The following post was written by one of my best friends, Benjamin Lawson Follett. Yes, despite being from Pittsburgh, I still consider him one of my best friends. I had the pleasure of attending 2 of the 3 games this past weekend at Pittsburgh's beautiful PNC Park. It was so nice for the baseball fans in Pittsburgh to get to see what winning is this weekend. And by that I do not mean them winning the series, but rather them seeing the Phillies and, thusly, our winning ways being a little too contagious for our own good Friday and Saturday night. In all seriousness, Ben knows more about baseball than I could ever hope to, and he played with Pirates second baseman Neil Walker at some point when he was younger. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is. I know you guys will have no idea how to react to someone else posting, and you will go through gross withdrawal symptoms in reading the next few paragraphs. Good news, though! I posted briefly before this with a Dodgers preview (which you probably should've looked for BEFORE the Dodgers game. It's a preview. Duh), and you can check out my reaction to this series posted on Ben's blog here. Also, let this post serve as an inspiration to anyone who may want to consider writing their own guest blog entry this season. And now I'm shutting up to let Ben say his thing...
I am a Pirate fan. Most of the people who read this great blog would consider themselves Phillies fans. I am OK with that. But before you complain about how you lost 2 of 3 from the Pirates this weekend, please remember that you're team sets the bar at World Championships and mine sets it as winning more than they lose. For those of you who don't know anything about the Pirates, (Side note: I am sure that you know about as much as most typical Pirates fans) let me give you only one piece of history. The Pirates have not had a winning season since 1992. In that year; Bill Clinton was elected president for the first time, Disney's Aladdin was the top grossing movie of the year and Barry Bonds won his 2nd National League MVP award while playing for my Pittsburgh Pirates. The world has changed a lot during that time, but one thing that has remained as constant as death and taxes is the Pirates playing losing baseball. So before you complain about your lack of run scoring (18th in the NL, while the Pirates are 23rd) or the fact that you hate watching your 5th starters throw (because I guess 4 "ace" pitchers aren't enough) you need to walk a few hundred miles in my shoes. I am a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and this is your chance to see how the other side of the state lives.
Game 1: Pirates 2 - Phillies 1
If you read my blog, you would know that I predicted Hamels to beat the Pirates. He pitched well enough to get the win going 8 innings, surrendering only 1 run on 1 hit while striking out 4. The only problem is that Jeff Karstens was able to fool the Phillies' batters for 7 innings. I wasn't able to watch the entire game but Cameron arrived at my house in enough time for us to finish watching the last inning or two and during that time I noticed a few things. First, Placido Polanco is really freakin' good. Guy just makes every play and quite frankly he makes every play look routine. Second, Chase Utley plays second base the way it is meant to be played and third if I had to choose between the Phillies line up and the Pirates line up, I am not sure I would pick the Phillies. Caution. Side Track Ahead. Now I know they are more proven top to bottom but at the end of the day, the only regulars I would want are Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins. Ryan Howard is an obvious pick with the Pirates complete lack of production out of Lyle Overbay and Jimmy Rollins doesn't do a lot for me, but frankly Ronny Cedeno does far less. I know all of you are saying what about Utley, Victorino, Polanco or Ibanez. Well...Utley is coming off the injury and until he proves that he can be healthy and out produce Walker, I'll take Walker. Andrew McCutchen > Shane Victorino, sorry guys check out the stats and the fact that McCutchen is 6 year younger. I'll take Alvarez over Polanco only because I need power and lastly every Pirates outfielder over Ibanez because Raul Ibanez sucks and Cameron hates him so therefore I hate him too. Ok, back to the recap. In extra innings both teams made huge defensive plays that saved the game. In the top of the 10th, Overbay dove to stop a ball from going down the right field line with a runner on second and 1 out allowing the Pirates to get out of the inning. In the bottom of the 10th, Polanco made a nasty charging barehanded play to get the speedy Tabata with a runner on third. However, only one teams defensive gem meant there team would get the win and Friday it was the Pirates. Tabata came to the plate with a runner on second and 2 outs and was able to get a ball past Utley to plate the winning run. Pirates win, much to my surprise. An excellent game that included good defense and great pitching, set the table for what would turn out to be a high-quality weekend series against our cross state rivals.
Game 2: Pirates 6 – Phillies 3
Roy Halladay, I mean Charlie Morton, was on the hill for the Pirates Saturday night and if you asked Cameron, he would have told you that the Phillies didn’t stand a chance. Throughout his outing, Morton was able to keep the Phillies off balance only getting into “trouble” in the first and fourth innings. All that “trouble” amounted to a line that was very Halladay-esque; 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB and 5 K’s. Now I know that Charlie Morton does not equal Roy Halladay, but with that being said, having a pitcher who is now 6-2 with a 2.52 ERA, good enough for 4th in the National League is really something to be excited about. Remember, this is the same guy that less than a year ago was 2-12 with a 7.57 ERA. Talk about a transformation and for that a special thanks goes out to Halladay because without him, we wouldn’t have this “new” Charlie Morton. As far as the offense in the game goes, most of it was provided by 3 hit days from Andrew McCutchen and Lyle Overbay. Overbay, who may finally be hitting above his weight, was a home run shy of the cycle and now his average sits at .240. It was also good to see McCutchen, clearly the team’s best hitter, have his 4th consecutive multi-hit game. His average is now up to .273 and he hit .275 in May after hitting just .219 in April. The Phillies amassed 9 hits in the game, but 3 came in the 9th inning when the team scored once off of Joel Hanrahan and as a team the Phillies were 4 for 14 with runners in scoring position. As I have made previously clear, the Phillies can pitch lights out, but their lineup as a whole does not scare me. In order for them to get to their ultimate goal, the World Series, (which I believe they will since, pitching + defense = playoff wins) they are going to need more production out of guys in the middle of their order. I am looking at you Howard, Utley, Brown and yes even you Ibanez. If they can do that, save from the 3 games they play against the Pirates in late July, they should be prime for another World Series run.
Although the Phillies lost Games 1 and 2 of the series, during at our time at the game Cameron and I realized that among the crowd there was another competition going on. No I am not talking about Steelers and Eagles chants but who's team has more "nickname" t-shirt jerseys. We both were in agreement that these jerseys are an abomination and the people who wear them on both sides should be stripped of their fandom. As of Saturday night, the Pirates were losing this game of t-shirt terribleness 5-4. However, the worst nickname jersey award goes to Raul Ibanez for his "Rauuuuuuuuuuuuuul." It takes the cake because it is unoriginal, annoying and in support of a player who stinks. So congratulations Raul Ibanez, and here's hoping that John Mayberry Jr. takes your starting position in left field.
Game 3: Phillies 7 – Pirates 3
At this point in the series, the Pirates were playing with house money. We had won the first two games and in doing so had won the series. Also, it was blatantly obvious that if there was a game the Pirates would have little to no chance of winning during the weekend, it would be Sunday afternoon’s contest against the REAL Roy Halladay. For the most part, Doc did not disappoint. He was touched in the first inning when he left a ball up to Neil Walker who promptly deposited the ball in the seats beyond the right centerfield wall. After that the Phillies offense woke up and James McDonald struggled to throw a single strike in the 4th inning. Really, I am not sure he threw more than 5 and he definetly didn't throw more than 2 in a row. The Phillies got enough runs for Doc in the 4th and 5th innings to take the lead and then added insurance in the 9th to finish the game with a 7-3 victory that was almost identical to the Pirates 6-3 victory the night before.
Overall, the series was pretty evenly played. Pitching dominated all of the games in one way or another with Karstens and Hamels dealing in Game 1, Morton shutting down the Phils in Game 2, and Halladay following suit in Game 3. From watching the games both on tv and in person there are a few observations that I have about this Phillies team:
1. The pitching is dirty and is going to keep your team in any single game throughout the year. I know the Phils don't score a lot of runs right now, but when 4 out of every 5 days you only need to score 3 runs, you are going to win most of those games. Remember winning 2 of 3 all season wins you 108 games, I think that is enough to get into the playoffs.
2. Even though the pitching is as good as it is, the Phillies were miserable with runners on base. They left a combined 32 runners on base in the 3 games. Obviously, that isn't very good. But when you have "four" aces, why worry right?
3. Lastly, every time Dominic Brown stepped to the plate, I peed my pants because I was scared he was going to hit a bomb. He nearly did when he crushed a ball foul in Sunday's game. He's 6'-5 and 205 so he has a little bit of room to add size and if he does combined with the insane amount of bat speed that he generates, he is going to be really freakin' good. Oh and did I mention he is only 23. Wow. Look out National League, Dominic Brown is here to stay. I think a Dominator jersey is already in the works.
It was a great weekend and I am glad your faithful hometown blogger got to come to my beautiful city, eat Primanti's and watch baseball. Too bad Pittsburgh had to prove once again why it continues to be the best part of our great state. 6-3 against the Phillies since the beginning of the 2010 season. Oh yeah, Let's go Bucs!
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