Nationals @ Phillies, Game 1

[Potomac Cannons]

Maxwell isn't old... he's not a big leaguer IMO, but he's not old.

Maxwell is a 5th OF so he is a big league guy.  He's at least as good as Flushy McPunkass.

[Sharp]

Don't respond to the racist jackoff.

And Maxwell is a 5th OF so he is a big league guy.  He's at least as good as Flushy McPunkass.

Forgive me but I have no idea to whom you're referring.

[Coladar]

I got so fed up with this team I went shopping. Listened to bits on the radio, and just wanted to make this comment.

Seriously, when you are not a pitcher and Wil Freaking Nieves is PHing for you, WTF are you doing on the starting lineup for that day?

What a freaking joke, what did Riggleman expect? 0 runs and four hits without Zimmerman today. Riggleman needs to go. Now. He no more intended to win today than a chimpanzee could build and launch the Mars Rovers. The saddest part of all is there's a chance he did think it was a competitive lineup and we stood a chance. If that's the case, he just needs to find the tallest building in Philthy and jump off of it. Now.

[Nathan]

Maxwell isn't old... he's not a big leaguer IMO, but he's not old.

Neither is Alberto Gonzalez.  Valuable as a utility MI guy, and his bat isn't that terrible, so he can PH.

The problem is that this team, ATM, has too many utility/4th OF type players, and not enough everyday caliber MLB players.

[Potomac Cannons]

Neither is Alberto Gonzalez.  Valuable as a utility MI guy, and his bat isn't that terrible, so he can PH.

The problem is that this team, ATM, has too many utility/4th OF type players, and not enough everyday caliber MLB players.

Pretty true.  Keeping Dunn (or getting a solid replacement) and adding a corner OF leaves C as the only real question next year with Norris at AA coming soon.

Next season should see an OF primarily consisting of Bernadina/Morse/Hammer/Maxwell/FA corner OF (Crawford/Werth), an infield of Zimmerman/Desmond/Espinosa/Dunn (or FA)/AlGo/extra IF and Ramos/Pudge at C.  Keeping 1B strong, upgrading that one OF spot, and letting the young 2B/C learn on the job should go a long way towards solidifying things.

[The Hammer]

You mean the Marquis that has pitched well for the last month once he got healthy?

Since Marquis return:

4.93 ERA
5.70 FIP
4.5 K/9
3.8 BB/9
1.40 HR/9
1.56 WHIP
.289/.372/.467/.839 OPS (only .299 BABIP)

Only in your world is a pitcher who has a 4.93 ERA, 5.70 FIP, 1.56 WHIP and allowed a .372 OBP is doing great.

[Upark25]

Marquis is terrible. A sinker ball pitcher whose "sinker" sinks right to the middle of the plate.

[Potomac Cannons]

Marquis is terrible. A sinker ball pitcher whose "sinker" sinks right to the middle of the plate.

Great analysis.  Fantastic insight.  You wow me with you're amazing ability to add absolutely nothing to any conversation.

Marquis wasn't the primary problem last night.  Only a mentally deficient 3 year old would ignore the role of the idiot manager and "HOF" catcher in what happened there.  Add in the 5 consecutive good starts, after two mediocre starts coming off the DL, and you've got the 2nd best SP for the team over the last month (amazingly Lannan is the only one who has been more consistently good).

[The Hammer]

LOL.  Take a look at the 1st inning tonight as exhibit A.  Exclusively setting up away on LHBs while the bench has the defense in a deep pull shift.  Either he needs to yell at the bench to change it up or he has to pretend he isn't blind and adjust his calls to the freaking defense.  There's absolutely no excuse for the way Pudge refuses to change things up even when they aren't working.

Pitching away from LHB is not a problem at all considering most LHB are real dangerous on inside pitches (especially down and in). The point of pitching outside with the shift is to force the batter to pull a weak grounder.

Look at Ryan Howard's spray charts. Barely any balls to the left side or even in the middle. http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_hitting_chart.jsp?c_id=phi&playerID=429667&statType=1
Here is a picture of Ryan Howard's groundball tendencies from the 2008 season:




Pitching inside to Chase Utley doesn't make any sense at all. He is probably the best inside hitter in baseball. Look at Utley's chart. Very few groundballs to the left or middle. http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_hitting_chart.jsp?c_id=phi&playerID=400284&statType=1


Look at Ibanez chart. Not too many at the middle or on the left side. http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_hitting_chart.jsp?c_id=phi&playerID=116380&statType=1


Pitching away was hardly the problem or was the shift. If I had to guess, not many pitchers throw inside vs. the Phillies LHB.


Look at how the last RH starter pitched vs. the Phillies LHB batters:

[Sharp]

Actual information.

Thank you for this.  Too often we take what Ray or Bob (or Dibble at one point) say as gospel without looking deeper into the matter.  Pudge was doing what nearly any catcher would do vs. the Phillies.