As I said in my last post, I am planning on doing a reverse Male Bag for an upcoming post. That means that YOU need to answer the questions! Because I missed a week of the Phils due to the general lack of electricity at our place, I am trying to get up to speed, and I am choosing to rely on YOU to help me do so.
So read the list of questions, choose one (or 2. Or 3. Or however many you want, just not zero) that you want to answer, and send me that answer via text, phone call, Twitter (@PhilsHighHopes), email (PhilsHighHopes@gmail.com), Facebook, or whatever medium you so choose.
This post is putting all kinds of faith in my readers. I really need your help on this one. That means YOU - Costello, Bean, Kelsey, Mom, Phil, Jeremiah, Cheese, Lori, Sean, Christine, any of my former Pennridge students/basketball players/general fans, and certainly NOT Dert. I am calling you out individually because that absolutely increases the likelihood of you answering one. No bystander effect happening here (What's the bystander effect? Something happens and everyone assumes that someone else will do something about it, basically. Like if someone is having a heart attack and a bunch of people see it happening, you should tell one individual person to call 9-1-1, not just yell out "Somebody call 9-1-1!" like stupid Richard did when Big Tom Callahan was going down hard at his own wedding).
If you didn't get mentioned, that could mean several things:
-I don't think you read the blog all that much
-I have no faith in you actually reacting to a blog post because you've generally given me zero feedback in the past
-I fear your answer would suck way too much to ever put on the blog
No matter which of those reasons you fall under, it absolutely means one thing: You have something to prove. So give me an answer anyway.
When answering, you can just refer to the question number if you so choose. That's probably easiest. And if the answers are good enough, I'll include multiple for one question, so don't be nervous about repeating.
As usual, these questions will only mostly deal with the Phillies
1. Is Cliff Lee becoming the Phillies front-runner for the Cy Young?
2. Can Shane Victorino or Ryan Howard win the MVP this season?
3. How horribly annoying were Thomas and Christopher last week?
4. How bad was that evil wench Irene wherever you were?
5. Who the heck is John Bowker, and what do I need to know about him?
6. Is there any reason that Raul ever came back from his injury?
7. Do you really think your current city/state is more badass than Richmond, Virginia after the past 2 weeks?
8. Does any NL team have a prayer against us in the playoffs?
9. Is our bullpen going to be OK?
10. How long do you think it would take you to go completely insane if your power went out?
11. How dominant did we look against the Reds?
12. Seriously, how much did Thomas and Christopher suck?
13. How much did you miss me? :)
So that's it! Only 13 questions, that should be easy, right?
As for this upcoming series with the Braves, I am going to make it a pretty brief preview of the games. We know so much about this team by now because we've already played them 12 times. Also, this series will only matter if they sweep us, which they won't. And even if they did, and we totally tanked for the rest of the season, we would still make the playoffs. The NL playoffs are basically set, with a 7.5-game lead in the NL East, a 9.5-game lead in the Central, a 7-game lead in the West, and an 8.5-game lead in the Wild Card. Honestly, I wish the playoffs could just start today. These next 7 games against the Braves and Brewers, though, should serve as a nice warm-up.
Game 1: Derek Lowe (9-12, 4.52 ERA) vs. Cliff Lee (15-7, 2.59 ERA)
Derek Lowe is always pretty hit-or-miss against the Phillies (pun intended). He has just a 2.84 ERA against us this year, but we tend to be better against him as games wear on and his pitches aren't as effective. Lee has struggled against the Braves this season as much as he has anyone else, going 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in 3 starts. He has amassed 28 strikeouts in just 18 1/3 innings, so we at least know that he has the potential to get out of jams against them. Alex Gonzalez (8 for 22, 2 2B, HR) and Brian McCann (5 for 12, 2 2B) have been his biggest weaknesses against Atlanta.
Prediction: Phillies 4 Braves 2
Keep an eye out for: Lee getting his September started off right with 7 scoreless innings.
Game 2: Tim Hudson (14-8, 3.05 ERA) vs. Vance Worley (10-1, 2.85 ERA)
I think that this will be the best pitching matchup of the series. Worley has yet to start against (see also: dominate) the Braves this season, and Tim Hudson is probably the Braves best starter currently. All Worley does is win this season, and all Hudson does is win in his career. I am expecting a great battle between these two.
Prediction: Phillies 1 Braves 0
Keep an eye out for: Howard going deep. He's a .298 career hitter against Hudson with 6 homers and 13 RBI.
Game 3: Brandon Beachy (7-2, 3.37 ERA) vs. Roy Oswalt (7-8, 3.80 ERA)
Beachy has been bad against the Phillies this season (0-1, 5.79 ERA in 3 games), and Oswalt has been the most inconsistent starter for us. I imagine it has been tough for him to get into any type of rhythm with the constant problems he has had this season that have kept him off the field. Hopefully he can find his stride as we head into the playoffs, and you have to wonder if we'll even use him as a starter in October if he and Worley keep pitching the way they each have been. If we're going to see a decent amount of runs in any game this series, I have to think it will be this one. Oswalt has allowed these Braves hitters to bat .319 against him over their careers with 21 of their 66 hits being for extra bases.
Prediction: Braves 6 Phillies 4
Keep an eye out for: Ruiz and Victorino doing most of the damage for the Phils. Ruiz is 5 for 6 with a home run against Beachy and batting .440 against the Braves this season with 2 homers. Victorino is 4 for 8 against Beachy and a .441 hitter with a 1.147 OPS this season against Atlanta.
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