Tag Archives: Vance Worley

The Phillies Can Win and more Roster Moves

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It feels real good, is this what victories feel like?  I wouldn’t know it has seemed like forever since I heard high hopes in the background and see the Phillies players patting each other on the ass. Yes I had to put that image in your mind.

I’m really glad the lovely San Diego Padres who are awful were able to come into town this weekend so we can hopefully pick up some victories. This is the perfect team to try to regroup after a brutal sweep from the New York Mets.

Now I did not watch the game very closely because I had some other matters to attend to but it seemed like it was a comfortable win, the bullpen came out there and did their job thankfully for once. Antonio Bastardo still looks a little shaky, he was able to pitch two scoreless innings but the part a saw was him throwing a lot of pitches out of the strike zone. These pitches were wild and not even close to the zone, thankfully we are facing the minor league San Diego Padres and they were hacking at these pitches out of the zone. What has happen to Bastardo? Last year he just did not seem like he had this wild problem, maybe this is just me.

The offense continued to push across runs, Carlos Ruiz continues to be the MVP of this ball club. Ruiz hit his sixth big fly of the year. John Mayberry Jr. is finally making great contact at the plate, he belted his first home run of the season tonight.

Slowly but surely everything on the offensive side of the ball is beginning to click, is this just because they are playing the pathetic San Diego Padres? It probably is but hopefully they can continue to have these hot bats when they face great pitching and elite teams. Maybe gain some offensive momentum while playing these less elite ball clubs.

In the past four games the offense is showing great consistency, even getting swept by the Mets the offense was still doing very well in the series, the bullpen a different story. But the bullpen tonight was exceptional.

Chad Qualls who I have despised the most out of the bullpen pitched a clean inning tonight to my delight. I still cringed when he took the mound.

Vance Worley was able to pick up his third win of the season tonight at Citizens Bank Park, he was hit around a little and his ERA shot up to 3.07 by the end of his outing but the offense was able to back their comrade up. Something the offense has not be able to do earlier in the season.

Phillies look to take the first two games of this series tomorrow night at 7:05 Pm EST.

These chain of events happened after today’s game.


There has been a lot of roster moves over the past couple of days, starting to confuse my little brain.

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A Look at The Road Trip

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The Philies now will fly to Atlanta Georgia to begin a six game road trip, this road trip consists of three games in Atlanta and three games in Washington against the Nationals.

This Phillies can gain some much-needed ground in the National League East Standings if they can pull out some victories on this road trip as Atlanta and Washington are both above the Phillies in the standings as of right now, but remember folks it is still really early in the season to talk to much about the standings. The important thing is to not get to far back in the standings.

On this trip we will see if the Nationals strategy of keeping the Phillies fans out of their ball park as worked, I highly doubt it worked because who roots for the Nats?

Pitching Match-ups for This Road Trip 

Tuesday

Phillies vs Braves 7:10 Pm EST

Cole Hamels vs Brandon Beachy

Wednesday

Phillies at Braves 7:10 Pm EST

Roy Halladay vs Tommy Hanson

Thursday

Phillies vs Braves 12:10 Pm EST

Joe Blanton vs Randall Delgado

Friday

Phillies vs Nationals 7:05 Pm Est

Kyle Kendrick vs Stephen Strasburg

Saturday

Phillies vs Nationals 1:05 Pm EST

Vance Worley vs Gio Gonzalez

Sunday 

Phillies vs Nationals 8:05 Pm EST

Cole Hamels vs Jordan Zimmermann

Thank You Polanco, Phillies win 6-4

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Guys this was amazing, mark this day down in history because the Phillies were actually able to score some runs in the first inning tonight. It wasn’t just one run it was a whopping four runs in the bottom of the first innning. I was so shocked at these chain of events that I got off of my recliner and gave the Phillies a standing ovation at the end of the inning.

But the Phillies had to make the game interesting I guess, I thought we had this game won but the Phillies went to the bullpen and the arson squad gave up three runs which tied it up at four. Chad Qualls was charged with two runs and Antonio Bastardo was charged with one run.

Vance Worley pitched another great game tonight but the sad thing is he does not get credit for the win, sure deserved it but the Phillies bullpen blew the lead late. Worley pitched seven innings and only allowed one run off of five hits, struck out five cubbies.

The Phillies were able to take back the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning with a little two out rally action, the rally began when pinch hitter Juan Pierre got hit by a pitch, then two batters later Jimmy Rollins got a single and Pierre was able to make it to third on the play, Placido Polanco was the next batter and he came through big with a 2 out 2 RBI double to give the Phillies the lead.

It was all up to Papelbon in the top of the ninth inning to shut the door on the Cubs and he did just that as he picks up his eighth save of the season.

It was the 214th consecutive sellout at the bank tonight.

Phillies next game is tomorrow night at 7:05 Pm EST in Atlanta (Braves Country). This will begin a six game road trip for the Phillies, three games in Atlanta and three in Washington. We will see if the Nationals will be able to take back their park back this time around or we  will see the stadium full of the Phillies nation yet again, I’m thinking it’s going to be full of Phillies fans hopefully annoying the living hell out of the two Nats fans in attendance for the games.

Cole Hamels will pitch tomorrow

Some Other Notes 

After the win tonight David Herndon was placed on the 15-day DL with right elbow inflammation. Roster move coming tomorrow.

Cliff Lee will not come off of the DL on Friday and won’t start in our Nation’s Capital, Lee is improving but he must throw two bullpen sessions before coming off of the disabled list. That first bullpen session has not been scheduled just quite yet.

Ryan Howard began his rehab in Clearwater Florida today.

Michael Martinez is out of the walking boot now and  will continue his rehabbing in Clearwater on that right foot.

Phillies Lose in the Desert 9-5

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The last three Phillies games have been very hard to watch, I even left the stadium tonight before the game was over. I rarely ever leave games but tonight it was just to hard to watch.

When Kyle Kendrick gave up four runs in the first inning you almost knew this game was probably over, then the Diamondbacks would add two more in the bottom of the second to basically seal the victory. The Phillies offense was defiantly not going to pull a New York Yankees and come back from a 8 run deficit.

There was a lot of Phillies fan in Phoenix Arizona tonight and they sure showed Kyle Kendrick some brotherly love after his atrocious innings. Loud boos rained in from the stands at Chase Field as Kendrick exited the game.

When a sinker ball pitcher is not getting ground ball outs you know there is something wrong, Kendrick was not getting those ground ball outs, instead the Diamondback hitters were hitting those balls into the stands.

Phillies pitching allowed a season high 16 hits tonight.

I know this is very shocking to you but guess what? The Phillies offense again could not get anything and I mean anything going tonight, they were just hacking away up there at the plate and it really didn’t work for them tonight. The Phillies are really making these rookie hack pitchers look good this season, dang you would think these pitchers the Phillies are facing are cy young winners but they are the complete opposite of that.

The Phillies made the game a little interesting in the ninth with a five run inning, Shane Victorino hit a three run home run and Carlos Ruiz backed that up with a Solo shot. The Victorino home run was the first home run of the year with runners on base. It felt like a ream in the ninth inning with all of those runs, but Freddy Galvis woke me up from the dream when he grounded into a double play to end the Phillies rally.

Phillies are now 3-5 on this west coast trip and have two games left before they head back to Philadelphia.

Phillies have now lost the last three games and are now three games under the five hunderd mark 17 games into the season.

The Phillies next game is tomorrow night at 9:40 Pm EST, Vance Worley will take the hill and he will basically have to pitch a shutout for the Phillies to have a chance at the win, so no pressure Vanimal.

Some Other Notes From Arizona

Chase Utley was back with the team today, shagged some balls in batting practice and even hit a little. Utley looked good out there and lively. Chase Utley will stay in Arizona and will not travel back to Philadelphia after Wednesdays game.

Hunter Pence was not in the lineup tonight because of a bruised left arm he suffered yesterday in the 6-1 loss to the San Diego Padres, he is day-to-day but he will be going to see some doctors to see the extent of the injury, so more to come on that.

Phillies Win Game 1 in San Diego

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It was mostly a beautiful day in San Diego until it got closer to game time, as it got closer to the 7:05 Pm local start it really started to cool down and the marine layer really came in.

I had wonderful seats on the first base side, it was a pretty dead crowd at Petco Park but there was a lot of Phillies fans, I would say about half of the fans at the game tonight were Phillies fans. It’s was almost sad to see all of those empty seats tonight at a Major League stadium, it almost felt like a high school baseball game with all of the empty seats in the stadium. If the Padres could ever get halfway decent they could sell out the place very easily because the stadium is right downtown and there is a ton of transportation opportunities all around for easy access to the ball park. The stadium is located in the gaslamp district where there is a ton of bars and restaurants you can enjoy before the games, we went to Whiskey girls which is a great restaurant with a ton of tvs everywhere so if like sports and bars you should defiantly go there.

Now to the game, Vance Worley pitched a great game verse a sub par San Diego Padres team. The Phillies just got enough runs to win the game, the Phillies really should have pushed across more runs in the top of the first inning because they had the bases loaded and one out but they could only push across one run in the inning. Worley would pitch seven scoreless innings, the Phillies pushed across one more run in the top of the ninth inning off of a wild pitch.

Phillies offense again left runners on base tonight but at least that chalked up enough runs for the win. The Phillies continue their dominance at Petco Park as they now have won twelve game in a row in San Diego.

Jonathan Papelbon would come into save the game for the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth, and he did just that earning his fourth save of the year.

Worley struck out a career-high 11 batters in seven innings tonight in the cool San Diego air.

Worley improves to 1-1 on the campaign

Phillies next game is tomorrow night at 7:05 Pm at Petco Park in San Diego California, Cole Hamels will take the hill for the Phillies tomorrow night, this is a hometown start for Cole.

Hopefully there will be more fans at the ball park tomorrow night but I seriously doubt it with this team the Padres are putting on the field every night, it is really sad to see major league stadium this empty.

San Diego Bound

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In a few hours I will board a train to San Diego to see my first Phillies game of the year, I have tickets to all four games at Petco Park in San Diego.

San Diego is such a beautiful city and I truly recommend it to anybody looking to travel to a great city, the weather is always perfect and there is so much to do in San Diego you really can’t fit it into one trip, so we keep coming to San Diego every time the Phillies come out west to play the Padres.

Petco Park is one of the coolest stadiums in the major leagues to go see a ball game, the stadium is right downtown in the Gaslamp district where there is a ton of restaurants and bars you can go and get a drink or some food before the game, so far this season you need a lot of drinks to watch these Phillies play. When you’re in Petco Park you have a beautiful view of downtown San Diego. They could sell out games every night if the Padres were ever able to put a good product out on the field, I really can’t name a Padres baseball player right now and that is why the stadium is more then half full most of the time, okay maybe just one but after that there is a lot of unknowns out there on the field for the Padres. It is almost like a triple A team out there, someday this team might be good but for right now it’s still a work in progress.

Hopefully by me going to these next four games will spark the Phillies offense just a little bit and they can leave San Diego with a winning record, which I think they can do because the Padres are just really horrible right now.

The Phillies have always had great success at Petco Park in the last couple of years and hopefully that can continue this weekend and if it doesn’t I’m not going to be a happy camper.

Vance Worley pitches later this evening

Cole Hamels on Friday

Roy Halladay on Saturday

Joe Blanton on Sunday afternoon

 

No Runs Equal No Win

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Vance Worley did not have his greatest stuff today at Citizens Bank Park and when you really do not have any offense to help you out that is a very bad combination. In the top of the first inning David Wright who had been sidelined the past couple of games because of a fractured right pinkie blasted the first pitch he saw from Worley to deep center field for a home run, a lot of people thought David Wright would land himself on the disabled list because of the injury but he said he felt pretty good in batting practice prior to todays game and he sure looked fine out there today.

In the fourth inning Lucas Duda ended his 0-15 slump when he blasted a two run home run to right field, the Mets plated four runs off of Worley in his six innings of work.

The Phillies offense was pretty nonexistent most of the day, Phillies had a chance to chalk up some runs in the top of the first with runners on first and second but Hunter Pence grounded into a twin killing double play to end the inning. That was really the only big chance the Phillies had all day to score.

The Phillies have now lost their second series of the season and fall two games under .500 (3-5)

Phillies next game is tomorrow afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, this game will be at 1:35 Pm EST. Cole Hamels will take the hill for the Phillies and he will be opposed by Mike Pelfrey of the Mets. This will be the final game of the homestead before the Phillies head out west for a 10 game road trip. The Phillies will play three games against the San Francisco Giants, four games against the San Diego Padres, and a three game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on this road trip, there is no days off on this road trip. This will be a fun trip because since I live out on the west coast I will be going to every game the Phillies play in San Diego. I hope we have some offense by then.

Phillies Lose Opening Series To Pirates

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The Phillies again acquired the early lead at PNC Park in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania today off of a Hunter Pence RBI double down the left field line, Pence batted the only run in for the Phillies yesterday in the first inning also. Hunter Pence also hit the first home run of the year for the Phillies in the top of the fourth inning, it was a hanger and he hit it to the deepest part of the ball park, in left center field, it is a relief to get that out-of-the-way.

Vance Worley took the hill today for the Phils, he was pitching a scoreless ballgame through the first four innings until Pedro Alverez crushed a solo home run to right field to cut the Phillies 2-0 lead in half, he hit the ball so far it went over the right field bleachers and almost into the river. Worley would pitch six innings strong and only allow one run off of 5 hits, it turned out that the bullpen was the source of the problems again today.

I watched the game until about the top of the eighth inning and then I had to split to go to my family’s house for our Easter get together, I’m sure glad I did not stick around to see the end of the game because I would not have been one happy camper at all

I thought for sure we had todays game won after Juan Pierre batted in two runs off of a single to right field, Pierre who was in the lineup today starting in left field for the first time this season. But I also thought we had yesterdays game won too but again I was wrong, it was just one disappointing opening day weekend and I have sure seen too many walk offs at PNC Park. I always hate it when the Phillies play at this park, it just seems like we can never win there.

Pirates produced a rally after Ty Wigginton dropped a ball while playing first after pitcher Antonio Bastardo struck the batter out, that play would spark a rally and the Pirates would eventually score two runs in the inning and pull within one of the Phillies, then the Phillies bullpen blew the game later on.

This bullpen has blown the last to ballgames for the Phillies, our starting pitchers have pitched great ball games but then the relievers blow it. I was sort of worried about this going into the season and now I’m seeing that there is a problem, other than closer Jonathan Papelbon at the end of the Phillies bullpen who can get us through those 7th and 8th innings? So far nobody can and that’s not a good situation.

It just seems like every team in Major League baseball has that one team that they can never beat, that team for the Phillies is the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ever since Pittsburgh built this brand new beautiful ballpark the Phillies have completely stunk it up when we travel to the Steel city. I really don’t know why this happens but it seems like this happens to a lot of clubs where they just can never beat that one team, but that is sports for you.

Well at the end of the first weekend in Major League baseball for the Phillies we come out of it with one win, Roy Halladay pitched a great game on Thursday and pitched all the way to the eighth inning and then allowed Papelbon in the ninth to shut it down to collect the save.

Offense still is a problem we are going to have to deal with this year, Phillies only produced five hits today. Not a lot of runs scored over this weekend either.

Just a quick sidenote here, I really dislike fans waving their teams flag the entire game when you have really nice seats, I was watching the game on tv and right behind home plate this idiot Pirates fan was waving here stupid flag the entire game, seriously get a life.

Phillies head back home now to Philadelphia for tomorrows home opener against the Miami Marlins, Cole Hamels gets the nod to start the home opener. This game will be at 1:05 Pm EST.

See you in a little bit Philly

Gameday Preview: Phillies vs Pittsburgh Pirates

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Good Morning everyone and Happy Easter here from the West Coast.

I’m sorry I won’t have a game recap after today’s series finale today because I will be at my other families house probably playing croquet and shooting the shit for a while.

The Philadelphia Phillies play the Pittsburgh Pirates this afternoon in the series finale at PNC Park in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Both teams have split the first two games of the series.

Vance Worley looks to have some swagger momentum from last year as he takes the hill today for the Phillies, Worley went 12-4 last year as a Phillies starter and was one of those great surprises for this team a season ago.

James McDonald will toe the rubber for the Pittsburgh Pirates, McDonald comes into this game with a career record of 18-20 and an ERA of 4.04. Before joining the Pirates Mcdonald was with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jim Thome and Juan Pierre both score a spot in the lineup today, there first starts of the year. Freddy Galvis will try again today to get his first Major League hit.

It’s supposed to be a high of 62 today with some wind in Pittsburgh, 20 percent chance of rain.

Should be a wonderful game three of the series if the Phillies can get some offensive production started, if not then it’s not going to be a very Happy Easter.

Everybody enjoy their day and Lets Go Phillies.

Phillies Lineup

1. Pierre LF

2. Victorino CF

3. Rollins SS

4. Pence RF

5. Thome 1B

6. Wigginton 3B

7. Galvis 2B

8. Schneider C

9. Worley

Pirates Lineup

1. Presley LF

2. Tabata RF

3. McCutchen CF

4. Walker 2B

5. Jones 1B

6. Barmes SS

7. Alverez 3B

8. McKenry C

9. McDonald

Game Story and Other Notes From Today’s Phillies 11-7 Lose

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Vance Worley who will start the third game of the regular season in Pittsburgh a week from Sunday took the hill today against the Minnesota Twins. Worley got hit early just like in his last performance, Worley allowed a leadoff double to Joe Mauer and then the next batter was Justin Morneau and he crushed a two run home run. Twins would add two more runs in the bottom of the second off of an error on Worley and a sacrifice fly.

Twins would have a seven run bottom of the fourth inning.

It was safe to say Vance Worley did not have a good day, Worley pitched four innings today and allowed 6 earned runs off of 11 hits.

Hopefully Vance Worley can get these bad days out the way and not have these type of games during the regular season.

Raul Valdez and David Herndon both worked out of the pen today and did not allow anymore runs.

The Phillies would finally get some offense going in the top of the third when ShortStop Jimmy Rollins got a RBI single, Phillies would get the bases loaded with one out but could not capitalise on it. The Phillies have had so many opportunities this spring just like this and have failed to capitalise, this is really starting to worry me. You can’t just keep stranding all of these runners in the regular season or we are not going to win ball games.

Phillies would keep eating away at the Twins lead the rest of the game but would eventually run out of innings, Phillies would score a total of seven runs off of 15 hits today, in fact the Phillies had more hits then the Twins today. They just need to convert the hits into runs.

Some Other Notes

Jose Contreras pitched in a minor league game today, he pitched one inning and he gave up one run off of two hits.

Right before todays spring training game the Phillies announced they have signed veteran Infielder Joe Thurston to minor league deal. He is headed to minor league camp.

I know this is still spring training but this Phillies offense is about a code 5 on the worry scale. The Phillies pitching this season might have to pitch scoreless games every night for the team to even have a chance to win the game.

Phillies next spring training game is tomorrow against the Tampa Bay Rays in Clearwater Florida, Cole Hamels will be the starter and will make is final start of spring training.

We are just eight days away from opening day for the Phillies in Pittsburgh.