still be played on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

As fun as it would be to see a baseball game played in the frozen tundra, this is definitley the right call to make. Those conditions are not suited for baseball and given the nature of the game, the cold could definitley play a factor one way or the other. Making this call even more of a no-brainer is that tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be nice days with highs in the 50s, although the temperature for game time would most likely fall int the 40s. Regardless, it is much better than this.

This does bring up an interesting scenario for the Phillies pitching in Game 4, which has now been moved to Monday, time TBD. The question now becomes will Cliff Lee pitch game 4? He would be available on normal rest and especially if the Phillies lose tomorrow, may be their ace in the hole to make sure that regardless of what goes down tomorrow, that at the very worst for the Phillies, this thing goes to a Game 5.

Update: It appears as if the change in date has also affected the Phillies starting pitching. Pedro will no longer be on the mound as the starter, but rather, according to CSN Philly, the Phillies have named NL Rookie of the Year candidate J.A. Happ as the starter for Game 3.

If his leg/knee is all right, then I have no gripes about this decision. While he has never played in a game of this magnitude, he has done a solid job all year and I feel real comfortable with him on the mound.

Will The Phillies Game 3 Starter Please Stand Up.....

Pedro Martinez, come on down, you're the next contestant on Start For The Phillies In Game 3 Of The NLDS!!!! Via The AP.

Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel chose the aging right-hander over J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton, who made cameo appearances out of the bullpen Thursday, to face the Colorado Rockies in Game 3 of their NL playoff series Saturday night.

The best-of-five series is tied at one game each.

Martinez is 6-2 with a 3.40 ERA in the postseason, and Manuel said he likes his history in cold weather, too. The forecast for Game 3 calls for temperatures dipping into the 20s with snow flurries.

The 37-year-old Martinez sat out most of the year before signing with the Phillies as a free agent last in the season. He went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in nine starts.

So Pedro it is!

This is one of the benefits of having a deep starting pitcher roster, although, ever since his 8-inning shutout performance against the Mets, it seems as if his play has dropped off a bit.

This decision will ultimately judged based on hindsight. If Pedro pitches really well and has a great game, then it will provide the city of Philadelphia with a playoff moment it will celebrate for a long, long time. But if he falters, Charlie Manual will become a big-time goat and his decision to pitch both Blanton and Happ in Game 2 will be forever scorned upon.

This Is Perfect Baseball Weather!

I am very curious to see whether or not the Phillies will play ball tomorrow night at 9:37 PM ET (and despite the epic Tebow battle, there will be a live blog tomorrow night) considering that the weather forecast for Saturday night in Denver looks like this.

Wow. Wouldn't it be sickly awesome if they played? It would sort of be like Game 5 of the World Series. It would be a complete car wreck that you can't turn away from.

Oh, and I don't care who you are, snow on the baseball field and sub-freezing temperatures favor no one!

Despite The Loss, Today Is Quite Possibly The Greatest Day In Cole Hamels' Life

After a solid turned subpar performance in Game 2, giving up 4 runs in 5 innings, Cole Hamels left the stadium quite urgently. No, he was not mad at himself. No, he did not have a fall out with Charlie Manual. Just the typical everyday occurance of his wife going into labor with a baby! From Yahoo! Sports

Hamels left the ballpark to be with his wife, a former “Survivor” contestant, who went into labor with the couple’s first child on Thursday.

Hamels was notified after he was lifted that his wife went into labor. Manager Charlie Manuel said the distraction possibly affected Hamels’ performance.

“It could have bothered him, yes,” Manuel said

I'm not sure what got into Hamels' head, but despite a rough 1st inning he was looking very good on the mound until Torrealba jacked one. It's at that point that he could not find his rhythm.

Everybody is saying that everybody knew nothing in terms of Heidi and while it was known that she was due anyday, no one knew that she had gone into labor. But surely that had to have entered Hamels' mind during the game and the pitch that Torrealba jacked, a curve ball, is Hamels' 3rd pitch and when he can hit his spots with the curve, with the way he throws a fastball and change up, he becomes unhittable, but when it's off, homeruns happen. Now I'm not saying that Heidi's condition affected his performance nor is it an excuse, but if something like that is in your mind and you are working on a pitch that you have not mastered yet, I find it hard to belive that there was no affect on him.

Regardless, congrats to Cole and Heidi! May the kid have a happy and healthy life and not named Yorvit, Torrealba, or Troy.

MLB Playoffs Day 2 Open Thread/Live Blog

Once again, we're over at Keith's Sports Journal. So go on. Don't be shy. Head on over there.

Game 2: Rockies @ Phillies 2:37 (Cook, 11-6 vs. Hamels, 10-11) (TBS - Brian Anderson and Joe Simpson, SR: David Aldridge)

Game 2: Cardinals @ Dodgers 6:07 (Wainwright, 19-8 vs. Kershaw, 8-8) (TBS - Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly, SR: Tom Verducci)

Game 1: Red Sox @ Angels 9:37 (Lester, 15-8 vs. Lackey, 11-8) (TBS - Don Orsillo and Buck Martinez, SR: Marc Fein)

Chat with ya there!

MLB Playoffs Day 1 Open Thread/Live Blog.....

........is over here at Keith's Sports Journal. So go on. Head over. Don't be afraid.

I'll leave you with the vitals over here and I'll chat with you over there!

Game 1: Rockies @ Phillies 2:37 (Jimenez, 15-12 vs. Lee, 14-13) (TBS - Brian Anderson and Joe Simpson, SR: David Aldridge)

Game 1: Twins @ Yankees 6:07 (Duensing, 5-2 vs. Sabathia, 19-8) (TBS - Chip Caray and Ron Darling, SR: Craig Sager)

Game 1: Cardinals @ Dodgers 9:37 (Carpenter, 17-4 vs. Kershaw, 11-7) (TBS - Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly, SR: Marc Fein

Today In Slightly Morbid Coincidences

Harry's Final Homerun Call, Final Out Call, And Final Sign Off

Comcast Sportsnet Philly re-aired last night's Phillies-Rockies game (a.k.a. Harry's last game). I was hoping that someone would use this opportunity to upload the final HR call onto YouTube. And they did. My eternal thanks to the YouTube user who uploaded this vid.