Blogs By FansC70 At The Bat
Sponsor


Cardinals_WideSkyscraper.jpg

Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule.

Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines


Slots Galore Casino Tournaments

Get your tickets from Bubba! Cheap St. Louis Cardinals Tickets and more, including tickets for the next MLB All-Star Game. Bubba's got Boston Red Sox Tickets and New York Yankees Tickets

Authentic, large selection of Cardinals memorabilia, guaranteed and certified.

Subscribe
RSS Feed

Archives

Players

Categories


Alliance tickets has an extensive inventory of St. Louis Cardinals Tickets , Colorado Rockies Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and Seattle MarinersTickets.

With all of the St Louis tickets out there, Cardinals tickets and Rams tickets make for great presents. GoTickets.com can fill all of your sports tickets needs, just check out our testimonials!

Postseason Playing Pepper: Philadelphia Phillies

Posted on October 2, 2009 at 11:44 PM
Filed Under: Baseball Bloggers Alliance | Philadelphia Phillies | Playing Pepper
If you were reading this blog before this season started, you may remember a series I did called "Playing Pepper", where I asked five questions of a blogger covering each major league team.  With the season coming to a close, I thought I'd tap into the talents of the newly formed Baseball Bloggers Alliance and ask five new questions of the bloggers covering the postseason teams.

First up, the Philadelphia Phillies.  I posed the following questions to Bill of Crashburn Alley and estebomb of Fire Eric Bruntlett.  Get to know the NL East champs from the people that follow them daily!

C70: What is the Phillies' strength going into October?

FEB: The Phillies' strength going into October is their offense.  They have a stacked lineup and when it's on it's unstoppable.

CA: Simply put, their hitting. Their pitching has essentially remained the same as last year in terms of performance, Brad Lidge aside. Both their fielding and base running has also regressed, but they're tops in the league in hitting. Their 1-6 in the lineup is as feared as any in baseball.

They have eight players with double-digit HR totals and can make it nine if Carlos Ruiz can hit one more before the season ends. Four players have 90+ RBI and four have scored 100+ runs for the first time since the 1932 Phillies.

C70: What worries you about the team?

CA: The bullpen. I like that Ryan Madson has essentially become the de facto closer. That should have been the decision four months ago. However, Brett Myers, Scott Eyre, and J.C. Romero have all spent time on the D.L. and Chan Ho Park -- the Phils' most valuable reliever this year -- is hoping to be ready by NLDS Game 1 but no one will be surprised if he doesn't come back by then.

Even with Madson covering the ninth inning, the Phillies are still going to be relying on Lidge, Chad Durbin, Clay Condrey, and Tyler Walker for important outs late in the game, which isn't really something a World Series contending team should feel comfortable about doing.

FEB: The bullpen really worries me.  Between the injuries and struggles in general it's been the Phillies' weak spot throughout the year.  Brad Lidge has been terrible, Ryan Madson has been maddeningly inconsistent.  Chan Ho Park was the team's best reliever this season and he went down near the end of the season (should be back soon).



Scroll Down to Continue Reading


C70: What player left off or added to the postseason roster would surprise casual observers, if it happens?

FEB: Ever since Kyle Kendrick came back from the minors he's been pitching very well, he could surprise people if he makes an appearance.  Watch out for J.A. Happ also, he's going to be on the postseason roster regardless, but no one's sure if he'll start or be in the bullpen.  Where Happ ends up will impact the Phils tremendously.

CA: Miguel Cairo performed very well in limited opportunities in September. He went 5-for-14 with two doubles, and an RBI. He's essentially Eric Bruntlett if Bruntlett was an experienced player with the tiniest sliver of talent. Both play the same positions as utility players (corner outfield, middle infield). I would love to see the Phillies leave Bruntlett off the post-season roster in favor of Cairo, but I don't see it happening.

C70: Who is the one key player for the Phillies, the player that, if they don't go well, the Phillies will be home quickly?

CA: Ryan Madson. He is the only thing separating the bullpen from complete and total chaos. Fans got tense when he was blowing saves in July; imagine what will happen if he blows one save early in the playoffs.

FEB: I'm not sure there is one key player on this team because they have so much depth.  In the past I would have said Jimmy Rollins, but that was proven wrong in the first half of the season when he struggled and the team still succeeded.  Given the bullpen troubles I'm going to say Cliff Lee is going to be key here.  He's the ace now and if he can't get it done the Phils are going to be in trouble.

C70: Who will close games?  If it's Brad Lidge and he blows a postseason save, will he get another chance?

FEB: I think Charlie Manuel's going to give Lidge another chance, but on a very short leash.  He's going to use Ryan Madson to close games if Lidge can't do it.  The only other possibility is Brett Myers, but I don't think they're going to use him for that.  Here's hoping Lidge can locate his fastball...

CA: I don't imagine Lidge will be given an opportunity to close out a game unless Madson gets shelled. He has shown absolutely no reason why he should be given the ball in the ninth inning of a close game in the playoffs.

Thanks to both of these great Phillies fans for their time and knowledge.  It's impossible for the Cards and Phils to match up in the first round, so we'll see if maybe the NLCS isn't in the plans for the two squads.


Leave a comment




Cardinals_MediumRectangle.jpg

UCB_11_trans_dark_sm.png

Search



BallHyped Best Sports Blogs Book
This blog was featured in the Best Sports Blogs of 2010 Book!
• Pick up the limited print edition
• Free Best Sports Blogs ebook 


United Cardinal Bloggers

FRIENDS OF THE UCB


Download the iPhone or Android UCB app by clicking on the nice orange picture.
Open in Mobile App 

And check out the UCB Network over at LockerDome!
lockerdome-share_63x63.png
  



Other Cardinal Blogs

Recommended Cardinal Forum

Other Cardinal Sites

General Baseball Blogs/Sites



Heroes
Matt Carpenter (4)
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Rafael Furcal (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
David Freese (2)
Jaime Garcia (2)
Yadier Molina (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
David Freese (2)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
Jason Motte (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Marc Rzepczynski (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 10
Happy Flight %: 70%

Through 5/15

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


    Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets?  TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets.

    Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets.

    Referrals