Game 7 discussion thread: Nationals at Phillies

Rollins scratched by the Phillies

The hammer is on fire!

HAMMA TIME!!!!!!

Any info on the whereabouts of ROllins? He was in the initial lineup? Did he get hurt pregame or was he just late?

HAMMER!

And no official word on Rollins. Charlie and Dave seem as confused as the rest of us on the late scratch.

"which he really after his brutal start"

Let's all one word out of our in-game posts.

Wassup with ADunn? No HRs in Spring Training. No power so far this season and come to think of it, not much in September of 2009.

Should we be concerned?

commish:

No news; You must have him in a roto/fantasy league, otherwise you wouldn't give a crap about a PHI player.

I don't think Dunn is, uh, done. He's what, 30-years-old? That's not usually when ballplayers fall of the face of the Earth.

The Hammer is awesome so far. I might I have to pick him up off waivers.

Where are all the folks who wanted to trade Willingham before the season started and instead put Willie Harris or J-Max out there??

Charlie Slowes just announced no news on the JRoll scratch.

No news; You must have him in a roto/fantasy league, otherwise you wouldn't give a crap about a PHI player.

Posted by: BinM | April 12, 2010 3:36 PM

I don't really mind why Rollins is out of the line-up, but I'm happy to take any help we can get this week.

Marquis - 27 pitches through 2IP. Has'nt challenged anyone yet, living on the outside corners - not a good sign.

I always thought Willingham was a solid LF, maybe he's a late bloomer ala Jayson Werth.

Bin-

Marquis challenging howard, utley, etc. is a bad idea.

Philly TV guys said Rollins strained his right calf in warm ups.

Maybe Jimmy will end up on the DL like Morse. ;-)

Marquis is pitching well. He's getting some unfavorable calls and hits the brakes once he gets ahead of the hitters. He needs to keep challenging them even if the count is 0-2.

I didn't know calf strains were contagious . . .

A lot of hard hit balls right at Nats players, but it's still much better than his last outing.

i think marquis is doing fine. the phillies do have the best lineup in the nl. i also think that adam kennedy is going to end up being the back-up.

AK

Nationas players?????

Haha, we should let Marquis bat cleanup!

Way to go Marquis!! That's how you help yourself baby!

LETS GOOOO

MARQUIS!

Gotta love Marquis. He has a higher batting average now than 5 other Nats in the starting lineup and more RBIs than Adam Dunn has this season!

Hey - this game could change in a few Phillies swings, but I'm enjoying the heck out of it right now!

What a nice inning...Nats played great defense and then had some very good at-bats. Tony Plush was a little unlucky with the excuse me bunt.

Its obvious that Marquis doesn't want to lose his place in the batting order to that Strasburg kid!

Alright Jason - pitch like you hit!

SUCK ON IT AND LIKE IT PHILLY FANS!!!

Team is playing really well right now. Hope we can keep it up for the tough ten-game homestand coming up.

This game is far from over, though.

http://baseball.realgm.com/

Could this BE any more beautiful?

"4:13: Marquis delivers. He served an opposite-field double just over Placido Polanco's glove into left, scoring two. The Nats lead 4-0. Philly fans booing Hamels"

Nice call from 2B ther Mr. West. - Must have x-ray vision

Could this BE any more beautiful?

"4:13: Marquis delivers. He served an opposite-field double just over Placido Polanco's glove into left, scoring two. The Nats lead 4-0. Philly fans booing Hamels"

Ump West is on a power trip. Nobody likes an ump that wants to be part of the story.

Dave Jaegler is none too pleased with West behind the plate. Come on Jason, make it irrelevant.

Sorry, make that Schreiber calling balls and strikes today.

RIGGLES TOSSED!

Riggs Ejected! Yay!

Way to go Jim Riggleman. Glad he sticks up for his players!

Go get him Riggs

Did Riggleman come out and argue something or did he say some magic words from the dugout?

He was out on the mound talking with Marquis for a while and the home plate ump came up to interrupt. At that point, I'm guessing Riggleman said "get your fat $%! back behind the plate" he was immediately ejected and then he gave him hell.

I hope Rigs hitting the showers fires up these guys. Nice to see a manager stick up for the players.

I hope there were a lot of "magic words" out of Rigg's mouth there. Sounds like Marquis really got screwed by a crew that already seem to have their heads up their a$$es this Spring.

Nice to finally have a MGR back in the dugout that will bark at umpires & risk getting tossed, rather than having his coaches take the lead.

This is a big inning for Marquis he needs to quiet the rally and sit them down 1-2-3.

I'm wondering with Hamels at 90+ pitches if they will pinch hit for him this inning, even though he just cruised there in the top half.

This officiating crew is awful. Why should Riggleman get ejected because you can't do your job?

bad decision by pudge

That Pudge play just cost the Nats. Unreal.

"Where are all the folks who wanted to trade Willingham before the season started and instead put Willie Harris or J-Max out there??"

Hi, there, it's me, one of the people who wanted to trade Willingham. I'm so glad we didn't, because now we can trade him in May and get so much more in exchange for him.

should have taken the out. now this inning could get ugly.

Score should be 4-0 still. The umps have taken over the game.

Pudge needs to think about playing the percentages instead of being a hero.

CapitolWill:

Because you point it out to them - Arguing a ball-strike call is an automatic ejection.

Can someone please explain the umps for someone who can't watch the game? Thanks.

Oh, no. What just happened?

Take the easy out next time , Pudge

Marquis can't pitch anywhere, and now it's become batting practice.

... Well, it was a good game. Let's see if we can bounce back tomorrow.

Quick summary. Marquis is not getting a strike call on his sinker (kzone on TV clearly shows it in the zone). Missed 2 straight strikeouts on Utley and Howard. Riggs comes out to "talk to marquis" but he was only out there to yell at the ump and within 3 words he was ejected.

Then pudge makes a horrible decision to throw to second on a sac bunt. Desmond gets cleated by ruiz. Marquis had no choice but to throw the ball down the heart of the plate. Leading to a 5 run inning.

Thats about it.

506, the home plate umpire has been doing a lousy job of calling low pitches. Marquis had a couple of pitches called balls that were strikes according to the Pitch Track on TV. That kept the fourth inning going and helped the Phillies get another chance to get some runs that inning. Marquis then got the ball up more in the fifth and got clobbered. The question is, did he stop throwing the ball at the knees because he wasn't getting calls or did he just lose it?

The umpires were not calling any pitches on the edge of the strike zone. Ivan complained then Riggs came out, complained and got tossed.

Jason had to put the ball over the middle of the plate and got crushed.

Almost feels like the umps are trying to help the Phillies win their home opener or something....

Oh, and Joe West, who apparently thinks he's the Assistant Commissioner, called Marquis for going to his mouth while on the rubber (you can do it on the mound now, but not from the rubber). They called a ball which made it 2-1 to Utley. Then, on 3-1, the home plate umpire blew one and Utley walked.

Joe West is a big, fat joke.

Aha. Thanks machencm, baltova, and Vze, and whoever else is typing up the scenario now.

And there it is. The big 5 run inning from our free agent "work horse." Can Livo pitch every day?

Baltova, but its an embarrassment for baseball games to last so long! Lets call every crap rule that comes to our mind... that should speed things up.

Placido Polanco = new Nats killer

Ummm ... well at least Jesse English pitched well again. We're not out of this yet, but we need some baserunners. Patience, fellas.

Baltova, but its an embarrassment for baseball games to last so long! Lets call every crap rule that comes to our mind... that should speed things up.

Game Day does not give the nuances of called balls/strikes. Glad for the info. But pitchers must make good adjustments for an ump's strike zone. If Marquis does not get it together after in two more starts he should be done. As for Dunn, I belive he got off to a slow start last year.

Sec 204 Row H Seat 7

Alberto Gonzalez is the best pinch hitter we've got? Great.

Classic example of the impact of bad umpiring. Marquis isn't getting the low strike, so needs to bring the pitch up in the zone, bringing it up from "hit me, I'm a grounder," to "smack me, I'm a homer."

As if the Phillies needed more help.

For those inclined to kill Marquis, I'm going with "not his fault" on this inning.

"If Marquis does not get it together after in two more starts he should be done."

Wow, that would be a quick hook for a 10-year vet who just signed a big free agent contract, don't you think?

On the other hand, maybe Rizzo will "get tired of watching him" or something like that.

Yeah, I can't fault Marquis for this outing. He was clearly squeezed until the point of no return.

By the way, if the officiating crew was picking on Marquis, then he should have been pulled when we had the lead.

I think a lot of had to do with the fact that Marquis came off the mound to speak the ump. He wasn't going to get any calls then.

Plus Utley's homer was a cheap shot down the short RF line - it hit the screen. Marquis seemed to be mor eunlucky than bad today. Furthermore, 4 runs rarely beats the Phillies, especially at home.

another bad call...morgan was safe

Morgan is visibly upset. This team is done, they're just frustrated at this point.

I can't blame 'em.

... Hopefully Riggles will get them to settle down tomorrow and regain some of that energy they came in with.

I got you, machencm. They've decided a good way to speed up the game is to call our runners out when they're safe...

Don't give up yet, the Phillies bullpen is shaky this year.

Dunn's going deep, right here.

Let's get some runs!

Never mind. Baez chickened out.

Nationals pitching - the gift that keeps on giving.

Marquis's line:
IP H R ER BB SO
4.1 6 7 6 2 1

********
It won't be lack of Zim, it'll probably be Marquis keeping it close, or not. (Just for fun, I'll put his O/U on runs allowed at 5.5, innings at 4.5, Ks 1.5, walks 5.5, and the bullpen's runs allowed 3.5. Desmond's errors 1.5, and I'll take the unders.)

Posted by: Sec3mysofa | April 12, 2010 12:41 PM

BTW, remember last year's games in New York where the umps screwed up the home run calls on replay? That was a moment where Manny should have gotten tossed just to support his team and to "work the refs." He didn't. Riggleman did today and I think that's a good thing.

We have three guys hitting well everyone else is hitting .150. We need more consistency.

In hindsight maybe Marquis should have been pulled for English to face Utley(lefty/lefty) but that's water under the anacostia, we need to try and win the remaining two games and return home with a modest win streak and on a upbeat note like the way Riggs "manned up" for the team today their hasn't been a consistent strike zone since Hank Aaron played. A little pissed about this one today.

The problem I have with Marquis is that I can't tell the difference between his fastball and his changeup -- and that's when you really get hurt. There's no way he can get anybody out unless he sticks with his breaking stuff and his sinkers. Those are the only two pitches he has.

Marquis de Suck.

tough loss. methinks the umpiring crew wanted to be able to enjoy a brew out on the town following the first game of the series. Call me a cynic - but I'm betting they drink for free tonight at any south Philly pub.

I'm really starting to hate these guys . . .

Well they certainly went gently into that good ninth. At least Riggleman went down raging.

"We have three guys hitting well everyone else is hitting .150. We need more consistency."

Don't get too discouraged yet, though you're right most of the guys are not seeing the ball well.

Morgan, for example, is 5 for 27, which averages to .185, but if he were to go 2 for 3 tomorrow - something Nyjer is easily capable of right now - that would jump him up to 7 for 30, which is .233. He's certainly not on a hot streak, but we can't really say he's on a cold streak either.

Mid-season we would say, "5 for his last 27, hmm, he must have been pitched tough last series."

Brue, you're right. I haven't seen him pitch enough in the past to know if he's lost something on his fastball, but if he doesn't have great control, his mistakes get clobbered.

Don't get too discouraged yet....

Posted by: Section506 | April 12, 2010 6:17 PM |
-------------------------------------------------

Exactly. April is for hoping. It's a long season, and there will plenty of time to be discouraged about the Nats.

Same old Nats.

OK, you're a cynic.
I bet they get booed anyway.
*****************************
Call me a cynic - but I'm betting they drink for free tonight at any south Philly pub.
Posted by: lowcountry | April 12, 2010 6:05 PM

In fact, I bet the bartender gets booed.

You're right, sofa. What was I thinking?

record after 7 games;

2009: 0-7
2010: 3-4

I guess we can call that hope...

I got the feeing that he was a tad upset when he returned to the dugout and seemed to mouth "bull[not Durham]" into the camera.

---

Morgan is visibly upset. This team is done, they're just frustrated at this point.

I can't blame 'em.

... Hopefully Riggles will get them to settle down tomorrow and regain some of that energy they came in with.

Posted by: CapitolWill | April 12, 2010 5:23 PM

And, yes, I'll take the current record over the same time last year.

And, yes, I'll take the current record over the same time last year. I think we all know what the Astros fans have been hearing lately.

Oh, Durham! Not sure how I did that...

TimDz,

I call it a major improvement...which makes me hopeful.

That game was a bummer

Huge bummer of a game. I enjoyed the first part, though.

There really were some awful calls against the Nats, and while that is also part of the game, we are not a good enough team to overcome those at this point. Ah well, maybe next time.