CHANGE!!And nothing stays the same
Unchained
And you hit the ground running (Van Halen)
or is it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
Turn and face the lefty/righty
Ch-ch-Changes (David Bowie)
Sampson 3.2 IP
Springer 0.1 IP
Wandy 0.2 IP
Nieve 0.1 IP
Borkowski 1.0 IP
Miller 0.2 IP
Lidge 0.2 IP
Qualls 0.2 IP
Wheeler IP
I suppose the question is, who WASN’T used?
Albers. Period.
We went through ALL the relievers with 8 more games in a row WHY?
I sure was surprised to see Chris Sampson starting. All the things I thought Phil should do, he did. Leave Luke to bat cleanup. Sit Biggio. Bat Mo Ensberg second. Is Phil reading my blog?
or was Phil channeling (mostly) Bob Dylan?
Gonna change my way of thinking,
Make myself a different set of rules.
Gonna put my best lineup out there
And stop being influenced by fools…
And I was even more surprised when Phil pulled Sampson after only 45 pitches with 2 out and 2 on (with singles off the end of the bat) in the bottom of the 4th. What the heck? Sampson had looked fantastic – 3 Ks, 3 scattered hits. Why did Phil think Sampson couldn’t get Burrell out? I guess Sampson must have been on a pitch count – he’s been wasting 2 perfectly good months on the bench relieving.
For some reason I do NOT get. He’s GOOD. And good starting pitchers do not grow on trees and FA ones who are 4.5 ERA .500 guys are getting 8 mill a year for 3-4 years. Much smarter to start Sampson, I think. Cruddy middle relievers are a dime a dozen.
We used every position player except Eric Munson. Phil pinch hit left and right (hahahaha) and although we left 12 guys on base, we still managed to win.
Mo Ensberg walked twice, singled and scored a run. In spite of him not swinging well, his on base is .400 and his OPS is .865. And he’s doing fine with the glove.
Jason Lane went opposite field with a 400′ homer – first opposite field homer this year. I got NO idea what happened to him neither. Sigh.
And I approve of putting Bruntlett behind Lane in the lineup – Jason walks a lot – has a .325 OBP to go with that .207 BA and Bruntlett is a good contact hitter with a .270 BA and he hits better with guys on base than bases empty.
Charlie Manuel only used 7 relievers and 13 position players, but unlike us, the Phils have a lot of guys from the minors who are on the bench.
I’m just glad we didn’t have to face Cole Hamels again.
And right after THIS game, the guys had to hop a plane to Pittsburgh.
As far as I know, it’s leftys again tomorrow
Pettitte vs Snell
Andy better pitch REAL deep into the game because Chad Qualls has pitched 4 days in a row, Springer 4 of the last 5, Brad Lidge the last 3, Wheeler the last 4.
Phil has been talking bout using guys on short rest, fooling with the rotation, so I am getting tired of posting the matches only to find out things different an hour before game time and I got stuff to do.
Yall know St. Louis lost again. Pujols went o fer 4 singling in a run, Rolen went ofer and GO with 2 on and 2 out in the bottom of the 9th. No good. No Eckstein – he’s hurt his leg. Edmonds hit a pinch hit 3 run homer, but he still can’t field. Suppan, who is supposed to be good, lasted 3.2 innings and gave up 5 runs.
So now we’re at .500 and have won 6 in a row. We’re 2 1/2 behind St. Louis. Philly and LA are tied for the WC with San Diego still leading the West by 2 games and we are 4 behind…
This is not happening…
Tags: Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates
The Friday and Sunday games were on ESPN. After blowing that last series against the Cubs, they’re so scared of my reaction to more losses they have to win. It’s time to break out the Stros jersey again.