After the Phillies invade someone else’s city and completely demolish their team, it’s always fun to check the rival paper to search for feel-good quotes…

Found one!

The paper? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The quotee? Chipper Jones.

“They’ve got guys who go up there with a game plan,” Jones said. “They’ve got guys that work at being a tough out. Over the course of nine innings, they wear you down. That’s what division champions do.”

You cot-damn right, Chip.

Phillies 6, Braves 3: Sense of urgency increases | Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hey, when you can’t really make fun of his pitching anymore…

Via fashion maven Paul Lukas, we learn Adam Eaton was pitching yesterday with his top button fastened into his second buttonhole. An absolute no-no in the style-conscious age of Uni Watch.

Cojo would SO not approve:

And Your Mama Dresses You Funny (Ed. Note: Uni BURN!) | Uni Watch

Lord knows given our own sad, pathetic history that it’s no fun to heap scorn upon a team that’s struggling.

Well, maybe just this once…

[Back cover of today's New York Daily News]

Try as they might — and they had their chances — the Braves could not stop the Philly juggernaut. Now 5-1 against Atlanta, the boys from Yankeeland head further south (and gosh, what a perfect time to do so!) as they engage the Fish Sticks on a three-game visit beginning tomorrow night. The Fightin’s have now won four in a row, eight of their last ten, and 12 of their last 14 games. Mmm-hm.

The Phillies are, as of this morning, one of just four teams in all the majors with a winning percentage of .600 or better (39-26). That puts them on pace for 97 wins, which should be plenty to win the NL East. Am I jinxing these guys by writing that? Nooooo, don’t be ridiculous. This team is too good to worry about what some pansy-ass blogger thinks about their chances.

In Bill Conlin’s article this morning, the Venerable One writes that this year’s Phillies may feature the most potent offense of his lifetime, even surpassing the Luzinski-and-Schmidt-led powerhouse that was the 1977 team.

But while the offense remains the hot ticket this season, Philly’s pitching is gaining respectability as well. Their staff ERA is 3.84, 5th best in the National League. Brad Lidge has been as close to perfect as you could hope for a reliever to be with 17 of the team’s 19 saves, putting Lidge one save behind league leader Kerry Wood and elevating him to fifth-ranked in the majors overall. His ERA is a Mariano-DuncanRivera-in-his-prime 0.96; on the road, Lidge has 10 saves with an ERA of 0.64. (Albert WHO-jols?)

Christ… even Eaton and Myers have decided to quit fucking around and grace us with excellent pitching performances. In his last three starts, Eaton surrendered just 5 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings pitched (a 2.41 ERA), winning two of those starts. Ratbeard himself sports a 3.62 ERA in his last four games, and his 1-3 record over that stretch can be blamed mostly on the offense getting uncharacteristically shut out twice.

This 21-game crucible which leads up to the All-Star Break has proceeded in spectacular fashion. Sweeping one of the league’s best home teams bodes well for the Fightin’s. I for one will look back with fondness on Poor Kelly Johnson’s fateful botch of what should have been a game-clinching pop fly. How fortunate that this was the first game following J-Roll’s benching for not legging out a caught fly ball, since Carlos Ruiz came within seconds of making those extra innings unnecessary!

(I’m still amazed at how Friday night’s game concluded, with Johnson’s drop and Victorino’s bullet to prevent the tying run… I mean, shit — if that fails to make the highlight reel at the end of what could be their championship season, I cannot wait to see what does.)

Lookey-who came in to pinch hit for the Metros yesterday:

Whoa! Check out those gaudy stats from N’awlins!

And in case you were wondering, he popped out to deeep shortstop.

First, let me apologize in advance. I promised myself I wasn’t gonna overuse my Red Lasso account and post videos of every stupid thing that happens during a Phillies game, but my hatred for dumb fans got the best of me here.

See, in my opinion, being in attendance at a professional sporting event is a great privilege. I don’t feel sorry when something happens to a fan who isn’t paying attention and accidentally gets hit by a foul ball or flying bat, and I want to punch fans that disturb the game that is being played.

Even if that fan is from an opposing team, like this jaggov:

If I were commissioner, it would have been within the new rules of baseball where Mark Texieria would have the right to level that nerd with absolutely no repercussions. Instead, this moron just gives Tex a thumbs up and is allowed to keep his seat on the first base line. Even airlines give a warning to passengers sitting by the emergency exit doors — and if they can’t uphold the responsibility that comes along with it, they’ll switch their seat with someone who can. The same should go for sporting events.

After the jump, the big winner for DFotW (and the most extreme case of this phenomenon since
Bartman), from today’s College World Series in Tallahassee.
Read more »

On this 95-degree day in Atlanta, the Phillies bats went ice-cold for 5 innings. Stuck in a 3-3 tie with Eric Bruntlett batting and one out in the top of the ninth, things were looking grim for the Phils. You started to get the feeling that a sweep of the Braves just wasn’t meant to be.

And then the CW57 graphics team went to work:

Great job, gentlemen. Harry even chipped in with the ol’, “Looks like the Phillies haven’t scored a run either since the 3rd inning.” Two batters later — Shane Vic drove in the game-winning run.

The Chevrolet Player of the Game: CW57 graphics guy.

We all know what happened with Kelly Johnson in the ninth inning, but listen to how the Phillies play-by-play man describes him in the sixth:

Pretty sure-handed, Tom? hahahaahahaahah

The Phillies were done.

They had runners at 1st & 2nd down 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs. Chris Coste hit a pop-up to shallow right near the foul line, and as Braves 2nd baseman Kelly Johnson was jogging back tracking it for the win, the ball somehow (I’m still not sure how), hit the heel of his glove and dropped on the grass. Pinch runner Eric Bruntlett scored easily from 2nd and Pedro Feliz was out by 10 feet at home, but it didn’t matter, the damage had been done. The Phillies tied a game that was – for all intents and purposes – over.

Here’s the improbable fielding gaffe by Johnson:

Predictably, the Braves went down in the ninth at the hands of Tom Gordon and the Phillies wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the 10th. Pinch hitter Chris Snelling led off with a scorching double to right-center. Following a Rollins sac bunt, Shane Victorino hit his 2nd triple of the night to take a 3-2 lead. Utley followed with an RBI double, making it 4-2 headed into the bottom half of 10.

Lights out Lidge came in from the pen and took the ball for the save. He struck out Brian McCann with his usual filth before surrendering back-to-back singles to Josh Anderson(?) and Gregor Blanco(??). Greg Norton whiffed for the second out, but not before Blanco stole 2nd base to put both Braves runners in scoring position…

For the climactic ending, I’m gonna have to ask you go click the ‘Read More’ hyperlink…

Read more »

Yup, that pretty well sums it up.

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