Double Down!

Cliff Lee Stinks!

Another Cliff Lee start, another Phillies loss. Another 4 run lead, another no decision for Cliff Lee. I thought elite pitchers were supposed to hold leads? Phillies fans have all the excuses for Lee, "He's snake bit...He is getting no run support...etc." I'm done with the excuses. If he could have held a 4 run lead last October, the Cards get swept by the Phils. If the same thing happened to Cole Hamels he would probably be run out of town. Cliff Lee gets a pass of Utley proportions. He picked us over the Yankees, I get it. I would just like to see us get our $120 million dollars worth. Right now he is looking very Barry Zito-esque.

In his last start, Lee was in a good position to win his first game. The Phils gave him a 3 run lead early. In the 4th he got a close call to go his way on a double play ball. Ok, after further review Hector Luna held the bag. 2 outs, nobody on. He walks Mark Reynolds, no biggie, still 2 outs. Steve Pearce doubles. 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs. Up comes Steve Tolleson, Tolleson is 4 for 7 vs Lee with 3 doubles. First base is open and Endy Chavez is on deck. Chavez is hitting a whopping .170, he has no pop and he's a left hand hitter. Lee quickly gets ahead of Tolleson 0-2. His 3rd offering is borderline outside, a perfect 0-2 pitch that could have been called a strike. Ball 1. With a 1-2 count Lee serves up a meatball right down Broadway. 3 run bomb. A 3 run lead is gone like the last pizza slice in the Blanton household.

***WARNING: ATTEMPTED JOURNALISM ALERT****

Cliff Lee is not the choir boy everyone thinks he is. I have it on good information that he frequents Chester quite often. He likes poker, no problem with that. He dropped 12 and 15 large in consecutive sessions. That's probably like $20 bucks to us working stiffs. It could be nothing or it could blow up to something big. Remember, you heard Cliff Lee may have a gambling problem on Phillies Bunts. This was the same time frame when he had words with Victorino in the dugout. The ball that Victorino lost in the lights hit a foot from the top of the wall, it would have been a tough play had he seen it all the way. He was out of line. There is a lot of smoke, I hope there isn't fire.

Keep It Classy Philly!

DB29

That Shit was for the Birds.

Happy Tuesday Bunters!

SOUND THE ALARMS! THE CARDINALS GOT A WIN!

Ok, so it wasn’t just any ol’ WIN for the St. Louis Cardinals, it was a win in Sunday’s game 2 of the NLDS… against our beloved Ace Clifton Phifer Lee. It was a win despite the Fightins having a four-run lead early on. It was a win in a best of 5series, a win in Citizens Bank Park, a win that sealed the deal for a sucktastic day in Philadelphia sports history (unless you’re Kornhole, who rather enjoyed the Eagles losing to the 49ers early Sunday afternoon).


It happens, right? A loss in the playoffs isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility here and there, no matter how beastly your pitching staff may be. However - I don’t think anyone ever expected it to happen with ‘The Clifton’ pitching against a short-rested Chris Carpenter and Cards relievers. I also don’t think we may have expected it happening at CBP this early in the postseason, and I definitely wasn’t expecting Jimmy Rollins (or so say the media) to call out disappointed fans-in-attendance for ‘not being loud enough’.

Whatever the hell happened Sunday night, let’s fucking hope it doesn’t happen again tonight (pardon my French). Blame who you want until you’re blue in this face (this goes for both players and fans). Hell, I even got into the blame game personally after touting Lee on my FB page for “dealing”… only to have him fall apart 38 minutes later in the 6th inning (just as I jumped into a quick shower). Go ahead, Blame ME if it makes anyone feel ANY better. When it comes to sports I can be pretty superstitious like most fans; I also have an awful reputation as a Phillies ‘Mush’ so maybe I did have something to do with the epic failure that begun in the 6th inning. Regardless, ‘The Clifton’ did not piss excellence Sunday evening and the bats went silent precisely at the worst time possible. This can again invoke the season long debate of whether the Phillies can win a World Series with their usually stellar pitching squad and an on-again/off-again offense. I think the answer was given on Sunday loud and clear: No.

The pressure on the pitchers right now is extreme and definitely warranted BUT the bats need to stay awake if we intend to continue this journey through October. You may not have realized this but Lee lost his third straight postseason decision Sunday night. No man/pitching stud is immune to a bad outing once in a while. Yet when that poor outing happens in the postseason, that pitchers’ team needs to get their shit together quickly because every single out counts… hopefully in enough time where it doesn’t lead to an all too early final out of the season.


With momentum naturally moving into the Cardinals favor tonight, the Phillies need to get an offensive burst going early as a showdown between lefties Cole Hamels (14-9; 2.79) and Jaime Garcia (13-7; 3.56) squares off in St. Louis at 5:00.


As the MLB postseason commercials say, “Legends are born in October”. Without *CONSISTENT* offensive support by the Phillies for their pitching staff, the road through October (when the legends are supposed to be born) could come to an abrupt stop.

It’s NOT time to sound the alarms, there’s really not one person to put the blame on. But playoff baseball is contingent on the efforts of an entire team. It’s simply time for the bats to wake the hell up – and stay that way.

I EXPECT to be back with you next week getting my NLCS on.
-xo,
DiamondGirl215